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What My 1-Year-Old Taught Me About Marketing

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My wife, Erin, and I celebrated our daughter Violet’s first birthday recently. We joked that the celebration was really for us surviving a whole year with an infant. If you have kids, then you know exactly what I mean. That first year wasn’t pretty, but boy was it worth it!

In 365 days, Violet transformed from what I endearingly call her helpless, alien-looking newborn days, to a walking, babbling, playful, and extraordinarily cute baby girl (see proof below).

Violet's First Birthday

Looking back on 2013, I find there are many similarities between raising a 1-year-old and launching new marketing campaigns. Both require a significant time investment. Both require realistic expectations about results to avoid frustration. And there’s no question both are well worth the investment.

Recognizing these similarities will ensure you create a more realistic marketing plan and should help you push through the inevitable rough patches in 2014.

Invest the Time Required

Everyone knows babies need a LOT of attention. And even when they sleep, most new parents find it hard to relax. Then, as the infant grows, she starts to sleep through the night, hold her own bottle, and even play by herself. I found the first three months were the most stressful and required the most investment of time, but each subsequent month became easier and easier.

The same is true when launching a new marketing campaign. Let’s use Google AdWords as an example. When you set up a new AdWords campaign, you need to realize the first few months are going to be the most stressful and time consuming. There’s going to be a lot of trial and error to figure out what works for your particular “baby.” Sure, there are commonalities among top-performing ad campaigns across different industries and offers — just like every infant needs sleep, clean diapers and food. But you won’t figure out the specifics, like the best time of the day to run your ads or the best ad copy and bid for a particular keyword, until you and your baby have spent some quality time together.

You need to realize that the first three months of a new marketing campaign are going to be tough. This is true whether you’re implementing in-house or outsourcing to a marketing company. It’s going to be stressful and you need to commit the time required to learn what works in your particular market.

As a result, you also need to be realistic about how many new campaigns you can launch in a year. I can’t imagine having another newborn right now. I’m simply not ready for the time commitment. With that in mind, take a look at your 2014 marketing plan and make sure you’re not spreading yourself too thin by launching too many campaigns. It’s always better to get one campaign working before moving on to a second one. Otherwise, you could just end up babysitting a bunch of failed campaigns.

Set Realistic Expectations

I believe the biggest cause of frustration with online marketing comes from unrealistic expectations. We now live in a world where we all want instant gratification. I frequently hear stories about businesses that unsuccessfully tried Google AdWords, search engine optimization (SEO), social media, email marketing, or some other tactic. When I pry, I learn that the business “tried” for a month or two. That’s the equivalent of getting upset because your baby is not walking at 6 months old!

To be clear, I’m not saying you should continue to invest in a losing marketing campaign. However, as a general rule of thumb, I find that most businesses give up too quickly because they don’t have realistic expectations about how long it will take to see significant results.

For example, last month we sold 85 seats to our Google Analytics training by sending a couple emails to our in-house email list. Clearly, email marketing works. I could go on and on about all the benefits of email marketing, but I don’t need to. The sales speak for themselves. However, we worked very hard over the past three years to build our email database, form a strong relationship and continuously provide value to our subscribers. There’s no way we could have sold 85 seats if we had just started using email marketing in the past 6–12 months. That’s about as realistic as Violet reading one of her books tonight.

Be more realistic with your sales projections from online marketing. SEO, social media, and email marketing are all long-term marketing tactics. AdWords advertising can generate sales within hours, but it will typically take months to dial in your advertising so that you’re consistently generating a positive return. The most successful businesses use a long-term portfolio approach to marketing, similar to savvy investors.

Focus on Incremental Improvements

Up to this point, I realize I haven’t painted a very rosy picture. Maybe I’m a little cranky from so many sleepless nights with Violet this past year.

But seriously, I do believe businesses need to hear this if they are going to succeed in 2014. Competition is fierce, and I’m sorry to say that the days of “set-it-and-forget-it” online marketing campaigns are over. The businesses that take a long-term approach and implement pig-headed discipline will come out on top.

I’ll never forget the day in Central Park when Violet started walking on her own for the first time. It took almost a year to go from rolling over, to crawling, to walking. Every day she improved just a little bit more, until finally it all clicked, and she toddled away from me while uncontrollably laughing.

That’s the approach we all need to take with our marketing. Don’t expect overnight miracles. Focus on incremental improvements in your online marketing campaigns throughout the year.

A version of this post originally appeared on the author’s blog.

Phil Frost is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Main Street ROI in New York, NY. Main Street ROI teaches internet marketing strategies that actually work for small businesses. Click here to get the Ultimate SEO Checklist to help you rank higher in Google.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched StartupCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Communicating With Investors

Fundraising is incredibly important, but it’s only part of the equation. To make your vision a reality, you need to sell your potential to investors and continue to prove your worth down the road. This requires consistent communication before, during, and after your initial round of funding. Below is your guide to working with capitalists after the initial funding phase to ensure that you have the tools and knowledge to land repeat investments.

The Power of the JOBS Act

The JOBS Act has transformed investor relations from a necessary evil to an incredibly powerful tool in the entrepreneur’s arsenal. Before the JOBS Act, companies couldn’t advertise the fact that they were raising money. With the elimination of that ban, they were given permission to market their worth and financial needs to investors.

In the past, the s

cales were tipped heavily in favor of investors, who took a long time to get back to entrepreneurs, do due diligence, or fund deals. The investment options were plenty, but the market lacked efficiency and effectiveness.

All that changed with the rise of crowdfunding. With the rise of online funding platforms, new prospects are accessible to more investors, and savvy funders know they have to move quickly to gain access to the hottest companies. In addition, potential investors who might have only considered the public market before can now explore the private sector from the comfort of their homes.

This increased awareness translates into more investing in private companies, potentially making it easier to raise substantial amounts of funding without having to go public. But it also means the market is flooding, forcing entrepreneurs to stand out from the swells of startups online.

The Investor Communication Checklist

Investors who provided initial funds can be a resource for more capital as your company grows, but only if you give them the information they need and provide updates on how their investment is performing. Consider these necessities:

1. Updates on company progress: Provide updates on a monthly basis to engage your investors. Giving investors dire news at the last minute is not just unprofessional; it’s bad for business. The less time they have to absorb the news, the less motivated they will be to help. In my investor updates, I always include a section titled “Things Keeping Me Up at Night” that lays out the issues that most concern me. This gets everything on the table. Frequently, investors reach out to offer assistance if they can.

2. Monthly financial reports: It’s a reality in today’s startup environment: Nearly every company will need to ask current investors for more money. If you’re upfront, investors will understand your situation and might be more willing to help. Financial reports guarantee that everyone is on the same page.

3. Changes in capitalization: If you raise more money or set up an employee stock option pool, current investors will be affected. Typically, they need to approve anything that affects changes to their shares. Again, clear and consistent communication can smooth these transitions.

4. Tax information: If your company is an LLC, you will need to provide a K-1 form to each investor to indicate his or her share of the earnings for tax purposes. Organization will be key as more and more investors are added to the company.

5. Major ownership changes: Major transactions, such as selling the company, may require the approval of all shareholders. You need to inform your investors efficiently and get signed documents, approvals, or votes from shareholders to complete negotiations.

Building Your Reputation

Reputation is everything. You’re only as viable as your funders believe you to be, and the suggestions above will strengthen your company’s brand in the eyes of current and potential investors. Present information that is organized, accurate, and digestible.

The first thing a potential investor will do is call current investors for feedback. If those experienced investors feel uninformed about your company, they will likely convey a negative message to the newcomer. Moreover, new investors will check to see if current investors are putting up more capital for your company. If a new investor feels that older investors are abandoning ship, you have a communication problem and potentially a much more disastrous financial problem in your future.

Every communication to your investors is building a foundation for future investment. Investors saw promise in you and your ideas — it’s your responsibility to keep them educated about your goals, operations, and finances.

As it turns out, being the boss requires a lot of talking. Be proactive by connecting with your investors on a regular basis. After all, they’re the ones funding your dream.

Rachael Qualls is the founder and CEO of Venture 360, a platform that provides investors and investor groups with a great platform to manage their portfolios. Venture 360 also provides entrepreneurs the support they need to manage their relationships with investors so they can focus on running their businesses. Connect with Rachael on Twitter and Google+.

Do You Have These 4 Kinds of Mentors?

Finding a mentor or personal advisor can be intimidating to female founders. Women often have a Superman complex — we rarely seek advice because we believe we should be able to do everything, know everything, and be everything to everyone. But my co-founder Brittany and I have found that to truly harness success, it really does take a village. You need outside perspectives to stay balanced and develop an holistic view of your business.

In order to keep growing my own support network, I started grouping my mentors and advisors into four distinct categories. This trick helps me make sure I always get advice from individuals varying in age, gender, socioeconomic status, and other demographics — thus opening the door to new conversations and perspectives.

Below are the four main categories I’ve identified, and where YOU can start looking for an advisor in each:

Category 1: Inside the Industry/Knows You Personally

From in-the-trenches stories to best-practice scenarios, these are the individuals who not only know what you are going through but know how you personally handle situations. These people know your strengths and weaknesses. They can help you come up with solutions to improve your weaknesses or toss out new revenue ideas to play up your strengths. Their advice is usually very specific and is often extremely helpful for dealing with short-term goals, problems, or delicate business scenarios.

Potential Advisors: An old boss, a fellow entrepreneur/friend, or a friend at similar company.

Category 2: Inside the Industry/Acquaintance

From boardrooms to client relations, these are the individuals who know what it’s really like to work and live in your industry. While they know you, you wouldn’t call them out of the blue or invite them out for dinner. These people are great for giving you an honest look at the industry without worrying about your feelings. They give straight-to-the-point feedback, and you are often only meeting or speaking with them for around 30 minutes, so as to not clog their day. These individuals are valuable resources for bouncing new ideas off, discussing business pivots, or giving you ideas about restructuring.

Potential Advisors: A friend of an industry friend, your lawyer, or a past client you have a good rapport with.

Category 3: Outside the Industry/Knows You Personally

From fielding emotional meltdowns to trading personal workday anecdotes, these are the individuals who can lend an ear because they know you well. While they don’t work in your industry, they give a brilliant outside stance on the bigger picture. These individuals can give you personalized advice on your reactions to various situations and relationships such as clients, internal colleagues, or even overall business practices. They can also be solid sounding boards regarding a new product or service, as they have no background knowledge of your industry and likely have a consumer-based opinion.

Potential Advisors: A close friend, a relative, spouse/significant other, or a roommate.

Category 4: Outside the Industry/Acquaintance

From business-building advice to a third-person perspective on your life and your business, this type of mentor is one of the most important. For this category, I believe having a business coach is of the utmost importance. Coaches have a background and knowledge of entrepreneurship that can spark poignant conversations and drive business decisions. At ‘ZinePak, we work with a business coach named Marla Tabaka. She knows us well, but not well enough to take sides or spoon-feed us what we want to hear, and that’s what matters. These individuals can also help you gain perspective on the bigger picture, inspire long-term goals, and provide unbiased industry and personal feedback.

Potential Advisors: A recommended and trusted business coach or consultant. Make sure he or she has a current client list, so you can check references!

Kim Kaupe is the co-founder of ZinePak, a custom publication company that creates engaging fan packages for entertainers, brands, and celebrities. She graduated with a B.A. in marketing from the University of Florida and roots loyally for her Gators. Most recently, she was named one of Forbes 30 Under 30. Previously she was named to Advertising Age’s 40 Under 40 List and featured in The Wall Street Journal’s Start Up of the Year Documentary.

Are You Really the Best Person to Lead Your Startup?

Are you doing your job as a leader, or are you hampering your employees’ abilities through misdirected delegation? Should you step down in order for the company to step up? Are you aware of your individual impact on the bigger picture?

You may have started out as the strong, inspirational skipper of a smooth-running ship, but everyone and anyone can potentially burn out – even founders lose interest and the ability to inspire others. Companies pivot all the time, and whether you’re a CEO, manager, or employee the same principles apply to your role as a leader.

Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth

If you’re a leader of a team, and asking how you should lead or follow, you may have already failed. “Lead” and “follow” are not actually mutually exclusive. Leading is more complex, sublime and decisive, but it also entails a bit of following.

Entrepreneur Mark Suster speaks of a time when his company was trying to produce too many products at the same time. One of his managers pulled him aside and advised that the company should narrow their focus. After a company-wide discussion he cut down the number of items in production from four to just one — the one that would ultimately turn out to be an industry-leading product.

Everyone remembers what happened when Steve Jobs resumed leadership over Apple. Double-down focus — minimize in order to maximize. Sound familiar? In Suster’s case, he effectively followed his employee in order to lead, and the company benefited greatly as a result.

On the other hand, when every team member is trying to tell everyone else what to do, and simultaneously listening to no one, it is no longer leading. That’s just (dis)organized chaos, and an effective leader knows how to cut through the noise.

What It Means to Lead

A leader’s job is to ensure the success of the organization — no matter who reports to whom in any given group. At every moment she should be examining, scrutinizing, and constantly asking, “Is what I’m doing helping all of us to succeed?”

Or, in the words of entrepreneur and author Jason Baptiste, ”If that means taking out the trash and picking up low fat, low carb, organic pizza for the team so they can work straight through, then so be it.” You can’t be too proud. Do what needs to be done to help your business thrive.

Leadership is also about empowering, and 31 percent of employees leave if they don’t feel they’re empowered to do their job properly. Are you empowering your employees? If not, it’s time to move out of the way and let someone else take the lead. There still may be many important jobs to do.

Do You Project Great Leadership?

There is more to leading a team of employees than simply telling them what to do. Are you perceived as more than just a manager? Do they respect you as such? Ask your employees. They will tell you.

It’s also okay if you’re not the Leader (capital L intended). Oftentimes, there’s only room for one visionary. However, equally if not more importantly so, the company and organization needs a strong Executor. The one that can see the steps to actualizing the big idea.

The doer. The hands-on manager. The person who dots i’s and crosses t’s. Every “shaper” needs a “finisher” – someone to complete the picture. Nothing is accomplished single-handedly. Just because you might not sit in the CEO seat, doesn’t mean your leadership is somehow less valid or valued. People tend to respect the ones they engage the most with and everyone on the team has the opportunity to lead, even if it sometimes looks like following.

Team Building Is Hard

Leaders are powerless without their teams. They can’t possibly do everything themselves. Finding and keeping the right people is absolutely essential.

Create small teams led by people with a wide range of skills and be generous with your knowledge. That way, if you do have to hand over the reins, you already have someone ready to take over (or at least keep the company running while you search for a successor).

As a startup, we look for ambitious (entrepreneurial-minded), flexible and adaptable people to bring into 15Five. Hiring a new employee on a 90-day mutual trial period is nothing new. What we do is put them into a position, show them what we know and then ask them to find a better way of doing it. By the end of three months, we want them to have grown into a position where they could essentially hire themselves out of the job we originally brought them on board for. And if they’re culturally a great fit, then we know we’ve found a gem.

An Outside Perspective

It takes some fortitude and fearlessness to step outside your role and look objectively at your involvement in an organization. Try putting yourself in the shoes of a stakeholder who is not wrapped up in the day-to-day work, like an investor or advisor. Would they determine that you’re the best fit for your current job description?

The best person for the job should be the one doing the job, and if it means that someone else needs to be the leader of your company, then step aside. It doesn’t mean you have to banish yourself and voluntarily walk out the door with your tail between your legs. It means you’re operating in the best interest of your company. Besides, there may be a capacity that is a better fit for you and ultimately you might just end up more happy, productive, and fulfilled.

Anybody know of a story where a founder or employee successfully handed over the reins or stepped into another position in the best interests of the company at large? Would love to hear from you!

David Hassell is a serial entrepreneur and presently Founder & CEO of 15Five, a SaaS company focused on helping individuals and organizations reach their highest potential. Hailed by Fast Company as the “15 Most Important Minutes of Your Work Week,” 15Five creates an internal communication process that enables the most important information to flow seamlessly throughout an organization.

Your Complete Guide to Working the Conference Scene

I have been going to conferences for startups, technology, and video games for the past 10 years. There are some subtle and massive differences between them that can give an edge depending on your situation and personality.

People attend conferences for three reasons:

Learn
Network/Meetings
Show off their company/product

Knowing why you are going is key. This will help shape your “presence” at the conference. In this case lets define presence as: The way you act, look, dress, and when you take your meetings. Next week I am attending GDC (Game Developers Conference) in San Francisco. It is the most important video game development conference and I have a certain presence for the show.

How to Dress

Video game conferences are not much different from tech & startup conferences. There is plenty of time and room for the top three reasons I listed above but the video game conference trumps all conferences in ability to look dress and act like a rock star.

Next week for GDC I will wear interesting dresses and clothing that I would wear on stage while playing with a band, I used to play keyboard in a couple of bands. I am a big fan of modcloth.com. My husband, Jared, will also wear clothes that make him stand out. The ability to make an impression is important. With a whole week of drinking, meetings, networking, and learning it is very important to be remembered at the end of the conference. Looking and acting like everyone else may help you in a corporation, but in the startup world I feel you need to have a different presence.

I believe this also works for tech and startup conferences but with a more subtle approach. Tone down on the bright colors and look a bit more professionally dressed. Potential investors and partners want you to be interesting, but they also want to make sure you can fit in at a corporate meeting to close deals.

Perfect Your “Meeting Attitude”

Do your homework before you get there. Find out who is going by searching Twitter and LinkedIn updates. People love to schedule meetings before a conference because it provides a schedule to plan their life arround. Before and after meetings prepare for the possibility of serendipitous meetings. These are meetings that could happen through the introduction to a new person from the meeting you have scheduled or through watching twitter while at the conference. It can easily get overwhelming but just keep a cool composure and take a couple of deep breaths. You can do it!

The attitude I try to take to meetings is the same I try to have throughout the entire conference. Be positive, polite, and open. Act like you own the place and care about everything. These actions and feelings help people open up and you can get your agenda accomplished easier while meeting new people. Most of the true deals will wrap up after the conference, allowing you to be more aggressive with terms. I find this is true for both video game and startup conferences.

Manage Your Meetings

The main difference between a videogame conference and a startup conference is when you schedule your meetings. Rule of thumb is at a videogame conference like GDC you never schedule a meeting before 11:30 AM. Video game development is a long hours profession with most workers getting up later in the day and working long into the night. The conference is a place for people to escape the grind by going to parties, concerts, and sometimes doing a lot of drinking. It is important to be courteous to this rule and it also allows you to send out emails in the morning to your team.

A startup conference is all about hustle. Packing in as many important things at one time has its benefits. Most meetings kick off at breakfast and continue through lunch. Making sure you get a good night sleep is important for all conferences, but you really need to be sharp and well rested for startup conferences. If you have any tips regarding other types of conferences please feel free to leave them in the comments below.

Shannon Steffes is the Founder and Art Director for Furywing. She has been involved in tech and video game startups since 2005. Follow her at @shayozzy

3 Key Strategies for Pricing Your Product

When we first launched Ministry of Supply, we sold our Apollo shirt for a whopping $128. Our price for the shirt then moved down to $88, back up to $108 and finally landed on $98.

During all of these changes, we talked to our customers a lot about pricing. We watched conversion rate, listened to what our customers said, asked them what else was in their closet, and thought about the value our shirts give our customers: no more dry cleaning, lots of durability and a shirt for every occasion. Mostly, we debated about how all these factors should influence how we priced our clothing.

We get a lot of questions on pricing from fellow entrepreneurs. How’d we decide to sell our Apollo shirt for $98? What’d we do to test what prices are right? And, how should costs play into pricing analysis?

Given that my co-founder Aman and I were students at MIT Sloan when we launched Ministry of Supply, pricing was a topic that we talked to our professors a lot about. In the end, there were three main things we kept in mind when figuring out pricing:

Understand your customer’s willingness to pay. In pricing class, we learned that 80 percent of managers know how much it cost to produce their product, but only 23 percent know their customers’ willingness to pay. As a customer-centric company, we wanted to understand everything about our customers, including how much they value our products, and what prices made our customers happiest. To do this, we tested pricing a lot, and, analyzed quantitative data such as conversion rate (given different prices), as well as qualitative data, such as their sentiment after we followed up with them for feedback.
Think of the 3 C’s in tandem: cost, customer, competition. None of these individually should cause you to dictate price, but rather, they should form a comprehensive view that allows you to triangulate the price. We viewed our pricing strategy through these three lenses as we adjusted our pricing: we knew what our costs were, we developed an understanding of who our customer was (what does he usually pay for a shirt? Is he price-sensitive?), and we understood our competition’s pricing. However, rather than letting one of these factors dictate our price, we used all three to inform our final decision.
Don’t set prices based purely on cost. As any startup knows, costs depend on sales volume. Sales volume depend on prices. Because your costs will change as you scale, pricing based on cost alone is a dangerous practice. But pricing based on cost also ignores something important, which is the value you create for customers. Think about it: had Pet Rock been priced on cost alone, a lot of money would have been left on the table.

In short, pricing takes a lot of understanding — and a lot of testing. At MoS, we tested prices constantly before settling on the price that was best for us.

Remember: if people are complaining that prices are too high, that tells you something. Conversely, if nobody is complaining about your price, then it’s likely too low.

As for why all of of our prices end with an ’8′? Because it’s a lucky number and looks nice. Hey, not everything is a science – even if you are a business school student.

Kit Hickey is the co-founder of Ministry of Supply, a brand which is inventing the future of men’s professional wear. The company has been featured in NYT, TechCrunch, Inc., Forbes and Elle Magazine. In addition, Kit is a lover of mountain sports and has half an MBA from MIT. Follow her: @kit_hickey

The Secret Startup Resource You’re Probably Overlooking

For successful startup founders, it is critical to understand the distinction between unavoidable challenges and unforced mistakes. Too many startups fail as a result of the same set of predictable mistakes: poor planning, poor timing, poor understanding offinance. It is poor business intelligence. Starters who lack access to the right information or the skills to put that information to work are at a disadvantage.

Smart startup founders look outside their own networks to bring in new skills and gain better access. For better business intelligence, the best person to add to your information network is a librarian. Whether online via chat or at your local library, she can help you navigate the library’s vast, free resources to find the information you need and avoid common, costly mistakes.

Failing to know the market

You have a fantastic idea for a product you’re sure will change lives and make a fortune. But sometimes a passion for an idea can blind you to the realities of the market. Your librarian can help you access databases and the hidden web where you can research patents and use tools such as LexisNexis, JSTOR and Standard & Poor’s to conduct the market research you need to complete before launching.

Lacking focus

Too many startups jeopardize their chances of success by attempting to be multiple things at once. The reality is that most startups struggle to master a single service or product well enough to survive. As you’re piecing together your business plan, a librarian can assist you in researching market conditions, competitors and supply chains to help you focus where you’re most likely to succeed.

Unclear understanding of financials

You don’t need to be a CPA to start a business, but you need to understand the basics of finance. This will help you later as you begin to negotiate loans and equity lines, but more crucially, basic financial literacy will help you determine what is feasible for your business.

Librarians are trained to locate the highest quality, most reputable sources of information and will guide you to the correct resources for assistance.

Failure to listen to customers

Passion is the defining feature of an entrepreneur, and the force that drives success. But passion can be self-defeating if it makes you blind to the preferences of your customers.

Think of the library as a beta site or showroom. It’s a space where you can get your product in front of potential customers from an early stage and see how they react. It may turn out that once your product is in consumers’ hands it gets used in entirely different ways than you imagined. By incorporating the library into your product development process, you will always have real-world usage data to signal consumers’ preferences.

No plan

You need to map where your company will be in 6 months, a year, 2 years and sometimes even longer. Do your homework and determine what you would need to have in place to make it happen. Will it require outside investment? Leverage your library for the resources you need to put together your pitch deck. Will it require continued innovation? Use your library to access scientific and scholarly journals to stay up on the latest developments in your field.

Information is ubiquitous, but finding the right information can be frustratingly illusive. The difference to your success could be the librarians who have both the skills and the sources that could solve many of the problems you face in garnering good, fact-based information, research, statistics and data that could help you avoid many of these problems.

If you make the library a central resource in your business, and depend on the knowledge, training and skills of your librarian, you will find yourself in better control of the information you need to succeed. It’s no secret that founding a business is a difficult and allconsuming occupation, but with a librarian in your corner, you will be able to approach the challenges with a clear mind and deep well of information.

John Chrastka is founder of EveryLibrary, a library advocacy organization dedicated to preserving local library funding and ensuring access. As a former tech entrepreneur, one of John’s goals is to raise awareness of the resources libraries and librarians can provide to the tech community, for free with a library card. John can be found on Twitter at @mrchrastka. You can learn more about EveryLibrary at EveryLibrary.org.

9 Simple Tips to Actually Meet The Right People at SXSW

Learn Who’s Attending Ahead of Time

“Check in with people you want to catch up with to see when they’ll be onsite, and get on their calendars in advance. Once the event starts, send them a quick text or email to remind them about your meeting. Large conferences are too chaotic to ensure that you’ll just casually run into people. You have to make a concerted effort to ensure that the most innocuous of gatherings actually happen.”

Alexandra Levit, Inspiration at Work

Don’t Listen to the Talks

“Most speakers are covering material that can be found all over the Internet. If you want to meet people, hang out in the lobby and the hallways. Strategically position yourself in places that everybody has to walk through, which maximizes your likelihood of bumping into the right people. If you have friends attending, ask them for help with intros to the right kind of people.”

Emerson Spartz, Spartz

Leave Room for Serendipity

“You’ll want to line up some meetings ahead of time, but don’t forget to leave room in your schedule for grabbing lunch with the people you just met or sitting down for an impromptu talk. The benefit of being in the same place as a bunch of interesting people is that you can get very lucky and meet someone without any planning.”

Thursday Bram, Hyper Modern Consulting

Partner With Connectors

“The best way to meet interesting people is through a warm introduction. There are two ways to find introductions at events: through individuals or through brands. Figure out how to add value to an individual so he or she will take the time to make introductions. Similarly, you can volunteer to help a brand at the event so you will be around when others contact them. “

Aaron Schwartz, Modify Watches

Get Exponential Introductions

“My strategy is to always meet a few awesome people early and ask them for the best one to two people they know that I need to know. Meet new people, then repeat this process as often as possible. With the right seed connectors, this can last through the whole event.”

Neil Thanedor, LabDoor

Book All Your Essential Meetings Ahead of Time

“When we send employees to a conference, we often have up to 25 meetings set in advance for them, along with specifically tailored agendas for each contact. By doing an aggressive email campaign before the conference, you can often confirm meetings well in advance so all you have to do once you’re there is go from appointment to appointment.”

Michael Costigan, Youth Leadership Specialist

Go Without a Schedule

“I have settled on the opposite of strategy — I just go and see what happens. If you go with a plan, you’ll struggle at SXSW because there’s no way you’ll stick to it. There’s no point in setting goals you can’t meet. SXSW is a week of serendipity. Who are the right people? You don’t know yet. Random meetings turn into meeting the right people.”

Andrew Angus, Switch Video

Be a Good Date

“There is a preparation process every time you’re about to go on a date: time, place, outfit and even a prospective conversation plan! That’s true of conferences as well. See what events are happening and who will likely attend in order to plan your agenda for a big industry conference. Select a couple of key events, meet some out-of-town business prospects and let the conversations start!”

Lauren Perkins, Perks Consulting

Forget Going to the Conference

“If you are seriously interested in only meeting people, forget the $600 conference badge — just go for the weekend to hang out. You don’t meet many people sitting and listening to talks, but if you know how to work the room over cocktails or know someone to get you into the right parties, then you will have accomplished your mission.”

Matt Wilson, Under30Experiences

Thankfully, the best startup conference is currently only $150, but time’s running out on early adopter tickets. Join us and some great speakers and investors on April 30-May 2. Head over to eetennessee.com to get yours now!

4 Simple Reasons Every Startup Should Bootstrap

greenpalCEO Last year, three friends and I decided to make the plunge and embark onto the journey of building our tech startup GreenPal. At the time, none of us knew how to code or design a product. The only strengths we really had were a great idea and strong work ethic.

Over the course of a year’s time, two of my cofounders taught themselves how to code; one taught himself Photoshop, and I learned a full stack of digital marketing skills. We knew that we would need to become a dynamic self-sustaining team because we simply couldn’t afford to outsource any of these needs; we were bootstrapping our way through our journey.

Bootstrapping may not be feasible for some startups. I believe it will depend on the product idea, its complexity and development difficulty, and its founders’ personal life situation. Needless to say, it’s much easier for two young hackers in their mid-twenties without kids or house payments to bootstrap compared to founders in their thirties who might be have these obligations to service while starting their company.

With that being said, I am a still a proponent that in most cases, tech startups should bootstrap (funding the company out the founder’s pockets) for as long as absolutely possible. My reasoning is based on several principles:

Discipline:

A lack of capital forces efficiency. This forced function requires a startup to make small, meaningful experiments with their own money. A startup burning their own cash will make smarter bets and will measure the outcomes of these bets intensively. Return on investment from the implementation of a new feature, or your Google Adwords spend, and the ROI of outsourced talent for example, will be under a more intense scrutiny when the founders’ cash is being burned. In a startup, capital preservation and measurement of everything, every decision and every expenditure is critical. Scarcity forces these not-so- fun disciplines.

Pain, Sacrifice, and Commitment:

It’s uninspiring to see an entrepreneur burn all of his angel money on a pipe dream. He might have made tighter, more thoughtful decisions and measured his progress better if he had been burning his own cash along the way. Especially in the beginning, when it’s their money, they will make more sacrifices, put in longer hours, put in work on Saturdays and maybe even Sundays when it’s their chips on the table.

When inventing a product an entrepreneur must build quickly and cheaply, measure, and learn. This takes endless hours of commitment. When it’s their money, they will be more inclined to make the sacrifices to commit the time. Time is the blunt object that an entrepreneur can use to break down the walls that stand in the way of your success.

Validated Learning and Team Growth:

With constrained resources (the startups’ own money) they will be forced to do everything themselves, and that’s good because it’s the only way to learn. Alternatively, when funded by outside investor money, the team might be tempted to outsource needs like design, development, SEO, sales etc. When the team is forced to self-execute these disciplines, the start up will grow in that process, creating a group of ruthless warriors that can and will do anything to succeed.

Once entrepreneurs start scaling their team, founders can say, “I’ll never ask you to do anything I haven’t done myself.” More importantly, the team will know what kind of potential team-mates they are looking for. It is infinitely easier to make a solid hire when the core team is proficient in the skill sets that candidates will need to have.

Dilution and Control:

Lastly, when a startup defers seed capital as long as absolutely possible (or ever at all); they preserve their most valuable asset, their founder equity. Challenging the team to defer outside capital and establish traction and problem market fit on its own dime, and challenging the team to monetize day one will allow it to raise funds further down the road at a much higher valuation and less founder equity dilution. The team will also preserve more control. Some angel investors are helpful, but sometimes they can be illogical and overbearing. Bootstrapping ensures the team can side step this potential headache and distraction.

Raising angel/seed capital is relatively easy. With a smart team, a good idea, and a big market, there will have no problem raising angel/seed capital. The reality is, that sometimes, I observe teams burn a year, along with a substantial sum of seed money, and the only progress is the validated leaning that the co-founders have acquired in that time. Unfortunately, in many instances that same learning could have been acquired bootstrapping along that while way. Yes it’s tougher, and a lot less fun, but it makes for a stronger foundation and a team that owns more of their company.

Lastly, I will share a quotation I read on Paul Gram’s blog that I feel embodies bootstrapping: “The best way to do something ‘lean’ is to gather a tight group of people, give them very little money, and very little time.”- Bob Klein, chief engineer of the F-14 program.

Bryan Clayton is a serial entrepreneur and co-founder of GreenPal

3 Simple Ways to Recruit the Best Startup Talent

Adding to your startup’s staff represents a major challenge for many small business owners. While there’s no arguing that bringing on rock star employees can help advance your business objectives faster than bottom-of-the-barrel applicants, you may not have the leverage of high salaries, exorbitant benefits and other perks to offer these top players.

So how can you overcome these challenges in order to secure the best talent for your startup? Consider the following approaches:

Understand What Your Startup Offers

Startup life represents a distinctively different culture than is found within traditional corporations which, for many employees, is actually a perk. According to Rich Sloan, the co-founder of Startup Nation:

“People get involved in a startup for three reasons. One, they like creating; being part of something new. Two, they want to participate in the upside. Three, they want to live a meaningful life, and the closer you are to the success or failure of a business, the more meaning and purpose you feel.”

Knowing that people are seeking out opportunities like the one you have to offer may make it easier to connect with the right people. For example, knowing that employees want to be a part of something “bigger” could make it easier to identify prospective candidates who are experienced, but burnt out of traditional corporate life. You could also use the desire to participate in a startup’s upside. Find recent college grads who are skilled, but not yet tied down to need salaries that support families.

Once you do start looking for new employees, remember that the best people to advertise your company are your existing staff members. Providing a monetary incentive for employees who refer successful candidates can be a good way to quickly find talented people who will fit well in your organization.

Offer Flexible Work Arrangements in Exchange for a Lower Salary

Just because you can’t offer much in the way of compensation to new hires doesn’t mean that you have nothing to bring to the table. In fact, as a growing company, you can provide one major selling point that most corporations can’t – remote work arrangements.

A 2011 study of 3,000 current and recent college students conducted by telecommunications giant Cisco found that two of every five students surveyed said that’d accept lower-paying jobs that came with more flexibility in terms of device choice, social media access and mobility – compared to higher-paying jobs with less flexibility.

Today’s workers are more conscious than ever of their work-life balance, making them especially attracted to jobs that give them the necessary flexibility to run errands, balance child care and take care of other personal business as needed, on their own schedules. As long as you put the necessary precautions in place to ensure that the work gets done, startups are in an ideal place to offer this highly-sought-after perk to high-performing employees.

Provide Other Intangible Benefits

Along these same lines, for most people, work isn’t just about being paid to perform a set of tasks. There are plenty of intangible benefits that are considered part of the job selection process that exist outside of compensation negotiations.

For example, can you:

Offer to help potential employees secure the necessary work visas and permits to live in the U.S. Few companies offer this perk, though doing so can help give you exposure to a much wider pool of talent from around the world.
Provide outstanding training and development opportunities. In most cases, offering to assist employees with the cost of pursuing further certifications is much less expensive than providing higher salaries or better benefits – and may pack just as much of a punch. People want to be associated with companies that invest in them, and operating a training and development program is one way to demonstrate this commitment.
Give employees a percentage ownership in your company. Doing so will provide them with a potentially lucrative tradeoff that encourages taking lower salaries in exchange for future rewards.
Create an engaging, ideal workplace. Bring in a massage therapist on Fridays, treat your staff to weekly coffee outings or arrange for on-site dry cleaning pickup. All of this costs substantially less than what you’d otherwise pay top-performing employees, making it an economical way to create the type of work environment that will attract the best employees in a cost-effective way.

Remember, you wouldn’t be a startup entrepreneur if you didn’t have a creative, independent spirit. Put these virtues to work on your human resources strategy, and you should be able to find ways to bring on top talent without overstepping your budget.

AJ Kumar is the co-founder of Single Grain, a digital marketing agency based in San Francisco. Single Grain specializes in helping startups and larger companies with search engine optimization, pay-per-click, social media and various other marketing strategies.

Get Hired By The Startup Of Your Dreams–No Technical Experience Needed

From Mark Saldana

Joining the tech world might seem like a mysterious process, but I can assure that you don’t need magical powers, luck, or a blessing from Mark Zuckerberg to join a startup. Back in 2009, I was a completely non-technical recent grad (English Major, LOL) who didn’t know ANYTHING about startups. Somehow, I still managed to convince a now well-known file-sharing startup to hire me. If you don’t code or design, you probably won’t have the luxury of turning down offers from startups that are throwing themselves at you. But don’t let that discourage you; there are still plenty of ways to get a awesome startup to give you a chance. Here’s how:

How to Survive a Rebranding and Still Kick Ass

Question: After you go through the rebranding process, how do you build credibility again? Do’s (and don’ts) to share?

Don’t Panic

“In my first venture, there was a partnership divorce, forcing a much-needed rebranding. Because I am in the B2B space, it was not challenging to transition the name. We simply changed our marketing materials, made an announcement and continued on with business. We didn’t make a big deal of it or act panicked, and we found that because we set that example, no one else acted negatively, either. “

Darrah Brustein, Network Under 40 / Finance Whiz Kids

Remember the Proof Is in the Pudding

“Clients, funders and other stakeholders will connect with your brand if you can prove that “who” you are as an organization drives results. Cultivate opportunities to use stories in your conversations, pitches, sales calls, press and so forth that show how you have delivered the results your new brand purports. “

Alexia Vernon, Alexia Vernon Empowerment, LLC

Start by Setting Expectations

“Let people know that you’re still the same committed business owners/team, and the only thing that has changed is the way you talk about what you do — that’s all. Your heart is still in the same place, and you want your existing customers and clients to help you continue to move forward in the right direction. Setting those expectations early on will go a long way.”

Nathalie Lussier, Nathalie Lussier Media Inc.

Enhance Not Only Your Brand, But Your Credibility

“Levo League recently went through a rebranding process, and one of our primary focuses was to maintain credibility throughout. We took the time to host focus groups and surveys, and we used the feedback to stay true to our users’ perceptions of Levo. We wanted our rebranding to enhance the perception that Levo feels like there are real women behind the site, and that it’s a safe space to network. “

Caroline Ghosn, The Levo League

Don’t Wait for Consensus

“To me, the key lesson in branding is to always pick a select few people to be responsible for making the decisions, instead of relying on a whole team of people to come to some sort of consensus. Great design and branding rarely come from compromise.”

Derek Flanzraich, Greatist

Be Open and Honest

“Going through a rebrand is not easy; there are times when you feel like you are running multiple companies at once, working with old and (hopefully) new customers simultaneously. It’s imperative to be truthful with people as you undergo the change. If the rebrand is due in part to some previous weaknesses, be upfront with that information — you’ll be surprised how receptive people are to honesty.”

Charles Bogoian, Kenai Sports, LLC

Get Published

“After we rebranded, we ramped up our guest contributions. We wanted our company leaders to be established as thought leaders, and we wanted to draw people in to check out our company. It made our new brand appear more credible when people found our site via articles our leaders had written. “

Kelsey Meyer, Influence & Co.

Pretend the Old Brand Never Existed

“Pretend the old brand look never existed. Scrub it from the record. Bury it on the web. Pretend you are in a witness protection program, and if anyone ever calls you by an old nickname walking down the street, keep walking. Forward, but never straight. “

Michael Portman, Birds Barbershop

Use Video to Be Honest

“Most startups grow too quickly and sometimes don’t understand how important customer service is. I have seen thousands of bad reviews that will hurt the reputation of many companies as they grow. Rebrand, create a video, put it on your homepage, be honest about the past and talk about the day-to-day changes the company is implementing to avoid issues from the past. “

Ak Kurji, Gennex Brands

Explain (But Don’t Excuse) the Rebranding

“We marketed our services under different brand names and, a few years into it, we decided to consolidate under one company brand. We were clear on why the new brand was better and what changed — choosing to be transparent and using messaging with clarity — and stayed consistent thereon. “

Shradha Agarwal, ContextMedia

Stay True to Your Positioning Srategy

“Before you get into conveying your brand to the world through tactics — design, messaging, marketing — first solidify your positioning hook. At ColorJar, we call this your Golden Purpose — it’s the triangulation of what makes you remarkable, how you outplay the competition and what resonates with your audience. Stay true to this positioning, and everyone will feel your value and authenticity. “

David Gardner, ColorJar

Have a Strong Point of View

“When we went through rebranding, it was important for us to have a strong, singular point of view. We achieved this by having one person in charge of the brand identity, and then encouraged him to use bold visuals and a strong voice in order to create a brand that really grabs people’s attention.”

Kit Hickey, Ministry of Supply

Don’t Lose Your Network

“Even after rebranding, you’ll still have your original foundation of values and extensive network to enhance your credibility. Continue to grow your network and showcase your company’s values throughout a variety of channels. Remain consistent and honest to increase customer satisfaction and overall credibility. “

Heather Huhman, Come Recommended

10 Fundraising Mistakes You’re Probably Making

(image psmag.com)

From Sam Altman

There’s a lot written about what you should do when you raise money, but there hasn’t been as much written about the common mistakes founders make. Here is a list of mistakes I often see:

• Over-optimizing the process

A lot of founders try to get way too fancy with tricks that they think will help them raise money. It’s actually quite simple; if you have a good company, you will probably be able to raise money. You’re better off working to make you company better than working on fundraising jiu jitsu.

Why Mobile is a Whole New Thing & How to Do It Right

From WSJ Accelerators

If you are still thinking that mobile app and web development are a niche or future priority, you need to adapt to today’s reality, and fast. According to Pew Internet, 31% of American mobile Internet users say that’s the primary way they access the web.

We’ve now reached that critical inflection point where more people access the Internet from mobile devices than computers.

As with any platform shift, today’s mobile revolution means major implications and big opportunities for businesses. The problem is that too many companies have underestimated the radical change that mobile brings about. They think of mobile as simply an extension of the Web, rather than an entirely new platform, and they look at the smartphone as just a smaller computer with a lot less memory and processing power.