startup tips Archives - Page 5 of 26

Marc Andreesen: High Functioning Businesses Aren’t Disneyland

We’re all familiar with the stories of founder relationships gone sour. It’s a common tale:

Founders arrive on the scene with a hot new product. Raise crazy amounts of money. See enormous traction and get tons of hype from the press and their peers.

Then, out of the blue (it seems), there’s division and strife. One founder leaves, or is ousted. Lawsuits, hard feelings, drama.

It would be easy to chalk this up to the youth culture of startup land, and Silicon Valley in general. It would be easy to say that if founders were more mature when they were handed millions of dollars of venture capital this wouldn’t be such a common story.

Maybe there’s truth there, but according to Marc Andreesen’s latest tweetstorm, dysfunction in the highest levels of any business is normal. We like to think of building businesses as dispassionate, analytical endeavors: figure out what makes money and do that.

But what if there are fundamental differences in how the founders see themselves making money? Suddenly, even the smartest, most analytical people are at a stalemate. Throw in the passion for their companies that most founders have, and it’s no wonder there are hard feelings.

According to Andreesen, that’s okay.

Moral? Business is stressful.There’s constant conflict, emotion, even anger. Building a company is an intense experience, period. Harnessed properly, this is the crucible out of which high performance and great results emerge. Satisfaction of overcoming challenges.

To quote Jim Barksdale, “This isn’t a family, and I ain’t your daddy.” But together we can build great things & make our grandkids proud.

Are you building great things? Then it’s time to take a deep breath and expect some drama.

What’s the Number One Thing At Your Startup?

From Angela Tran Kingyens

A few weeks ago when Boris wrote about overcoming decision paralysis, I shared a comment that I make important decisions by evaluating my choices based on how they align with my core values. For years now, I have been encouraging nearly everyone that I meet to take some time to reflect on his or her values for this exact purpose (among many others).

People often talk about the importance of leading a value-driven life or business, but what exactly are values? They are at the core of our happiness, the source of our inspiration, and foundation of our close relationships. They serve as our compass and guide our decision-making. They shape our character both in our personal lives and at work.

4 Quick Lessons in Scaling Your Startup

My startup experience began in college at what ended up becoming a very successful company. After graduating, I moved on to a corporate role at IBM. As I learned the ropes at an established company, I continued investing and advising startups on the side. Finally, two years ago, I founded my latest company, SimpleRelevance.

Through each career move, I’ve learned the value of practicing an intentional business strategy. Putting short and long-term goals against decisions and challenging my own choices has been the best way for each of my companies to pivot and evolve. Here are few of the lessons I’ve learned in my latest endeavor and over the years:

Fast Cash Doesn’t Sell

Telling a prospect that you’ll earn them $20 dollars for every $1 dollar they spend on your solution seldom works. It seems too good to be true. While your promise might still stand, it can’t be the sole selling point of your product or service. In the customer’s experience, there probably was someone who couldn’t deliver on such a bold statement before you.

To beat a potential customer’s skepticism, it’s important to offer proof of credibility. This can be done using case studies or testimonials from past and current clients, through trial period offers or product guarantees. For SimpleRelevance, we know there is a certain amount of noise in the marketing services space, but we’ve found continuous success for each client on each campaign, and have the proof to back it up.

Find the Right Target

Make sure the person you’re talking to has a stake in the conversation. In the past, I spent time and energy explaining the importance of using my solution to the wrong person because I was looking to get my foot in the door. It never worked out well. If the person isn’t directly impacted by your value proposition, they’re not likely to make the purchase or even hand you off to the right person.

Find the person responsible for showing results in the specific part of the business your product affects. For us, it’s often a CMO, director of marketing, or person in charge of email marketing. These are the folks who feel support and recognition for increased sales directly correlated with email personalization. They’re the people who are actively seeking new, better technology to make their lives easier. Find someone who would get the pat on the back for choosing you, and you have potential for a real conversation.

Find Your Differentiator

There are a lot of industries that seem crowded, including marketing services. Recognizing the amount of noise in your space is key to fighting it. For SimpleRelevance, there is often a misconception about who our competition actually is because of the plethora of buzzwords that describe the industry: email marketing, email service provider, email optimization, digital marketing, etc. There are thousands of companies who fit in each of these buckets, but very few who are direct competitors offering the same outcome.

Going through the TechStars process taught our team the importance of being thoughtful about how we position ourselves against our competition. It’s absolutely mandatory to be crisp, concise and to the point about what we do. This eliminates confusion from jargon and shows our prospects how we can truly help them. We’ve actually got ours down to about 10 words: SimpleRelevance plugs into existing tools to optimize an email at the individual level. Spend time refining your real message and differentiating factor so when a prospect compares you to your competitors, you’re able to explain exactly why you’re the better choice.

Scale Thoughtfully

Finally, when founding a startup, the inability to scale properly is an often overlooked internal issue. There is no shortcut leading a company from under 10 employees to 40-plus. Instead, each department must mature at the same rate, or at least close to it. Product, sales, marketing, operations and customer service all require equal attention to detail and support. When things get out of sync, the business loses equilibrium, which causes unnecessary internal hurdles.

Some startups take growth where they can get it and expect things to even out on their own. That works sometimes, but more often than not, these issues can cause even a five-year old company to implode. Remember, happy employees make a company successful, and instability threatens that.

There are many more lessons I’ve learned from founding SimpleRelevance, but all of these suggestions have one principle in common – be thoughtful. Successful businesses aren’t built in a year and they don’t materialize out of thin air. But with deliberate choices, the right message and the right team, yours will come together with time.

Erik Severinghaus is the founder & CEO of SimpleRelevance, a Chicago-based company focused on digital marketing personalization. Prior to that he received a patent while in IBM‘s IT Optimization organization, and helped co-found iContact – a leading Email Service Provider.

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.

Why You Shouldn’t Care About What You’ve Done

From Satya Patel

At Homebrew, Hunter and I are very focused on “Why” a founder has chosen to start a company and what motivates him or her to attack the specific problem or opportunity he or she sees. But also important is the “how”, the approach the entrepreneur has taken to address the opportunity. Often, when we starting talking about the “how”, we hear about a lot of different ideas being considered and experiments being run in an effort to find product/market fit. But at the seed stage, entrepreneurs often focus only on what they’re doing without being equally attentive to what they’re learning. “Being busy” by itself does not equate to building a company. You should be learning with every step so that you can find a scalable model of success.

Focusing on the key questions and how best to answer them

To create an organization that learns and doesn’t just do, I’m a big advocate of the scientific method approach to building product (and companies more generally). The scientific method is a simple framework that can help startups focus, experiment, learn and iterate quickly and effectively. Below is a description of that method along with a simplified example of an experiment we ran at Twitter (not the actual data).

The David and Goliath Guide to Innovation: Don’t Always Solve New Problems

We’re always looking for that untapped holy grail of a new market. Something super niche. Something that no one else thought to go after. It’s exciting. It’s sexy.

And as entrepreneurs, we’re programmed to ask ourselves:
What new problems can I solve?

But why don’t we ask ourselves more often:
How can I solve problem X better than company Y?

We’re becoming so programmed to look for the “new”, that we’re becoming averse to solving existing problems, better.

Maybe it’s because it’s just plain daunting to think about going up against a Goliath when you’re a David. And even if you’re incredibly confident that you’ve found a better way to do things, there are a million reasons to talk yourself out of going up against a heavy hitter. It’s intimidating.

But actually, it happens all the time. Some of the most successful companies of the last couple years didn’t come up with an idea that required a new market. They solved old problems in new ways.

Take Lyft and Uber for example—going up against the Taxi unions. Stripetaking on PayPal. KISSMetrics and Mixpanel taking on Google Analytics.

What it really comes down to is finding a way to do things better (whether it’s a new problem or an old one), and knowing what and where your advantages are.

In his book, “David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants”, Malcolm Gladwell takes the stance that David, not Goliath, actually had the advantage in that battle.

“It is because of, and not despite, David’s size and unorthodox choice of weapon that he is able to slay the lumbering giant[…]most people underestimate the importance of agility and speed.”

“David’s sling is a devastating weapon[…]Then we have a big, lumbering guy weighed down with armor, who can’t see much more than a few feet in front of his face, up against a kid running at him with a devastating weapon and a rock traveling with the stopping power of a .45 caliber handgun. That’s not a story of an underdog and a favorite. David has a ton of advantages in that battle, they’re just not obvious.” -Malcolm Gladwell

So how do you take on a Goliath?

We recently interviewed Todd Garland, founder of BuySellAds (BSA). He opened up about his experience and the challenges of taking on his Goliath, and diving head first into a dinosaur of an industry: online banner advertising.

“I was pretty naive going into it. Had I known it was a David & Goliath situation, I probably wouldn’t have done it. But that’s the beauty of being naive and being able to take a fresh perspective on an industry with a ton of baggage. Just being able to go into it with a fresh set of eyes and looking at how you can break down a problem at the most simple level, and how you can help people solve their problem.” -Todd

When he entered the market in 2008, he was up against the then dominantAdBrite. It seemed like they had all the advantages: a huge existing customer base, a big team of sales people, tons of options for advertisers to place ads, tons of features, etc. But AdBrite was clunky, and they were complicated.Todd saw a better way — a need for massive simplification.

And that became the key difference for BSA. They sold ads at fixed 30 day rates. And that was the only option. They focused on making it incredibly simple for publishers to get ads up on their site, and easy for them to get paid.

“I found a better way to get advertiser money and ‘Robin Hood’ it over to the publishers.” -Todd

What it came down to is that he really understood the product that he was trying to build, and he really understood the problem that he was solving. So he was able to articulate that really well to folks who he had identified as having that same problem.

Then, he just looked for them online. And the hard work began. He emailed, he cold called, he built personal relationships anywhere and everywhere he could. He hustled.

Fast forward about 6 years and BSA has a team that spans worldwide, they’ve got an established customer base, brand, infrastructure, etc.

“It’s always going to hard for any company to launch a new thing. That’s an important lesson for folks starting out for the first time, and maybe people launching their first company to understand.

While you may think you’re up against Goliath, because they already have a customer base, and they have tech, and they have a team, and they have money and all those things, it really is much more of a level playing field than you might think.” -Todd

Listen to the full interview with Todd on The Rocketship Podcast or subscribe on iTunes to receive all of our founder interviews.

Joelle Steiniger is Co-Founder of Small HQ, currently building HookFeed, a Stripe analytics app. She’s also writing How to Build a Rocketship and co-hosting the Rocketship Podcast.

Follow her on Twitter at: @JoelleSteiniger

This post originally appeared on Medium.

4 Reasons You Need a Cofounder For Your Startup

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it will not be possible to clone yourself during your lifetime. Major bummer, right? That means that uttering, “If only there were two of me, I could get this done so much faster!” under your breath is never going to be a viable solution for getting something done, no matter how much you will it to happen. That includes starting a business. I’m sorry.

With that cold hard truth out there in the open, let’s talk about an alternative. If it’s physically impossible to be in two places at the same time, what’s the next best thing? As I pondered this question while trying to decide whether or not to leave my secure, well-paying corporate job to start my own company, I began to consider enlisting the help of a partner in crime.

How I Found (and Pitched) My Co-Founder

There is no shortage of stories on co-founders. For every horror story about a business partnership gone awry, there are glowing commentaries about perfect, made-in-heaven matches that joined forces to conquer the world. Don’t believe me? Do a Google search. There are thousands of thought leaders arguing passionately on both sides of the issue. As with most things in life, the truth can probably be found somewhere in the middle.

For me, the decision to start ‘ZinePak with a co-founder came down to the simple fact that I thought it would be more enjoyable with someone else. I knew that the company— which creates custom publications for celebrities, brands and VIP-style ticketing for special events — would likely start out as a home-based business with freelance partners. I didn’t like the idea of being isolated.

My co-founder Kim Kaupe and I were co-workers at an advertising agency. Although we didn’t know each other all that well, I enjoyed working with her and thought our complementary skills (my background was in entertainment and hers was in magazine publishing) would benefit the business. When I told her about ‘ZinePak, I positioned it as a soft pitch.

“I’m planning on doing this new thing,” I said. “I think it’s going to be a lot more fun than what I’m doing here. You’d be really great at it, too. What do you think?”

Formalizing Our Relationship

A few days later, she said, “About that thing you’re doing. It sounds pretty cool. I’m in.” That night we went to Starbucks after work and sketched out an idea of what the company would look like. How much capital would we need? How would we get customers? How would we get vendors? Did we need employees right away?

We made our best guesses to each question and decided we would figure the rest out along the way. We agreed on an equity split, did a Google search to determine what corporate structure was most appropriate, and set up email addresses at our shiny new domain name. And with that, our business partnership was solidified.

Could Kim and I have spent months formalizing a 60-page partnership agreement and trying to map out every single hypothetical for the next twenty years? Of course. But we focused that energy on building an amazing company instead. We still don’t have a full-executed partnership agreement. We’ll probably get around to it one day, but in the meantime, we both trust each other to do the right thing.

The Benefits of a Two-Founder Team

Although I don’t have children, I imagine that starting a company alone must be something like being a single parent. In the early stages of a business, a startup requires almost around-the-clock attention. I didn’t get seven consecutive hours of sleep in the first 18 months of ‘ZinePak. The sleep I did get was filled with dreams (and sometimes cold-sweat-inducing nightmares!) about the work awaiting me in the morning.

The same way parents divide the responsibilities of raising a child and celebrate milestones together, co-founders can divvy up the workload and share in the accomplishments of their growing company. (We like to joke that ‘ZinePak is out of the toddler stage and onto the pre-school stage. Top of the class, naturally!) The benefits to this approach are many:

You can take a (real) break. Having a co-founder is like a permission slip to be at less than 100 percent on your bad days. It makes things that are nearly impossible for a one-(wo)man-show — like calling in sick or going on a vacation — much more plausible. And it makes the best days even better, because there is someone celebrating every victory with you.
Make better decisions. And there’s no law that says you have to agree with your co-founder 100 percent of the time. In fact, it’s better when you don’t. A certain level of discord means that you’re both championing opposing views. This creates an opportunity to discuss the merits of each viewpoint and ultimately decide which direction is better for the future of the company.
Focus on what you’re good at. When Kim and I started ‘ZinePak almost three years ago, our approach to dividing workload was, “I’ll work on whatever you’re not working on!” While it wasn’t ideal, it gave us both a chance to become intimately familiar with every aspect of our company. As time went on, we learned how to focus our efforts based on our mutual strengths — which, luckily, are complementary in almost every way, so we’re both able to do the day-to-day work we love while continuing to evolve our company. This is an important ingredient to making our relationship — and our company — work.
Double your odds. While having a business partner is, admittedly, not as cool as having a carbon copy of yourself running around, it’s much less creepy — and doubles your odds of being in the right place at any given time. Whether it’s an important event where you need to talk to dozens of people or simultaneous meetings on opposite sides of the globe, having someone you can trust to represent your business with the same level of integrity and passion as you is a huge advantage.

I encourage all would-be founders to look for a partner to take the wild ride of entrepreneurship with. No one but your co-founder — not your spouse, roommate, investors, or employees — will understand the experiences you have or the impact they have on you, both personally and professionally. Just like an awesome roller coaster is more fun if you’ve got a friend sitting next to you, starting a business with a partner can mean twice the excitement, creativity, enjoyment, and reward.

Brittany Hodak is the co-founder of ZinePak, a custom publication company that creates fan packages for entertainers, brands, and athletes. She holds an M.S. in Marketing from CUNY Baruch’s Zicklin School of Business and a B.A in Public Relations from the University of Central Arkansas. In 2010, she was named to Billboard’s 30 Under 30 List. More recently, she and her co-founder Kim Kaupe were named to Advertising Age’s 2013 40 Under 40 List.

8 Tips You Should Read Before Raising A Seed Round

Minutes before the first meeting of my startup’s seed round, a wise advisor pulled me aside. “This is going to be wild,” he warned, with a knowing smile. “Brace yourself.”

Several months later, after raising $850,000 for my startup, ReelGenie, the ride has stopped (for now). I hopped off the fundraising roller coaster with memories of unexpected thrills, a few bruises, and many lessons for the future.

Here are eight things that I know now that I wish I’d known then:

Network like there’s no tomorrow. You never know where you’ll meet a future investor. ReelGenie’s investors include professors of mine from years ago, former co-workers, and individuals who I met at an event and loved spending time with. Put yourself out there. Unless you’re already rich and/or famous — and if you’re reading this article, that’s probably not the case —investors won’t just flock to you.
Cast a wide net, smartly. Most people you talk to will say no. So play the numbers game. The more potential investors you speak with, the higher your chances of success. But I say that with two caveats. First, do some homework so you’re targeting people who are likely to love your deal, rather than wasting time with those who won’t. Second, stay organized. Keep track of every communication you make. If you can’t convince an investor that you’re equipped to handle fundraising, good luck convincing them you can run a company.
Seek out points of validation. If I never hear the phrase herd mentality again, I’ll be a very happy man. But the reality is that’s how fundraising works. Investors don’t want to be alone if the ship sinks. Lock down a few smart investors early. Get early adopters and evangelists for your funding, just like you do for your product or service. And find a lead investor. He or she doesn’t have to put in the most money, but a respected investor running the process will give others more confidence in your deal and help speed things up.
Find investors who can do more than just write a check. Chances are you’re relatively inexperienced and going up against competitors with deeper pockets. So how do you tip the scales in your favor? Use the fundraising process to find helpful advisors. The best investors are those who can give you strategic guidance, make introductions, and write a big check (today and in your future rounds). Not all investors are good for your company. This is especially true in the current environment of the Series A crunch. Plan a few steps ahead. Your fundraising goal should be to find long-term partners, not a short-term cash infusion.
Valuation is what the market will bear. Just because your friend raised $5 million at a $15 million pre-money valuation doesn’t mean that you should too. Investors are willing to pay what they think the company’s worth, so don’t set yourself up for disappointment. Securing ample funding for your company should be a higher priority than your dilution. With that said, shop around. Don’t accept the first offer. The earlier you start fundraising and the less desperate you seem, the better your chances of getting multiple bids — and a valuation you’ll be excited about.
Don’t let fundraising take over your business (or your life). As the CEO of a company, your first priority is running the company. It’s not rocket science, but it’s hard to keep that perspective when fundraising season rolls around. The emotional strain is inevitable. One day you’re riding high off a great meeting, the next day you‘re sadly marveling at how many different ways someone can tell you no. It’s important to put your blinders on. Set aside time for fundraising each day. If you do, you will get things done. Finding customers and motivating your employees will come more easily. As your metrics improve, so will your odds of raising money and your valuation.
You can raise money outside of Silicon Valley. Most of our investors are on the opposite side of the country, in Washington, D.C. Listening to entrepreneurs, you’d think raising capital is harder than getting a bill through Congress. It’s not. As Tech Cocktail recently reported, the D.C. angel scene is alive and well. And there’s money to be found in your city, too. You don’t need to move to the Valley. But you do need to be tenacious in networking (see #1) and understand what investors in your area are looking for. Tailor your pitch to your environment. And if that doesn’t work, hop on a train or a bus to meet with investors in other cities. Now more than ever, capital is mobile. You should be too.
Say “Thank you.” A lot. One of my favorite books is Robert Fulghum’s All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. Twenty-five years (and two degrees) after I graduated kindergarten, it’s amazing how the simple lessons of life haven’t changed. Remember, investors are deciding whether to give you money. A great business plan is worth less if you’re a jerk. So be thoughtful. Say thank you when someone makes an introduction or takes a meeting. Follow up. Be a giver, not a taker (and read Adam Grant’s fascinating new book to learn what that means). Put a personal touch on every call or email. By simply being polite and respectful, you’ll give yourself a leg up in fundraising, if not in all aspects of your business.

David Adelman is the Founder and CEO of ReelGenie, an online platform that revolutionizes the way stories are told and shared. David is also Founder and CEO of Reel Tributes, the premier producer of high-end documentary films. Reel Tributes’ films preserve timeless stories and memories for families and family-owned businesses.

Making It Add Up: Understanding the Financial Sections of the Business Model Canvas

Any successful founder can tell you the financial section of your business model canvas should not be ignored, even if you tend to look at your finances and find the subject to be tedious or a bit overwhelming. This kind of thinking leads some foundres to simply ignore this aspect of their business and hope it all works out. This is why a business plan is so crucial. It forces business owners to take a close look at their finances and how the rest of their plans regarding their business strategy, products, marketing, and sales will meld together to create the profitable business they’ve been working so hard to build.

Having a plan in place before jumping into business is an essential step to take if you are looking to maintain a viable business. If you are looking to secure a bank loan or want to win over investors, the financial section of your business plan is one of the most essential components, according to Elizabeth Wasserman, contributing writer for Inc. A business financial plan is even important for those businesses that aren’t seeking financial support, as it will become a roadmap in which you can steer your business to financial success.

Cash Flow Is King

Your cash flow projections provide investors with the information they need to determine if your business will be a good credit risk. Information from your balance sheets, sales forecasts, and other assumptions make up your business’s cash flow statement, which has to account for every dollar that comes into and goes out of your business. This shows potential lenders and investors whether or not you will be able to meet your commitments within that agreed upon timeframe, especially the repayment of any loans.

Projecting Business Income

Within your business financial plan you need to include an income statement that will forecast your businesses profits and losses for the next three years. The income statement, in essence, is your business’s bottom line. It includes numbers from your sales forecast, cast flow statement, and projections about your expenses. As a new business, your income statement would need to include your projected sales and your expected expenses. After your expenses have been subtracted from your projected sales, you’ll be left with your net income. It is this number that banks and investors look at to decide if your business will be a good risk.

Making It All Add Up

Your financial plan isn’t complete until you’ve dealt with the assets and liabilities that weren’t included in your income statement. The balance sheet is used to project the net worth of your business at the end of each fiscal year. When completing a balance sheet, it is important that your assets and liabilities are perfectly balanced. If you are seeking financing and your numbers don’t add up, you’ll be asked to explain the inconsistency. The best way to ensure your balance sheet adds up is to focus on listing your assets first, then move on to your liabilities. If they don’t balance perfectly, go back and find out what you missed. Never just plug in a number to make the two sides match. This can make you look sloppy and may end up costing you in the end.

The financial section of your business plan is intended to help you see where your business stands in regards to how much financing you will need. It also helps potential investors in determining whether or not you are a good investment. They will want to know when their investment will pay off and exactly how much of a return they will get, according to Investopedia. To ensure you get the backing you need to get your business up and running, you want to make sure the financial section of your business plan includes the right information and is error free.

How A 1% Change Could Make or Break Your Startup

From Buffer Blog

In 2010, Dave Brailsford faced a tough job. NibzNotes25

No British cyclist had ever won the Tour de France, but as the new General Manager and Performance Director for Team Sky (Great Britain’s professional cycling team), that’s what Brailsford was asked to do.

His approach was simple.

Brailsford believed in a concept that he referred to as the “aggregation of marginal gains.” He explained it as the “1 percent margin for improvement in everything you do.” His belief was that if you improved every area related to cycling by just 1 percent, then those small gains would add up to remarkable improvement.

They started by optimizing the things you might expect: the nutrition of riders, their weekly training program, the ergonomics of the bike seat, and the weight of the tires.

But Brailsford and his team didn’t stop there. They searched for 1 percent improvements in tiny areas that were overlooked by almost everyone else: discovering the pillow that offered the best sleep and taking it with them to hotels, testing for the most effective type of massage gel, and teaching riders the best way to wash their hands to avoid infection. They searched for 1 percent improvements everywhere.

5 Essential Leadership Lessons from a Working Mom

I have been an executive director for 10 years, a mom for three, and I have a lifetime of work ahead of me. Five key things have helped me get to where I am today and will continue to guide me in the future:

Use Your Gender to Your Advantage

Being the only woman in a room full of men makes you stand out, which makes it easier for people to take an interest in you and your cause. This can help you attract opportunities that the typical male CEO wouldn’t. As a woman, you can also serve as an example for other potential leaders and ultimately begin to change the gender ratio in leadership.

It is important to note that men and women run organizations differently; and that’s a good thing. Leaders can learn from each other. My male counterparts inspire me to be more aggressive, while they often look to me for my management skills. In my experience, a presence of both male and female leaders at the table is important. So embrace what you’re bringing to the table as a woman.

Be Resolute in Your Decision to Be a Working Mom

I recently had an emergency coffee break with my directors. We were commiserating about how, for working moms, things are either going really well or falling apart. One day you feel like you can do anything. The next, your kid is sick and crying, begging you not to go as you get in the car to leave for work. You feel like a terrible mother for leaving and a terrible ED for considering ditching your responsibilities. That is the roller coaster of being a working mom.

How do I cope? Some days are better than others. But the most important thing is to be resolute in your decision. You have to know in your heart, at your core, that working is the right decision for you. When your kid is crying as you leave for work, you better be absolutely certain about your choice. If you have doubts, it’s just too easy to rationalize staying home for your child. Accept that there will be trade-offs. I wanted to go to my daughter’s medal ceremony for gymnastics the other day, but I had to make an important call. At my core I remember that I am still a good mother, and I am still a good executive director. It’s a process of constant soul-searching, but I know I made the right decision.

Being a Mom Can Make You a Better Leader

If you don’t have a child to rush home to, you can afford to work 24/7. When you’re a mom, you have to get home at a certain time. You can’t work all night or all weekend, especially if you’re the primary caregiver. This forces you to be more efficient at work, cut out the unnecessary stuff and focus on the important things.

Being a mom also forces you to be more hands off at work, trust your team more and give them more freedom, which is ultimately good for everyone.

Embrace Your Strengths and Weaknesses

A lot of people talk about whether women, as leaders in the workplace, should be as aggressive as men. My advice: don’t be anything you’re not.

Personally, it’s not in my nature to be aggressive. Asking me to be aggressive is asking me to not be who I am. A mentor once told me to evolve, grow, and learn new skills, but not to fundamentally change who you are. In my case, I realized that in order to be more aggressive, I really needed to be less afraid of people saying no. I worked on becoming more comfortable asking people for money and ultimately became more aggressive in fundraising, but by no means did I become an aggressive person.

It is important to evaluate (and re-evaluate) your weaknesses and work on overcoming them. But make sure you make a plan tailored to who you are. If you’re just not an aggressive person, you won’t become a shark overnight. Figure out what new skills you can learn and ways you can adapt to changing circumstances to become more aggressive in a way that makes sense for you.

Most importantly, be strong – not necessarily strong-armed, but strong-standing in what you believe.

Trust Your Team (And If You Don’t, Get a New Team)

A lot of my female colleagues, myself included, struggle with control. Especially as a founder, I tend to want things done a certain way and don’t trust others to do things exactly how I want them done. I began decentralizing responsibilities out of necessity as GFG expanded. I realized that if I kept running both GFG’s operations and fundraising, we would flounder. So, over a year ago I hired our first COO. I needed to realize that I wasn’t good at everything. I looked for people who would complement my skills and compensate for my weaknesses.

When working with a team, keep your eye on the prize. Focus on the final product and don’t get nitpicky about the process. Everyone has different processes, but what matters is that you’re on the same page about the deliverable. You can’t micromanage every step of the way – you have to step back and trust your team. Trust me, it can be very liberating!

Melissa Kushner is the Founder & Executive Director of www.goodsforgood.org. She runs offices in New York City and Lilongwe, Malawi where her small team runs programs with big impact. goods for good supports over 70,000 orphans and children in need. goods for good provides goods and build businesses at community centers, Malawi’s grassroots and sustainable solution to the orphan crisis.

10 Lies You’re Probably Telling Yourself

Oh, the lies that entrepreneurs tell themselves. Even when all signs point to the contrary, it can be very easy to make up excuses for why your business isn’t succeeding. Here are some of the worst lies that entrepreneurs tell themselves, and the (sometimes) hard truths:

The money will come eventually. You think that if your idea is top notch, if the product/service you’re offering solves a real problem, or if you have true passion and drive, that your company will succeed and eventually start making some real money. This is a fallacy. It’s easy when you’re busy growing your company to buy into this lie, but incredibly dangerous. It may be true that there is a pot of gold further down the road, but you can’t just count on it being there. You must plan for it.
If I price low enough, I can attract more business. This may be true in some sense. You may bring in more business if your prices are lower than your competition’s. But if your pricing isn’t covering your costs and allowing for the kind of margin you need to make a profit to at least live on, you’re shooting yourself in the foot. You need to figure out your gross profit (how much you need to cover fixed costs — from salary to materials to marketing). Based on this figure, you can calculate your gross profit margin and figure out how much you need to make in sales.
If something isn’t working, I can always change direction. Pivoting is an essential startup business practice. Knowing when to change direction, tweaking your offerings, and repositioning yourself in the marketplace are all good things. But this isn’t a magic bullet. You can’t just shift with the wind and expect things to work out. You need to base a direction change on number-driven data that guides and supports your plan. Before you change direction, you need to map out what steps you will take.
All I need to succeed is more volume. Quantity is a good marker for business success, but it’s not the only one. Increasing volume can lead to scaling issues. Instead of pursuing more customers, think about what other tactics you could take. How could you increase your dollar per customer? How can you save on costs per product? How can you increase customer satisfaction to ensure customer loyalty and increase the customer value over time? These metrics are just as important as volume.
I will only hire the best. Of course you want top-notch employees, but you may need to redefine who that is. Find out what positions can be outsourced to save on astronomical staffing costs. Top team members are expensive. Sometimes they are worth that cost, but remember that you can also hire for potential, rather than experience. Under-staffing is a good choice for many bootstrapped startups.
My time is best spent focusing on my industry. Not exactly. Of course you want to be on top of what’s going on in your industry, but if you want to see the big picture, get fresh perspectives, and make valuable connections, you need to look outside of your niche. Business partners outside of your area are sometimes the most valuable contacts you can have.
I’ve tried X and it doesn’t work so I’m done with it. Just because you’ve tried something before, doesn’t mean you can’t tweak it and try again. Sometimes small changes can have a big impact. For example, a colleague of mine who was VP of Marketing for a huge company had had little success with affiliate marketing. He was thinking of shutting down this marketing channel but, instead, decided to put some real money and time behind it. He hired someone solely responsible for managing the program. This one change made for astronomical increases in revenue for the company.
X has always worked for me in the past, so if I just keep doing it, I will be successful. Just because you’ve always done something a certain way, doesn’t mean it’s the best way, the most efficient way, or the most cost-effective way. As an entrepreneur, you need to keep an open mind and always look for better solutions. Even if your way was the best way at some point, times change, markets change, economic conditions change, and the competitive landscape changes. Business is dynamic. You need to be too.
My passion for my company won’t allow me to fail. Wrong. Without determination and persistence — and a real love for what you’re doing — you won’t be able to see this thing through to the finish line. But passion, in and of itself, isn’t enough. You need to execute. A lot of hard work goes on behind the scenes.
My product/service is so great that my business can’t fail. We’d like to believe this fallacy, but unfortunately it’s not true. A great idea is important. If there’s a real market for your idea, then you’re already a couple of steps ahead in the game. But it’s not enough.

A dash of optimism is a good entrepreneurial characteristic. You’re going to face a lot of setbacks, so the ability to put on some rose-colored glasses to improve the view is understandable. But when you begin to repeat the same lies and make them your mantra, you’re preventing clarity, masking opportunities, and getting in the way of your growth. When you stop lying to yourself, you can start anew. That’s where real change lies: that’s the future of your company.

David Ehrenberg is the founder and CEO of Early Growth Financial Services, an outsourced financial services firm that provides early-stage companies with day-to-day transactional accounting, CFO service, tax, and valuation services and support. He’s a financial expert and startup mentor whose passion is helping businesses focus on what they do best. Follow David @EarlyGrowthFS.

How to Know Your Strengths Before You Start

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Maybe you are just thinking of starting a business. Or perhaps you have already begun, but are quickly realizing you can’t do everything yourself. If either of these scenarios sounds familiar, I’d like to share with you a great approach I’ve discovered for soliciting honest opinions without stepping on any toes — and learning which weaknesses I need to address, stat.

Only the Strong Survive

Getting to know your strengths and weaknesses is easier said than done. Many of us think we’re great at certain things, whereas others would perceive us as being “C” or “D” students at best. So how do you get an accurate picture of your strengths and weaknesses, and why does it matter?

Accuracy in perception is important. Knowing where you excel will guide you through your goal-making process, and knowing where you are weak will steer you towards the right moments to ask for help. Plus, if you know where you are weak, you can also figure out where your money will help you the most. For example, hire an accountant or bookkeeper if you’re not great with numbers. Hire a writer if the world of words doesn’t tickle your fancy. This method can even be applied to choosing a partner or team members, both which are very important aspects of the business-planning process.

How to Conduct a “No Blame” Survey

Start your self-assessment by making a simple list of every business skill you can think you have. Then, add other skills that you think make a good leader/business owner. Add any additional questions you think would be helpful.

To get you started, these are a few questions I ask my team to answer at the end of individual projects:

Did I make you feel comfortable about making your own decisions pertaining to the tasks you were responsible for throughout the project?
What could I have done on this project to be a better leader?
What did you most appreciate about me as a leader throughout this project?
What’s one thing you think we could do differently as a team on the next project?
Now ask as many people as you dare to rate you in the same way through an anonymous survey. You can do this using an online surveying tool like SurveyMonkey, or use Forms in Google Drive.

Tell people not to put their name on it. This way, you won’t be offended by anyone’s opinion and they will feel safe to tell the whole truth. I’ll never forget a programmer’s expression when I asked him to fill out an anonymous survey about me so I could improve on my leadership and management skills. He laughed out loud and said, “Wow, you take this personal development stuff very seriously!” I do, and you should too.

Do not open any of the surveys until you’ve collected at least 10, and only ask people that know you or have worked with you directly.

Tip: Take a deep breath before you open them and keep an open mind about why you’re doing this: to become super-honest with yourself and to find teammates who can account for your weaknesses. I’ve personally had a few responses that left me wanting to scream, but I’m better for having received the honest feedback.

Knowing what you need to put energy into and where you can relax can mean the difference between a smooth ride and one full of potholes. Why not take the smooth road?

A Note for Survey Newbies

To find your range, look at all the results (except for your own) for one skill. Now write your lowest and highest score. That is your range. Ranges can tell you how much or little people agree about your results. If most everyone agrees (meaning a short range of numbers like 4-6), I would take that as good information and use it to your advantage.

To find your mean score (or “average”) you simply take all the results from one skill and add them together. After you get the total, write that number down. Now count how many survey respondents answered the question. You then divide the total score number by the total number of surveys filled out. This means if you scored 200 and 20 people filled out the survey, you scored a perfect 10! Your mean is helpful for finding an overall number, especially if the results are all over the graph.

There are many other ways to look at the information, but calculating the mean should give you a good overview of the answers you want. You will be ready to gain helpful insight for your business.

Now get out there, and ask away!

Natalie MacNeil is an Emmy Award-winning media entrepreneur, Founder of SheTakesOnTheWorld.com, and the bestselling author of She Takes on the World: A Guide to Being Your Own Boss, Working Happy, and Living on Purpose. SheTakesOnTheWorld.com was featured by Forbes on its list of “10 Best Sites for Women Entrepreneurs.”

Why The Lone Visionary is a Myth

From WSJ Accelerators

In the startup world, there are always brilliant designers without many leadership skills. To illustrate how this plays out, I’ll tell the story of a NibzNotes23 fictionalized character named James.

Everyone who knows James knows that he is a brilliant designer, including James. Especially James. Yet he is on his fifth startup and it, too, is heading toward failure. At this rate, the world may never benefit from his vision of the long-promised “smart home” with all of its systems automated, interconnected and accessible remotely from the internet.

After an introduction through a mutual friend, James dropped in to do some networking and – so I thought – to seek some advice. Early in our conversation he fervently asserted a credo I’ve heard from many an entrepreneur-designer: “If you want to have a major impact on the world, you must never compromise your vision,” he said. “Steve Jobs taught us that.”

How to Make Open Call Interviews Work for You

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Unlike formal, appointment-based interviews, the process of hosting an open call interview can be refreshingly fast. But with speed can come a certain level of uncertainty; open call interviews imply that anyone, of any varied background can walk through your doors and pitch themselves for a job they may have zero qualifications for.

So what is a founder to do? The answer is to learn how to properly manage the pros and cons of this process so that they not only work for the candidates, but for you, your schedule and the position at hand. Read on to discover 4 ways in which you can host an open call interview with a small business twist.

Pro: The Candidate Pool is Deep

Most open call interviews are just that; they list the job, the date, time and place of the interview and then open the floodgates. However, while it’s great to be introduced to a deep candidate pool, it may be too much to tread through the day of. Most people shy away from open call interviews for this very reason; it’s great to have a wide variety of candidates, but how many of them will actually be qualified?

Regain some control by posting the details of the job and requesting emailed information

BEFORE your reveal the date, time and location of the open call interview. You can put tests in place (i.e. Put “Kiwi” as the subject line) and immediately weed out those respondents that didn’t take to time to read and follow directions.

Keeping with the speed and convenience of open call interviews, perhaps request that people bring their resumes with them rather than attaching them for your lengthy review.

Instead, request email respondents to answer three easy questions in one simple sentence (i.e. “Why are you a fit for this job?”). With a quick scan you can still extend an open call invitation to numerous candidates; however you’ll have trimmed out those that are clearly not a fit right from the start.

Con: Time Is Limited

Open call interviews take place in a varied window of time (i.e. from 8am-10am). To help manage the influx of people coming in at varying times have a welcome packet prepared that people can fill out while they sit and wait for their turn. Use the packet to help cut through time constraints and get a jumpstart on the answers you’re looking for.

As time saving as these packets can be, it’s important to remember to keep the interview a two-way conversation. Let the packet serve as your guide by providing jumping off points for deeper, more thorough face-to-face discussions.

Pro: You Can Find Your New Hire By The Day’s End

The most exciting prospect of hosting an open call interview is the fact that by the end of the day, you may have found your next hire. He or she presented him/herself nicely, they answered the right questions and you have a good feeling about them…but hold on.

Just because you may feel like you have found your match, don’t rush the process of making a final hiring decision. Instead, offer your top candidates the chance to prove themselves with an individual, deadline-driven test. This test should be something they can do later a home and within a reasonable time frame. Pair the results with your feelings from the interview and you’ll be able to come to a more secure, thorough hiring decision.

Con: Options Are Overwhelming

The day of your open call interview will be a whirlwind. After interviewing multiple candidates for the same position it can be hard to keep all of the sorted detail straight.

One simple way to stay organized is to have three (unlabeled) No, Maybe and Yes piles to place those welcome packets in post-interview.

At the end of your open call you’ll have a pile of No’s to thank for their time, a Maybe pile that you’ll keep tabs on for the future, and a Yes pile to implement those individual tests. Staple any resumes you were handed to those packets for easy reference. Also, consider indiscreetly writing notes in a designated corner (i.e. Green eyes, flowered dress) as a way to help you match the faces with the evaluations later on.

Kelly Gregorio writes about small business topics while working at Advantage Capital Funds, a provider of merchant cash advances. You can read her daily business blog here.