There are literally thousands of venture accelerators, pre-accelerators, startup weeks, startup weekends, incubators, platforms, books, podcasts, videos, workbooks, blogs, technology tools and more to help startup founders succeed. But, how well is the current startup facilitation ecosystem actually working? Worldwide, of the thousands of startups who apply...
It's Thursday, almost time to gear into another holiday weekend. As New Year's approaches it's time to make our new year resolutions and blast into the future. Here's are some of the most interesting articles I found today: The Secrets to Building a Successful Startup App "Applications,...
As a Hiker, I love this article by Ken Favaro, The Strategy Lessons of a Long Hike. Ken and several friends attempted to tackle a difficult stretch of the Pacific Coast Trail only to realize that they had set their goals without a solid strategy. As Ken...
Too many founders go through the motions of getting customer feedback; but they don’t know how to do it effectively. And they rarely know how to use the results to guide their actions towards better outcomes. Here are several excerpts from an article by Sophie Allcock...
Here’s an informative article by Patrick Whatman, a Content Marketer at Mention, about monitoring competitors. See my comments at the end of this post. "Every smart brand knows the value of analyzing competitors. To really nail your own business strategy, it pays to have a...
I really like this article, by Megan Dunsby, the Features Editor at Startups.co.uk. It outlines tips about what Startup Founders need to get done, gathered from the UK's fastest growing startups. "With the help of some of the country’s top start-up businesses, we’ve compiled an essential checklist...
We live in an age of unparalleled opportunity for innovation. We’re building more products than ever before, but most of them fail - not because we can’t complete what we set out to build, but because we waste time, money and effort building a product...
"What makes a successful brand? It has to stand for something fundamental—an underlying bedrock idea or principle that at every turn supports a company or product. This foundational platform is called positioning, and without it a brand can have no traction. Successful positioning rejects conformity. At...
From an article by writer Dianna Labrien: "The better you understand your customers, the faster your business will grow. Yet, new companies often struggle to determine their initial target market, by either shrinking it to the size of zero profits or broadening it to an unreachable...
From Neil Patel, New York Times, Author, Startup Founder & Digital Marketing Wizard: "Becoming an influencer in your industry can have immense benefits. You can use your experience and credibility to sway the opinion of others, build trust, develop your brand, and so on. But how exactly does...
"Your audiences — clients, co-workers, prospects — have a shorter attention span than ever. That means, whether in a marketing campaign, a client presentation or in a recruitment ad, you need to use an unexpected approach to create a message that people want to remember. So...
Many startups don't do enough when it comes to competitive analysis. But, if your startup is going to succeed, than people (or companies) are going to have to choose your product over other available alternatives, including doing nothing. So, in my humble opinion, the ultimate...
“I understand how brutal it can be—trying to market your small business in a world of billion-dollar businesses and multi-million dollar marketing budgets noted Marketing Guru Neil Patel. You have a limited budget, limited time, limited knowledge, and a limited arsenal of tactics that you can...
"When it comes to startup founders, venture capitalist Jeff Jordan is looking for one quality in particular. Airbnb founder and CEO Brian Chesky has it. Ben Silbermann, the founder and CEO of Pinterest, has it, too. And if a startup founder doesn't have it, it's harder to get...
Internet of Robotic Things (IoRT) looks like a prime market opportunity for tech engineering / manufacturing focused entrepreneurs. The only downside may be the high cost of R&D and long processes for new product development. "The Internet of Robotic Things (IoRT) market is expected to be valued at...
As far as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and salesforce automation goes, I’m an old timer. I’ve been involved with CRM in one capacity or another since the mid 80s… so I’ve seen it all. For those of you who are newer to this still growing software category, the history...
This 20 slide guide from SlideGenius will teach you how to create a very compelling pitch deck. Whether you are raising an angel round or venture capital: [ Review the full transcript....
Just, as marketing software technology seems to continue to splinter into an ever expanding group of categories, marketing itself has become a dizzying array of specialized skills: SEO, Content Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Influence Marketing, Email Marketing, Growth Hacking, Conversion Rate Optimization and on and...
Here’s an excellent article on the art of a startup pivot by Yann Lechelle, a startup founder with direct experience in pivoting. I particularly like the way that Yann breaks down the affects and responsibilities of pivoting on what he calls the three main pillars;...
Warm days, cold days, high winds, dust, rain, snow, the weather is crazy here this time of year. With the mountain closed, people have set upon their journeys to warmer beach climates and the town has turned into a virtual ghost town; but one where...