“Running involves discipline and a lot of hard work. You can’t fake it when it comes to finishing 26.2 miles. You definitely get out of it what you put in. Not only does it involve physical toughness, but a considerable amount of mental strength and focus as well. Comparisons can be drawn to business when it comes to knowing your capabilities, working hard, using your wits and not giving up.”
— Michael Quinn
Yellow Bridge Interactive
@ybinteractive
“Poker is a game of incomplete information. You know what cards you have but are making educated guesses and playing odds based on your opponent’s cards. Business is similar. You can collect data all day...
At age 17, Noor Siddiqui co-founded Remedy, which provides instant consults for clinicians. She also forewent the traditional route to college and was chosen as a Thiel Fellow, where she was one of 20 entrepreneurs under 20 years old who received a $100,000 grant to bring an idea to life. If anyone can help you execute an idea, it’s Noor.
The below video and write-up are the first in a series of 10 where Noor helps explain how to bring your own startup business idea to life – and how to make it stick.
According to Noor, the first thing you need to do when you have a startup business idea is validate it. Not everyone will see what you see when looking at it. To her, the most important thing yo...
Nancy Duarte is a pro when it comes to presentations. Not just giving presentations, but starting them, finishing them, and every step in between. Author and co-founder of Duarte Designs, Nancy Duarte is a seasoned veteran when it comes to incorporating storytelling into speaking and creating connections with an audience.
The below video is the fifth part in a series of 10 in which Nancy shares the key components to making a successful pitch using creativity, critical thinking and how important it is to know your audience. Find out what she has to say:
By this point in Nancy’s “Presentation is Everything” lesson, you know that your presentations revolve around the audience: who they a...
Conventional wisdom says that startups are at a disadvantage when building their customer base, because they don’t have the same manpower behind their efforts. But Steve Blank asserts that it is this perceived weakness that actually sets startups apart from—and ahead of—their larger competitors. It’s counterintuitive, but true!
At large companies, employees are sent out into the world to find and talk to customers, reporting back with their findings. But if that employee reports back that the target customer isn’t interested, the passionate founder will undoubtedly believe that the fault is not with the product, but with the employee’s tactics.
At a startup, on the other hand, the founder is the one out p...
If Product A & B are identical, what could cause Product A to sell 5x more than Product B?
I love button up short sleeve shirts, I usually buy them at $15-$30. I came across one I loved, but it costs a whopping $85! How can one mimic their bold pricing positioning to become a premium brand vs. a mid-range brand?
Randy Tucker, Startup Founder, answered:
Purchase decisions are made based on presentation and then need. The same products presented in different methods will sell drastically different. Think about this, shirt A & B are identical, Shirt A is presented in a comfortable nice store with a well dressed sales person and Shirt B is neatly folded and laid out in a street vendors trunk. At the same price, shirt A will sell better. The on...
There’s one major question that nearly everyone faces when starting a small business or startup: Where are we going to get the money? One option is a small business loan.
In general, a small business loan is any loan that exists to help a small business or startup with little to no business history. While there are a range of financing options for small businesses and startups, let’s take a look specifically at SBA small business loans.
A SBA small business loan is a loan that is backed by the Small Business Administration (SBA). Founded in 1953, the SBA is a federal government program that provides support to small business owners in the form of mentorship, workshops, counseling, and small busine...
Passion may be a startup buzzword, but it is the trait shared by most successful founders and entrepreneurs. It’s what keeps you going, fuels your team, and leads to personal satisfaction. “If you’re passionate about something and you work hard, you will be successful,” says Pierre Omidyar, eBay founder and chairman.
But, what kind of passion is at the root of your company? I’ve noticed most founders fall into one of two camps: being passionate about the problem you want to fix, or passionate about the solution to that problem. Both are about solving problems—the real nuance is in how you get there.
Finding the right solution to a problem is what motivates me. It’s what a friend of mine endearingly calls a “hate f...
Trying to figure out a way to make those big startup business goals reachable? Not a fan of visual mapping or assigning each of your goals to a hierarchy?
Well, you’re in luck. Setting S.M.A.R.T goals is a tried and true method that has worked for a lot of people.
The idea of S.M.A.R.T. goals traces back to 1981 — so the meaning has changed a little big over the years. Originally, the acronym stood for
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time bound
Over the years, different meanings have been added to those letters, but we’re going to stick with the old school, for now.
Let’s start with “Specific.” When you’re figuring out if your goal is specific enough, ask yourself the five “W” questions: Who, why, what, where and which. Fo...
One day we wake up and realize our startup is working great for everyone but us — the Founders.
What the hell happened? We started out with big dreams of building our dream job, creating true financial independence, and just being able to do whatever we wanted on our own terms. That sounded great, right?
Yet here were are, spending our days at everyone else's behest. Our days and schedules are driven by the needs of staff, customers, and investors, all of whom mean well, but have essentially put our own goals and needs well into the back seat, and in some cases, forgotten about altogether.
When was the last time we got paid first (or at all)? Or took a vacation without being pulled away 100x by everyone else's needs? Or spent our day the wa...
A “go to market strategy” outlines how your startup plans to deliver your product to your customer. While similar to a business plan, a go to market strategy is narrower in scope. A business plan covers everything about the business, while go to market strategy zeros in on exactly how your startup will deliver a product or service to your customer.
This one might seem painfully obvious, but you have to know what you’re selling before you can sell it. With that in mind, take a little time to clearly define your product before you dive into the rest of your go to market strategy. You need to be able to say exactly what the product is as well as what it does.
Granted, much of the info...