Creativity and innovation thrive in an early-stage startup environment. Communication is harmonious, decisions are made quickly as a team, and shared understanding trumps systems and processes as everyone shares the workload.
When I launched BounceFire, my first startup, I was juggling many tasks: selling our services, writing code, hiring employees, and drywalling the new office, not to mention cleaning the toilet. We did everything manually. It was only when we hired our first employee that I could start offloading certain tasks.
But as the company grew, it encountered a common problem for startups: How do you keep hold of that easy communication, creativity, and innovation as you scale?
Building a vibrant workplace requires a foundation of trust, respect, and honest communication. It also requires employee appreciation.
Over 200,000 global employees were studied by the Boston Consulting Group, and the top reason they reported enjoying their work was, “feeling appreciated”. Number 2 was having a good relationship with their supervisor, and number 4 was that they had a good relationship with their colleagues. Financial compensation didn’t appear until number 8!
Four out of five employees (81%) say they are motivated to work harder when their boss shows appreciation for their work. Unfortunately, many managers don’t respond to this need and those who do, choose employee recognition programs.
Traditional recognition programs...
By old school Vermont standards, Dan White — CEO and Co-Founder of the “social impact commerce company” Localvore, based in Burlington, Vermont — is not a local. In fact, neither are his two co-Founders, Michael Nedell (COO) and Meg Randall (VP of Product), even though they all live in town.
That’s because, according to some folks, you’re not technically “local” unless you’re at least the third generation to be born in Vermont — and not one of them has a Vermont birth certificate.
But if the real measure of what makes a local is commitment to making your home a better place for the entire community — and, honestly, isn’t that more important than where you happen to be born? — then they have nothing to worry about.
Vermont ...
“Because you’re worth it.”
The L’Oréal Fallacy afflicts those founders who find themselves faced with an offer for their company and the chance of an exit.
This is the moment many have dreamed of. But life is no respecter of dreams: the potential exit is often smaller than the founder has hoped. The founder finds himself conflicted: wanting an exit, but believing that the offer on the table undervalues his work and the potential of his company.
The L’Oréal Fallacy is the belief that you should hold out for the exit you deserve—because you’re worth it.
This fallacy corrupts decision making at a crucial point—the point when monetary success is actually a tangible prospect.
First-time founders, in particular, should take their exit when they c...
“Let them go first when giving you a quote. This way you see where they stand and don’t make the mistake of accidentally up-selling yourself without realizing it.”
— Jessica Baker
Aligned Signs
@alignedsigns
“The old saying “it never hurts to ask” is true! Whether you’ve “made it” or are a startup on a shoestring budget, get over your pride and ask your vendor if they can help on cost. Assure them you want to do business for the long haul and build a relationship.”
— Steven Newlon
SYN3RGY Creative Group
@stevennewlon
“If you’re convinced that the vendor is one you want to ...
According to figures reported in the GEM Global Report, 100 million new businesses are launched annually.
Thats nearly 11,000 startups per hour.
So, how do you beat this competition? By raising more funds? By marketing more aggressively? Maybe. But, I believe that increasing the brand value of your startup can help it not only survive the competition but thrive.
When it comes to marketing your business, branding is an old concept. Unfortunately, it’s one that few startups utilize properly. Review these 7 tips to improve (or build!) your startup’s branding:
For example, what are the labels you would associate with the Nike brand?
You’re probably thinking somewhere along the lines of sports, Michael Jordan,...
Kim Malone Scott pulls from her years of experience with such notable companies as Apple, Google, Twitter and Dropbox to enlighten us with her unique take on successful management of a team.
If you have the time, check out the video below to hear her great anecdotes firsthand. But if you can’t watch it now, read our summary to learn how to deliver great feedback that will help your employees grow and improve.
It can be tempting to think there’s a proven formula for giving feedback, but Kim asserts that no such formula exists. However she’s of the mind that there are two absolutes.
First, authenticity is paramount. The popular “feedback sandwich” often backfires because you’re actually focused on the negative, so the feedback recipient can ...
Raising money isn't just about getting some cash in the bank, it's about committing to a very different path to building our startup.
And there's sorta no going back.
What no one told us going into the capital-raising game was that once we take money from investors, we're basically locked into a handful of outcomes, but more importantly, we're locked out of a few that we're probably going to want back!
When we're looking to raise capital, we're all thinking the same thing "We need more money to grow!" which of course makes sense. What we miss, however, is that taking on investors might increase the potential of our upside, but often comes at the cost of limiting other potential options that coul...
Neil Patel is renowned as a marketer and entrepreneur. As co-founder of KISSmetrics, Crazy Egg and Hello Bar, he has found enormous success: he was even named a Top Online Influencer by the Wall Street Journal, and a Top 10 Online Marketer by Forbes.
If you have a few minutes, watch the video below to hear Neil ruminate on how to drive traffic to your site through creativity. We’ve also outlined the major points below for your easy perusal.
Believe it or not, Neil Patel’s first entrepreneurial effort was a failure. He was self-admittedly young and naive, assuming that the adage “If you build it, they will come” applied to Internet marketing. He soon learned this was untrue, and then went broke paying a professiona...
As your business grows, so does your need to scale sales efficiently. Scale can be your best friend, or the elephant in the room threatening to knock your growth off course. Your sales team needs special attention to scale efficiently. They’re a huge part of why your company is successful, don’t lose the magic that makes you special. Here are the areas to pay attention to when it’s time to scale your sales team.
Training a small team is easy. You know exactly what works and how to communicate it. Communicating the skills and strategies your team needs as a big organization becomes much more difficult. You won’t always get 1-on-1 time with each rep who talks to your customers.
It’s important to develop internal...