The value of a startup should be judged by its potential to help the Founder — not everyone else.
But that's not really the way we tend to talk about the value of a startup. We tend to think in terms of how valuable our startups are perceived by people that aren't us, like investors or the outside media.
At the same time we get a very skewed perspective of how many startups even raise funding, much less how many of them ever survive the journey. When we compound those broken perspectives, we make it nearly impossible to realize just how valuable our bootstrapped startups are!
If we're going to assume that only venture-funded startups are more valuable, then we should probably start by understandin...
There are very few problems at a startup worth actually stressing about — but that doesn't keep us from burning ourselves out about them.
Startups are nothing but problems. Everything about this epic shit show that we've created is a problem. We're building a company that has never existed, in a market we invented, with a team that got here 5 minutes ago. What about that would breed anything but problems?
Even if we can agree that the fire hose of problems will never be turned off, we can at least understand how to treat those problems differently, separating the ones that may end us from the ones that are "just another day at the office." If we can't, we will crush ourselves with stress and anxiety.
First off, we re...
At what point do we find out if all of our startup sacrifice was worth it?
The prevailing theory is that as Founders, we can justify our sacrifices of time, money, and emotional energy for the bounty of riches we'll enjoy on the other side. It's almost hard-coded into all of us the moment we take the plunge to start something.
But what happens when we're on the other side and we're forced to come to terms with whether or not those sacrifices were justified? Can we truly replace what was lost in getting here with what was gained through our efforts? What if we straight up made a bad bet?
Let me tell you a personal story about my journey as a Founder over 30 (very long) years of building startups and my assessment of a mountain of sacrifice o...
If you’ve seen the movie “The Social Network” you remember Dustin Moskovitz as the kid from Jurassic Park who did little more than sit in a corner and code. Like most other things in the movie, that wasn’t exactly true. Or– yunno– true at all.
While still close friends with Mark Zuckerberg, Moskovitz has been gone from day to day management of Facebook since 2008. But we spoke with him just before Facebook’s IPO, which was poised to make him the world’s youngest billionaire.
Moskovitz made the surprising move to leave Facebook pre-IPO to co-found Asana, a company that seeks to make communication and collaboration within companies more seamless. He says telling Zuckerberg he was quitting was one of the hardest things he’s ever done.
In this ...
It is difficult to predict the specific types of startups that will be most successful in 2023, as the success of a startup can depend on a variety of factors such as market demand, competition, and the unique value proposition of the business.
However, here are 20 business ideas to start the brainstorming process:
Virtual events, such as conferences, trade shows, and workshops, have become increasingly popular in recent years due to the rise of remote work and the convenience of participating in events online. A virtual events platform could be a successful startup business model for a number of reasons:
There is a growing demand for virtual events as more organizations look for ways to host events onl...
The most powerful asset a startup can have is simply enough time to operate.
The problem is, most of us don't have that asset — at all. In fact, the very nature of a startup is often fighting the few moments we have left until our startup runs out of money altogether. Since we're all so hyper-aware of what happens when we run out of time, let's talk about the opposite — what happens when we have lots of time to build our startup?
Our internal motto at Startups has implicitly been "Let's stick around long enough to build our dream." That meant constantly fighting to stay profitable so that we could have an unlimited runway. As we celebrate our 11th birthday, I'd like to reflect on what the asset of "unlimited time" has done for us.
Series A startup funding is an important milestone for many early-stage startups. It is the first round of significant institutional funding, and it can provide the resources and support needed to take a startup to the next level.
In this article, we will explore what series A funding is, how it differs from other types of funding, and what startups can do to increase their chances of securing this crucial form of financing.
Series A funding is the first round of institutional funding that a startup receives after completing its seed funding round. It is typically sought by startups that have a proven product or service and are looking to accelerate their growth. Series A funding allows startups to build out their te...
Startup conferences can be a great choice for both learning more about your business and meeting more like-minded entrepreneurs. Because when it comes to most things in life — dating, business, and yes, startups — who you know makes all the difference.
While some people are lucky enough to be born into families with connections or go to highly ranked schools, others have to activate that hustle to get in front of the people who will change their lives. And a big part of that startup founder hustle can be found at startup conferences.
But conferences are an investment, of your time and your money. And there are a lot of startup conferences and events these days.
So how do you know which ones are worth it?
Businesses need to be able to access capital for growth and stability, which is why understanding the different approaches to raising funds is essential. This blog post provides an in-depth guide on analyzing, comparing, and applying various methods of obtaining funding so that companies have the ample financial resources they require.
Understanding the importance of capital raising and different methods available to businesses.
Evaluating pros & cons of equity financing vs debt financing, as well as innovative strategies such as crowdfunding, peer-to-peer lending, and strategic partnerships.
Attracting investors by crafting a compelling pitch, building a strong network & demonstrating past successes. Plus preparing for capital ra...
Product strategy is the combination of a high-level vision of what your company is going to accomplish and the steps you’re going to take to get there. Basically, you’re turning your product vision into your product roadmap. It’s something of a transitional step in the top-down process of transforming your grand vision for your startup into an actual, product design.
Most companies have more than one product strategy. In addition to an overarching product strategy that applies to the direction the whole company is headed, if your company has more than more product, then each one is going to need its own product strategy.
For many startups, the overarching product strategy and the specific product strategy overlap,...