55 Point Checklist to Grade Entrepreneurs. 5 Most Destructive Phrases in Business | Inc. 5000. How often have you been in a productive business meeting only to have it come to a grinding halt because of something someone said? It happens all the time. A negative comment or a pessimistic concern can not only bring down morale, it can derail an entire strategy. I am convinced that there is no limit to what a team can accomplish if they were to eliminate these five destructive phrases. 1. "I can't (fill in the blank). " Few other words in the English lexicon irk me more than the word "can't. " 2. Like every paradigm throughout history, at some point or another, things change. 3.
My dad once told me that the only thing that is impossible is for a man to have a baby. 4. Many entrepreneurs and managers, myself included, often dream and quip of the endless business possibilities we would have if only we had the flexibility of a huge financial war chest at our disposal. 5. There are 7 billion people in the world. What other phrases do you find destructive? Naming a Startup | 'I Don't Want to Be CEO of Mogulus Anymore' | Inc. 5000. Soon after Livestream CEO Max Haot launched his live video broadcast site in 2007, he realized the power of the company's name to drive (or impede) growth. Video Transcript 00:00 Max Haot: I remember the naming process with the co-founders. It took probably a weekend. Well, the criteria was to find something we thought was great, but it turned out that we were wrong. 00:18 Haot: And we put that service out there called Mogulus and we were seeing bloggers starting to use it and then they would stop using it because they didn't have the content, they didn't have the audience, they didn't have the know-how. 00:51 Haot: It became very clear that helping events extend themselves beyond the four walls of the event, help them live stream on mobile device and on the web, is our goal and our mission. 01:09 Haot: I didn't have... 01:25 Haot: So, we took the idea... 01:58 Haot: I remember we placed the first bid at $50,000 to buy it to an auction platform.
The One Skill Startup Employees Need Most. Everyone knows that startups get to have all the fun. But the differences between working at a startup and a big corporation don’t begin and end with the Ping Pong table and the vintage jukebox. In a corporate environment, you’re usually hired because you have a defined set of skills. There will be training available and opportunities for personal growth, but most people end up doing something very similar to the job they’re hired for. There’s always plenty to learn, but you rarely have to learn an entirely new position. But when you work for a startup, especially an early-stage startup, your professional skills often have to evolve as rapidly as the company.
I discovered just how different startup and corporate settings can be when I moved from GE to my current job at Chango. This doesn’t mean that all startups should approach hiring in the same way. As startups move through these phases of development, management tends to be the biggest stumbling block. 100 Small & Home Business Start-Up Tips For Entrepreneurs. Today many more of us are planning to start a small business and becoming our own boss. Some want to escape the corporate grind and others were made redundant. The motivations are manyfold, while the the things to consider, when starting a business are always the same. We have compiled a random list of 100 small business start-up tips and things to consider. This list is best used as a help in terms of ticking off all those business start-up questions you have in your mind, or helping you to think about different aspect of your business start-up: To start-up a successful business do what you love, it must be important to you.
Before you start-up your business get your customers first, your business can’t survive without them. To start-up a successful business do a lot of research. Not all of the above is relevant for every business scenario, but once you consider each point above you’ll be that little bit more prepared. 12 Surprising Signs You Could Be an Entrepreneur. Almost every article ever written about entrepreneurship suggests that it's not for everyone. And yet the articles go on to list attributes that many successful people possess as the traits commonly associated with great entrepreneurs, such as a strong work ethic, persistence, persuasiveness and discipline. For 25 years, I have studied entrepreneurs and discovered that what contributed to their incredible success was not what society typically considers assets. People like John D.
Rockefeller, Henry Ford and Oprah Winfrey didn't achieve greatness by possessing the traits and following the narrow path recommended by management gurus. So, don't believe everything others say about you or how they label you. Maybe your supposed liabilities are really your assets. 1. 2. Related: 6 Tips for Staying Supercharged 3. 4. 5. 6. Related: How to Stop Over Thinking and Get Things Done 7. 8. 9. Related: How to Harness Your Brain's Secret Efficiency 10. 11. 12.
The author is an Entrepreneur contributor. How to Get Startup Ideas. November 2012 The way to get startup ideas is not to try to think of startup ideas. It's to look for problems, preferably problems you have yourself. The very best startup ideas tend to have three things in common: they're something the founders themselves want, that they themselves can build, and that few others realize are worth doing. Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo, Google, and Facebook all began this way. Problems Why is it so important to work on a problem you have?
I made it myself. Why do so many founders build things no one wants? At YC we call these "made-up" or "sitcom" startup ideas. For example, a social network for pet owners. The danger of an idea like this is that when you run it by your friends with pets, they don't say "I would never use this. " Well When a startup launches, there have to be at least some users who really need what they're making—not just people who could see themselves using it one day, but who want it urgently. You don't need the narrowness of the well per se.
Fast Company. 75 Startup Tools And Apps new business ideas and startups - So you have a new business or startup idea and based on your analysis and research you have conducted, your confident that there is a market for it. Ok, now what? You need to possibly find a cofounder and team to start planning, seek funding and successfully execute the plan for a pilot or full launch. There are so many resources and tools out there that can assist you in managing and excuting your startup or new business idea more eficiently and effectively.
As a result, I have produced a list of my favourite tools and applications covering the various disciplines you will need to undertake in order to successfully execute and launch your startup or new business. Here are just a few tools and applications that I have used over the years in managing and delivering small to large projects. I hope you find them useful for your business and startup. Brainstorming Ideas | Bubbl.us MindManager Creately Creately, another great online application for creating flow charts, wireframes and mind maps. Jira. What is your definition of entrepreneur? 5 Gestion Temps & Projet. Election: Biggest Issues Facing Small Businesses. 5 Career Tips for Budding Entrepreneurs. Magic Wand for Entrepreneurs. Money Won’t Save a Crappy Business Model. 3 Ways to Smooth Out the Financial Ups and Downs of Entrepreneurship. Exclusive: Inside the Startup-Generating Secrets of Y Combinator.
“We want to fund you guys,” Graham will say as his greeting when he calls to deliver the offer. “There are three of you, right? It would be $20,000 for 7 percent.” The amount of equity that Y Combinator asks for is the same in almost all cases, but the dollar amount of the investment varies slightly: each team would receive $11,000, then an additional $3,000 for every founder up to $20,000 for three or more founders.
Most founders accept the offer on the spot, but Graham allows those who wish to ponder the matter to take a bit of additional time. Sixty-four companies would be chosen for the summer 2011 batch from the 2,000 applications. Six years after Y.C. had made its first investments, Graham attempted to tote up the value of the fund’s investments. One could say that the outliers—Dropbox and Airbnb—are the only ones that matter to the Y.C. fund. When it first launched, Iminlikewithyou was an online dating site. “There are 48 start-ups so far. We’ve Broken This Startup Thing.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about how our ideals & idols are totally broken and that we needed to re-evaluate how we work on & within online / digital / technology companies. So I was quite sad to see another idol admitting that same brokenness. [1] I'm trying to figure out when & why it became so acceptable for us to: Leave the office at 7pm AND then go home to work some more. Not take any kind of non-working holiday. Working every single weekend.
Compromise on every, single aspect of our lives in favour of work. The thing is that this has really become the norm within our industry, so whenever a new entrepreneur or startup employee want to figure out how they're supposed to succeed, we tell them to "Hustle! ". Even though I've seen more & more entrepreneurs speaking out against this recently, their voices are literally being drowned out by the mad-hustling-rush of the crowd.
Be the change you want to see in the world Here's some of the changes that I've made: [2] The 3 Keys To Designing A Business That Learns. Today you run a cracker factory. Tomorrow, a fad diet makes crackers obsolete. What do you do now, and how could you have seen this coming? You might want to ask Shelley Evenson. She’s clocked in at both Facebook and Microsoft, where she worked in user experience and design. Now, she’s at Fjord, global specialists of service design. The Organization LevelConstantly Evolve Through Self-Assessment For better or worse, the world moves faster today than it ever has in history. “I think one of the old-time examples was IBM,” she says. IBM was once synonymous with cheap desktops. The Individual LevelTeach Employees Fast, But Unteach Them Faster If companies are expected to move quickly, the individuals inside those companies have to be free to move just as quickly themselves.
“People don’t like change,” Evenson acknowledges. The best way to promote change is to constantly challenge talent. “We want to turn the head on the notion of ‘training,’” says Evenson. A good example of this idea? Five Signs a Startup is ready for Social Media Marketing. To most of the start ups, marketing is simply some ‘necessary evil’ because it is something which they embrace only after recognition of the fact that it is the time in which they have no option but to tell their story to the public which as we know is larger audience.
This means that they must do better job that involves putting in the spotlight in which they are currently doing to more people. In most of the cases, the decision of engaging in marketing (not necessarily being on Facebook or Twitter) comes after development of the product and the pipeline of sale is gaining traction or being ramped up. So how can a start up know that it is the high time of engaging in social media marketing? The following are some vital tips. #1: when your product is about or ready to be launched: #2: when your organization is on the spotlight The executives or founders need to go a step further and spread the word. . #4: when there is marketing budget: #5: everyone is on board: Startups & Entrepreneurs. What Will Your Business Look Like in Ten Years?
This question in the subject line came to me this morning when I read the Fast Company article titled, What Will Cell Phones Look Like in Ten Years? You may be interested in what cell phones will look like, and, while there are experts who answer that question, the odds are, they won’t be 100% right. And when you answer my question = What will your business look like in ten years? – you won’t get it 100% correct either. But that is a poor reason not to think about the answer. Most all would agree this is an important question for corporate leadership to ask, and it clearly is a strategic leadership question. If you aren’t thinking about, and envisioning where your organization and team are headed, they might not end up somewhere desirable.
Regardless of our role this question, and the thinking that goes with it, is critical to successful leadership. It is that simple and that difficult. But it starts with the question. And continues with action, based on your answers to the question. 5 Worst Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make When Pitching Angel Investors. Here's a look at the biggest blunders and how to avoid them. An effective elevator pitch can be crucial for entrepreneurs trying to secure funding from angel investors.
The goal of the pitch -- written or delivered face-to-face -- is to briefly share the "who, what, where, when, why and how" of your business, while piquing an investor's interest. The tricky part is cramming all of that into one explanation that, hypothetically, should be delivered in the time span of an elevator ride. "The pitch has to grab me quickly," says Paul Silva, manager of Springfield, Mass.
-based angel group River Valley Investors. "For instance, with written pitch applications, we read the first few sentences and then toss half to two thirds of them away. " The best pitches, he says, describe the market the business is in, explain what problem it solves and demonstrate a track record. Here are five of the worst elevator-pitch mistakes entrepreneurs make -- and how to avoid them. The Fix: Tell a story. 12 Most Common Mistakes of Small Business. Many of us face challenging economic times with uncertain tax and new mandates that causes business planning challenges. It’s been my experience that success in small business has as much to do with avoiding operational mistakes as it does with doing the overall economic environment.
With many small businesses not making it during the past several years, I want to highlight 12 common mistakes made by business owners so that you can avoid them. 1. Focus A common mistake is lack of focus. 2. Many small businesses do not routinely monitor key business indicators and process measures. 3. Another mistake is not spending enough time selling. 4. Without a plan you can’t know where you are going. 5. Pricing is a key. 6. The next mistake is not clearly defining your customer. 7.
Many small businesses do not create a budget to set goals or plan key expenses. 8. Another mistake is not going after repeat business. 9. 10. 11. 12. What other common issues have you seen. A Global Entrepreneurship Crisis? What Crisis? - Forbes.com. Gamification: How Competition Is Reinventing Business, Marketing & Everyday Life. The Buzzword Breakdown Series is supported by The Network, Cisco's technology news site. The Network features technology news, trends and information on video, collaboration, core networks, mobility, security, data center, Cisco culture and social media.
Can life, and all the menial or routine tasks that come with it, be transformed through game mechanics into an engaging, social and fun recreational activity? Such is the idea behind the emerging trend of "gamification. " Gamification is most often defined as the use of gameplay mechanics for non-game applications. The word "gamification," much like the phrase "social media" a few years back, is being lobbed around in technology circles as the next frontier in web and mobile. A recent Gartner report from April of this year suggests as much. Here we take a deeper look at the term, the trend, the mechanics and the real world implications.
An Intro to the Gamification Trend Gamification, as a concept, is far from a new idea. The Mechanics. Is Planning Bad for Business? Ten Things They Don't Tell You In Business School. 12 Most Helpful Online Productivity Tools for Small Business Leaders. Business. Five Rules for Bootstrapping Success. Here we go again! Flying lessons (an e-course) Entrepreneurs. "Do Right. Do Your Best. Social-TV Start-Up ConnecTV Strikes Mega-Deal With 10 Broadcast Groups. The Tricky Art of Scaling Your Business. Stop Competing to Be the Best - Joan Magretta.
Five Common Strategy Mistakes - Joan Magretta. People Need Lead versus Push Entrepreneurship « CORPORATIZED MIND. Teens willing to gamble on unknown. Culture: It’s about the dirty dishes… | cherylrosner. The Best Ideas in Business. The 7 Deadly Sins of Startups. 12 Most Helpful Online Productivity Tools for Small Business Leaders By David Lazar.
Five Tips for a Happier Workplace | Operations > Running the Office from AllBusiness. 6 Ways to Recession-Proof Your Workforce. 12 Most Electrifying Ways Leaders Can Unleash Employee Passion | Do Entrepreneurs Need to Be Crazy? Importance of Play to Innovation. The Skill that Matters Most - Tony Schwartz. 4 easy ways to make your customers happier. The Human Impact Of Improved Customer Experience. Frugal Frontier: Retailers Face Reality That Some Shoppers Can't Trade Back Up. Why true leadership involves less talking and more listening. Want to succeed as an entrepreneur? Don’t be patient! | Corpnet Incorporation Services. Small Business Branding – Strategy and Tips | Steve Jobs's Bicycles for the Mind - Rosabeth Moss Kanter.
Five Things Every Small Business Should Know About Public Relations. Four Things To Consider When Creating a Small Business Strategy | Why You Should Question Your Culture - Ron Ashkenas. Employee Values = Stakeholder Value - Lars Bjork. Make the Dangerous Choice to Dissent - Umair Haque. 3 Types of Networks You Need - Management Tip of the Day - October 13, 2011. Why Gen Y Entrepreneurship Will Be a Disaster | BNET.
Why Experience is Overrated | BNET. 7 Traits Managers Find Irresistible | BNET. Six Keys to Turning Reflection into Action.