Search results for startups
New research by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that nearly six in ten businesses shut down within the first four years of operation. To avoid becoming a statistic yourself, here are the top reasons so many new ventures fail.
More...
As the title says, here's a list of 10 documents you need to start a business. Link is from @nfib on Twitter.
More...
Contrary to what many aspiring entrepreneurs believe, the key to a successful startup does not rest upon having a unique, one-of-a-kind idea. A good idea is a necessary starting point for any new business, but that's all it is. As VC and entrepreneurship teacher Rob Adams points out, ideas are not scarce: they're commodities. Virtually any idea
More...
A classic essay by Greg Gianforte about the virtues of bootstrapping and how it often yields better results than the "fund and burn" model of VC-backed startups.
More...
From the page: "An entrepreneur recently asked me why startups fail. Startups fail because they run out of money. You're probably thinking, 'Tell me something I don't already know!' Read on and you'll see that statement is deceptive in its simplicity."
More...
Getting a round of funding from venture capitalists is not really "success". Sure, it demonstrates that some really smart people think the opportunity is big enough to invest money in it, but it's not success. Sure, it provides some credibility that will help recruit employees, get customers and sign-up partners -- but it's not success.
More...
From the page: "I'm going to presume that most startups would like to be found online by people (you know, like potential users or -gasp- customers) . People try really hard to get their internet marketing "right" so as to increase their chances of being found by the right people online. There's a whole industry based on this need. I shoul
More...
Walk into any McDonald's, order a Quarter Pounder, and the clerk will invariably ask, "Do you want fries with that?" Each affirmative answer adds $1 or more to that particular sale. If just a fraction of McDonald's' 54 million daily customers say yes to that question, that's millions of extra dollars in the burger biggie's pocket.
The sa
More...
Selling for a startup presents unique challenges even for highly experienced sales professionals. Because your company is new, your potential customers don’t know anything about it and, sad to say, in business unfamiliarity breeds contempt. Not to worry, though. Here are the six rules of selling for startups:
More...
We’ve all seen the usual success story: a 20-something programmer gets an idea, launches a website, and within months he’s already got huge traffic, multi-million dollar exit options and an interview with Wired. All the traffic graphs go straight up without faltering even for a day.
These types of stories have created an atmosphere in which no
More...
From article: Despite the broader economic rumblings, it’ s never been cheaper to start a company and there’s still a ton of venture money out there. In fact, Ressi told me that there is so much money out there for startups that VCs are now offering to partially buy out founders’ personal stakes to get deals. In effect, they are paying off the fou
More...
Startups have a hard time staying focused. It’s the nature of the beast. The enthusiasm founders have for their startups can very quickly lead to chasing too many opportunities.
The big risk? Running in every direction, chasing every lead, idea and opportunity only to realize at the end that you’ve made very little progress. And this might not
More...
A list of top 50 blogs to watch out for in 2008. Listed by topic area. Interesting to follow and see.
More...
From the site: "One thing I've been pondering this weekend is figuring out why startups fail. But, in order to figure that out, I had to first decide what constitutes failure. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that a definitive failure is when the startup simply stops trying. And, the only reasons to stop trying are that you ru
More...
From the page: "I was really disappointed today from a post I saw from a recruiter that was trying to hire sales candidates for a startup. It was strikingly ineffective to the degree that if I had not received the message myself (and didn't know that it was serious), I'd have thought it was a joke. Trust me, it's not."
More...