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What an exciting moment! You’re looking to scale up your startup and need to bring in a growth agency to help you do that. But, it’s a big decision. Choosing the wrong agency will lead to months of delayed growth, thousands of dollars in wasted spend, and difficult conversations down the line trying to understand where it all went wrong.

This means it is vitally important you make the right decision from the get-go. There are hundreds of marketing agencies out there, but if you are in the startup phase of growth I’d recommend going with a startup growth agency that has experience in the earlier stages.

I have done some of the research for you by putting together a list of the top 9 startup agencies I know deliver great results. So, at least...

There is a ton of hidden treasure in failed startups — you just have to know how to look for it, and ultimately, how to capture it.

After my first (not last) venture-funded startup tanked, everyone pretty much ran for the hills. Investors bailed, the team got other jobs, and customers found better solutions. But I kept thinking "We just spent a ton of money to build all of this, can't I capture this value back?"

Then it occurred to me — the same thing is happening for countless other failed startups. All of the assets that they spent millions to build just get buried. Everyone tries to make a last-ditch effort to sell them off, but in most cases, it never works and they just evaporate.

But what if we were the ones looking to dig up that bur...

There's no perfect to know if you've found a great Co-Founder, but there are some really obvious ways to tell you're about to recruit a bad one!

Yet picking Co-Founders isn't something many of us will do more than once in our lifetime, so how could we possibly know what to look for? There's no absolute checklist, but there are 3 categories where most Founders don't press hard enough — Selection, Shared Cost, and Commitment.

Technically there's a fourth, which is "personality type," but that's so incredibly hard to determine in the early stages (see: all of dating and marriage) that it's almost not worth mentioning compared to the Big Three. If all of these start to sound way too familiar, it may be worth thinking about an exit strategy.

"Oh...

When times are good at our startups, we think it will never change; when times are bad, we think it will never change.

Yet the only constant with startups is change.

The challenge for many Founders is that this is likely the first time we've had good or bad times, so we have yet to see a full cycle. That makes it difficult to know whether this is a short-term blip or a long-term trend. As such, we tend to grossly overcompensate by spending too much in good times and running for the hills in bad times.

How Startups Actually Grow

We all have this fantasy that our startups constantly grow "up and to the right!" on our beautiful charts. The reality is way different. The best way to think about our startup journey is a constant cycle of "feast o...

What happens when our main customer becomes our investor?

This is fundamentally the rabbit hole that nearly every startup goes down when fundraising. At some point, we start to realize that we're no longer building a startup for the needs of our customers; we're building it for the perceived needs of our next investors.

At any given time, our startup needs vastly more cash than we have, so we're always looking for the shortest path toward filling that gap. The very nature of investor capital is that it comes dramatically before customer capital (revenue), so in most cases, our early "customer," as it relates to cash, is an investor.

So what happens? Our investors become who we're building the company for.

We Optimize for Their Needs First

T...

Startup investors are incredibly useful experts — on investing in startups.

The problem for us Founders is when we start taking their expertise on building startups as gospel, and worse, start pivoting based on their feedback versus our own decisions.

This stems from the fact that as Founders, we don't really have a lot of data points or experience when it comes to the qualifications of investors. We tend to think that since they invest in startups, they must be experts in how startups operate.

Investors are not Fortune Tellers

One of my favorite indulgences is listening to an investor who has been thinking about my business for 60 seconds tell me what the future of my business will be. I will always politely listen (you never know what you...

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.

Short Summary

• 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 ca...

Many entrepreneurs have looked to mentors as a way of finding guidance and support for their startups. With the right startup mentor by your side, you can avoid pitfalls and navigate toward success. This blog post will provide strategies on how to find such perfect mentors who could take your startup journey up another notch!

Short Summary

• Gain invaluable knowledge and experience from a startup mentor to help your business succeed.

• Network, attend events, use online platforms & leverage personal connections to find the perfect mentor for you.

• Build meaningful relationships based on trust and understanding for a successful mentorship journey.

The Importance of Startup Mentors

Having access to the cumulative experience and expertise of many bus...

In today's fast-paced world of startups, securing adequate funding is crucial to success. Entrepreneurs must navigate a myriad of funding stages, each presenting its own set of challenges and opportunities. With this comprehensive guide to different stages of funding for startups, you'll gain a deeper understanding of the startup funding stage and landscape, enabling you to make informed decisions and ultimately fuel your venture's growth.

Short Summary

• Understanding startup funding stages is essential for successful resource acquisition.

• Pre-seed, seed, series A to C financing and an IPO are common investment options available to startups.

• Preparation including a business plan and pitch presentation as well as due diligence research are key el...

When is our ego an asset and when is it our greatest enemy?

The startup world is loaded with big egos, and if we're being honest, it kind of needs to be. We operate in one of the most insecure environments there is, where everyone is creating something out of nothing and hoping that next week they can simply make payroll. Without a little overconfidence, that's not an easy path to follow.

But that same overconfidence, when it's just pure ego, can also be our downfall. There's a point where we're no longer just confident, we're actually starting to lose our self-awareness altogether, and that's a dangerous spot. Many Founders don't even see it happening.

We Treat Assumptions like Facts

Early in our startups, we're forced to make a lot of big...