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Be sure to catch Part I of this discussion

“The customer is why you exist. Why your company chooses to exist. If you don’t put them on a pedestal, if you don’t remind yourself, your team, your operations why you’re a business, why you’re here, you’re destined for fail.”

–Joshua Davidson, Six Customer Service Principles To Abide By

New, new, new, new…. We tend to grow the most excited over new things and to obsess over them, so it’s no surprise that startups focus tremendous energy on new customers. So much so, that a vey important player in the destiny of companies gets overlooked: existing customers.

Unforgivable as that might be, the good news, according to Dr. Deborah Hecker, is that “respect, empathy, good listening,...

We all like to think we’re rational animals. The truth, though, is that we buy based on emotion and intuition, not reason or deduction.

In fact, according to Harvard Business School professor Gerald Zaltman, 95 percent of our buying decisions are made by our subconscious mind. Our subconscious craves simplicity; it’s impulsive, decisive, and emotion-driven. Because it isn’t swayed by figures or feature sets, we in the tech industry often struggle to speak its language.

But take a look the most successful tech companies’ marketing materials. What do you notice about Apple’s iconic ads? They’re colorful, happy, and emotion-driven, featuring punchy phrases like “Think different” and “Say hello to the future.” Now think about what’s missing. Th...

Experienced entrepreneurs know that when it comes to slicing up the equity in their new startup companies, the longer you wait to hand out big slices, the better.

That’s because a startup company can create a ton of value in a very short period of time, and in many cases, with relatively little effort.

It’s exciting to get others wrapped into your new idea, and their willingness to bet on your idea may feel like something you want to reward with shares of the company. The issue isn’t whether or not you reward these individuals, but really when you reward them, and with how much of the company.

As a rule of thumb, the longer you wait to slice up the equity (assuming you’re growing the company) the less equity you’ll have to give up. Here are...

Quick. Grab a stack of sticky notes and come with me. We’re going to help you uncover new value hidden in your next initiative.

But wait. Sticky notes? There are so many software tools we could use instead of pen and paper. And a few of those software tools are really great.

How could a pen and paper possibly be used to help tackle something of any real consequence? Isn’t the sticky note just a crutch of the busy person trying to stay organized?!

Used correctly, the sticky note will help you and your teams uncover incredible new value.

When you’ve mastered the sticky note, I give you permission to return to your software tools — if you still want to!

New value defined

Let’s define new value. New value is an advantage or gain you did...

After graduating college I was working as a social worker running a foster care program for children with developmental disabilities when I found an ad online for someone selling a business — Amigos Spanish Program. It was a business that contracted with daycare centers to provide Spanish language classes to young children. I contacted them, reviewed a few spreadsheets and bought the business for $8k. I put it all on credit cards and started my quest towards millions… It was going to be great! I was going to own the biggest Spanish Language Class Business in the World…..or so I hoped.

I lost 20k over the year I owned it before I shut it down and closed the company operations for good. I was 22 years old with 22k in credit card debt wi...

I know a lot. Or rather, I know a lot more than I should naturally know. Specifically, I know a lot about people before I meet them – not through clairvoyance, but through artificial intelligence.

There is nothing strategic in this post. Just some practical suggestions about three tools I am using – Accompany, Notion.ai, and Sende.rs. – to artificially enhance my intelligence.

As I have written about before, I spend a lot of my day networking with entrepreneurs and VCs about their ventures and prospective investments. And sometimes I lose track. Where did I connect with this executive? or, Who asked me to speak with this founder? I no longer lose track. In fact, I am usually ahead of the curve. Here’s how:

Accompany is a ...

I grew up lower-middle class on the outskirts of Copenhagen. Anywhere outside of Scandinavia, the socioeconomic label would probably have been ‘poor’, but Danish safety nets and support systems did their best to suspend the facts and offer better.

But don’t worry: This isn’t a rags-to-riches story. I loathe the I-did-it-all-by-myself heroic myth mongering. I got where I am thanks to government-sponsored maternity leave, child care, health care, education, and even cash assistance. I grew up in housing provided by AAB, a union-founded affordable housing association. And my mother was a damn magician at making impossible ends meet without belaboring her tricks (like biking an extra 15 minutes to find the lowest price on milk).

I took two imp...

The SBA helps small businesses that may not be eligible for traditional bank loans by guaranteeing large portions of the loan on the entrepreneur’s behalf.

These loans are generally available through your local bank who relies on the SBA to back the loan in order to make it easier for them to take the risk of lending a new business without a significant amount of collateral.

Who’s eligible for a SBA loan?

Although the loans are backed by the SBA, they still require some basic underwriting by the bank to make sure the borrower can manage the loan similar to a standard bank loan.

What about poor credit?

The SBA may be underwriting the loan, but they still want to make sure it can be paid back. Standard credit risk factors (such as...

If a company could receive Vitamin C, what form would it take? Coordination, collaboration, communication. Startup Collabe offers the three in one multipack, bundled together in the form of a “team communication platform designed to streamline internal communication for modern teams spread across the globe.”

Recently launched, Collabe aims to deliver that elusive, perfect mix of flexibility and organization that lets teams get work done with optimal efficiency. Availability across all platforms and devices starts Collabe off on the right foot.

Slack users will find noticeable similarities, which isn’t a bad thing – many of us have adopted Slack as our preferred communication tool. For Collabe’s part, it allows users to form teams, public a...

When beginning a crowdfunding campaign, it’s important to evaluate your network and establish exactly who will make up your base of support. The success of your crowdfunding campaign will largely rest on how effectively you communicate your launch within your various networks. Once you’ve identified a group of potential backers, take into account what is most interesting to your group and structure your rewards tiers in the most compelling way possible.

Your network can be divided into five main groups: friends, family, customers, professional contacts, and audience.

Friends

Your friends include those you see on a regular basis. You can reach out to this group in a variety of ways. Try a combination of social media updates, emai...