Category: Funding
From Concept to Sale: How a Video Launched Mailbox — and Helped Them Exit
Each year, a variety of tactics appear that promise instant success if included in your inbound marketing strategy. First, there was tagging, and then keyword placement, which was followed by infographics and long content. For a few years, some of these strategies worked well, but they weren’t designed with a changing economy in mind — [...]
Keeping Quality Real and Costs Low
Depending on your point of view, your company’s internal costs can be a minor nuisance or the bane of your existence. It’s a real balancing act to figure out just how to maintain a high level of service that’s also financially sustainable. Luckily, there are a number of ways to cut costs while maintaining the [...]
What I Learned From Raising a Series A
Recently, we announced a $5 million Series A round of financing. We started raising this round and talking to investors in late fall of last year. As you can probably imagine, going through this process involves taking a step back from the day-to-day work and looking at our overall strategy and evolution. Fundraising forces you to [...]
How to Build a High-Quality Brand with an Affordable Product
Providing a product at the lowest price point in your market sounds like a sure way to attract customers and gain an edge on your competition — but it’s not always that easy. The problem is that the brands with this strategy are rarely considered high-quality; therefore, customers have no loyalty and no reason to [...]
Will It Walk? Determining Whether Your Business Idea Has Legs
Every problem is an opportunity because a good business idea can lie in the solution. Most successful businesses begin with someone merely solving a problem. Chances are if you’re experiencing difficulties with something, then others are, too. If you solve that problem for yourself, you can probably make things easier for everyone — and it [...]
The 3 Best Reasons to Become an Angel Investor
We’re in a startup culture right now. Any kid who can code has a potential five-year path to the land of billionaires, and it’s become dull and commonplace (but still impressive) to meet yet another entrepreneur at a social gathering. It used to be that artists and writers carried the most mystique; that’s not so [...]
The No-Brainer Secret to Success: High Margins
It seems like such an obvious thing to say that I’m a little embarrassed to be writing about it. But young entrepreneurs — including myself at one point — settle for razor-thin profit margins all the time. “If it works for Amazon” is a terrible business plan. As a new entrepreneur, you put a lot [...]
Speed Up Your Business’s Metabolism: Get Lean Again
We’ve all seen it happen: You put on a little weight, then you start to lose energy and stamina, and before long, you’re in a rut. Well, unfortunately, a business can fall into the same pattern. Maybe it grows too fast and can’t manage the extra weight, or it gets trapped in an inefficient process [...]
Keep Your Company from Signing with the Wrong People
The partnerships you make in your business can be your biggest blessing or your greatest curse; it just depends on how you approach them. By making the right alliances from the get-go – whether it’s a partner, employee, or supplier – you can save yourself lots of time, trouble, and money down the road. Keep [...]
50 VC and Angel Investors Every Young Entrepreneur Should Know
What’s the next big thing? There’s a good chance someone on this list is either starting it or funding it. The investors below have been a there as founders or investors for many of the companies that have shaped the internet like Amazon, eBay, AOL, Paypal, Facebook, Twitter, Google and many more. These investors have [...]
