When Matthew Growney let his three kids use his iPad, he came across some troubling scenarios. “My daughter and son would type in ‘Super Mario Bros’ and a spoof would pop up with profanity,” Growney says. “It was a clip of guys yelling the F-word to Mario.” So Growney created Fable, a tablet that looks […]

How do you get people to invest in your crowdfunding campaign? Of course you need a great product, an innovative pitch, and lots of enthusiasm. But you also can’t go wrong if you put a little thought into the rewards you give your supporters. Some of the Kickstarter campaigns have a lot of fun with […]

Almost every founder encounters the same dilemma: when your startup has no track record and no revenue to convince funders that it’s worth their time, how much money should you ask for? You may think that shooting high will make your company seem more valuable, or that lowballing it will attract investors because you’re not […]

These days, Kickstarter requires that you make a video before launching a campaign. It’s not to annoy you or delay funding. The opposite, really: engaging multimedia is what separates the successful crowdfunding campaigns from the duds. You won’t need fancy equipment or editing software to make a video, but you do need it to be […]

Let’s say you walked out of the pitch meeting feeling uncertain about whether your investors want to fund your idea. Later you get the email or phone call—they’re not interested. What’s the best way to proceed? “As an entrepreneur, one of the smartest things to do is when meeting an investor you’re not going to […]

You’re sitting across the table from some potential funders who are intrigued enough by your business plan to hear more. Now you just have to wow them with a great pitch, right? Not so fast. Andrew Schoen, a venture capitalist at D.C.-based New Enterprise Associates, says that’s just one of the many things you should […]

Startups in Brooklyn Brooklyn is home to many different types of people: the bearded hipsters who drink hand-poured iced coffee and ride handcrafted wooden bikes, the artists and artisans who design silver-plated carving knives and sell refurbished Smith Corona typewriters, and, most recently, the techies who are set on creating the next big thing. With […]

Carla Hacken isn’t just a film producer. She’s also an entrepreneur. As I interviewed the production president of Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, I learned that much of what she does launching a new movie crosses over to starting a business. Some background about Hacken: She began her career as a talent agent for International Creative Management. […]

Accelerators are a rite of passage for many entrepreneurs. And no wonder: these short-term programs focus on ironing out all of a startup’s internal problems on the operational or organizational level. They do this through mentorships with industry leaders and educational opportunities from experts in the field. But entrepreneurs who have gone through several accelerators […]

One of the biggest hurdles for small business owners and startup founders is getting name recognition in the media. We know the Googles and Facebooks of this world have no problem getting publicity because their brands are ubiquitous, pervading in meeting conversations with senior executives and brunch dates with friends. Not only that, but money […]