One of the most painful experiences as an entrepreneur is to invest your heart and soul into a product that, when you finally bring to market, no one cares about. That’s exactly what happened to my friend Elizabeth Yin. Before she got into 500 Startups and raised close to $1 million with her new startup […]

Financial Modeling Tips For many entrepreneurs, thinkers, dreamers, and borderline maniac developers, the requirement of a financial model – most often built-in this ancient program called “Excel” – may seem like one of the biggest stumbling blocks on the yellow brick road to fame and fortune. Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be that way! A […]

It is not easy to be the CEO of an up-and-coming startup, especially when you are frequently out of your office talking to investors and the actual time you spend in contact with your team is limited. It gets even more complicated when you manage multiple teams working in different cities. Is it really possible […]

Our friends at the Young Entrepreneurship Council asked eleven entrepreneurs to share their must-have marketing tools for a successful product launch. Here’s what they found: Mailchimp is a must “For every new product launch, we collect emails via MailChimp. We use their email campaign and auto-responder functionality to draft countdown emails so that our customers receive regular updates […]

A lot of massively successful business people, Oprah included, attribute their success to something called the law of attraction. According to the law, your mind determines your reality—if you radiate positive energy, you’ll see fantastic results. If you focus on what you fear, those fears will come true. This mind power concept appeals to many […]

A good team of investors can be the foundation of your startup’s success, but a bad one can obliterate even the strongest ideas. Investors can provide your business with more than capital — they can become resources for organizing, marketing, and realizing ideas. Knowing what to look for in an investor and being able to […]

I hate the term “unicorn.” Seriously hate. And I’m not talking about mythical beasts leaping over rainbows. Everyone loves those. I’m talking about a much more dangerous and rare animal. So many startups we talk to are looking to find that one person who will solve all of their problems. The one person who can […]

Your business just hurdled over the hiring process and assembled a strong team. Now it’s time to fine-tune the details, including a crucial one: clients. Startup clients come in different forms: consumers, big brands, and maybe even other young companies. But with all customers, it takes a certain technique to reel them in. We caught up […]