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With today’s fast-paced, ever-evolving and competitive market, a lot of companies decide to create a board of advisers that can give them fresh ideas and recommendations to keep up with today’s world.

For small companies, creating a well-run advisory board can give them an edge over their rivals. An advisory board that is composed of experienced people can help a company increase sales and flourish in their chosen industry. Seems pretty straightforward, right? But not a lot of companies do this or, if they do, do it right.

The Basics: What is an Advisory Board?

An advisory board is a group of consultants who provide advice and give support to the management of a company. They have no authority or power to arbitrate in corporate matters. The...

It’s hard to decide who has changed the most in the last 12 years: Thrillist or its co-founder and CEO Ben Lerer.

Back in 2004, Thrillist was frequently described as the male equivalent of DailyCandy, a female oriented email newsletter that sold for $125 million only to be killed by Comcast. To be clear, that is still one of the largest content exits in the Web era, and it inspired plenty of envy at the time. Many expected Thrillist to be flip-bait as well.

Fast forward to today and Thrillist has raised more venture capital than that DailyCandy acquisition– much of it during a $100 million mega round announced last year. That deal rolled up Thrillist and three other media platforms into one company called Group Nine, and Discovery invested ...

When you’re launching a travel business, there are many “what ifs” and “what nows” — especially if you’re a rookie. It’s almost too easy to get caught up in the excitement. Whether you’re trying to build out too many related products before perfecting your core business, struggling to gauge the strength of a potential partnership, or micromanaging your staff, it might be a good idea to take a step back and gain a little perspective from the pros.

After all, those pros started out where you are now, and many are willing and eager to help others get on their feet. So don’t be afraid to reach out within the tight-knit entrepreneurial community to seek advice because almost nothing is more valuable than help from someone who has been in the tre...

We all have heard that "just getting 51% of the company will help us control the board and rule the world!"

But in startup companies, that's often not the case.

A lot of our control actually lies within the agreements that we create within the company, regardless of our percentage of control.

The Difference between Common and Preferred Shares

Startups can have many classes of stock, but the two most often created are "Common" and "Preferred" shares. There are many variants, but the most classic usage is "Preferred" have controlling rights, "Common" does not.

Investors will almost always take Preferred shares, which entitle them to specific types of rights within the company, even if they do not have the majority of those shares.

Those c...

It’s that time of year again! Get ready for all of the year-end lists, advice, and wrap-ups. Every year, we soak that stuff up, but this year, I’m focusing on something different: my team.

Over the years, I’ve noticed a few things as the holidays roll around.

Naturally, people want to take time off with their friends and family. They should. And they should also prepare accordingly by managing client expectations so they can enjoy their time away.

This is also prime time for folks to reevaluate their lives and career goals. As a boss, that means lots of hand-holding and long conversations with employees around career trajectory and promotion possibilities.

At my company, we’re slammed in the fourth quarter. It’s a good problem to have, but ...

We recently hired someone in our finance department that lasted about a week. He happened to be in his 50’s. During his exit interview he said “I wasn’t prepared to work for a company ran by Millennials”.

Until that moment I have never actually considered myself a “Millennial”. I talked about them as “they”, but never thought I was part of the “them” group. I Googled it — turns out “Millennials” apply to anyone born between 1982 and 2004. I was born in 1984….. I guess I AM a Millennial.

Okay, I’ll own it. If that is the case, what makes working for Millennials “different”?

1. I’ll call you out.

The Baby Boomer generation grew up on Dale Carnegie leadership principles. Don’t get me wrong — I’ve read “How to win friends and influence people”...

Do you want to become a millionaire? Asking doesn’t make much sense—Who wouldn’t want to be? But WHY? WHAT motivates you? And HOW to fulfill that motivation and become a millionaire? Let us get answers to these questions in the next 2 mins.

It is money which drives your expectations, needs and wants. The thing which helps and assists you in fulfilling them. It is a solution to most of your problems. Money can buy you almost anything, be it freedom, power, comfort, pleasure and the list goes on. Recently the most popular cliche that “Money can’t buy you Happiness” was proven wrong by a study conducted by Cambridge University. According to the study people who spent money in line with their personality traits were the happiest. You can judge...

Business strategist and consultant Roberto Candelaria has been in the business for years, and is a pro when it comes to sponsorship. Roberto has experience working with big brands like BMW, DELL, Disney, Hilton, State Farm, Wells Fargo, and Zappos. He sat down to talk us through the ‘RELAT’ model – his top tips for landing a corporate sponsorship for your startup.

Represent

Know who you are as a company and what your mission and values are. Strive to work with companies that share a similar vision and will compliment your company rather than turn it into something it’s not.

Establish

Determine what you want to have sponsored, and plan out your timelines. Look at this as creating your business plan for what the sponsorship will look like. Th...

The biggest brands in the world become what they are with the help of one elusive ingredient: customer loyalty. In a world over-saturated with scattershot marketing messages, successful companies take the time to truly get to know their customers — their motivations, fears, ideas, and priorities — and tackle customer service with relentless dedication.

If you’re an entrepreneur, this is good news and bad news.

The bad news? You’re likely competing against established brands that have worked for years — or even decades — to build loyalty among customers.

The good news? You can make customer-service commitment part of your company’s mission early on and be hyper-focused on giving a smaller number of customers the best experiences possible.

If...

Whether you’re running a startup or leading an established company, getting your brand noticed in today’s increasingly “noisy” digital environment can be a challenge. Old marketing paradigms – which focus on traditional media buys and banner ads – simply don’t get the traction they used to, emphasizing the need for new promotional strategies.

The numbers don’t lie

Currently, all signs point towards content marketing taking the lead as 2013’s hottest advertising trend. According to research conducted by the Content Marketing Institute:

• 86% of B2C marketers surveyed employ content marketing tactics, with 55% of these professionals planning to increase their content marketing spends throughout 2013.
• 91% of all B2B marketers polled use content...