Forums Search

A few years back I was having lunch with a fellow Founder who had started a company that was #1 on the Inc 500 list. He had launched the startup from the basement of his girlfriend’s house with zero capital and had built into a massive company.

We were eating lunch at an exclusive country club he had just joined and were walking out to the parking lot where his shiny new Ferrari was parked. Clearly things were going well for him.

I asked him a simple question “What do people say now when they see you in that new Ferrari?”

He said “They say: ‘It must be nice.’”

Ahhh! “It must be nice” – The most popular refrain us Founders get when the outside world sees what we have – without seeing what it took to get there.

This isn’t for the people who h...

The past few years have seen an explosion of podcasts — it seems like everyone wants to get in on the audio. And startup founders (many of whom have probably been listening to podcasts since they started in the early aughts) are no exception! But how do you know what to listen to in this vast sea of startup podcasts?

Don’t worry — we have you covered. Here are the top 20 best startup podcasts as we head into 2020. Grab your noise cancelling earphones — and get listening.

1. Startup Therapy

Hosted by Startups.com founders and serial entrepreneurs Wil Schroter and Ryan Rutan, Startup Therapy is an inside perspective on issues startup founders really care about. From what to expect in your first year after launching to how to deal with the e...

What is a small business startup loan?

A startup business loan is any type of loan that helps businesses with little to no business history. It's one of many financing options for founders who are looking to either get started or improve their young companies.

Can Startups get a business loan?

Yes, it is possible for startups to get business loans.

However, startups may face more challenges in obtaining financing than established businesses because they often have limited credit history and may not have a track record of profitability.

Startups should carefully research and compare the various financing options available to them and choose the one that best meets their needs and goals.

It's also a good idea for startups to work with a financial a...

It’s hard to think of an innovation that has had a more transformative impact on the business landscape than the rise of crowdfunding.

Once upon a time, the only people who could bring new products to market were the ones who already had the capital and connections to make it happen. Now, thanks to crowdfunding, anyone with an idea and an Internet connection can mount the next big crowdfunding campaign – and the next must-have product can come from anywhere.

Crowdfunding is a great way to raise the funds you need to make your vision a reality. It can also be an awesome way to test a pricing strategy or validate demand for your product.

But crowdfunding campaigns aren’t (just) a fast track to capital or product validation. A successful crow...

I think it’s really important to have someone who can complement you and balance you, and we’ve definitely found that in each other.

It’s a good thing that there’s a lot of outdoor space next to Mike Koranda and Aaron May’s office, because their actual office is basically a closet.

“You don’t even want to know,” says Mike when I ask exactly how much square footage they have. “Twelve-by-five?” he estimates. “Six-by-ten?” Aaron offers.

So, yeah. It’s small.

Working in that close of quarters has its virtues, though. When you work, as Mike puts it, “literally on top of each other,” it’s hard not to check in with what the other person is doing.

And checking in is important for Mike and Aaron. A little over eighteen months ago, they co-founded a ...

Have you ever had a desire to have total control, make an impact on the world, and establish something that will last for generations?

If so, then entrepreneurship is likely your ticket. But what does it actually mean to become an entrepreneur? The journey for entrepreneurs can be both exciting and gratifying, yet at times challenging and risky. There are plenty of possibilities if done correctly.

Here we'll discuss in depth the concept of becoming successful as an entrepreneur — from gaining insight into crucial entrepreneurial thinking required all the way through to how one may navigate running their own business — offering practical guidance specifically tailored towards early-stage entrepreneurs.

In conclusion, you'll be far more prepa...

Yes, there are Founders who take personal money off the table during funding rounds, and no, you probably won't be one of them.

For the unfamiliar, there is in fact a practice whereby investors are sometimes willing to directly purchase shares from existing stockholders (like the Founders) in order to create some liquidity for them personally. It's called a "Secondary Sale" and it simply means the proceeds go to the Founder, not to the company proper.

The problem is most Founders just hear "investors will give me money personally" and assume it's a regular practice. It's not, at all, but it's also not something that's very well explained to Founders either. So, here's how this actually works.

When to Ask

A few things have to happen for us t...

We all love to act like we’re reinventing the wheel here in Startup Land. And, sometimes, (maybe even a lot of the time), we are. The startup world has dramatically changed how the business world operates: from company perks to customer service to everyone suddenly thinking that an open plan office is less oppressive than one with cubicles.

(Spoiler alert: It’s not.)

We’ve also invented a new understanding around the stages of a startup business. Granted, it’s not a total reinvention of the business stage wheel — maybe “evolution” is a better descriptor for how we’ve come to determine the stages of a startup. But there are parts of this “new model” that are certainly unique to our particular way of doing things. And one of those parts is th...

As my partner, Startups.com and Fundable founder, Wil Schroter likes to say, “There's not a lot of ‘fun' in funding.”

Raising equity funding for your startup is a long, difficult, and often demoralizing process. However, if you're successful, you walk away with money that will help your startup grow and become everything you hope it could become.

One of the major challenges that founders run across is that raising a round often takes more time than they expected. While a founder might know that your startup is excellent, convincing other people to invest thousands — and potentially millions — of dollars into their company is not a simple task.

“I've always heard that the rule of thumb is three to four months to do a fundraise — or that you sho...

The gender gap that persists in Silicon Valley and throughout startups in general needs no introduction. Fewer opportunities, fewer CEOs, less pay, less respect – to name just a few issues familiar to women. Laundry lists of ails and acknowledgement of the gender gap are common. What you encounter less frequently are solutions in progress, conversations that go beyond paying lip service to the obstacles women face.

Not so in this morning’s Startups Live Coffee Hour with special guest Lisa Wang. Here she walks us through her projects designed to empower women and talks us beyond the initial difficulties of discussing gender, making it easier to effect change for all who genuinely want it and moving us closer to healthier startup ecosystems.