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Never before has “fake” been such a household word. But not all “fake” is bad. For entrepreneurs starting out, the right version of “fake it until you make it” is exactly what they should be doing.

An entrepreneur who “fakes it” is someone who takes on challenges even if he has no idea how he’ll solve them, such as accepting an order from a large client without knowing how he’ll get the shipments from China.

That’s the purest form of “faking it,” because it’s aligning his mindset with what he desires while still operating within his means. It’s also biting off more than he can chew but always following through and delivering in the end.

Ultimately, entrepreneurs who don’t push themselves and “fake it” are the ones who aren’t going to make ...

There's no golden age to start a company, but there is definitely a timer on when we can withstand failure. The question is — when does that timer expire for us?

As it happens, our numeric age isn't really what's driving our "Founder Expiration Date" — it's about how our age may reflect our relative appetite for risk. That's really a nice way of saying "What's the oldest I can be before I'm too old to recover from failure?"

Age Erodes Risk

Every year that goes by is another year we can't get back. When we're in our 20's and starting a company, we have our entire adult life to make up for the risk of failure. In many cases, we may not have a family or even a mortgage to worry about. At most, our failure may result in some lost years and a sh...

Many startup founders find themselves taking out their first business loans as they’re working to get their company launched. But, like so many other things in the startup world, it can be really harrowing to approach first time business loans — because you haven’t done it before! So here’s your comprehensive guide to first time business loans, including what to expect, how to prep, where to find them, and how to apply.

Should startups apply for first time business loans?

Unfortunately, first time business loans can be difficult for startups to procure. That’s because while some funding sources in the startup ecosystem — like VCs and angel investors — are looking to take big risks, traditional financial institutions like banks generally ar...

What is a business loan?

A business loan is an amount of money a business borrows from a financial institution, with set requirements for the amount of time it will take to pay back, as well as interest rates.

Businesses get loans in order to help them start or to fund expansion. They’re one of a range of funding options for startups.

Types of business loans for startups

There are five main types of business loans that are relevant for startups:

1. SBA small business loans
2. Business credit lines
3. Short term loans
4. Invoice financing
5. Merchant cash advances

Let’s take a closer look at each one.

SBA Small Business Loans

A SBA small business loan is a loan that is backed by the Small Business Administration (SBA).

Founded in 1953, the SBA is a fe...

You'll hear the terms “founder” and “co-founder or cofounder” thrown around a lot in Startup Land. But what, exactly, do they mean? What's the difference between the two? And how do you find a good one? It's not very easy to find cofounders that properly fill the business needs and help in the early stages of a startup. So, where do founders even start?

We'll answer the above questions and six more in this breakdown of everything you need to know about founders and co-founders in order to ensure your company's success.

1. What is a founder?

A founder is a person who comes up with an idea (hopefully a profitable idea) and then transforms it into a new business or startup. Founders can set up a business on their own, or they can do it with other...

Funding a startup isn't easy, and anyone that has launched a startup knows this to be painfully true. You need money (like yesterday) and raising funds is "a process" — to state it simply. There are so many details to know and questions to ask before a round can even begin, and once the startup funding round is ready to rock, there are additional questions every founder needs to know the answer to before they take the plunge.

One of the most common questions asked — and arguably most important details to know is how much equity do you give away in seed round? With the help from members of our community, we are going to get into this question in further detail to demystify the information about raising seed capital and the amount of equity ea...

All startups face the same issue when launched: Each strives to create the best product and achieve market compatibility, but not all startups are created equally. Without a doubt, focusing on product development and market entrance is important, but too much emphasis on these areas tends to eclipse broader foundational issues.

I’ve met hundreds of founding teams over the years. Some were ready for venture capitalist funding while others needed to keep percolating a bit longer. In order for startups to reel in venture capitalist backing, building and scaling a fundable founding team is paramount from the start.

There’s an expression: “Choose the right tool for the team.”

When that idea is flipped, it becomes a more inspired guideline that c...

As mentioned briefly above, there are multiple valuation methods to value a startup, and one not mentioned (but worth noting since this is arguably the most common startup valuation approach) is the Venture Capital Method that was developed in 1987 by Bill Sahlman.

If working with a venture capital firm, you should know how they calculate valuations. Venture capital firms use this valuation method to establish an understanding of the value of a startup using this basic framework. In addition to the venture capital method, a VC Term Sheet is used to define the specific conditions of venture capital investments between an early-stage startup company and the venture firm itself.

A lot of people confuse crowdfunding with crowdsourcing. While they are similar in that they both allow people to primarily leverage mass-community collaboration, they relate to two different things entirely.

So, what’s the key difference?

The short answer:

Crowdfunding is the process of sourcing money or funds from a group or groups of people.

Crowdsourcing is the process of sourcing information or skills or end products from a group or groups of people.

The long answer:

What is crowdfunding?

In a crowdfunding campaign, a person, business, or organization raises a relatively small amount of money from a large group of people. Crowdfunding is a method of raising capital through the collective effort of friends, family, customers, and indiv...

We've been working around the clock on our side hustle with the dream that one day it'll be our full-time gig.

But now that we're getting some traction, the real question is, when do we go all in?

The best Investor — our current paycheck

There will never be a more equitable investor than our current paycheck.

Full funding, no pitch process, and market compensation from Day One.

Compare that to when we try to actually raise money in a grueling pitch process, spend months with no income, and have to work for half of what we made last year.

While our current investor (our paycheck) has a lot of hours and distractions, it has some really important benefits: it's predictable, it's consistent, and if shit hits the fan, we just focus on that.