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Question: What is your best marketing tip that specifically applies to B2B marketing?

1. Make Helpful Introductions

When speaking to and building a relationship with another business, ask how you can serve them. Then do it. One way you can always help another business grow is by introducing them to other potential customers, vendors, partners and team members. When you make a connection that serves and lasts well for them, they will remember who did it. The favor always comes back to you tenfold.

– Matt Shoup (@MattShoup), MattShoup.com

2. Get Through the Gatekeeper

Reaching the right decision maker in a B2B sale is often the first hurdle. Figuring out how to either bypass the gatekeeper or impact them so greatly that they pass the informatio...

Looking at startup news publications such as TechCrunch or Mashable, a new entrepreneur might think that every startup raises capital and walks away with MILLIONS in their pockets after a quick and easy overnight success followed by an acquisition by Google or Facebook. These sensationalized stories are actually very misleading and do not represent the daily grind of startup life.

Here are some of the common startup myths debunked:

1. You MUST Be Technical

Being technical is pretty important if you’re planning on starting an internet startup. So if you’re not technical, it is a good idea to learn at least some technical skills. Dennis Crowley, founder of Foursquare, was non-technical before he founded his first startup, Dodgeball, later sol...

The success of your campaign depends on the number of people you can reach, engage and motivate during your campaign and the weeks leading up to it.

This is a tall order for an already busy entrepreneur. Many campaigners are now realizing the most effective way to run a crowdfunding campaign is by utilizing a Virtual Assistant—Like the ones at Zirtual.

Tim Ferris recently said: “The #1 resource we found for outsourcing is Zirtual… Do not run a Kickstarter campaign (or your life) without…”

By delegating crowdfunding work to your VA, you can focus on what’s important.

Your VA works behind the scenes and allows you, your product, and your launch to shine.

So, how exactly do you use a virtual assistant to boost your crowdfunding campaign effort...

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...

Editors Note: Earlier this month Etsy revealed in its Q1 earnings report that the board is replacing Chad Dickerson, who has been CEO since 2011 and took the company public in 2015.

Josh Silverman, who joined Etsy’s board in November, will take over as CEO, while fellow board member Fred Wilson will be taking over Dickerson’s role as chairman of the board. Etsy is also losing CTO John Allspaw.

Dickerson said in a statement: “It has been an honor to lead Etsy as CEO for the past six years and the three years before that as CTO, the Board decided that it was time for new leadership to take Etsy forward and I support that decision.”

Here’s something you don’t hear in today’s unicorn “crushing it!” era of startups: “There’s something about los...

It was only a few short months ago that I jumped out of my steady job airplane in lieu of a parachuteless descent to San Francisco. With virtually no meaningful savings or product development experience, I started to frantically fabricate my company, Pronto Concepts Inc., into a parachute on the way down.

All I had was an idea for a product I thought people would like but I never imagined I could do it alone. I started my journey with a search for a co-founder, only to find out it could have been my biggest mistake.

Why would you want a co-founder?

The typical first step for any potential venture is to congregate a core team of co-founders. This is not done without merit, for there are several reasons for wanting to go at it with teammates...

80% of Resolutions Fall Short in the First QuarteR

Usually, after the third month of the year your crisp new running gear and fitbit has been designated to the back of the closet as a guilty reminder, and you are counting your steps to the subway station as your day’s exercise. You are not the only one. In fact, according to U.S. News, nearly 80% of resolutions fall short by the second week of February

While Millennials are better than their parent’s generation at sticking to new year’s resolutions, their frantic work and social lives make it hard to stick to plans on the long term. Millennials are ‘experience motivated’ and take up new hobbies and regimes with great intentions, but according to Statistic Brain only 8% achieve their resolut...

Unfortunately, my site (SujanPatel.com) was hacked again, but I’m happy to report that everything is back up and running – no data lost and no personal information compromised.

I wish I could say that this was the first time somebody messed with my site, but what I’ve come to learn is that getting hacked is part of the price of admission for running on WordPress.

Don’t get me wrong – I love WordPress. The fact that it’s open source and widely adopted means tons of great templates, plugins and add-ons, many of which I use to power this blog. But those same pros turn into cons when you take into consideration the fact that hackers have the same amount of access as you do.

Dealing with the potential for WordPress hacks requires two things – be...

It’s a common locker room scene: Before the big game, the team scrutinizes video of its upcoming opponent, trying to suss out the other team’s biggest strengths and weaknesses. Companies analyze their competitors, too, but they rarely turn that same analytical eye inward. That’s a mistake.

Why? Because, quite frankly, your company’s weaknesses can do far more damage than your competitors, and your strengths are reminders that you have the capacity to improve in other areas.

Think of it this way: How can you contrast your organization with another if you have no idea what value you bring to the table or where you stand? It’s time for an internal audit.

Evaluating Your Company in 3 Steps

Step 1: Conduct a Thorough Internal Assessment

Conduct...

It is critically important for the founders of a company to intimately understand the company’s Key Performance Indicators (“KPIs”). Founders cannot hope to grow a company in any meaningful way without an almost obsessive focus on its KPIs. Why? Because KPIs, if constructed correctly, give management and potential investors a cold, analytical snapshot of the state of the company, untainted by emotion or rhetoric. This focus must not be limited to the KPIs themselves, for they are merely measurements of outcomes. We look for founders to have an understanding of what levers can be pulled and what tweaks can be made to improve the business, which will then be reflected in its KPIs. So the focus should not be on the KPIs themselves, but the mea...