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At Startups.co, we’ve made it a habit to study the trajectory of entrepreneurs on their paths to success, and from our qualitative observations, we’ve noticed that there are definitely some common habits that have helped them succeed along the way. From ice cream powerhouses to e-commerce pros, here are some traits from great founders that I’ve observed and tried to emulate throughout my 20-year career as an entrepreneur.

1. Treat Customer Opinion Like Currency

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the founders of the eponymous Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, consider their customers to be a huge driver in their creative process and the success of their company. From the moment they opened their original location—a rundown garage in Vermont—they constan...

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There seems to be a misconception floating around in the startup ecosystem that entrepreneurship is synonymous with misery and painful uphill battles. And while it is true that entrepreneurship is a uniquely challenging road, I take issue with the claim that it has to be a grueling and thankless one.

So, how do we keep ourselves happy and sane while we’re on the path to creating a better life for ourselves, and a better world for others? Simple: positive psychology.

Learned Optimism Keeps Us Going

Being an entrepreneur means that you are changing the status quo. Whether you’re building disruptive technologies, founding an innovative non-profit or providing a service, you have seen the need for something better, and you are bringing that vis...

How to build startups through social media in short time.

Venture capital is one of the most popular forms of investment capital among startup companies. Unfortunately, very few entrepreneurs have an in-depth understanding of how the venture capital industry actually works or how it relates to their desire to raise capital.

A quick primer on the fundamentals of venture capital funding. Learn how venture capital funding works and how big the universe is for venture capital as a whole.

The following guide will help you understand the mechanics of the venture capital industry, the process for identifying the right venture capital firm to approach, and the actual pitch process used by entrepreneurs looking to raise venture capital.

Understanding Venture Capital

What’s the difference between an associa...

I know this blog post is going to get some electronic tomatoes thrown in my direction….. Meh… *cue shoulder shrug*. That said, here comes the first leadership truth:

1. You look bad when you chronically call out sick.

When we were a company of 10 people, no one ever called out sick. I even had a policy at the time where I paid for sick days that no one took advantage of. For real, never — It was just never an issue for almost two years. I then upboarded my first manager and that single move of one level separation between me as the owner and the employees created an environment where we had people calling out sick left and right. I think it was some sense of “Oh, well now it is a “company” and not just a person I am loyal to”. That sense o...

What are customer profiles?

After you figure out your big idea and before the world is obsessed with your product, you have to find your customers. And in order to find your customers, you have to create customer profiles.

An ideal customer profile — or customer persona — is a way of defining and categorizing your customers so that you can:

1. shape your startup to their needs and;
2. market to them more effectively.

That’s the simple explanation. Now, per usual, let’s do a deep dive into the more complicated one.

Why are customer profiles important?

Ideal customer profiles are important because without one, your startup is going to waste a lot of time trying to attract customers who are, at baseline, just not attracted to your product. They’...

For those of us who attend conferences, workshops and industry events regularly, it becomes easy to spot the different ‘networker’ profiles.

There’s always the ‘straight out of college’ marketing intern who fires out business cards at light-speed and performs the same pitch to every person. The quiet developer who slinks in the background avoiding eye-contact. And the somewhat creepy terminator-esque sales whizz who scans the crowd for his next target, then pounces.

Conferences and B2B networking events offer a great means of extending your network, meeting new clients, hires, partners or investors. But when dealing with experienced Business-to-Business networkers, you need to be prepared to work the room in the right way, and show the bes...

Nancy Duarte is a pro when it comes to startup presentations. Not just giving presentations, but starting them, finishing them, and every step in between. Author and co-founder of Duarte Designs, Nancy Duarte is a seasoned veteran when it comes to incorporating storytelling into speaking and creating connections with an audience.

The below video is the fourth part in a series of 10 in which Nancy shares the key components to making a successful pitch using creativity and critical thinking. Find out what she has to say:

Selling your message

Walking into a room full of investors and venture capitalists and selling your startup can be an intimidating task. Not only is a clear and well-organized message key to accomplishing the job, but how yo...

As startup Founders, we are constantly focused on making sure our fledgling companies have enough runway to grow. We believe that if the company’s bank account runs out, the company goes bankrupt and it’s game over.

But that’s not always true. It’s often not until your personal bank account runs to zero that your startup is truly done for.

The fact is that startups don’t truly go bankrupt until their Founders go bankrupt. The problem is that Founders are often so focused on the startup’s finances that they overlook their own ability to stay afloat in the process. I call this ability your “personal runway,” or the amount of time that you can stay alive and fed, regardless of the health of your business.

Back to Basics

I learned all abou...