Whether you’re a business, freelancer, or a PR agency, you’re going to have stories that you need to tell. Hopefully, lots of them – press releases, articles, interviews, blog posts and more.

Of course, there are professionals and plenty of online tools to help with every step of the process, from creating content to publishing, from sharing on social media to tracking results of a campaign. But before you shell out you’re hard earned money or attack each project bit by bit, you should have a look at Prowly.

Prowly is data-driven PR software and content marketing CRM for creating interactive content, distributing content, and measuring results. And the tools work so well that thousands of PR teams have embraced them, including those working...

If the depictions of startups in popular culture are to be believed, working for a startup is basically like hanging out in a clean version of a frat house basement. There are pool tables; ping pong tables; kegs that you can drink whenever you want! There are communal workspaces, free food and nap spaces. We have Nerf gun fights spontaneously every day!

And while some of that is true, sometimes — go check out Airbnb’s office in San Francisco for an amazing example of what can be done with startup unicorn money — the reality of working at a startup is a bit more… complicated.

“I’ve worked for a few startups now (Zirtual Inc. [pre-acquisition] for three years, WeWork for six months, and TrendKite presently for over a year),” Kristopher Louie...

People often automatically put small and large businesses into completely separate categories, even when they share the same space in the same market. Their logic is often that a small business can surely never compete with the resources and the horsepower of its corporate peers.

But (as you’ll know if you own a small business yourself) while small businesses seem to be at a disadvantage when it comes to resources, their ideas are just as good as the big guys. It’s just that these ideas often don’t have the same space and support to grow. Without big budgets, it’s harder to make investments in marketing, research, and hiring, so they can’t create the same kind of testing ground that large companies take for granted.

This lack of a lab in wh...

Unicorns are a beautiful myth — but are unicorn startups a myth, too? At first glance, the answer is “no.” The definition of a unicorn startup is a company with a $1 billion valuation. Uber is a unicorn startup. Airbnb is a unicorn startup. Facebook is a unicorn startup. So are WeWork, Spotify, Stripe, and a couple hundred other companies you probably haven’t heard of. Those are real companies that have achieved “unicorn” status, so that means unicorn startups are real, right?

Well, not quite.

First, let’s talk about how we get to that $1 billion valuation. There are a few different ways to determine the valuation of a startup but, basically, it’s what your investors believe your company is worth, based on the metrics your company has compi...

What are angel investors?

Angel investors are wealthy individuals who invest in startups, usually at the early stages. Sometimes angel investors pool their money with other angel investors, forming an investor pool.

The typical angel investor is someone whose net worth is likely in excess of $1 million or who earns over $200,000 per year. Incidentally, those look a lot like the credentials of an accredited investor.

Realize, though, that the angel investor is playing with their own money — not invested capital — so even though they may be a high net worth individual, they are still looking at money coming out of their personal bank account.

Federal angel investment tax credits

When you’re talking about federal angel investment tax credits,...

There are a lot of options when it comes to startup funding. And sometimes those different options can overlap — or at least seem to. That’s the case with private equity and venture capital.

What’s the difference between venture capital and private equity?

The biggest differences, traditionally, between VC and private equity are the stage of the company they invest in and the type of growth they’re looking for. Venture capital tends to go for early stage, higher risk companies with potential for “hockey stick” growth, which is when a company goes from nothing to everything, super fast. Private equity, on the other hand, is interested in companies that have already established themselves, but need more capital in order to thrive.

Another bi...

When it comes to financing a startup, government grants for small businesses aren’t the first thing most founders look toward. And they shouldn’t be. While it’s great to get “free money” if you can, federal grants are only available for specific fields and specific uses — and they’re not easy to get.

However, if your startup does qualify for a government grant for small business, then they’re potentially a great source of funding that you don’t have to pay back.

But unlike other industries, startups have another source of funding that we don’t have to pay back, at least immediately: Venture Capital.

Venture capital is also hard to acquire and certainly comes with stipulations — including giving up equity in your startup — but it’s usually ...

Time and again I have been told how The Art of War by Sun Tzu is a great resource for gaining insights on strategy. I’ve heard it all from how it’s a required reading in many Japanese companies to how Bill Belichick uses it to fill his fingers with Super Bowl rings. So the time came when I finally decided to give it a shot, shortly after I was pleasantly surprised on how many of the 5th century BC strategies actually aligned with modern day business and startups in particular.

Below I have highlighted four passages, which I believe hold timeless business advice for early stage companies. Along with the passages, I have added my contemporary interpretation, modern evidence through research, and real world examples.

On Adaptability

Question: What is one tip you have for keeping your personal and professional life separate?

Don’t Use Your Facebook Profile for Work

“Use a Facebook page to promote your business, and keep your Facebook profile for actual friends and family only. Many people make the mistake of blurring the line and they’re left with the worst of both worlds: They can’t promote on Facebook because they’ll annoy their friends, and they can’t be too personal for fear of coming across as unprofessional with prospects. Separate the two.”

— Laura Roeder
MeetEdgar.com
@lkr

Schedule Your Life, Too

“Reserve personal time in your schedule for activities that allow you to recharge and that add value, such as daily exercise, a weekly date or social night, family acti...

Note: Last updated: July 26, 2018

What are the best startup tools of 2018? A great startup idea is exciting, but let’s be real — if that’s all you have, you don’t have much. If your startup is going to go from idea to reality to acquisition, you’re going to need a lot of help along the way. And while some of that help will come from humans — like, you know, your team and your investors and your mom when you call her, crying — others will come from startup tools.

Startup tools are tools created to help startups (and yes, traditional businesses) succeed. They’re almost all online, as that’s where we conduct most of our business in Startup Land. They’re also almost always startups themselves — the ecosystem of startups that were created speci...