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No trust? You’re toast.

I learned this lesson in what I’m convinced was the toughest way possible. When I co-founded my company, Influence & Co., I knew that in order to help us grow, make valuable connections, and land some qualified clients, I needed to dive headfirst into the word of networking.

I had a solid background in sales, so I walked confidently into my first conference, expecting to shake hands with industry leaders and influencers I could blow away with my knowledge and expertise.

This, as you’ve probably guessed by now, did not happen. I could hardly get the time of day from other attendees. It hurt me to my core and shook my faith in my ability to actually grow this company that I had put so much into already.

Why was I gett...

Q) Where did the idea for Team Jet Set come from?

Josh King Madrid: Team Jet Set came from me deciding to surround myself with people who wanted to win in all aspects of life, who wanted to go beyond the normal expectations and raise the standards. I wanted to create a winners circle of millennials. I wanted to surround myself with entrepreneurs who thought on the same wavelength as I did, individuals who had a growth mindset.

When I was younger, I didn’t have people who had the same mindset or aspirations as me around, so I had to create the environment that I wanted. There was no place for anyone, Millennials specifically, to be able to reach out and find someone making a difference that could mentor them and teach them how to attain the...

Getting taken seriously as a Founder is real work.

It's not some entitlement that's handed to us when we've achieved some career milestone. No matter who we are, we all have to fight for our ability to get taken seriously.

Why do I need to work so hard, shouldn't people reserve judgment?

That would be fantastic, but the world just doesn't work that way. Especially among Founders whose credibility is tested on so many fronts — from acquiring customers, to pitching investors to hiring staff.

Our ability to establish our credibility early and often is critical to our success from the moment we found the company.

How can I change the way I present myself in a room?

Believe it or not, body language sends huge signals.

A well-presented Founder ...

Startups set tons of goals, and most are focused on what we want the business to achieve. But sometimes the most important goals to set are the things we DON'T want the business to do!

When we founded Startups.com, we had lots of experience in previous startups doing things we loathed.

This time around, we set out to not only build a startup we loved, but an environment dedicated to avoiding things we couldn’t stand.

What did you never want to do again?

We began by listing all of the things we never wanted to do again like:

• "Never working with jerks"
• "Never creating any situation where we can be told what to do"
• "Never letting our startup come before our family"

Among others.

Itemizing everything you absolutely don't want to do again ...

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: starting a company is hard work. Growing a startup from scratch is like jumping out of an airplane and trying to make a parachute using a thread and needle as you plummet towards the earth. Needless to say, when it comes to startup growth, there’s a lot that can go wrong – as Sean Sheppard knows firsthand.

“Growth needs to be done in a way that makes it safe for humans to tell you the truth. And that requires humility and a growth mindset.”

As the co-founder of Silicon Valley-based venture capital fund and market Development Accelerator GrowthX, Sean has seen hundreds of companies come through the door. Some of those companies have gone on to big wins – and others have stalled before they even g...

If you’re expecting to get the funding you need to take your startup to the next level, you need to get serious about your business pitch. Without the right amount of preparation, people are not likely to throw money at your “amazing” business idea.

Here are some business pitch tips based on my experience as a CEO and entrepreneur. They will help you impress potential investors and find the right fit for your business.

Getting Ready

Benjamin Franklin was right. “By failing to prepare we prepare to fail.”

Leave your startup business pitch preparation to the last minute and a “thanks but no thanks” is all but a fait accompli. If you think natural charm and some ‘ad-libbing’ will get you through, please think again.

Research your audience

Onc...

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,...

Have a great startup idea? Great! Now you need someone to build it. If you are not technical and don’t want to learn to code, how do you hire a great developer to build your MVP?

For many people the process of hiring the first tech person to build your early-stage startup can be very intimidating but it doesn’t have to be. During my time coding risk systems on Wall Street, I interviewed hundreds of developers for a spot on our team. Below are five things to look for in a promising candidate.

1. Look For a Person Excited About Solving Big Challenges.

Ask your candidate what was the biggest challenge she faced in her last few projects. If the answer involves anything about finishing the project on time, dealing with difficult clients or havi...

We’ve spent the last couple of sessions at Startups Live talking about idea validation: how do you know if an idea you have is an actual viable business in the first place? How do you go about learning about your idea from the people whose opinions matter most – customers?

For this session, we’re staying on the idea validation theme, but we’re taking it a bit more tactical, focusing on actual, concrete methods you can use to validate your ideas. Joining us for this conversation is Stuart Brent, founder of userinput.io, a service that provides on-demand feedback for websites and business ideas. Stuart has shared his favorite startup idea validation techniques with us in the past, and he added his insights to this conversation as well.

The ma...

It's 3:35 A.M. We wake up in hot sweat so wet we've soaked our Night Ranger vintage crop top right through. We had this awful dream that we were somehow fired from our own company.

"Wait. I'm the Founder — how can I get fired?"

If you own 100% of the voting stock and have no other shareholders — you can't.

Your totalitarian rule is safe, El Presidente. However, the moment we have additional shareholders in the mix, the game can change quickly.

Multiple shareholders, especially investors, typically introduce provisions in the Operating Agreement of the company that "protect" the shareholders from wrongdoing by the officers of the company.

Does that mean the janitor can initiate a palace revolt and overthrow us? Probably not. But it does m...