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There we are, once again, sitting at yet another Founder get-together while everyone tells us how great their startups are doing. Oh shit, that woman just said that they raised a massive round of funding. That guy just said he just surpassed 100 employees. The other person (I'm losing count) just claimed they are growing 50% per month.

"WTF? I thought I was doing great and now listening to everyone else I feel like a total loser."

And there it is. The age-old startup-sizing "competition" where we indeliberately one-up each other with how amazing our startups are doing. In the process, we all make each other feel miserable about ourselves.

What's that? You don't do that at get-togethers? Well, if you're like most, you're doing it anyway in s...

All salespeople — even top stars who seem to have innate abilities to close deals — can benefit when they have reliable selling tactics; so can their employers. Yet far too many startups are filled with starry-eyed salespeople operating like lone wolves. As each goes his own way, the sales experience becomes fragmented and less attractive to prospects and clients.

Don’t think it’s just a small business problem, though. The issue faces even longstanding behemoths like Sears Holdings: It’s big, but it’s not immune to problems associated with crumbling, chaotic, and undependable sales strategies. According to CNN Monday, by the final quarter of 2017, Sears Holdings reported a $558 million loss, cementing annual consecutive losses since 2010. I...

Most Founders have a "certain set of skills" that apply to one aspect of their startup, whether it's deep product knowledge or incredible domain expertise from their previous job.

Unfortunately, in a startup, we sorta need to be a jack of all trades because we're often the only person doing all the work!

Let's assume that you could only invest the bare minimum in the various aspects of your startup operations.

Here's the least you'd need to know.

What about finance? Do I need to know the numbers?

At the very least a Founder should understand how an income statement works.

That simply means "here's where we're making money, here's where we're spending it, and here's how much we're making (or losing)." If you didn't understand a balance s...

Competition tends to be a distraction that's 100 feet taller than the reality.

As startup Founders, we've all had that moment when we thought our very existence was going to end because some competitor made some announcement that would crush us. We worry constantly that we're going to "lose to our competition" when in fact who we really lose to is our customer, and by way of that, our own product.

We need to rethink how competition really affects us, or in many cases, sorta doesn't.

It's Not "Winner Take All"

We have this mentality that one company, whether it's ours or our competitors, will "dominate" the market and take all of the market share. We will be insane and penniless wondering how we ever succumbed to that evil genius and their ...

Why are Founders often so lonely? It's a combination of things.

First, unlike most other jobs, Founders often don't have a lot of relatable peers in their close-knit group. Most people can sit at lunch and complain about their jobs and get a bunch of nods.

Us Founders often explain what we're going through and get the "thousand-yard stare" from someone wondering how to get out of the conversation.

What do Founders do in this case?

The first thing they do is to find other Founders to meet up with.

The one amazing thing about Founders, by the way, is that they immediately tend to connect with and appreciate other Founders.

It's amazing.

Every Founder understands what it means to be staring into the abyss daily, and how those feelings are...

A Startup's financial health isn't just about updating financial statements and balance sheets — it's about understanding basic business financials, and guess what? It's not that hard. This primer is designed for Founders and operators who know little to nothing about startup financials.

Intro: The Basics of Startup Finance

The fundamentals of startup finance are this simple – we record every income item (our goods sold) on one side and then record every cost (operating expenses) on the other side of our financial statements. We subtract the income from the costs – and voila! – profit (or a loss... in the early days it’s usually a loss.)

There’s no special black magic to recording income and expenses.

We don't need Complex Accounting Software (...

There is a never-ending supply of questions when starting a business. Who is your target consumer? How does your product improve lives? What is the best way to showcase your value to buyers? While the questions are many, your core values should never be floating around with these unknowns.

After all, your mission or philosophy is the reason you took the financial and emotional risks of putting yourself and your new venture out there. And, no matter how difficult things get, your core values are akin to the North Star, guiding you in running and growing your business.

Retaining these core values is easier said than done, though. Temptation to let moral priorities slide can come up when you’re under pressure — either from investors or a deple...

The benefits of being productive are obvious:

Becoming a startup CEO requires zero qualifications — that's because we're often not really CEOs (for those that don't already know, a CEO is the chief executive officer of a company).

Anyone who founds a company is by default the CEO. My 9-year-old daughter incorporated her pet-sitting business and is technically its CEO. But she doesn't walk around comparing herself to Jeff Bezos.

As Founder-CEOs, we need to have a very sober outlook on our new title and as such, so do all of the people around us. After all, a successful startup CEO is responsible for more than a "company builder" — they are expected to create the company culture, form the leadership team, and keep everyone in the org moving in the right direction. We basically need to take...

We’re going to do it. We’re going to be the easiest, most exciting, best way anywhere to get craft beer. And we’re going to do it while having a shit-ton of fun.

Some of the most interesting startups are the ones that appear to be simple from the outside but, when you lift the hood and look inside, are actually incredibly complicated and technical.

That’s definitely the case with BREWPUBLIK, the beer subscription service that is really basic, at least from the consumer’s perspective. All they have to do is tell BREWPUBLIK what kind of beer they’re into and new beer suited to their taste appears on their doorstep once a month. It’s like magic!

Or is it?

BREWPUBLIK founder Charlie Mulligan says that it’s not magic that brings those beers to ...