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The biggest challenge Founders face when finding a co-founder is determining how much value they will truly add. We have to realize that in the formative stages of a company, we are in a very leveraged and vulnerable state. We don't have the funds to pay people, no one is clamoring to work with us, and we're pretty much all alone.

This is where we make some of the most costly mistakes we could possibly endure. We place all of the value on someone based on who happens to be available right now and then give them the most valuable currency we will ever create.

We do this in the name of progress, but are we really asking the right questions?

Is One Person Worth 50% of our Net Worth?

The moment we take on a 50% co-founder the business needs to ...

Today’s Favorite Find: Simple Poll

Elevator Pitch

Simple Poll is a Slack bot that lets you make — you guessed it! — simple polls.

Why We Love It

Another day, another Slack bot, amirite? Seriously though, as Slack continues their crazy momentum of 2015 into 2016, and quickly works toward their world domination of all of our offices, both remote and IRL, we’re only going to see more and more Slack bots pop up. And from my view right now, at the onset of 2016, it makes a lot sense: Slack shows no signs of slowing down.

(Check back this time next year, and we’ll see if I’ve had to eat my words or not. To steal the iconic line from Project Runway: In tech, one day you’re in and the next day? You’re out.)

The latest Slack bot to catch my eye is ...

A capitalization table or "cap table" is a record of the equity ownership and actual ownership percentage of each member of the company. Private companies typically develop a cap table when they are first formed to capture the stock ownership of the co-founders and then later begin recording stock ownership of employees, advisors, and investors.

Why do Startups need Cap Tables?

The moment the number of shares in our startup expands to more than one owner, we typically create the company's cap table. This is just a ledger of where the company's ownership stands and can be captured in something as simple as a spreadsheet.

As our startup expands, cap table management becomes more complex, such as when we take on a funding round with a venture cap...

When it comes to small business loans, you have two options: private and government loans. While private lenders may be reluctant to take a risk on a new business or startup, government business loans were created specifically to boost small business in the United States.

As a result, you might find that it’s easier to secure a small business loan from the government than it is to secure one from a private lender.

Most government business loans are managed through the Small Business Association (SBA), which partners with lending institutions that actually distribute the money.

Because the loan is backed by the government — meaning if you default, the government pays of the balance — banks and credit unions are more likely to take a risk ...

As a company of nearly 200 employees — almost all of which are allowed to work from home — we know this struggle well.

Over the past few years we've developed a significant work from home policy at Startups.com and have learned a ton from our experience.

Won't everyone just goof off at home?

Unreliable employees will totally goof off — they will absolutely abuse the luxury.

In our first few months converting to work-from (only one day a week) we quickly learned that some employees totally took advantage of the freedom, in some cases just considering it a day off.

Sadly that meant we had to part company with some folks, but in retrospect, it only advanced a decision that would have taken us much longer to make had we not needed to evalua...

To maintain a competitive edge in today’s fast-paced and increasingly remote world, companies must find efficient ways to educate their extended networks. Keeping remote vendors, franchisees, investors, and sales representatives up-to-date on products and services is necessary to survive in our hypercompetitive global economy.

In decades past, keeping external partners in the loop required printed training materials, on-site presentations, and travel expenses. Today, an extended enterprise learning management system (LMS) enables companies to quickly and conveniently educate team members on products, services, compliance policies, and company standards.

A Gallup report found that 74 percent of employees don’t feel engaged or informed at wo...

When you’re looking for grants to start a business, you’re looking in an area that’s crowded with a lot of competition. But, if there’s one thing startup entrepreneurs are known for, it’s tenacity.

The reason there’s so much competition is, a) there are a limited number of grants and, b) grants — unlike other forms of funding — don’t have to be paid back. You also don’t have to give up any equity in your company in order to win one. Sounds appealing, doesn’t it?

So while we don’t always recommend grants as the first place startups go looking for funding, they’re absolutely a great option for a certain subset of companies. Here’s an overview of how to secure grants to start to business, as well as a few types of grants for starting a busines...

Planning to raise some capital for your startup? Well, before announcing your intentions to the world, take a step back and remember that investors are a notoriously skittish bunch. According to a Fundable study, venture capital and angel investors pour money into less than 1 percent of new enterprises, meaning it may be best to raise money away from the public eye.

A more low-key business fundraising approach isn’t as tough as it sounds, as most entrepreneurs unknowingly do it to some extent. If you’ve read about a startup that’s “killing” or “crushing” its fundraising goals, that’s usually a calculated effort to build the kind of buzz that entices on-the-fence investors to take the plunge before it’s too late.

To combat potential investo...

We recently hired someone in our finance department that lasted about a week. He happened to be in his 50’s. During his exit interview he said “I wasn’t prepared to work for a company ran by Millennials”.

Until that moment I have never actually considered myself a “Millennial”. I talked about them as “they”, but never thought I was part of the “them” group. I Googled it — turns out “Millennials” apply to anyone born between 1982 and 2004. I was born in 1984….. I guess I AM a Millennial.

Okay, I’ll own it. If that is the case, what makes working for Millennials “different”?

1. I’ll call you out.

The Baby Boomer generation grew up on Dale Carnegie leadership principles. Don’t get me wrong — I’ve read “How to win friends and influence people”...

Continuing in Phase Four of a four-part Funding Series:

Phase One - Structuring a Fundraise

Phase Two - Investor Selection

Phase Three - The Pitch

Phase Four - Investor Outreach

• Part 1 - Investor Outreach

• Part 2 - Investor Introductions: How to Get Them ( ←YOU ARE HERE 😀)

• Part 3 - The Investor Email Pitch

• Part 4 - How to Contact Investors

Let’s dive in!

Before you try to connect angel investors or venture capitalists to secure funding, we want to ensure you are using the best possible inroad. That means before contacting a potential investor, we want to find the best way to make a warm introduction.

Startups sometimes forget that an angel investor or really any private investors are just regular people like us.

Their investment process starts with fam...