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On April 21^st, 2015, Google will roll out an update that will make mobile friendliness a bigger part of its algorithm. If you don’t think this is a big deal, think again.

Why? Because Google is saying the mobile update will have a bigger impact than its Panda update.

Should you be worried? Yes!

Here’s why, and here are some ways to take full advantage of this update.

Step #1: Make your website responsive

It’s generally not the best idea to create a separate website just for mobile visitors. The main reason you will want to avoid this approach is because updates to your main site won’t appear on your mobile site.

With responsive design, this is no longer a concern. A responsive design will automatically adapt your site to the size of a perso...

Welcome to Phase Two of a four-part Splitting Equity Series. If you missed it, start your journey here: Introduction - Early Startup Equity — Getting it Right before continuing on if you haven’t already, and go in order from there.

Phase One - Startup Equity - Avoiding Early Mistakes

Phase Two - Part 1 - How Startup Equity Works ( ←YOU ARE HERE 😀)

• Part 2 - Startup Stock Options

• Part 3 -Startup Stock Vesting

Phase Three - How to Split Equity

Phase Four - Equity Management

Let's continue!

Startup companies have been wrestling with how to structure stock ownership forever. As private companies we have major decisions to make, from raising venture capital to awarding key employees with equity to just splitting equity among co-founders — we need a stru...

I first started interviewing with Google as a 22-year old. This year, I turn 30. Google is an exceptional place to work — the culture, people, products, and perks are world-class. Having spent the bulk of my 20’s with Google, I can say with confidence that the company grew to be more than an employer to me; it became family. So my decision to leave was very challenging.

However, when I think of where I am headed next — to start my own company to educate kids about financial literacy — I am filled with excitement and optimism. I am also filled with fear. Walking away from comfort, predictability, and an income — all at the same time — surely qualifies as the biggest “here goes nothing” moment in my life. This is my story.

Broken Technology ...

Sometimes the biggest financial startup success comes one paycheck at a time.

In our startup ecosystem, we've become infatuated with the concept that in order to be a successful startup we've got to have some massive IPO or sale. We sometimes forget that 99% of startups actually don't have that outcome and those people are buying Ferraris just the same.

The way most startups get rich isn't by that fairy tale exit (those are awesome BTW!) but by chipping away at growth and financial outcome over a longer period of time that gets them to the same outcome.

Digging a Hole vs. Building a Ladder

Imagine we've got two different paths toward creating our financial success. We're all pretty familiar with the first one, which is "digging a hole" beca...

Welcome to Phase Three of a four-part Splitting Equity Series. If you missed it, start your journey here: Introduction - Early Startup Equity — Getting it Right before continuing on if you haven’t already, and go in order from there.

Phase One - Startup Equity - Avoiding Early Mistakes

Phase Two - How Startup Equity Works

Phase Three - Part 1 - How to Split Equity ( ←YOU ARE HERE 😀)

• Part 2 - Splitting Equity Today

• Part 3 - Splitting Equity in the Future

• Part 4 - Calculating Startup Equity Splits + FAQ

Phase Four - Equity Management

Let's continue!

By default, most startup founders just split their equity once and live with it. They may decide on an equal split or they may devise some reasons why the split favors one partner more than another. But ...

So much has been written about startups and founders, it’s challenging to sort through it all and make sense of advice that often ‘depends’. Here’s my guide to entrepreneurial sins from 2 decades of entrepreneurship.

Taking an honest look at your startup — never an easy thing to do.

But you must.

Being too Early

A startup needs to be early to market, to disrupt while an early market is not yet conducive to incumbent self-disruption. But being too early is often deadly. No amount of brilliant entrepreneurship will save a venture that is too many years ahead of the convergence of factors necessary for success.

How many years is too many? This depends largely on capital, but a few years of prematurity may suffice.

What makes this business sin...

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

Phase One - Structuring a Fundraise

Phase Two - Investor Selection

Phase Three - The Pitch

• Part 1 - Anatomy of a Pitch

• Part 2 - Market Size (←YOU ARE HERE 😀)

• Part 3 - Revenue Model

• Part 4 - Operating Model

• Part 5 - Customer Definition

• Part 6 - Customer Acquisition

• Part 7 - Funding

• Part 8 - Key Pitch Assets

• Part 9 - Traction

Phase Four - Investor Outreach

This is Part 2 of “The Pitch” — where we look at market size, how to go about estimating market size, and presenting potential market size.

Let’s dive in!

Market Sizing

Solving the Problem beautifully is nice and all, but if the Market Size of the Problem isn't big enough, you're not likely to get investors very excited.

The Market Size explai...

The year I turned 37, my heart stopped. Not figuratively, I mean it actually stopped beating.

We were in the early days of launching Startups.com, and I was at lunch with our team. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but something just didn't feel right, so I told the team I was going to head home and lay down. As I was driving home, I called my wife and told her "I'm heading home, something feels off..."

And as I said those words, my heart stopped — while driving. My world went black.

For anyone that has had their heart stop, you can't ignore it because, well, you're sorta dead. In my case, I came to quickly, recovered the car, and drove the next few minutes home. As soon as I got home I phoned my co-workers (who were 5 minutes away) and...

Great business mentors are one of the most valuable assets a startup Founder can have. They can shave years off of your startup journey simply by avoiding costly newbie mistakes. They can make life changing introductions to investors, customers and key executives. They can accelerate your ability to grow your startup by orders of magnitude.

But they can’t do any of that unless you know exactly how to use them.

On it’s surface, it sounds easy enough – find someone who seems to be an expert and ask them lots of questions. Yet if you’ve ever sat in the business mentor seat as I and thousands of others have done, you know that the value you get is directly tied to exactly how you manage the mentor relationship.

If you have a business mentor, o...

Running a startup is a ton of work as a solo Founder, so much so that many Founders find themselves at a loss trying to get everything done. For those that are non-technical, this proves to be a challenge, as coding is essential in this day and age, so bringing on a technical co-founder is a must. This is also true for technical Founders missing the mark on the creative front, so it's no surprise that one of the most searched terms on the internet is "finding a cofounder."

It seems like it should be easy — find a co-founder (or more) that aligns with your startup idea, mission, and has the complementary skills to do all the things you don't know how to — but it's not that simple. Finding the right co-founder is a complex combination of effor...