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We all know how much of a toll being a Founder takes on us, but what about everyone around us?

It'd be nice to think that our journey, and the personal hell that is trying to be a Founder overall is limited to just our own world, the reality is our world radiates out to everyone around us. Our long hours, intense stress, and sometimes total failure doesn't just blow up our world, it has a strong ripple effect on everyone around us.

Startups Aren't Exactly "Marriage Enhancers"

If you ever want to truly test your marriage (or any relationship for that matter), try running it through the grueling gauntlet that is a startup company. While it's hard enough to build a strong relationship, mixing in a giant dose of anxiety and uncertainty does not...

What is an S Corp?

An S Corporation is a type of business corporation.

An S Corp passes all their finances — corporate income, losses, deductions, and credits — through their shareholders. Because S Corp shareholders report the income and losses of the company on their own personal tax returns, the company isn’t subject to double taxation.

S Corp Structure

Shareholders

The shareholders of an S corp are the owners. They’re the ones who “hold” shares of stock.

Depending on how much stock they own, they have varying degrees of influence on the corporation — but they don’t make the decisions or run the day-to-day. Instead, they elect the company’s directors, who take care of all of that. They also vote to remove directors, when it seems like ...

Here at Startups, we hate the term “free money.” But, it’s one that people throw around a lot when they’re talking about grants. The reason we don’t call small business grants “free money” is because they take a lot of work to get. And there’s a lot of competition, so oftentimes that work doesn’t even result in a payday. Sure, you don’t have to pay back a small business grant the way you do a business loan — but it’s certainly not “free money.”

However, we also understand that small business grants can really boost a startup, if they qualify. And it’s not like other forms of startup funding — like venture capital, angel investment, and even crowdfunding — don’t also take a lot of time and effort. So we thought we’d throw together some reso...

According to figures reported in the GEM Global Report, 100 million new businesses are launched annually.

Thats nearly 11,000 startups per hour.

So, how do you beat this competition? By raising more funds? By marketing more aggressively? Maybe. But, I believe that increasing the brand value of your startup can help it not only survive the competition but thrive.

When it comes to marketing your business, branding is an old concept. Unfortunately, it’s one that few startups utilize properly. Review these 7 tips to improve (or build!) your startup’s branding:

Tip #1 — No persistence, no brand

For example, what are the labels you would associate with the Nike brand?

You’re probably thinking somewhere along the lines of sports, Michael Jordan,...

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...

Most startup Founders never get rich — and it's 100% our own fault.

I'm not talking about not getting rich because our startup failed — that one is obvious. I'm talking about having a startup that actually worked and still not getting rich. And when I say "rich" I don't mean "Powerball Rich" I'm talking in most cases, making any money at all. As a whole, we tend to suck at making money for ourselves.

The reason for this is that the startup ethos is riddled with fallacies about how we should approach profit and wealth. We've constructed a narrative that glorifies sacrifice and risk while somehow completely overlooking common sense and profit.

Founders need a reality check. We need to remind ourselves that treading down the most dangerous pat...

Congrats on being an entrepreneur! The good news is – you are your own boss and you set your own hours. The bad news is – you are your own boss and you set your own hours!

One of the reasons you wanted to be an entrepreneur was the pursuit of freedom, but as you probably quickly learned, freedom doesn’t necessarily equate to free time.

Your days are filled with trying to get everything done — from creating proposals, putting the finishing touches on your pitch deck,, keeping all your documents organized and your team on the same page — all while wrestling with all the things that want to steal your attention away. As a founder, you know firsthand the struggle of managing time effectively and trying to be productive.

Having a solid product...

Social media is an area where many .orgs come up short. In fact, it’s common for a lot of businesses to stumble with social media outreach. A new organization might have a handle on its social media campaigns, but as its audience grows, social media transforms into something that requires more time and attention.

Organizations often make the mistake of assigning social media to a volunteer or staff member already burdened with other tasks, and they don’t take the time to make posts geared toward the right audience..

Another common mistake is to split the duties across multiple volunteers. This can be effective, but only if you have a very precise and defined workflow, and a team with strong internal communication.

Finding the people with t...

What makes getting a startup off the ground challenging is the fact that no one knows if the offering has value until it has generated revenue. Every startup faces the challenge of acquiring its first few customers.

Unfortunately, there is no one size fits all step by step guide to finding your first 100 customers because there are so many variables to contend with.

So how do you get from “no one knows you” to “your first 100 customers paying you for your product or service”?

To help you get your first customers we also set out to investigate how startups have gone through the process. We found that they don’t really rely on a single channel to bring in lots of users. Rather they explore different channels and sources. By doing so they bui...