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Whenever I sit down with a soon-to-be startup founder or a prospective employee at my startup, I always ask one fundamental question:

“Is your spouse cool with what you’re about to do?”

In my book, it’s all that matters. Having the support of your spouse can make or break an entrepreneur or anyone working in the startup world.

Or, said differently, not having their support is a recipe for disaster.

You Can’t Fight Two Wars

Working at a startup is a grind that takes every ounce of your energy to create something from nothing. If you come home with even an ounce of energy to spare, it’s a gift.

So, if you walk through the door at home, and you’re presented with an entirely new war to fight, it sucks.

No one has enough energy to fight one batt...

“Did you hear about XYZ.com? I just read about them yesterday. They raised a $5 million round from a top tier venture firm at a crazy valuation. It’s like they popped up overnight!”

Ah, the familiar refrain of “instant success.” The press loves you, investors love you, everyone wants to high five you and join your mission. You’re on your way to becoming the next Google, right?

Not exactly.

Well, unless in that same minuscule time period you’ve managed to build a profitable business with a sustainable customer base and cornered your market, you haven’t proven anything.

Success doesn’t come instantly, and it sure as heck doesn’t come from big announcements. It comes from a long term dedication toward building something real.

Launching Isn’t S...

In this digital age it can be easy to convince yourself that all your business needs can be met online, from the comfort of your home office. But the reality is that meeting people face-to-face will never go out of style. Be sure you’re making the time and taking the effort to meet new people and keep in touch with your existing social and professional networks.

We’ve combed through various studies and surveys to share with you some of the most revealing stats about networking, as well as our top tips for making every networking event a success. Check out the infographic below to learn more about the impact networking could have on your business!

Have any other tips to share? Give us a shout out at @startupsco.

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...

Question: What is one major challenge I should be aware of before manufacturing my product abroad?

The following answers are provided by members of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched StartupCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

Quality Assurance

Quality assurance is a popular topic when it comes to manufacturing abroad, and for good reason. It is very easy to lose product quality while manufacturing elsewhere. Things usually start off OK, yet as time goes on, the quality can fade without your awareness. To better prevent this from happ...

Brian Wong is the CEO and Founder of Kiip, a mobile app rewards platform that lets brands and companies give real world rewards for in-game achievements. We had the chance to sit down with him and he shared his tips on how to make the most of PR and branding for your startup.

Focus on Your Personal Brand

Ideas are a dime a dozen, what investors are really looking at are the people who came up with them. Have a good idea? Great. Have a good team? Even better. If someone is going to fund your idea, they want to make sure you can execute it, so pay attention to the image you portray to potential backers.

Stand Out from the Crowd

Find what makes you unique, and use it to your advantage. Whether it’s what you studied, what you do for fun, or jus...

I have insane anxiety. But I’m not supposed to tell you that.

I’m supposed to create a facade of confidence that says all of the decisions in my life and all of my outcomes materialize with full certainty. My career, résumé, awards and success should be nothing but a shining reflection of confidence and brilliance.

That’s all bullshit.

I wake up in the morning and I freak out. I go to bed at night and I freak out. It doesn’t end. It didn’t end after growing companies, selling companies, making money, or any of the other bazillion “final reasons” why we think it will all disappear someday.

My anxiety is here to stay. So I have to deal with it. And I’m guessing if you’re reading this, you do too.

Let’s Just Admit We’re All Freaked Out

Essent...

One of the sayings I hear from talented managers in product development is, “good enough never is.” It’s inspirational, always calling the team to try harder and do better. It works to undermine excuses for poor or shoddy work. And, most importantly, it helps team members develop the courage to stand up for these values in stressful situations. Especially in teams that are managing by objectives (or OKRs), the pressure to deliver is intense. Under such pressure, the temptation to cut corners, to quit prematurely, or to hand off shoddy work to another department is overwhelming. It requires courage to stand up and say: “this work is simply not good enough. Sure, we could get away with it, but that’s not how we work.” Good managers work hard ...

Convertible debt can solve a very common problem for early stage startups: it allows founders to delay determining the value of their company and still take money from investors.

The Easiest Example Ever

Let’s say you come up with an idea for a coffee-flavored lemonade stand. You don’t know if this will be a total flop or the next Starbucks, but you need $50 to get this lemonade stand launched.

You go to Uncle Earl. He’s willing to contribute $50, but since you can’t figure out what the value of the lemonade stand is—it’s not even launched yet!—he agrees to give the $50 now and figure out what percentage of the business he will get later.

Earl only agrees to do this because you offer him 3 financial incentives which make it interesting to ...

With today’s fast-paced, ever-evolving and competitive market, a lot of companies decide to create a board of advisers that can give them fresh ideas and recommendations to keep up with today’s world.

For small companies, creating a well-run advisory board can give them an edge over their rivals. An advisory board that is composed of experienced people can help a company increase sales and flourish in their chosen industry. Seems pretty straightforward, right? But not a lot of companies do this or, if they do, do it right.

The Basics: What is an Advisory Board?

An advisory board is a group of consultants who provide advice and give support to the management of a company. They have no authority or power to arbitrate in corporate matters. The...