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Caution — This is a topic people feel very strongly about. My goal here is to open up a conversation to help Founders and their staff to find common ground to build from.

Over the past year, there have been heated reactions to companies like Coinbase and Basecamp instituting strict policies to remove discussions about "societal issues" from workplace forums. This has subsequently spawned some really passionate discussions among Founders about where they stood on the issue.

The workplace is changing rapidly, as well as the voices within it, yet many Founders aren't entirely clear as to what is "normalized" in workplace culture and what is taking things too far one way or the other. We're all going to need to think through these issues very c...

Let’s be real with each other: your brand might suck. But creative director, writer, artist and fire-starter Lalita Ballesteros is here to help you out, with five tips for improving your brand.

1. You’re Here for a Reason

Lalita is a firm believer in always being authentic, so it is no surprise that the first step of her process is to get in tune with the inner you. In order to upgrade your brand, you first need to realize what what wisdom you can share with the world. This may stem from your passion, or even something that drives you nuts that you want to change.

2. Teach it. Often. Consistently. Openly. Truthfully.

So you’ve figured out what you’re meant to teach the world, and now you need to get it out there. In order to do this, you ne...

I believe passion is infectious, and when you get likeminded individuals in a room together, discussing real change and impact for not only a company or organization, but also an entire city, it creates a real sense of dedication.

Buenos Aires, Argentina, is not the first place that people think of when they think of startups — but that’s going to change if Lisa Besserman has anything to say about it.

Lisa’s organization, Startup Buenos Aires (SUBA), has been working tirelessly for the past few years to harness and unite the massive amounts of creative energy and technical knowledge that are floating around South America’s most dynamic city.

In just three years, Lisa and her team have not only created a resource hub for entrepreneurs in Bue...

Taking on full-time staff is a super scary proposition.

It's one thing to have to cut a check to a freelancer, but it's a whole other thing to know that someone's entire livelihood rests squarely on your shoulders.

Startup Founders have far more options and flexibility than we used to, which means the question of taking on full-time staff should be weighed much differently than it used.

Have Founders always been debating this question?

Not nearly as much as we have in the last decade.

The world of employment has undergone a massive change as the gig economy and freelance marketplace has exploded. Nowadays, more people are considering themselves "mercenaries" who can float between gigs which also means employers have to re-consider how th...

Today’s Favorite Find: Booyah

Elevator Pitch

Booyah is a new app for iOS from the social communication platform Rounds that lets people video chat quickly and easily via WhatsApp.

Why We Love It

Look, I think we all know at this point that group video chat is pretty busted, right? Like, most of the major platforms make it either difficult or impossible or charge for the right to add another face to your face-to-face convo. I’ll admit that this is probably because the desire for group video chat undoubtedly came about waaaay before it was technologically possible, but guess what, folks? It’s 2016, and it’s definitely possible now.

Take, for example, Booyah. It’s a new app from Rounds, which is a fun video chat/hanging out platform that I wr...

The Situation

Brad is a newly hired analyst for a mobile payments startup, Cash.io. He joined the startup ready to help conquer PayPal, Visa and anyone else in their way.

When talking about the company to friends, he gushed, and often referenced it as his company. To prepare for the role, he read books and articles about the importance of innovation and not being afraid to fail.

Brad vowed he would never let the fear of failure stand in the way of his creativity and his desire to innovate. Yet as the first quarter came and went, Brad had not found a chance to flex his creativity. He reassured himself with thoughts about the virtues of patience.

As the days wore on, he found himself spending a lot of time doing what his predecessor, Alan, no...

Most Founders get rich without ever exiting their business. Yes, you read that right. We don't have to build a rocket ship that takes on gobs of funding for an IPO in order to have everything we want.

We just need to keep making money (and not even that much!)

While to most people this may sound obvious, in the startup world we tend to forget how this simple fact works. We keep thinking in terms of this big liquidity event where we get handed a giant check like we just won the Powerball. We picture ringing the bell on NASDAQ wearing the only nice outfit we own shaking hands with bankers and smiling for the camera.

And in the end, we picture having enough money to just do whatever the eff we want.

The Stacking Effect

I spend a ridiculous amo...

Question: What is one way to take your core strengths and make them even stronger?

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 BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

Assess Subsets of Your Strengths

While you may be an excellent programmer, what are some other areas of programming where you can improve your skills? Being good in a few core areas doesn’t mean there isn’t additional learning to do.

— Nicole Munoz
Start Ranking Now

Find People to Cover for Your Weaknesses

Core competency is a ...

Why We Love It

Imagine arriving home from school and realizing you’ve left your iPad behind–it’s sitting in the middle of the cafeteria. You drive back, anxiety-ridden, hoping it’s still there.

Now, there’s a product line that will put your mind at ease if something like this ever happens again. Meet Dynotag, a property GPS tag that holds user information.

The company makes tags for lots of different scenarios. Fasten a tag to your car keys, your passport, or even your family pet. Dynotag ensures that lost items get back to their rightful owner.

The information associated with each tag is stored on Dynotag’s cloud and each tag is linked back to its own private website. When someone finds the tag, they can use it to access the owner’s conta...

In a world where business moves at the speed of the IOT, and where data and passwords are more readily available online, entrepreneurs have a new obstacle to address: the protection of their intellectual property.

While corporations have the resources to hire top cyber security teams and implement software solutions that protect their collateral, criminals are increasingly taking an interest in small and medium sized businesses. The new targets have equally marketable data, designs and digital information that have value for criminals, and for foreign governments.

The question to ask: Is your business at risk?

The technology industry and foreign policy

In 1986, China began a program that has been loosely referred to as “shadow innovation”...