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What matters most to your employees?

This is the third time we are asking that question, because what could be more rewarding and fruitful than fostering a supported and thriving workforce?

Every year we review the Society for Human Resource Management’s Employee Job Satisfaction and Engagement Report, an enormous undertaking that produces nearly sixty pages of data on what employees want most, how responsive their employers are, and what they need to be engaged in their work. This year, we are including the infographic below, courtesy of our friends at Venngage.

The 2016 report was based on responses collected from 600 randomly selected employees between November and December of 2015. SHRM found these themes topped the list of those that ...

More than 50 years ago, Motown transformed the music landscape forever. Berry Gordy, a music lover who cut his teeth on Detroit’s automobile business, transferred his blue-collar tenacity into building a record label that featured the unique sounds emerging from the so-called Paris of the West: Detroit.

Gordy’s moxie propelled him and fresh artists like Diana Ross and The Supremes, The Jackson 5, and Smokey Robinson and The Miracles to superstardom. Today, his legacy is woven into the fabric of Americana, and we all relish the smooth, upbeat, and personal stories those songs told.

Why am I waxing nostalgic about Berry Gordy? Well, I was born and raised in Detroit, and despite its economic ups and downs, it remains a proud city that retains ...

The decision between hiring a recent college graduate and an established professional might seem like a no-brainer, but for the sake of your startup, you should think twice. I wouldn’t argue against hiring experienced employees altogether, but better results often come from workers with little to no relevant experience, or “green” employees.

As companies have moved out of the recession and into another tech boom, finding great candidates has become quite a challenge. Almost half of employers in a survey expressed difficulty with hiring right now, bemoaning a lack of talent.

The overabundance of college degrees means experience might set candidates apart — but directly relevant experience doesn’t automatically translate to the best fit for a...

Here’s the short version:

I created Startups.co as my dream job. There wasn’t any magic to it – but I had to be painfully honest about how I really wanted the rest of my life to play out.

This is how I did it.

Imagine this: as of today, you are now working at your dream job.

What would that look like?

Get really detailed with it: How would every hour of the day go? What would you get to do? What would you never, ever, ever, ever have to do again? Have you written all of this down and made a plan around it?

Yeah, neither did I – for about 18 years in a row.

And then I did, and it was the most profound and relatively simple change I ever made. So much so that I have dedicated the rest of my life to helping my fellow Founders align what they ...

For a growing product startup, there is no better triumph than seeing your product on the shelves and online store of a billion-dollar retailer. It provides incredible social proof, validates your concept, and shows you’ve got what it takes to scale into a profitable business.

Unfortunately, for many startup founders, there exists a veil of mystery over what it actually takes to stand out to retailers in a crowded sea of established product companies and competing product startups.

Fortunately for you, we have the inside scoop from Rick Rommel, a partner at Sprosty Network and founder of RetailXelerator. Rick is a former Best Buy SVP, and was founder of its Exclusive Brands private-label business. He spent a decade both selecting and develo...

Question: What is your current favorite startup-related newsletter or website and why?

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.

Lewis Howes’ Podcast

I really like reading and listening to the Lewis Howes podcast on School of Greatness. He interviews some of the top minds on the Internet about what it takes to become big. A close second would be Startup Grind podcast. You can’t beat the amazing stories you’ll hear.

– Peter Daisyme
Hosting

Help Scout’...

It was only a few short months ago that I jumped out of my steady job airplane in lieu of a parachuteless descent to San Francisco. With virtually no meaningful savings or product development experience, I started to frantically fabricate my company, Pronto Concepts Inc., into a parachute on the way down.

All I had was an idea for a product I thought people would like but I never imagined I could do it alone. I started my journey with a search for a co-founder, only to find out it could have been my biggest mistake.

Why would you want a co-founder?

The typical first step for any potential venture is to congregate a core team of co-founders. This is not done without merit, for there are several reasons for wanting to go at it with teammates...

As a startup founder, one of the most popular questions you’ll get is “Who are your investors?” The industry operates under the assumption that most startups are working with venture capitalists and angel investors, and for good reason. VCs and angels not only provide the capital to get your company off the ground, but the advice they can give and introductions they can make are often as valuable, if not more, than the money.

But, for young companies just taking off, getting through the doors of VCs and angels can be tough. Not to mention, no founder is ever keen on the idea of giving away a part of their company.

When you’re struggling to find VC funding, or want to maintain complete ownership, people will often recommend you try crowdfund...

It’s easy to get lost in the Silicon Valley sauce. I know because I’ve been there. Startups are sexy and we’re surrounded by news of big rounds of funding, the newest cohorts accepted in to prestigious accelerators (like Y Combinator) and essays from legendary investment firms such as a16z.

The examples are endless.

The VC Way

They’ve all earned their names for a reason and produced excellent learning resources for aspiring founders.

But, there’s one caveat, often overlooked by new founders:
They create fantastic resources, tailored toward founders headed down the venture capital (VC) route.

This might seem like small fries— But, not being aware of this caveat can fundamentally (and subconsciously) shift an entrepreneurs evaluation of wh...

"Is 60 hours of work per week enough? 80? 100? Do I just work ALL of them?"

In startup culture, we've developed a pretty broken mantra that "more hours equals more growth". We believe we can kill ourselves to success, and if we're being fair, there's a bit of that requirement in building something from nothing, but the real question is — how many hours should we devote to our startup per week?

Before we get into the number of hours we work, let's first focus on the quality of hours we work.

Remember the 40-hour baseline was established at the turn of the 19th century, popularized by the Ford Motor Company in an era where the number of hours that were worked directly drove the growth of the company.

Nowadays, the correlations are rarely t...