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The startup ecosystem – especially the one found online like places here at Startups.co – is full of helpful material. Unfortunately, other internet sources can be full of myths. Let’s untangle some of the common startup myths you’ll hear, so that you can get started on rolling out a successful venture.

Ready to get started? Good.

Myth 1: All You Need Is an Idea

One of the most dangerous myths about start-ups is the idea that a “great idea” is enough to pull in a significant amount of money that will help your startup get started. In our competitive global landscape, investors aren’t interested in just ideas so much as they’re interested in a significant return on investment. How do you get past the idea?

Put in the Work: Investments are t...

Millennials have set a high bar in terms of tech and entrepreneurship, but Generation Z could be even more ambitious than its predecessor. The newest generation in the workforce grew up surrounded by Snapchat, YouTube, and Musical.ly — and Gen Zers probably had an iPad before they could walk.

A whopping 98 percent of Gen Zers own a smartphone, and this generation expects to get smartphones at a younger age than any other generation. Research indicates that 45 percent of Gen Zers are on their phones “almost constantly,” and about 62 percent of Gen Z and Millennials would rather leave their wallets at home instead of their phones.

But the differences go beyond tech. Young people in 2018 know how to work for what they want, know how the gig ec...

Reflecting on building a diverse and inclusive workplace in the tech industry, Michele Perras, Director, Global Ecosystem and Alliances for Pivotal Software, looks back on what she has learned in her 15 years of personal experience as a woman in tech and her time on Pivotal’s Diversity and Inclusion council.

Here are a few things her experience has taught her:

1. Have an evolving definition of diversity and inclusion

It’s important to recognize that the diversity and inclusion goals you initially address will change and evolve. “It is about making sure that everyone has an equal opportunity to excel and communicate in their role, especially over their time at your organization,” she says, noting that the mindset should include more than wo...

I often see entrepreneurs searching for domains that enable them to stuff their URLs with keywords. Thanks to William Shakespeare, most people don’t think a name is worth much as long as their businesses do what they’re supposed to.

But think about it: The titles of books, movies, and bands are all representative of the things attached to them. Names mean something, and they shouldn’t be slapped on as mere afterthoughts.

Tips on Establishing a
brand identity for startups

For a decade, our business was called Domainsatcost.ca. It followed all the “best practices” we commonly see — it was rich in keywords, search-friendly, short, straightforward, descriptive, and geographically situated. Yet it lacked something very important: an identity. R...

“Think of business as a good game. Lots of competition and a minimum of rules. You keep score with money.”
—Bill Gates

It’s called “competitive landscape” for a reason: competitors are a crucial part of the terrain your company will have to navigate in order to get where you’re going. Who your competitors are, what they’re doing, how they’re doing it – these considerations will impact some of the most important decisions at your company, touching everything from pricing to messaging to marketing.

Doing a solid competitive analysis is like setting up for a game of Battleship with the divider down. When you can see where your opponent is putting their ships, you can be that much more strategic about where you’re placing your own.

For this se...

Say you’re invited to dine at Buckingham Palace with monarchs from around the world. Would you show up wearing a bathrobe? Of course not. It’s unthinkable, right? Yet, app creators do it all the time. After all their hard work, at last about to go live on the App Store and Google Play and join the company of app royalty, they hurry their app into terrycloth screenshots and expect to be fed like a king.

Not gonna happen.

Choosing to give your app anything less than outstanding screenshots on your app pages is a big mistake. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. Understandably, plenty of Founders press forward thinking I can’t pay a developer any more to design screenshots or every time there’s a new release and I need to make updates,...

When you’re starting out, you’re faced with thousands of decisions that are all competing for your limited time. But to get your startup moving, you need to prioritize your needs and lay the groundwork for your business to thrive.

Free, low-cost software allowed us to build our business efficiently and prolong key hires. By investing in tech that takes care of routine business needs, you can limit your spending and boost your company’s chances of survival.

Here are five programs that helped us get off the ground and can help you, too:

Dropbox

Dropbox is a great tool to keep track of the files that your entire team needs to access. Dropbox offers cloud storage and file syncing for free. Many tech startups create and store their files and dat...

We’re excited that you graduated college. We’ll high five you when you complete your MBA. Oh, you’re a doctor now? That’s wonderful.

Congratulations on all of your college degrees — you’ll be happy to know they mean nothing here.

Now, before you start pelting me with your student loan re-payment coupons — let me explain why we want you to be excited about this fact.

We’re a Meritocracy

What is a meritocracy you might ask? It’s essentially a system where groups of people progress based on merit and ability — rather than privilege, wealth, social class, etc.

In our time we’ve seen very little correlation or causality between the level of education people have achieved and their ability to excel at their jobs. In fact, many of our best pe...

Ah, the age old question: “What are investors looking for?”

Unfortunately, there is no universal answer here. The obvious response is “a return on their investment,” but that’s just an outcome — it’s not what helps you determine how to pitch your business today.

By understanding each of the key areas that investors react to, you can be better prepared to position your deal to be more attractive. You can also begin to understand why they may not be reacting the way you would expect them to.

Location, Industry, and Stage

The easiest way to see how you’re a fit for a potential investor is to align with the type of investments they typically make.

Are you starting a cookie company? Great, but you don’t want to reach out to a private equity comp...

Equity investment means you’re trading funding for a stake in your company. Unlike a debt provider like a bank or lender, an equity investor isn’t looking for a simple interest payment on the money they’ve provided you. They are exchanging more risk for more reward – a lot more.

The “more reward” part is what you should be paying attention to. Equity investors aren’t interested in earning 8% on their money with these types of investments. They are looking for 50%, and most likely a lot more. That means you’ll need to prove that your investment can yield a massive return on their capital.

Not Every Business Makes Sense for Equity Capital

Equity capital tends to follow businesses and industries that can experience massive growth and have expo...