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Entrepreneur Philip Wilson provides clean water to over 300,000 Guatemalan families by doing one thing no one ever thought to do — sell them the very products his own mother’s foundation was previously giving away for free. Because of his radically different thinking, he’s on track to provide access to clean water to 1 million Guatemalans by the year 2020 through his company, Ecofiltro.

But Philip’s idea to charge for a product that was previously free wasn’t always so popular. In fact, when he told his sister — a social worker who had been working on water purification in rural Guatemala for years — she was so upset by his proposal that she stopped talking to him for three months.

“My sister was like, ‘You know, that’s not in the spirit of...

With Amazon disrupting and dominating more and more industries, how can your business thrive? Unless your name is Walmart, I don’t recommend competing directly against Amazon. Instead of going head-to-head with Amazon, I suggest focusing on how you can out-flank them.

Start by defining Amazon’s strengths so you know what areas to avoid. For example, price.

Due to Amazon’s massive scale and efficient distribution channels, it is generally the low-price leader.

And it has demonstrated its willingness to sell products below cost for an extended period of time in order to kill off competitors that engage them in a price battle. So trying to compete with Amazon by charging less is probably a recipe for disaster.

Another area where Amazon domina...

We’ve spent a lot of time on the blog talking about the early stages of planning a company, so let’s flash forward a bit. Say you’ve built out your product. You’ve validated your idea to death, formulated your pricing strategy, built out social channels and put out press releases.

You flip the switch, launch your product, and… crickets. Not a customer in the pipeline, not a signup on your website. Nothing.

So what now? Is that it? Do you throw in the towel, pack up and go home? Not by a long shot.

“If you build it, they will come,” is great and all, but sometimes in the startup world, if you want customers, you have to go out and get them yourself. So grab your email lists and your spreadsheets, folks, because we’re going sales prospecting....

Starting a business is not as easy as it might seem on the surface—and launching a startup can be even more challenging! This is because a majority of entrepreneurs have little to no earlier experiences in the business world. Save for an awesome idea, there are other things to consider—like recruitment, finance, legal issues, management, and so on.

We’ve all heard that that 9 out of 10 startups fail, but what are these stats based on? The Huffington Post claims that 95% of startups fail—Does that mean that almost all new businesses fail? I hope not.

However, not all statistics are discouraging. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics—over 55% of all newly-created businesses cross a 5-year threshold. Small Business Administration (SB...

Starting a company is incredibly exciting. There’s an amazing sensation the comes along with creating something and sharing it with the world. It’s even better when lots of people are using your product and gaining value from it. What’s not great is when all those feelings and happy product users don’t turn into a viable business. That’s exactly what happened to us.

In 2012, my business partner, Keith, and I started a company called Applits.com. We were best friends from high school and both studying mechanical engineering as sophomores in college. We really didn’t want to do the whole internship thing or work in a big company. That’s also the summer Instagram sold to Facebook for a $1 billion. We kind of looked at each other and said, “da...

Yes, I am sure that you have already encountered this use case when buying the last iPhone 7 and you have to login on every app you have on your phone…

And, sometimes (often), you don’t remember the password you chose ages ago, and you have to click on “I forgot my password”, I am sure you feel dumb to click on it, and you are right to feel like this..because you are 🙂

Actually, did you know that password management company exists? They can store all your passwords securely? Have you ever heard of 1password, Dashlane or LastPass? Personally, I use 1password that allows me to have as much passwords as I want to keep my online life secured. It is encrypted and is everywhere when I need it (on all my Macs, on a Chrome plugin and on my iPhone)...

It’s a common locker room scene: Before the big game, the team scrutinizes video of its upcoming opponent, trying to suss out the other team’s biggest strengths and weaknesses. Companies analyze their competitors, too, but they rarely turn that same analytical eye inward. That’s a mistake.

Why? Because, quite frankly, your company’s weaknesses can do far more damage than your competitors, and your strengths are reminders that you have the capacity to improve in other areas.

Think of it this way: How can you contrast your organization with another if you have no idea what value you bring to the table or where you stand? It’s time for an internal audit.

Evaluating Your Company in 3 Steps

Step 1: Conduct a Thorough Internal Assessment

Conduct...

If you’re going to create a great product that people love — and maybe even pay for — then you have to know your customer. And the best way to get to know your customer? Market research.

Market research is essential for any company, from tiny startups to massive corporations, but you have to do it right for it to work.

SO WHAT DOES GOOD MARKET RESEARCH LOOK LIKE?

What steps are involved? Well, it starts with an organized and thorough market research process.

1. Define Your Goals

The very first step to conducting great market research is defining your goals. What do you want to learn from this research? What questions are you answering? In order to get the most useful information, you’re going to want to develop defined research or a hypot...

There has never been a better time to build an online retail business. For one, shopping landscapes are becoming more fragmented. What that means is that big conglomerates are in danger of losing customers.

And where are those consumers going?

They’re headed to places like Etsy, eBay, Amazon, and independent, new-to-market ventures that offer unique, personalized value propositions.

In the coming years, economic researchers expect e-commerce fragmentation to increase in momentum—which means that if you’ve ever dreamed of launching your own e-commerce store, the time to start is now. Fragmentation means lower barriers to getting started and an increased ability to reach customers who will love your store. The market dynamics, opening doors ...

Question: How important is the personal brand of your key hires? What do you look out for (bad or good)?

Authenticity

“I am transparent with people from day one and what we do matters to our clients. I can’t afford to work with people who are contrived, pretentious or interested in company politics. In an entrepreneurial environment, you have to lay it all on the line. If your team doesn’t always tell you the truth, your business won’t last.”

— Scott Petinga
The Scott Petinga Group
@scottpetinga

Adaptability and Enthusiasm

“When hiring people, I always recognize those who have diverse and interesting resumes/past experience. Young companies that are still in the process of growing need employees who are quick to adapt to new situations and ...