Startups

Financial institutions and entrepreneurs have a historically complicated relationship. Entrepreneurs need ways to fund their companies and keep business moving, meaning they lean on banks for everything from business loans to checking accounts. And banks need entrepreneurs, too — without small businesses fueling the economy, there isn’t much banks can do. This (sometimes reluctant) co-dependent […]

Much has been written about the tech industry’s sexist undertones. In 2017, Silicon Valley faced a “reckoning” for its gender-driven decision-making and tolerance of sexual harassment. From marginalizing women’s ability to contribute to the field because of their biological makeup to holding them to higher standards in order to earn leadership roles, the business world […]

To expand your wealth and achieve specific financial goals, you’re going to have to make some investments. However, those investments come with the significant risk of potential loss. Fortunately, the investment world has grown to offer more investment options and ways to assess those options. This includes more opportunities for individuals and companies to get […]

Bevy, an enterprise community event platform, announced today it has raised $6.4 Million Dollars from investors: Upfront Ventures, renowned author and Stanford Professor Steve Blank, Ryan Smith and Jared Smith, co-founders of Qualtrics, and Aaron Skonnard, SEO of Pluralsight. Bevy raised funds to increase their growth rate and expand the team. The Bevy Platform was […]

“I didn’t even know who Mark Zuckerberg was back in October 2015. Eighteen months later, I’m keynoting at conferences and serving clients in London, Sydney, Singapore, Los Angeles, Lisbon, Vancouver, and 50 other cities,” says Logan Young, the co-founder of BlitzMetrics, a Facebook dashboard and advertising company. Learn, Do, Teach: Build Your Expertise First New […]

Let’s talk about values. Not family values or stock values, but company values: the bedrock of an organization. A company’s core values define it in a way nothing else can. They support the vision and shape the culture. They are the principles and beliefs that define the work. They are what drive the company. Some […]

If you’ve ever toured the offices of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S., you might notice a few commonalities. There’s the ubiquitous ping pong table, productivity-enhancing tunes wafting through the air, and an open, flexible workspace designed to support collaboration across teams. But the biggest commonality of them all? Their cupboards are almost invariably stocked […]

Economic bubbles aren’t new. From the tulip bubble of the 1630s, to the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, to the big-tech mania we’re seeing today, overvaluations happen — but not all bubbles pose the same risks or offer the same rewards. Every few years, it seems we’re warned of another looming “bubble” about to burst. Most […]

Artificial Intelligence is a hot topic across the board. Everyone from developers, to data scientists, journalists, and general user-bases of all profiles are talking about it on a global scale. Entrepreneurs have taken notice of the benefits of AI in most areas of everyday life, whether assistants, mobile, entertainment and even healthcare or insurance. In […]

Meural, the digital art platform we love and have in our office displaying beautiful art was just acquired by NETGEAR. This was just announced at NETGEAR’s Analyst Day. Meural started in 2014 by Jerry Hu and Vladimir Vukicevic. They has since raised $9.4 million over four rounds of funding from NETGEAR, Corigin Ventures, Bolt, Bryan […]

At first all I wanted was to be able to purchase something wonderful and uplifting for my bedroom wall. Then the goal was — if we could just find a piece that was inspirational above the desk in the den — that would be enough. Soon, we realized that we spent much more time in […]

Savvy business owners understand the importance of intellectual property (IP) to their business’ success and most can name patents, trademarks, and copyrights as some of the various forms that IP can take. But the distinctions between copyrights, patents, and trademarks is often confusing and misunderstood, even by business people that regularly deal with IP. But not […]

Over the past couple years, the machine learning niche has exploded into the mainstream. Startups have popped up left and right to show off their innovative new tools, and Google — the tech giant above all tech giants — now claims to be a machine learning company. This sudden spike in AI interest is not as […]

Every time you’ve installed a piece of commercial software, you’ve invariably been presented with what must have appeared to be legal gibberish- a seeming difficult to read, needlessly long, solid block of text that was almost impossible to understand. Most people never bother to read the information presented- quickly scrolling to the bottom of the […]

What do Pied Piper and blockchain tools have in common? Both are always “coming soon.” By now most of us are familiar with blockchain, the technology underpinning cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Outside of cryptocurrency, blockchain has many purported use cases in scenarios that require an immutable ledger. Rhetoric has elevated blockchain to godly status, […]

As a startup one of your most important assets is your brand and that brand is usually embodied in your company name and logo. The valuable time that you invested in coming up with just the right creative name and developing the branding and marketing around that company name is impossible to measure. After creating […]

Freelancing has been dubbed the on-demand economy, where businesses hire independent contractors to perform tasks for the company instead of regular employees. Contractors are generally less expensive to hire because you only pay for what you need. This can make them more appealing for smaller or shorter term projects, but some Silicon Valley startups are […]

The Start-Up Chile accelerator was arguably the spark that ignited Chile’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. The Chilean government, through the development agency CORFO, founded Start-Up Chile in 2010 as a way to bring in foreign entrepreneurs who would galvanize Chile’s transition into an economy built on technology and innovation. Since then, Start-Up Chile has accelerated over 1,500 […]

“Make a spinner and spin the wheel”. – Seth Godin That’s what influencers always mean, start what you like doing and stick to it. Don’t give up in the middle. However, you can only continue doing something when you start something in the first place. Most of us today are tired of living a 9-to-5 […]

If you are in the position of potentially needing a patent, you will want to get some information before you file. The first two bullet points are entities for which you will want to become intimately acquainted. USPTO = United States Patent and Trademark Office. Applicants who qualify for small entity status can reduce many […]

We live in an increasingly digital world. We shop, make appointments, order food and taxis, and document our lives online. Approximately 70 percent of us use social media to connect and share content, and most spend an astonishing four hours per day interacting with our smartphones. Deep learning and AI are changing the ways we consume […]

Creating a high-quality product is just one part of building a profitable business. The reality is that a myopic focus on product development can ultimately prevent you from achieving your business goals. Unfortunately, this notion is one that many growing companies don’t understand until it’s too late. For most companies — and all early-stage startups […]

“Failure is success in progress” ― Albert Einstein Entrepreneurs are enthusiastic and serial failers. Entrepreneurs seem to be constantly looking for solutions and alternative ways  of doing everything. And crucially, they don’t give a damn about failure, because they know that failure is, in fact, discovery. Some have declared, “The only way I will know […]

Perhaps the biggest lesson that marketers have learned in the last few years is that throwing money at marketing tactics doesn’t necessarily deliver a relational return for the investment. Instead, even with the leanest of budgets, today’s marketing investments deliver a greater return when they are thoughtfully conceptualized and executed. That’s why many marketers have […]

Most leaders have been bombarded by the idea that business partnerships are vital to their success. Partners can extend a company’s reach, add new audiences, enhance its value, expand its capabilities, and even boost its reputation by association. Marketing Week pointed out that behemoths like Amazon and Adidas have grown larger as a result of […]

If you look at the greatest recent tech companies there are plenty of newcomers that aren’t even considered tech, let alone, high tech. Uber and Airbnb, are less about tech and more about their concept. You can run a tech company without a tech background but find the best tech you can when needed. Knowing […]

Have you ever been to a fast-moving square dance? Partners dance together, spin around a time or two, and then move onto new partners. As the dance progresses, some people return to their original partners, while others will dance once and leave the floor. If you pay attention, this resembles a fast-emerging business strategy that […]

Starting an online business requires you to be extremely smart because 9 out of 10 startups fail and just 10 percent are lucky to enjoy the sweet taste of success. But there are essentials your online startup needs to follow. There are certain things that most of the startups fail to recognize. They either follow a […]

Congratulations on eyeing the international market for your business growth. We are living in an age of globalization and more and more companies are recognizing the profitability of taking their products and service offerings globally at a relatively small incremental cost. It is an easy calculus to recognize that international consumers are able to be […]

With multibillion-dollar tech companies and growth startups making headlines left and right, it’s natural to want to get a piece of the action. Ant Financial, for example, recently closed a ridiculous Series C funding round of $14 billion — one of the largest VC funding rounds in history. The China-based fintech company pushed its value to $150 billion with the latest […]

Congratulations on registering your new business! Or if you’re still contemplating forming your business, and just trying to better understand the steps required for having a bank account under the company name, you’re in the right place. Be sure you have seen our Lloyd & Mousilli guide on incorporation here for a step by step analysis. […]

These entrepreneurs are the ones that work in corporations while working on their innovation. These are they who toiled furiously day and night in their garage, or took out a second mortgage on their home. We’ve all heard the romantic anecdotes of entrepreneurs. How often does this really happen? Is this a requirement for a […]

Minnesota is no stranger to big business. It’s home to such names as Target, Best Buy, General Mills, and Ecolab — all of which have made their homes in Minnesota for generations and have become a source of pride. But a new industry — technology — is taking Minnesota by storm, boosting the local economy […]

Why break the bank for your marketing needs when you can brainstorm your way to a killer marketing plan? The best marketing ideas come simple and cheap but these ideas do not come out of the blue. Your actual business plan will require an out-of-the-box, innovative thought process. You’ll want to get your marketing wheels […]

The true origins of the word swag are unknown. Swag means a few different things, but in the corporate world it typically refers to promotional products. You know, that stuff you get handed when you walk around the expo hall at conferences. All those pens, flash drives, stickers, and cheap sunglasses are used as giveaways […]

Ecommerce brands have seen innovations spring up for all parts of their business to help them compete more effectively with Amazon. Shopify makes it seamless to launch a great storefront. Instagram helps you build your audience (and even sell directly!). Whiplash and Shipmonk handle your fulfillment. Fuse Inventory and Stitch Labs manages your inventory with […]

According to the most recent edition of PitchBook’s Venture Monitor, the first half of 2018 saw 94 investment deals surpassing the $100 million mark, continuing a trend in which late-stage successful startups and larger companies receive the lion’s share of VC funding allocations. That’s not to say that seed rounds for startups don’t get VC investment, but by […]

Freelancing has been dubbed the on-demand economy, where businesses hire independent contractors to perform tasks for the company instead of regular employees. Contractors are generally less expensive to hire because you only pay for what you need. This can make them more appealing for smaller or shorter term projects, but some Silicon Valley startups are […]

Every time you’ve installed a piece of commercial software, you’ve invariably been presented with what must have appeared to be legal gibberish- a seeming difficult to read, needlessly long, solid block of text that was almost impossible to understand. Most people never bother to read the information presented- quickly scrolling to the bottom of the […]