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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

“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 […]

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 […]

Pitch decks are underestimated and overestimated. Some founders dismiss the deck as pure “show” and cobble together a few slides for their venture capital (VC) audience. But I suspect that most founders spend tens of hours perfecting their deck. I worry that their efforts are concentrated in the right place but on the wrong problems. […]

Though enterprises see the appeal of using blockchain, companies often don’t want to take on the challenge of working with their business partners to create a new blockchain solution. Last year, 74% of organizations in a global blockchain survey said they felt compelled to use a blockchain network to improve cross-enterprise efficiency, yet only 34% had taken steps to […]

If artificial intelligence confuses you, think about what happens when it’s not leveraged properly. For context, consider the London-based VC firm MMC who found that about 40% of European AI startups don’t use AI in any tangible way. MMC (and TheVerge) are saying that companies just want to take advantage of the AI hype. Meaning that […]

For today’s startups, there are several things required to succeed. The first and the most important thing is a great idea. The second and only marginally less important thing is an ability to operate efficiently and at speed. For that reason, no startup can ignore any approach or technology that saves them time and money […]

Finding the first job after the graduation is the most time consuming and stressful task. Despite of knowledge and skills, it becomes difficult to climb up the ladder of the career. Choosing the right career is important as it will impact you the whole life. There are many considerations in choosing up the right path […]

Startups are starting to launch without a central headquarters, or any designated office building, in an attempt to create “fully remote” businesses. The premise is simple; operate with all your leaders and employees working remotely, sometimes all over the world, to cut costs and broaden your potential employee pool. To conventional businesses, the notion seems […]

As high streets across the world look to streamline, and businesses transform physical shops to online stores, being able to make the digital jump is crucial. As well as providing a platform for businesses to promote their products and services, the internet has lead to the rise of e-commerce, with giants like Amazon becoming household […]

When it comes to raising money for your startup, there are several ways of doing it. However, out of all startup funding options, the two most popular methods are Loan and Equity. Both types of loans are very different from each other, and sometimes it becomes challenging to choose the right option for your business. […]

In the world of investing, there are numerous investment opportunities from which you can choose. The market is saturated so you will most certainly find a suitable investment opportunity that will match both your investing style and preferences. But your question will be about how to assess whether a startup is suitable for investment. When […]

A technology start-up without a Technical Writer is similar to a new small business without a marketing plan. The first thought that comes to mind when most people think of a “technical writer” is an IT professional — blogging about the latest trends for a reputable technology website. But, actual technical writers are vital for […]

Growing and maturing a company are two different operations, yet they share a common goal: to stay in business for the long run. As the number of new companies multiplies all over the globe, competition grows fierce. Surviving the digital age in a sea of competitors requires thoughtful preparedness and agility. What we want to […]

For years, the business world lived under the false pretense that open plan offices were a killer idea. I myself even bought into the hype. At Netconcepts, the digital agency I founded (and sold in 2010), only the executives had offices with doors that closed. Open plan offices were a win-win for anyone looking to […]

Business credit is the grease that keeps the wheels of a business enterprise moving. The fact that business enterprises rely on business loans from time to time is an obvious statement. Regardless of the scale or the diversity of a business — budding entrepreneurs running from pillar to post in search of seed capital or […]

In 2019, anxiety is still part of being a startup. But it doesn’t have to be. Capital efficiency is the name of the game, as access to financing rounds is narrowing. Investors are more nervous about bets that may not pay off for some time. They are focused on the business that works today – […]

As a small business owner, you might feel like everyone’s out to get a piece of your income. These great tools prove that’s not the case.

Starting a business can be a professionally and financially rewarding experience. For founders and early-stage employees, however, it can also be a stress-filled and anxiety-ridden experience. Tight deadlines and thin margins force employees to do more with less and to put in unreasonable hours to keep a startup functioning as it attempts to gain traction […]

The internet has opened up new opportunities and lowered the barriers to entry in almost every industry. But it has also given more entrepreneurs the chance to be bold and take risks. Knowing how to embrace certain risks while avoiding potentially costly ones is integral to maximizing success. The Role of Risk in Business Risk […]

Entrepreneurs may hear “fake it until you make it” and “defeat imposter syndrome” more than the average person. Many people only notice entrepreneurial success — the money, the cars, the new office. But what they don’t see are the sacrifices entrepreneurs make to create success — likely for years. Many people don’t see the mental […]

Taking out any loan for your business or personal use is easy nowadays, but it is highly essential that you take out a loan that makes sense. No one wants to fall into a debt trap making life difficult. If you’re going to be stress-free then you should consider your need and most importantly the […]

Technology for financial services came about as a response to the challenge of making finance more straightforward and more accessible. Now, people are demanding that their transactions be fast, easy and secure — globalization has required to work at a broader, more rapid speed. Multi-currency digital payments are a norm, peer-to-peer lending is now more […]