Thu.Dec 04, 2014

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Improving Your Sales Reps’ Performance

YoungUpstarts

'By John McGee, President of OptifiNow. According to VentureBeat, marketing automation software only has 3% adoption in non-tech companies. This is an incredible hurdle for sales professionals to overcome, but one that must be met and conquered head on for success. If a company is lacking the IT support it should have to boost marketing and sales results, the burden of filling the gaps falls on the shoulders of the individual sales rep.

Sales 170
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How to Divide Founder Equity: 4 Criteria to Discuss

View from Seed

'Editor’s note: Understanding how to divide founder equity at a startup can be tricky, even to the point of reaching emotional riffs between founders. Below, Lee Hower offers advice for approaching these equity discussions objectively and properly. In addition to being a co-founder of NextView Ventures, Lee was an early member of PayPal and a founding team member at LinkedIn, so he speaks as both a former entrepreneur and a VC.

Equity 315
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Punch & Pie: How Should Co-Founders Divide Equity?

Agile VC

'I like to say that “there are only co-founders” — it’s extraordinarily rare for a successful business to have just a sole founder. But not all co-founders are equal in terms of title, ownership, responsibilities, and so forth. As a result, one of the trickier things co-founders tackle is determining the equity split amongst the founding group of individuals.

Cofounder 255
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Cash Flow Matters: Accounts Receivable Financing Fuels New Model Of Working Capital

YoungUpstarts

'by Jeff Bell, senior vice president of eCapital. Cash flow is a universal business essential, and often one of the most difficult aspects of getting a business going. A vicious cycle can result when cash flow is weak and your number one priority is to get your new business off the ground – caution and fear outweigh growth and potentially reign in the ability to take on more projects or even make the best decisions for your business.

Finance 183
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Building Healthy Innovation Ecosystems for Your Projects

Speaker: Nick Noreña, Innovation Coach and Advisor, Kromatic

Every startup and innovation project exists within an ecosystem that either helps or hurts that project. As innovation managers, we need to keep a pulse of that ecosystem and make sure we're helping those innovation projects we're managing every step of the way. In this webinar, Nick Noreña will walk through an Innovation Ecosystem Model that he and his team at Kromatic have developed to help investors, heads of product, teachers, and executives understand how they can best support innovation in

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Time to Plan for Success!

Rembrandt Communications

'Reflect on the Year and Plan for Future Success Since December is here, it’s time to reflect on the past year. Most of us will be busy with holiday celebrations this month, but it’s important to take a few minutes to review your activities from the past year. This way, you can figure out what […]. The post Time to Plan for Success! appeared first on SEO Content Strategy and BtoB Public Relations.

PPC 178
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Punch & Pie: How Should Co-Founders Divide Equity?

Agile VC

I like to say that “there are only co-founders” — it’s extraordinarily rare for a successful business to have just a sole founder. But not all co-founders are equal in terms of title, ownership, responsibilities, and so forth. As a result, one of the trickier things co-founders tackle is determining the equity split amongst the founding group of individuals.

Cofounder 173

More Trending

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How Do You Know If You Have a Good Idea for a Business?

Up and Running

'How do you know if you have a good idea for a business? One of my biggest challenges at Palo Alto Software is figuring out which ideas to pursue and which ideas to put on the back burner. I have the luxury of working with a bunch of really smart people, so new ideas for things that we could do come up all the time. From potential partnerships to new product and marketing ideas, I feel like we’re swimming in opportunity.

Forecast 152
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Three features of successful CEO and founder teams

The Equity Kicker

'There’s an interesting post up on Venturebeat this morning suggesting that investors can find all they need to know about a startup by observing a product meeting. Good investing is a little bit more complicated than that, looking at market size and competition is also important, for example, but there are some great points made. Rather than think of them as due diligence points I think it’s better to understand them as cultural guides, and in that spirit I’ve turned them into

Founder 147
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Things You Should Never Ask Job Applicants

Up and Running

'Disclaimer: This article is intended to be general information only. Nothing in this article constitutes legal advice. Please consult with an attorney before making any legal decisions. Because some employment laws vary from state to state throughout the country, some of the information that follows may not be applicable to a particular business or employer.

Hiring 138
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How to Choose an Accelerator

David Cohen

'(This is second in a series of 10 blog posts from my interview with Scott Gerber for the Inc.com Founders Forum. We discussed a bunch of topics including choosing an accelerator, mentoring, acquisitions and the tech talent shortage. You can watch all of the videos on Inc.com.). Here is the full video interview on this topic. Some text excerpts are below.

Equity 130
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What Is The Most Effective Closing Technique?

Mike Michalowicz

'Of all the things I have done in my entrepreneurial career, selling has been the one constant. Ever since my first job out of college I had to sell to make a salary. And then, when I started my first business, I had to sell to survive. Even after I wrote a book, it was nothing without a huge selling effort. I’ve been a lifelong fan and student of great selling techniques.

Salary 94
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Three qualities of a great leader

Berkonomics

'By Dave Berkus. There are lots of ways to measure a great leader. Here are three that should resonate with you as leader and with those who follow you. These qualities are applicable whether you are leading your company or a board, and certainly are aspiration targets for you if you are measuring yourself against the best. The first quality in a great leader is to have laser focus.

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More Venture Capital Needed for Life Science Startups

SiliconHills

'By LAURA LOREK Reporter with Silicon Hills News Building a regional life science ecosystem requires venture capital. And San Antonio has a shortage of venture capital, said John Kerr with Texas Next Capital. “The critical factor, I don’t care whether you’re in San Antonio or Timbuktu, for all of these companies is access to capital,” […] The post More Venture Capital Needed for Life Science Startups appeared first on SiliconHills.

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Pitching VCs

ithacaVC

'There are hundreds of posts on how to pitch VCs: what to say, what to wear, what to demo, etc. So I have never bothered to focus on this topic. But I was recently at a pitch where an experienced CEO pitched a VC, and it went poorly in my view. I was an observer at the meeting. So, I thought I would share a few thoughts on pitching: 1. Make it incredibly clear what your company does : it needs to be so clear that a non-techie can understand.

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Stop Undervaluing Yourself and Get Paid What You’re Worth

Duct Tape Marketing

'Stop Undervaluing Yourself and Get Paid What You’re Worth written by Guest Post read more at Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing. It’s guest post day here at Duct Tape Marketing and today’s guest post is from Stephanie O’Brien – Enjoy! . photo credit: Coin graph by Petr Kratochvil. As your skills as a marketer or businessperson grow, one of the best ways to increase your revenue is to raise your rates.

Warrant 68
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What’s In A Term Sheet?

Early Growth Financial Services

'You came, you pitched, you conquered. Congratulations! But do you know what to do once you’re asked to sign a term sheet? Let me say that first, you should have already retained a good startup lawyer. Most investors will expect this. And a good lawyer can be a real advocate for you: by keeping negotiations on track, explaining terms, and making sure any deal you sign doesn’t have problematic (and costly) clauses that could leave you at risk.

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Website Redesign for Higher Conversions? Tread Lightly

ConversionXL

'Your conversion rate is not what it could be – and you know you need to do something about it. Should you redesign the whole website? Maybe. Probably not though. It depends. But if you are going to do it, you need to tread very lightly. Website redesigns only work if they are carefully managed and data-driven. Careful – radical website redesigns often backfire.

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Why I’m Standing Today with My African American Friends, Family & Colleagues

Both Sides of the Table

'“It stops today.” I spent the entire day yesterday in a deposition so I was offline from the world around me – a rare day of no email, no social media and even no news. I had been awake since 5am, returned home from work at 9:15pm and was exhausted with my only goal of decompressing and tuning out from the world. I could not. I barely slept last night.