There is one question every first time or wanna be entrepreneur asks me; ‘what trick do I most need to learn before becoming an entrepreneur?’ Is it general business skills, marketing skills, management techniques, Web design skills, software development skills, presentation skills – WHAT? The dumb and irritating answer is all of the above. Nice [...]

Research by the Kauffman Foundation has just shown that ALL net job growth in the US over the last 30 years was created by businesses less than 5 years old. Let me repeat that: ALL net job growth. ALL. Governments and analysts used to think that small businesses generated most net employment growth. They measure [...]

If you run a startup or are planning to do so you’ll bump into venture capital (VC) funding. So what is it? Photo by Darrren Hester via Flickr Venture capital is the backbone of a select few, more successful startups but reality is few entrepreneurs really understand what it is about. Getting the mechanics of [...]

We regularly get asked by entrepreneurs and wanna be entrepreneurs what they need to do to become better entrepreneurs. We have 2 answers: ‘launch a blog’ (and read Innovate). Mostly – launch a blog! Find a topic that you can be master of – make sure it’s a tight niche and build a blog around [...]

Are you really suited to work at a startup? This post holds a health warning – ‘startups are insanely bad for your health’. And it applies to the first 50 employees in any startup on the planet whether they are its founder, leader, developer, sales person, intern, cleaner or coffee maker. You see a startup [...]

Todays most successful entrepreneurs understand how to put the ‘soul’ in startup. Not ‘ego’ – soul. They’ve studied the best sports pro’s, actors, artists and entertainers and figured out that they all have one thing in common – soul. “The Greek word is derived from a verb “to cool, to blow” and hence refers to [...]

Zig might be a few ham slices short of a sandwich but he sure makes a point in this video. ‘Cos in any startup attitude makes ALL the difference. Which kind of attitude pervades yours? Oh, and it seeps down from the top so shine – don’t grind.

We often get asked by our community of entrepreneurs which are the best Web based productivity tools for startups and their founders. You know the kind of tools that really make a kick ass difference to team work and are easy and cheap to use. A startups info system in a box. We advise a hub [...]

Irrespective of what venture you’re launching you need a Website – right? But you’re not a geek and don’t know a mate who is. What do you do? Well, you could learn basic HTML and build your own – see video below. Or, get real and dig into free, no-HTML-skills-required Web platforms including WordPress, Blogger, iWeb, or Moonfruit – [...]

Where do you really start with your startup? Photo by mag3737 via Flickr We got some inspiration here. If you lack the business skills you may want to look at this as well, quite cool!

What does it take to become the best possible entrepreneur? There are endless reams of data (mostly full of it) analyzing (to death) what it takes to be a highly successful entrepreneur  - allowing both existing and would-be entrepreneurs to manically self diagnose whether or NOT they have the ‘juice’. Most focus on entrepreneurial traits [...]

This dude may be a bit nuts but he has a point worth checking – wannabe entrepreneurs would be wise to build a successful social media presence and following before becoming an entrepreneur and launching a venture. Starting out with a supportive audience is one big jump start. They can provide you with feedback on [...]

Starting up should never be taken lightly. Here are some cool tips from emerging entrepreneurs: 1. Stick with it 2. Simplify your mission 3. Ditch your safety net 4. Exceed expectations 5. Do more with less 6. Don’t go it alone 7. Be nimble 8. Have a plan for actually making money 9. Do your [...]

Your startup social media marketing strategy has probably led you to build a successful company blog. Cool. But, here’s the next thing – a company magazine. You only need produce one every quarter. But you should. For your customers, employees, partners and investors. Allowing you to produce a chunk of cool stuff for them to [...]

Have you got what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur? Here are 12 facts about entrepreneurs that will likely surprise you and may just help you answer the question.

Techcrunch has a couple of interesting articles you should look at – one on how much VC’s really support innovation and another written by the founder of Meebo on what it takes to make it from nothing. Both support our view that entrepreneurs need the right independent advice and guidance to get it right. Investors [...]

The problem with startup’s and PR and PR and startups is that all too often it gets into a depressing catch 22 cycle. You’re too small to get any PR attention but because your so small you desperately need it. You have to break the deadlock because PR is pretty much the only kind of [...]