If you’re an early stage startup with 5 revenue streams, I probably won’t invest because what it tells me is that none of your revenue streams is strong enough to build a billion-dollar business. Most great startups begin with one primary revenue stream that is powerful enough to take the company to IPO. Think of Facebook with advertising or Airbnb with rentals or Amazon with online shopping. They all have one dominant revenue stream. If you need multiple revenue streams to succeed, your business is probably broken.
Category: Startup Business (Page 4 of 19)
Your product needs to offer a fundamentally different core value to the customer than anything else on the market. Otherwise you’re just following–not leading. Leaders dominate. Followers fade away.
Always invest in the best of breed. It’s a winner-take-all world. The top startups in each market dominate. If a startup is aiming to be 3rd, 4th or 5th in their market, they are DOA (dead on arrival). Smart capital, customers, and economies of scale always favor the market leader. Everyone else will struggle to survive.
Take a different path than everyone else, even if it takes longer and the journey is more difficult. That’s the only way to discover something new.
Always have fun and make new friends wherever you go! If you can’t enjoy the ride, there’s no point going.
In every city I travel to, I always make time to have some fun. For example, last week when I visited Wuhan, I reached out to my network and asked them to introduce me to some random locals–people I didn’t know.
Every startup must have a culture. Culture isn’t about having a Ping Pong table, free food or hip furniture.
It’s about having a belief that everyone shares–a belief that guides your company. What do you believe your business is all about? What’s your mission–beyond making money? Why does your company mean something to people?
That’s culture. Now go create it!
Brian Stumbaugh
By no means am I here to halt your horses or thwart invention. Get out there and fight the good fight, that’s what you’re here for. Yet there are some egregious mistakes you should especially avoid if you want this stellar idea of yours to get off the ground.
- Y Combinator
- Founders Space
- Techstars
- 500startups
- DreamIT Ventures
- Startupbootcamp
- Seedcamp
- The Alchemist Accelerator
- AngelPad
- Boost VC
- Nxtp.labs
- Betaspring
- AlphaLab
- Imagine K12
- Flashpoint
- Eleven Startup Accelerator
- RockHealth
- Le Camping
- Wayra
- The Brandery
- Upwest Labs
- Capital Innovators
- Rockstart Accelerator
- Blueprint Health
- HAXLR8R
- FounderFuel
- StartEngine
- Bethnal Green Ventures
- LaunchpadLA
- Amplify.LA
- Chinaccelerator
- Portland Incubator Experiment (PIE)
- ignite100
- Excelerate Labs
- gener8tor
- BoomStartup
- Mucker Lab
- Healthbox
- JFDI.Asia
- Tech Wildcatters
- Axel Springer Plug and Play
- HIGHLINE
- Springboard
- Oxygen Accelerator
- LaunchBox Digital
- Startup Wise Guys
- Portland Seed Fund
- StartupYard
- SURGE
- NYC SeedStart
- JumpStartFoundry
- Startmate
- GameFounders
- Orange Fab
- StartupReykjavik
- Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator
- innovyz start
- Communitech Hyperdrive
- Propeller Venture Accelerator
- 10-xcelerator
- Flat6 Labs
- Seed Hatchery
- Tumml
- 88mph
- Jolt
- Code for America Accelerator
- SparkLabs
- i/o ventures
- Media Camp
- K5Launch
- Capital Factory
- SixThirty
- LearnLaunchX
- StartupHighway
- GammaRebels
- ProSiebenSat.1 Accelerator
- Matter.
- StartFast Venture Accelerator
- InnoSpring
- NMotion
- LAUNCHub
- iVentures10
- Momentum
- The Iron Yard
- LaunchHouse
- Spark Lab KC
- Blue Startups
- Shotput Ventures
- autoXLR8R
- LightningLab
- GazelleLab
- Project Skyway
- 9Mile Labs
- Pushstart Accelerator
- Extreme University
- VictorySpark
- betaFactory
- Hub Ventures
- BootupLabs
- New York Digital Health Accelerator
- Innov8 for Health
- UpTech
- ImpactEngine
- Incubate
- OpenFund
- Socratic Labs
- Microsoft Ventures Accelerator Tel Aviv
- TexDrive
- Springboard – Internet of Things
- angelcube
- SeedStartup
- HugeThing
- ZeroTo510
- dotforge accelerator
- Triangle Startup Factory
- Acceleprise
- Venturegeeks
- CoLabs
- Searchcamp
- Lean Launch Ventures
- Hatch
- SynBio axlr8r
- Women Innovate Mobile
- AccelFoods
- Telluride Venture Accelerator
- Accelerate Baltimore
- Upstart Memphis
- NextStart
- Melbourne Accelerator Program
- Metavallon
- TLabs
- Arizona Furnace
- LAUNCH incubator
- Prosper Capital Accelerator
- Bizdom
- Plarium Labs
- Emerge Venture Lab
- Plug and Play Startup Camp
- Co.Lab accelerator
- Velocity Indiana Accelerator
- XTRATOS
- 33entrepreneurs
- VentureHive
- i360accelerator
- The Morpheus
- Straight Shot
- XLerateHealth
- H-Farm Ventures
- iAccelerator
- Sparkgap
- Black Forest Accelerator
- MindTheBridge
- YEurope
- Startl
- Fortify Ventures – Accelerator
- Summer @ Highland
- Seedrocket
- emerge Xcelerate
- HackFWD
- Incubate Miami
- buildit
- Flashstarts
- Iowa Startup Accelerator
- NextHIT
- Seeqnce
- XLR8HI
- Female Propeller for High Flyers
- JLAB (John Lewis)
- Tandem
- Brooklyn Beta Summer Camp
- SeedSumo
- NDRC (LaunchPad / VentureLab)
- Highway1
- Think Big Partners Accelerator
- IDC Elevator
- Umbono
- Illumina Accelerator Program
- The Bakery
- LaunchPad Long Island
- TopSeedsLab
- Open Education Challenge
- Oasis 500
- The Ark
- Mergelane
Every year there are many new business books which find their way to the market. Whilst all offer advice and will assist in running a successful business there are a few which stand out more than all the others. There advice will truly help you drive your business forward; the best five are as follows:
- How to Win Friends and Influence People
This book was first written by Dale Carnegie in 1936 and is still well worth reading today. A revised version was released in 1981 which updated it for a more modern society. As the title suggests, How to Win Friends and Influence People is designed to show you how to win people over to your way of thinking. This is an important skill as being able to do this opens up doors to more clients, more friends and more influence. It is also shows you how to handle complaints and to give good public speeches. The fact that the book is as relevant today as it was when first published says volumes about both the business world and the vision of its author.
- Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation and Delivery
Reading this book will change the way you present information to any group of people. No matter how good you are at delivering presentations you will find some useful information and tips in Presentation Zen. The book focuses on how PowerPoint is used when creating and delivering a presentation. It claims and shows that the methods which most people use are actually hindering their speech and that there is a better way. The methods described include the importance of pictures in a presentation and how these should be utilized in a speech to maximize the results. Reading this will make you realize that a speech should be kept simple; this will ensure people take in the information.
