Shaping the Next Generation of Entrepreneurs: the Tips They Need to Hear
Look no further than Hero Partners — a group of entrepreneurs that came together for the purpose of fostering, mentoring and helping shape the next generation of entrepreneurs.
Hero Partners provides entrepreneurs with networking and educational opportunities, helps create business models that work and contributes to ideation and innovation.
The group’s mission is to partner with talented entrepreneurs from all walks of life, who have grit and great ideas.
If you have good ideas and are willing to help shape the next generation, Hero Partners wants to work with you.
The goal is to make the entrepreneurial industry a better place for those who come next.
Authenticity matters; in fact, it’s the one thing that does.
It’s partnered with companies like Boeing, P.C.
But remember, that wasn’t their money!
Whether you got money from your nana or your investors, it’s still not your money.
It’s about helping make a difference for the next generation.
An All-Millennial Business: How SocialFly Manages and Motivates Today’s Work Culture
An All-Millennial Business: How SocialFly Manages and Motivates Today’s Work Culture.
Inside SocialFly, you will find a group of young, creative and driven millennials who all share a passion for social media, marketing and working with influencers.
While everyone is fluent in hashtags, filters and memes, Co-founders Stephanie Cartin and Courtney Spritzer say their success is attributed to empowering their employees and creating a positive company culture.
They even have a “Head of Fun” in their New York City office.
In their interview with Contributor Jessica Abo, Cartin and Spritzer share not only how they created an award-winning social media and marketing agency, but also a business that brings out the best in everyone on their team.
Watch more videos from Jessica Abo on her YouTube channel here.
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Click here to become a part of this growing video network.
The Fallacy of Multitasking
What is multitasking?
The hardest thing about being successful is not your business’s mechanics.
Probably, but that wouldn’t be committing, now, would it?
When you commit, you take everything that you have and you make everything you can out of it.
Trying to do it is the same as trying to be committed to multiple partners.
It’s impossible and it just doesn’t make any sense.
If you don’t commit, you won’t get results.
When we attempt to multitask, we assign that mechanism multiple tasks all at once.
This ultimately weakens its power and blocks us from performing at the peak of our true potential.
Learn to commit to one task all the way to its completion before moving on to the next task, and watch for the results you really want to start to manifest in your business.
Why You Should (Sometimes) Celebrate Your Sales Team’s Failures
Why You Should (Sometimes) Celebrate Your Sales Team’s Failures.
As often as experts offer counter-intuitive lessons about the amazing, life-changing results of failure, the fact of the matter is that most listeners don’t really believe them.
Or, if they did, they still never managed to make their goal.
Cataloging and reflecting on failure When salespeople document every action they take to engage prospects, they develop a rich catalog of touchpoints which they can later reference to identify behaviors or circumstances that win sales and ones that lose them.
Perhaps the product debuted at the wrong time.
Perhaps certain people in key areas gave up too quickly, dragging down the whole enterprise.
That’s why turning around people’s attitude toward failure won’t be easy, and at times rejection will feel like an unscalable wall.
Studies show that people like them continue to feel hopeful about the future both before and after they fail, and the reason isn’t that they feel their fate is controlled by outside sources.
Documenting improvements and efforts Just as failure should be celebrated, so should the learning process.
Everyone at your company should understand that it’s perfectly acceptable to make mistakes, as long as people aren’t making the exact same ones over and over again.
6 Tips for Hearing Tough Feedback
6 Tips for Hearing Tough Feedback.
Last month, I wrote about the importance of giving effective feedback and shared tips for how to deliver a tough message.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean we are ready, willing or able to listen, especially to tough feedback.
And others, I believe, do the same: When we don’t hear feedback “in the moment,” then acknowledge and act on it rather than worry about it, we lose an opportunity to change our game and even raise it, as needed.
This is the piece of our limbic system responsible for the fight or flight response.
And that’s a problem because the real threat is the behavior or event that triggered the need for feedback in the first place.
Instead, bide your time; listen to the whole message.
In addition, you’ll receive more feedback in the future which might be critical to your success and reputation.
What baby steps will you take today to change that pattern before it becomes a career derailer?
Questions enable you to clarify what you have heard, to identify the specific behaviors that resulted in the unintended impact, and hence truly hear the feedback.
10 Data-Driven Insights About European Tech – Guest Post by Yoram Wijngaarde
Insight #2: Slow-down in the UK & Germany, France is now leading Europe by number of rounds Back in 2014 and 2015, the UK and Germany were the torchbearers of European tech, responsible for more than 50% of all European venture capital raised.
Despite that, over € 7.2 billion (a small increase) was invested in consumer tech in 2016 across Europe.
Insight #4: 2016 was the largest ever vintage of European startups France, Sweden, and many other parts of Europe experienced a surge in number of rounds and total amount raised.
One thing is for sure: 2016 is the largest ever vintage (to use a French term) of European early stage startups funded.
Commentators suggested more than once that UK funding fell as a result of Brexit.
Insight #7: € 4.9 billion in corporate investing, kind of a big deal… Corporate rounds grew by 33% to € 4.9 billion (that’s the combined size of all VC rounds involving at least one corporate).
Even more impressive: the number of rounds grew by 74% to 535 rounds (that’s 16% of all rounds).
Insight #10: European VC funds raised well over € 8.4 billion in new funding from LPs European VCs raised well over € 8.4 billion in new capital in 2016, an increase of +33%.
Outlook for 2017 The fundamentals are in place for continued growth in 2017: more new capital raised by European VC funds, corporate involvement will likely increase even further, and U.S. investors will continue to be very active as well.
*Yoram Wijngaarde is the Founder & CEO of Dealroom.co – data and research about high-growth companies in Europe and beyond.
Claire’s withdraws its IPO
Claire’s withdraws its IPO.
The accessory retailer Claire’s has withdrawn its plans to go public, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
The company said it had “decided not to proceed with the offering at this time.”
Claire’s, which sells fashion accessories and jewelry, had filed to go public in May 2013.
This is not the first IPO withdrawal from a retailer this year.
Earlier this month, Neiman Marcus pulled its IPO, for which it had filed in August 2015.
That company said it had “determined that it is not in its best interests to proceed with the initial public offering.”
Forgot to file taxes? These startups can help you out
These startups can help you out.
The fiscal year ending March 31, 2017 is the deadline to file taxes for the year.
If you’ve received a tax demand notice, a chartered accountant assisted service can cost upwards of Rs 2500.
It raised USD 2 million in pre-series A round from Founders Fund Angel and Sequoia Capital.
This helps users to calculate their income tax, save taxes and track their refund status by using their PAN card.
It helps to file return and automatically prepares ITR by importing data from Form-16.
A year after their launch it raised USD 1 million seed funding from an undisclosed business house in July 2016.
It’s website have easy to follow tutorials that help the users to file ITR of their own and it also allows user to hire a dedicated CA from the site.
6) Hello Tax Hello Tax is an online tax filing platform for Indian users.
As of June 2016, the company has done over 2,000 income tax return filings through its app.
SFC and SEHK issue joint statement on GEM initial public offerings
SFC and SEHK issue joint statement on GEM initial public offerings.
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (SEHK or the Exchange), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX), today issued a joint statement regarding the price volatility of stocks listed on the Growth Enterprise Market (GEM).
The SFC and the Exchange consider that some market practices may not enable an orderly, informed and efficient market for such securities to develop.
The SFC also issued a guideline to provide guidance to sponsors, underwriters and placing agents on the standards of conduct that is expected of them in the listing and placing of GEM initial public offering (IPO) stocks.
New applicants seeking to list on GEM should ensure compliance with all relevant GEM Listing Rules including ensuring that in relation to their securities for which listing is sought the conditions exist for an open market as well as orderly, informed and fair trading to develop at the time of listing.
The SFC or the Exchange will, where appropriate, take action against applicants, sponsors, underwriters or placing agents who fail to have appropriate policies and procedures in place to ensure the placing is conducted in a fair and orderly manner.
“the joint statement and the guideline are directed at applicants, sponsors, underwriters and placing agents, all of whom have vital roles to play in upholding the quality of our listing market.
Sponsors, underwriters and placing agents all play an important role in the listing and placing of GEM IPO stocks.
Investors are reminded that GEM is a market designed to accommodate companies that involve a higher investment risk than other companies listed on the Exchange.
They should be aware of the potential risks of investing in such companies and should make the decision to invest only after due and careful consideration.
T. Rowe Price is pushing back on Snap’s plans to only sell non-voting shares in its IPO
T. Rowe Price is pushing back on Snap’s plans to only sell non-voting shares in its IPO.
T. Rowe Price, the mutual fund giant that is one of Snap’s biggest backers, has reportedly “quietly and persistently” objected to a plan put forth by the internet company’s founders to only sell non-voting shares when it goes public, according to the Australian Financial Review.
While many tech companies, like Facebook, have remained founder-controlled after a public offering, Snap Inc, the parent company to Snapchat, plans to take a more extreme approach to retaining founder control.
Snap declined to comment on the discussions.
A spokesperson for T. Rowe Price initially declined to comment on the voting proposal but said it looks forward to working with Snap in the future. “We believe our investment in Snap continues to be in our investors’ best interests.
T. Rowe Price later updated its statement to dispute that Stromberg was specifically referencing Snap and said it is not currently contesting it: “Contrary to certain news reports, T. Rowe Price is not contesting the plan by Snap Inc. to issue non-voting shares in its impending initial public offering.
While we generally do not favor proposals that would create disproportionate voting rights, we evaluate each proposal on a case-by-case basis solely with the best interests of our clients in mind.”
Stromberg’s remarks come during the crucial lead-up before Snap is expected to kick off the share sale.
Whether or not T. Rowe Price’s pushback against the proposed share structure delays its public offering remains to be seen.
The New Entrepreneur: Lean, Mean — But Not Exactly A Job Machine
More Businesses, Fewer Employees Take a look at the numbers.
The last two quarters of 2015 saw the most new firms started over that 22-year period.
But the number of jobs created at those new businesses was anemic.
At that time, nearly 1.4 million jobs were produced among 222,000 businesses, or roughly 6.2 jobs per new company.
Despite a quarter fewer new businesses, the number of jobs created in that 1994 period — 1.14 million — was 27% greater than the 895,000 manufactured during the 2015 quarter.
A study last year from the WilmerHale law firm in Boston shows there were 845 IPOs in 1996, the highest mark in the last two decades. “You can be what seems like a large company without having all that many people,” he said.
The Kernel King Bric Simpson got the idea for his business — making lids for those giant buckets of popcorn sold in movie theaters — during the throes of the recession in 2009.
Then Simpson brought production back to Utah once demand got to the point where a local contract manufacturer’s price was only slightly more than what he was paying in China.
Then a few years ago, her business started to take off.
Want to test your pitch on an investor before jumping in the shark tank? Now you can
Want to test your pitch on an investor before jumping in the shark tank?
Do you want to get some clues about how your pitch will fly before you jump in the shark tank of some hotshot investor?
The bot allows founders pitch to an angel investor, incubator, seed fund or venture capital firm in a 10-minute simulation with hard-hitting questions to suss out whether their startup is a diamond in the rough or a flop in the making.
Read more: Shark Tank investor Naomi Simson on why pitching is storytelling with facts It’s “fun, but also extremely educational,” TechCrunch reports, adding that it can help new founders build businesses with the “right answers”.
“You’ll learn how angels care a lot about who else invested because there’s little data to judge by with new startups, while later-stage VCs want to be sure you’re swinging for a multibillion-dollar exit and won’t sell short for a cushy acqui-hire job,” says TechCrunch editor-at-large Josh Constine.
During the simulation, founders must respond to multiple-choice questions that cover their team, market, validation, traction, growth, product and values.
These areas have been developed based on blogs by leading investment groups like Sequoia Capital and Y Combinator.
Pitchbot.vc was created by angel investor and Gigster chief executive Roger Dickey who told TechCrunch he has pitched, and been pitched to, hundreds of times.
“It turns out the interviews are pretty predictable, so entrepreneurs can gain a big edge by preparing for the common questions,” Constine says.
This article was first published by StartupSmart.
Google Co-Founder: Take Chances, Pursue Your Dreams and Silence the Voices
When Sergey Brin co-founded Google as a Stanford Ph.D. student, he never imagined that the company would become so wide-ranging and successful.
He certainly never imagined that he’d be onstage at the World Economic Forum, where founder Klaus Schwab would tell him that “the prime minister of quite an important country” recently called Alphabet (Google’s parent company) one of the four powers left in the world.
“If I told you all of the dumb things I did, we’d have to have a much longer session,” Brin said.
“We have a set of values and desires today that are probably pretty different than before the Industrial Revolution, and different still than before the Agrarian Revolution.
And we might continue to evolve.” Brin noted that values and desires have shifted as jobs and work have changed, thanks to automation.
People should have the means to educate themselves for reasons other than to fulfill an economic need.
“People find profound meaning in their day-to-day jobs, and I think that’s an important thing for us to preserve.” He explained that today’s technology provides unprecedented opportunities for young people to pursue their interests — but also a unique new challenge.
But there’s also a global stage that makes it hard,” Brin said.
“I would encourage young folks to take chances and pursue their dreams and try to silence out the voices that say, ‘Actually, there are 1,000 startups trying to do self-riding bicycles.’” Finally, Brin shared his own values as humanity hurtles toward an uncertain future.
He emphasized that objective of business must shift to meaningful, socially driven goals beyond moneymaking — just as he believes that, despite automation, individuals must continue to have the means to pursue jobs that fulfill their passions.
Connect People to Opportunity
Connect People to Opportunity.
CKL Engineers is a professional civil engineering firm and consulting company that provides consulting for other municipalities or architect engineering firms, primarily in the transportation space.
Mae Whiteside, president and CEO, shares what inspires her in the business, which is connecting people with opportunity.
She shares her personal story as to why she got started in the business by finding a solution to simplify transportation.
What Whiteside is currently learning is to trust more, and she says that trusting those you hired are the right fit and having them feel that trust helps employees excel.
Entrepreneur Network is a premium video network providing entertainment, education and inspiration from successful entrepreneurs and thought leaders.
We provide expertise and opportunities to accelerate brand growth and effectively monetize video and audio content distributed across all digital platforms for the business genre.
EN is partnered with hundreds of top YouTube channels in the business vertical and provides partners with distribution on Entrepreneur.com as well as our apps on Amazon Fire, Roku and Apple TV.
Click here to become a part of this growing video network.
The Top 5 U.S. Airports With the Fastest Wi-Fi
The Top 5 U.S.
Airports With the Fastest Wi-Fi.
Aside from lost luggage and long TSA lines, slow Wi-Fi can be one of the most frustrating things while traveling.
Speedtest has discovered the top U.S. airports with the fastest internet speeds.
During the last three months of 2016, Speedtest examined airport-sponsored Wi-Fi at 20 airports with the most passenger boarding in the country.
The company also compiled data from AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon to uncover the fastest cellular speeds at U.S. airports.
Denver takes the cake as the airport with the fastest Wi-Fi, while Philadelphia and Seattle follow close behind.
Each airport is rated on its download and upload agility, and the data found that for a majority of the time, uploading seems to be much quicker than downloading.
If you’re traveling through Atlanta, don’t expect to get any work done — this airport came in last and has the slowest Wi-Fi speed of all 20 travel hubs.
But don’t leave it up to luck — instead, check out these airports with the fastest Wi-Fi and cellular service in the U.S. Major airports with the fastest Wi-Fi: Denver (DEN) Philadelphia (PHL) Seattle-Tacoma (SEA) Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) Miami (MIA) Major airports with the fastest cellular: Detroit (DTW) San Francisco (SFO) Minneapolis-Saint Paul (MSP) Chicago O’Hare (ORD) Orlando (MCO)
5 Social Media Studies That Will Boost Your Marketing Skills
Social media studies have given us great ideas to improve our social media marketing, helped us understand the psychology behind social media behaviors and made us better marketers.
The researchers also discovered that Facebook users are much more engaged than other social media platform users.
Key takeaways for marketers As we discovered in our State of Social Media 2016 report, Facebook is one of the best platforms for marketers to reach their audience.
Here’s how I’d look at the findings: When someone chooses to use Instagram, 36 percent of why they use Instagram is because they want to know what others (or your brand) are doing, 10 percent is because they want to document moments of their life, 8 percent is because they want to be cool and popular and 6 percent is because they want to show off their creativity.
Instagram users who want to appear cool or creativity tend to spend more time editing their photos than those who are motivated by other reasons.
62 percent of U.S. adults get news on social media Most get news from Facebook, followed by YouTube, then Twitter Social media has changed the way we consume news.
Looking at the breakdown for each social media platform, the researchers found that 44 percent of the population uses Facebook to get their news.
Key takeaways for marketers Be on social media and be social.
The three types of gamification that increase social media engagement Challenges, curiosity and fantasies drive likes, shares and comments on Facebook So how do you engage your audience?
Two researchers in the U.S. studied over 200 Facebook posts by Walmart to determine how gamification can drive more social media interactions.
My Love Affair With Facebook
With all my posts and people who shared them, I reached more than 356 million people on Facebook in 2016 with more than a billion impressions.
You need to get posting.
The success that I have created on my Facebook page was not the result of one thing I did right, but rather a continual commitment to omnipresence on the platform.
Create a “like” page for your business.
I post 24 posts a day around the clock, 24/7/365.
Post things that make you the expert in your space.
I do a lot of video on Facebook.
Facebook is a very visual platform for people, so most of the time I try and avoid just making plain text posts.
By sharing the content of a competitor or another expert and giving them credit, you will pick up followers.
As you add content, you can increase the number of times you promote your product.
Use Your Personal Brand to Strengthen Your Leadership Identity
Use Your Personal Brand to Strengthen Your Leadership Identity.
And that starts with the question every leader must ask and keep asking: What is my leadership identity?
The answer: your personal brand and its value proposition (what your personal brand solves for).
Understanding who you are and what you solve for is how your leadership will define the evolution of the business in the new normal.
To do this, people need leaders with strong identities that provide clarity and understanding for what their leadership solves for — leaders who have a strong identity that supports their personal reinvention efforts to be more purposeful, responsible and accountable in how they lead and influence others.
Do that and your leadership identity will have incredible influence in driving change through your people.
Your personal brand value proposition What opportunity gaps does your brand solve for?
When leaders lack the understanding of what the answer to this question is, they’re unable to effectively strengthen their own personal brands, let alone the personal brands of those they serve.
Keep your answers to four words or fewer if possible, and remember there are no wrong answers.
This sequence and story is essential to understanding who and what you serve, what others can expect from your leadership, what your personal brand value proposition is and solves for and how your leadership identity influences the business.