There has never been a better time to create a software solution. There are many tools out there that can create websites and smartphone apps by dragging and dropping elements on a screen. But when building a tech startup, it’s much more involved than having a pretty website or smartphone app. Now I know many readers potentially have some incredible ideas stored in the back of their minds that are lying dormant. This article is aimed at people who have an idea and want to turn it into a reality. My intention is to give you the five most important lessons I’ve learned when building a tech startup to help you take the path of least resistance, make fewer mistakes and most importantly, save money. People said I would fail, but I ignored them all and here are my lessons. Are you ready? Lesson #1: Make sure you solve a problem This lesson is mission-critical. If you are not solving a problem that is painful enough for people to pay you to solve, then you’re wasting your time. In my experience, we had a solid product and concept, but I felt it was a bit weak on the problem-solving side. When we fixed this issue and pivoted to solve a bigger problem, our growth trajectory changed. This is lesson number one for a reason. Why? Because if you solve a big enough problem for a large market, there will come a time when you’ll need to raise capital. When you pitch to investors, you will be judged on the problem you solve. Trust me when I say that if you pitch a minor problem that doesn’t make the investor lean in, you will not close them. But, if you pitch something that’s solving a big problem, investors will lean in and you’ll have their full attention. Because if your solution solves a problem for a big market and you can wrap a revenue model around it, you are well on the way to receiving investor capital. Solutions to big problems are usually born from personal experience. Investors love this, because it shows a pain point that you’ve experienced and that you decided to do something about it. Just remember, investors invest in people first and product second. Lesson #2: Find a great developer Ideas need to be turned into products and the pathway to a product is via programmers or developers. Having a good developer early in your journey is very important. They breathe life into your concept. Don’t stress if you don’t know any developers, there are plenty of platforms where you can post a job or requirement to connect with them. I found that the best developers to find for early-stage concepts are full-stack developers. Full-stack developers can build the front end (client-side), what the customer sees and the back end (server-side), the stuff that no one sees but makes everything work. Full-stack developers can help keep costs down and it’s always a good thing to consider giving your first main developer (once you are comfortable, of course) some equity in the business. Lesson #3: Validate your hypothesis Your hypothesis is an assumption (your solution). It needs to be tested to see if it’s true or validated and prove that it solves the problem you’ve identified. The beautiful thing about the validation stage is that you can dip your toe in the water to check if you are on to something big. Or at the very least, something that will make money. The best way to do this is by building an MVP or minimum viable product. Remember in lesson #2 where I said you need to find a full-stack developer? This is where the power of this type of developer comes in. An MVP is a version of your product that has just enough features to prove your assumption (hypothesis) is correct. Focus on the words just enough, as this indicates that you should not build everything in your roadmap. An MVP is designed to prove your hypothesis without the need to spend up on development costs. So, the full-stack developer can build out your front end and back end to allow you to prove your solution. With our MVP, we built a small part of the solution and tested our hypothesis. The result was that we had 30,000 people engage with our product in one night. This allowed us to build out the product because the response validated our concept. This lesson is crucial to ensure you don't spend too much money without proving your concept will work. Do not skip this step. Lesson #4: Team You’ve got your full-stack developer, you’ve built your MVP and it’s showing promise, now what? Well, it’s time to start focusing on building out your team. There are several reasons to build a team and I suggest starting out with one key advisor. This advisor must be influential in the space you’re playing in. For example, if you have a media-tech startup, your target advisor may be a TV station board member. The reason you pick this type of advisor is to leverage their networks and contacts. The key thing here is that their contacts can help you with distribution or customer growth. Also, having this type of advisor will help you when raising capital. If an investor sees this person on your team and they are well known in the space, it will get the investor excited. On top of this, good advisors attract other team members so think long and hard about which advisors in your space can help you out the most. Lesson #5: Partnerships The growth of your startup is so crucial. Every time you pitch your startup to investors, you need to clearly show your distribution channels. You cannot sell a secret and investors are hyper-focused on how you’re going to get customers. There are the traditional methods of distribution such as paid marketing, but one distribution channel we found to be incredible was the power of partnerships. I have a question I ask myself all the time, how can I do more with less effort? In other words, how can I connect with as many customers as possible with the least amount of effort or spend? Welcome to partnerships. Partnerships are a powerful way of getting distribution quickly to then turn on revenue or show massive growth. You think about it, if a particular company already has thousands of your potential customers, doesn’t it make sense to partner with them to get access to thousands of customers in one hit? If you were to organically grow to this level, it could take years and substantial money to achieve. When formulating a partnership, it’s ideal if your solution complements the company’s product that you want to partner with as this will benefit both parties. In closing, the startup grind is real and it’s hard. But my hope is that the above lessons can get you thinking in new ways to ensure your startup has the best possible chance for success. Just remember, there are people out there who need their problems solved, so ignore the people that think you’re crazy and go for it. Source: entrepreneur.com Image Credit: Photo by mentatdgt from Pexels
0 Comments
Every small business owner wants their professional bio to make a statement, but the task is sometimes easier said than done. How do you summarize your entire professional career in a few sentences? How do you highlight your professional skills and accomplishments in a way that quickly captures readers’ attention? One way to compose an outstanding professional bio is by referencing business bio examples from fellow professionals. Professional Bio Examples Professional bios come in all shapes and forms. Some are brief and to the point, while others tell lengthy stories. What do you want to tell profile visitors or a potential employer, nd what platform do you want to use? From an entrepreneur Instagram bio to a Twitter bio, you have more options than ever. The following professional bio examples will help you write a business bio that engages readers. 1. Chima Mmeje Bio Platform: LinkedIn Profile In her LinkedIn bio, freelance writer and content strategist Chima Mmeje impresses readers with a lengthy list of accomplishments. While many users’ LinkedIn Page looks more like traditional resume with lists of positions held, Mmeje’s LinkedIn summary focuses more on what she can do for clients and less on her every career move 2. Van Jones Bio Platform: Twitter Profile Because of its character limit, Twitter can be a difficult profile on which to build an effective business bio. When writing a Twitter bio, professionals should focus on the keywords they want other users to know about them. A catchy tagline can be used to grab ahold of readers’ attention. In his Twitter profile bio, CNN’s Van Jones clearly and succinctly tells users who he is, and what he’s done. 3. Lena Axelsson Bio Platform: Industry Website Many industry professionals know their professional bios are how many clients are introduced to them and their services. In her business bio at Psychology Today, marriage and family therapist Lena Axelsson introduced her practice with a core belief rather than a personal statement. She then explains how that belief impacts her passion for healing sufferers of trauma. 4. Rebecca Bollwitt Bio Platform: Instagram Like on Twitter, Instagram bios can be a challenge to write because the platform limits the number of characters that can be used. How do you write a short business bio that adequately interests readers? Author Rebecca Bollwitt expanded the ideas she could communicate in her brief Instagram bio by infusing emojis into her statements, each expressing ideas in a single character. 5. Chris Burkard Bio Platform: LinkedIn People are naturally drawn to stories, and storytelling is an effective tool for engaging readers with a business bio. In his LinkedIn bio, photographer Chris Burkard tells the story of his career and accomplishments rather than listing them in just another a monotonous wall of text. 6. Tim Cook Bio Platform: Company Website Apple CEO Tim Cook‘s professional bio on his company’s website is a great example of a traditional yet still effective business profile. Audiences can put a name to the face thanks to a large profile photo, and the brief bio clearly illustrates the history of Cook’s career. 7. Lisa Quine Bio Platform: Personal Website A business bio is an important component of any online portfolio. Whether it’s showcasing visual arts, written work or another craft, website visitors want to know the creator. Artist and creative consultant Lisa Quine‘s personal website features a portfolio of her work and an effective business bio that introduces her to audiences. Professional Bio Template You don’t need to be a skilled writer to create an effective professional bio. Most business bios, even most of the best examples, follow a certain formula. The following can serve as a template for writing your own professional bio: (NAME) is a (JOB TITLE) at (COMPANY NAME), where (NAME) (VERB – include an action verb that describes what you do) (NOUN – include a noun that describes what you produce) for the past (NUMBER) years, including (TASK1), (TASK2) and (TASK3). Short Bio Examples Many platforms require professionals to list short bios, falling below a set number of characters. Other professionals opt for a shorter bio in order to most efficiently describe themselves to readers. The following short bio examples will help when writing your own brief professional synopsis. 8. Audra Simpson Bio Platform: Company website Professional bios are an important component of a company website. Who represents your organization? In her business bio for Columbia University, anthropology professor Audra Simpson clearly communicates her professional biography and research interests. 9. Corey Wainwright Bio Platform: Company Website It’s possible to capture readers’ attention and describe a professional career in just a couple of sentences. In her short business bio for Hubspot, blogger Corey Wainwright tells audiences the two most important things to know about her, covering personal interests and career accomplishments in just a few words. 10. Megan Gilmore Bio Platform: Instagram When you only have a few characters to compose your professional bio, it’s important to make every word count. Cookbook author Megan Gilmore effectively describes her career in just a few short words on her Instagram profile. She helps communicate ideas using emojis and strategically directs readers to her website, where they can learn more details. 11. Ann Handley Bio Platform: Personal Website Author and professional content marketer Ann Handley knows how to make a statement. Her professional bio, listed on her professional website, uses bold and colorful text to capture readers’ attention. Website visitors quickly can grasp her accomplishments and her personal interests. 12. Sarah Haskins Bio Platform: Twitter Sarah Haskins‘ Twitter profile boasts one of the shortest and sweetest business bios found on any platform. In just five words the writer lets users know who she is and what she does. You can’t get much clearer than that. Longer Bio Examples There are plenty of reasons to write short bios, but some situations call for greater detail. If a platform provides enough space, a longer business bio can include information about professional philosophy, personal life and professional accomplishments. The following longer bio examples demonstrate how a business profile can tell a greater story than simply writing resumes. 13. Mark Levy Bio Platform: Company Website Consultant Mark Levy lists his own bio twice on his company website, each version highlighting different aspects of his own business and his person. In the first entry, Levy lists his credentials in just a few short paragraphs. The second business bio on Levy’s website tells a more detailed and engaging story of the small business owner’s career, and it even employs elements of humor. 14. Wonbo Woo Bio Platform: Personal Website You might expect a unique personal brand and professional bio from a content producer, and WIRED’s Wonbo Woo doesn’t disappoint. He includes a longer bio on his personal website. In it, he tells the story of his impressive career, and he doesn’t fail to drop plenty of names of the celebrities with whom he’s worked. Creative Business Bio Examples An effective business bio doesn’t have to come from a template. In fact, if you’re a skilled at creative writing, you can grab a reader’s attention and impress potential clients with a creative business bio on your company page or various social media platforms. The following creative business bio examples can serve as a guide. 15. DJ Nexus Bio Platform: Personal Website An effective bio can come in a variety of forms. On his website, DJ Nexus dedicates an entire page to the story of his career. The New England-based DJ doesn’t just list professional details, however, he also provides enough personal information to tell readers who he is. 16. Pei Jung Ho Bio Platform: Personal Website You might expect a unique and creative professional bio from an artist, and Pei Jung Ho definitely meets that expectation. The professional designer doesn’t simply boast a website with some accomplishments and job description. Ho’s personal website opens with an animated statement in colorful and bold lettering, before transitioning to a more traditional short bio and an engaging photo of the artist. 17. Nancy Twine Bio Platform: Company Website Briogeo Hair Care founder Nancy Twine‘s professional bio immediately grabs hold readers’ attention with her signature and photo, before telling Twine’s story. The entrepreneur’s business bio doesn’t end there. It also highlights a quote from Twine, which illustrates her professional philosophy, and it even features video content. 18. Trinity Mouzon Bio Platform: Personal Website Entrepreneur Trinity Mouzon‘s professional bio tells far more about her than her job title and primary responsibilities. Mouzon makes a strong personal statement in the first sentence of her bio, which she presents in first person, telling her own story. In just a couple of paragraphs, Mouzon captures her professional essence and offers unique insight into her success. 19. Alex Bishop Bio Platform: Company Website In his professional bio, guitar maker Alex Bishop exudes the passion he has for his craft. Beneath an artistic and engaging video, Bishop includes a business bio that speaks to his intended audience and provides more than mere professional experience. Bishop’s story make’s potential clients trust his passion for guitars, as well as his brand name and small business. Author Bio Examples Authors have been impressing their readers with professional bios centuries before anyone heard of the World Wide Web. Today, it’s not uncommon for authors to have websites and social media profiles promoting their works, complete with creative business bios that might or might not mirror the bios printed in their books. 20. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Bio Platform: Personal Website Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie‘s personal website speaks to her target audience with a traditional business bio. In it, Adichie tells the story of her background, including her childhood in Nigeria and her educational journey. Her bio then goes on to describe her work and specific accomplishments. 21. Michael Siemsen Bio Platform: Amazon A common place to find online author’s bios is on Amazon, where a writer’s business bio can be found on pages featuring their books for sale from the eCommerce giant. In his professional author’s bio on Amazon, Michael Siemsen details his interests, accomplishments and popular works in a few brief sentences. What are the essential components of professional bios? While an effective professional bio is often more creative than a traditional resume, you can write a short bio using much of the same information, including work history, new skills and professional accomplishments. The following are six essential elements of an effective business bio:
How do you make your bio interesting? How do you make your professional bio more interesting? After all, no one is going to be impressed by yet another series of monotonous bullet points. You can add some extra pizzazz to your bio by including a more personal side, as well. Want to make your bio interesting by including information not found on your resume? Be sure to include features such as your professional philosophy or a personal statement about your professional passions. Make your bio unique by highlighting who you are outside of the workplace, and don’t forget to tell potential clients and potential employers what you can offer their companies. Should I write a bio in the third person? A professional bio can be written in first person or in third person. Professional and more formal bios are often written in third person, while personal and more casual bios typically use first person. It’s vital, however, that the chosen tense is consistent throughout the bio. For example, if the bio starts off in third person, referencing the subject by name and using pronouns such as “he,” “she” and “they,” then it’s important to continue using third person throughout the entire entry. If, however, you start your bio by referencing yourself as, “I,” or using first person, then that should remain consistent, as well. Source: smallbiztrends.com Images: Depositphotos
When I’m training marketing content writers in the tech space, one thing that comes up a lot is concision. Clarity, accessibility and understanding all suffer when technology content isn’t concise. Concision is making content clearer — not necessarily shorter — right down to each individual sentence. Let’s take a look at this passage from an enterprise technology blog post: As many other companies worldwide, HPE also faced the challenge to do more with less and sought to quickly and efficiently remove costly and ineffective work processes. Combining powerful technologies with SAP’s Business Technology Platform portfolio provided prepackaged and pre-integrated solutions including analytics and machine learning capabilities, which simplified IT processes and elevated customer experience. Additionally, allowing the integration of Conversational AI technology and SAP governance, risk, and compliance solutions, where chatbots took over simple interactions with users, such as authorizations request and password reset, making these actions more convenient. That’s a lot of information to process, and the complex way it’s worded makes it that much harder to pull meaning from it. Where so many writers go wrong is in believing that it’s their job to sound smart. It’s not. It’s a writer’s job to help the reader understand. So how could this writer do that job better? How could we make this paragraph more concise, and ultimately clearer? Here are seven specific things that can help:
Let’s look at that paragraph again with these guidelines applied: HPE, like many other companies worldwide, also faced the challenge of doing more with less. To overcome this, the company focused on removing costly and ineffective work processes. HPE combined powerful technologies with SAP’s Business Technology Platform portfolio to simplify IT processes and elevate the customer experience. This solution also allowed HPE to integrate SAP Conversational AI technology and governance, risk and compliance solutions. With this approach, chatbots could take over simple user requests like authorizations and password resets. We only lost 11 words, and we didn’t lose any key industry terms — but we made it much easier to read and understand. It’s a writer’s job to help the reader understand the subject or story. Clear unnecessary clutter and complexity, and use punctuation and formatting to ease the reader through the content. Making your writing more concise can go a long way toward helping technology customers get the information they need from your company’s content. Source: https://www.business2community.com/ Image Credit: Pixabay.com | StockSnap
Before going big, check out the recommendations, lessons learned and innovative concepts. Ask a dozen successful entrepreneurs how they built their businesses. No doubt you’ll end up with a dozen different responses, and some may conflict with each other. But guess what? Having too many answers is better than having one — or none. Truly, when it comes to stretching your brand’s reach, you want as many options as you can get. That way, you’re able to pick and choose those that seem like good bets. Don’t be afraid to gather insider secrets from outside of your industry, either. Seeing growth from others’ perspectives can spur the innovation you need to scale. Where should you start? Try adding the following books to your reading list. Each one offers novel business expansion insights that may help power up your growth plans. 1. Dr. Dennis O’Neil and Greg Hiebert — Changing Altitude In Changing Altitude, bestselling authors Dr. Dennis O’Neil and Greg Hiebert break down what it means to be a real leader. Even if you’ve led other organizations, you’ll appreciate this refresher on how to find and claim your true north. As you explore this leadership playbook, you’ll be introduced to seven critical characteristics of exemplary leaders. Use them to guide your moves and improve your confidence as the head of a growing company. 2. Darshan Mehta — Getting to Aha! You can’t get bigger without customers. Yet it’s easy to get confused when you’re trying to decipher customer data. That’s where Darshan Mehta’s Getting to Aha! can help. Designed as an instructional guide, Mehta’s work helps you focus on the insights that matter. You’ll learn the three ingredients of insight (hint: empathy is the first.) You’ll also discover how the world’s most well-known brands got that way by analyzing and leveraging key customer and consumer information. 3. Emmet Scott — DSO Secrets No matter how hard your industry, you probably don’t have the customer resistance faced by dentists. So many people avoid taking care of their mouth and teeth. How, then, do some dental practitioners build world-class empires? Maybe they’ve worked with author and dental group expert Emmet Scott. DSO Secrets shares the special sauce that has led many other dental practices to become more profitable than ever before, while still delivering stellar customer experience. You don’t have to have a dentistry degree to benefit from Scott’s bold, proven recommendations for scaling your business the strategic way. 4. Louis Llanes — Financial Freedom Blueprint Are you growing your business in the hopes of selling it someday and perhaps retiring early? You’ll want to have a copy of the Financial Freedom Blueprint on your shelf. Written for people who are interested in stewarding and bolstering their personal wealth, this book will take the edge off your money worries. Learn the practices and tips that Louis Llanes has used to help other entrepreneurs gain fiscal independence. Remember that the less you have to worry about your nest egg the more comfortable you’ll be investing mental energy into your business. 5. Natalie Dawson — TeamWork Without a high-performance team, you can’t reach your company’s true potential. Good thing Natalie Dawson has written TeamWork. Each chapter will reveal how to guide a team that’s aligned with corporate goals and prepared for the climb to the top. If you’re not 100% sure that every member of your team is a contributor, TeamWork is a must-read. Not only will you understand how to spot winners during job interviews but you’ll know the steps needed to keep your teams charged. 6. Mike Malatesta — Owner Shift Does it sometimes seem like the world is conspiring against your business? Mike Malatesta offers tough love — delivered with sincerity and compassion — in Owner Shift. It’s the journey of all the mistakes he made on the road to the top. And he’s the first to admit he made a lot. This book is especially practical for founders tired of learning lessons the hard way. Rather than reinventing every wheel, lean on Malatesta to be your business growth sherpa. 7. Jason Williford and Jay Abraham — The Ultimate Real Estate Machine Ah, real estate. It’s complex. It’s competitive. Nevertheless, it’s a field that entices thousands of people to become agents every year. Those that rely upon Jay Abraham and Jason Williford’s The Ultimate Real Estate Machine may do better than those who don’t. What can you glean from The Ultimate Real Estate Machine even though you’re not in the real estate market? Prepare to be surprised. The marketing missteps alone are relevant across all sectors. And why wouldn’t you want to find out about some innovative selling techniques to pass along to your salespeople? 8. Evan Ryan — AI as Your Teammate Once thought of as only for enterprises, AI has become a powerful ally for smaller companies, too. The trick is understanding how to see AI as Your Teammate, not your foe. Author Evan Ryan explains the many ways you can incorporate more AI into your everyday operations. If you assumed that you had to bring on more people to achieve your scaling objectives, get ready to rethink the assumption. Properly applied, AI tools could reduce your payroll costs without putting more work on everyone’s plate. 9. Yusuf Moolla and Conor McGarrity — The Data-Confident Internal Auditor Internal auditors have tough jobs. Year-round, they assess business risks by sifting through mounds of information. The Data-Confident Internal Auditor lays out multiple ways they can get more comfortable understanding and utilizing data, to level up their audits. What can authors Yusuf Moolla and Conor McGarrity teach you? Chances are strong that you may be auditing your company solo or with the help of another executive or co-founder. Being well-acquainted with internal auditing best practices will only improve the way you protect your brand as it, and your data sources, expand. 10. Randall Powers and Dr. Donte Vaughn, DM — From CULTURE to CULTURE It’s downright impossible to sustain any long-term growth if your corporate culture isn’t a well-oiled machine. How do you move From CULTURE to CULTURE? Just make yourself a pupil of Randall Powers and Dr. Donte Vaughn, DM. Powers and Vaughn will show you how to transform your culture into a measurable, positive force. Remember: Employee engagement can be the key to whether or not your brand catches fire. Be sure your team is poised for greatness. Scaling looks different for every business, it’s true. Regardless, reading about others’ successful ventures can only be a boon to your corporate growth plans. Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com/ Image Credit: Lioncrest Publishing & DEO Dental Media Publishing
|
Membership is open to businesses and organizations interested in increasing visibility and brand awareness in Westchester County and surrounding areas.
Archives
February 2024
Categories
All
|