Even though "Big Data" has now been around for a few years, the opportunities for startups seem to keep growing, just as the amount of data keeps growing. According to IBM, companies have captured more data in the last two years than in the previous 2000 years. This...

Many entrepreneurs think that adapting to the new technologies, like smart phones and Internet commerce, are the key to attracting new customers. In fact, businesses need to adapt just as completely to the changes in the buying and social behavior of consumers. High-technology product startups, without customers, don't make a...

Every startup needs access to capital, whether for funding product development, for initial rollout efforts, acquiring inventory, or paying that first employee. Most entrepreneurs think first of bank loans as the primary source of money, only to find out that banks are really the least likely benefactors for startups. Thus...

You are an aspiring entrepreneur, eager to dump the corporate grind and work to the beat of your own drummer, but you can't come up with that killer idea to save the world. What are the alternatives that will give you the independence you crave and challenge your business acumen?

I always advise software start-ups to file patents to protect their "secret sauce" from competitors, and to increase their valuation. The good news is that a patent can scare off or at least delay competitors, and as a "rule of thumb" patents can add up to $1 million to your...

For most business leaders, their current role is not where they intend to stay until they die. At the right time, they all intend to make a graceful exit, and leave while still perceived to be on top of their game. The challenge is how to know and exit gracefully...

Entrepreneurs and startups often ask if they should use social media for marketing, digital media, or traditional media. The answer is yes to all, and the challenge is how to choose how much of each, and how to integrate them for maximum impact and the least cost. None should be...

When I started mentoring entrepreneurs and startups a few years ago, I anticipated that I would get mostly tough technical questions, but instead I more often hear things like "Where do I start?" I find that the basics are actually the hardest to answer, just like your parents found out...

Many investors will assert that company culture trumps strategy every time, in predicting the long-term success of a new startup. Obviously, both are important, so it behooves every entrepreneur to start early in setting the right tone for his own company, and every new team member should be gauging both...

I'm a very logical guy, so I still fondly remember when new solutions and technologies started trends on the basis of their logical strengths. In today's world, it seems that emotion, not logic, sparks the new trends that become culture, and drives our devotion or disappointment in new products and...

If you are an entrepreneur today, and not using social media to promote your business, you are missing out on a huge opportunity. But, contrary to what most people preach, it isn't entirely free. Most social media outlets don't require a subscription charge, but they certainly require an investment --...

Most startups, and many big businesses, still don't have a clue on how to use social media productively for marketing their business. They randomly churn for hours a day on a couple of their favorite social media platforms with little thought given to goals, objectives, or metrics and ultimately give...

The ultimate compliment that any entrepreneur can get is that they can "see around corners." This is a statement that they are willing and able to (and successful at) projecting market and technology turns, not just straight-line innovations. They have the courage to make bold decisions, often contrary to conventional...

Customer service has always been reactionary, meaning someone to wake up and answer website email requests. That's just not sufficient to hold today's fickle, less loyal, and ready-to-jump customer. Great startups are getting ahead of the game with "anticipatory customer service," like providing smart phone access to product and account...

The space for startups is more crowded than ever. First of all, it's now international, so you have startups from every country in the world competing for your customer's attention and their business. Then there is the Internet, delivered through every media, including your smart phone, where the volume of...

I'm always looking for evidence of early startup characteristics that might be predictors of long-term success. Every investor has his own list, usually based on his own very small sample, or simply his gut feeling. Of course, we would all like to have a magic list based on more definitive...

Did you ever wonder why some entrepreneurs always seem to have all the luck and success, while others never seem to catch a break? As an Angel investor, I quickly learned that luck has very little to do with it, and I now look for some personal characteristics and leadership...

In sports, mental toughness is defined as the ability to focus on and execute solutions, especially in the face of adversity. If anyone in business ever needed mental toughness, it's an entrepreneur. Investors tell me that startup success is all about execution, all while facing determined competitors and overcoming customers'...

I've noticed that some entrepreneurs seem to have no trouble attracting investors, while others with a great business plan struggle. The reality is that "angel investors" are humans, and personal traits often make or break the relationship, even before the investment is considered.

On the top line, angel investors look...

Every startup needs to understand that the customer paradigm has dramatically shifted over the past two years with pervasive social networks and smartphones. The customer base is no longer a mass audience that can be driven by mass media, but a dynamic network of individual customers who interact with each...