10 Ways to Build a Winning Culture

If an entrepreneur can’t build a culture of excitement and commitment at a startup, the chances of long-term success are negligible. It simply doesn’t matter how great your solution is. Every investor knows this. That’s why they insist on spending a day with your team as part of the due diligence process. A winning culture is easy to see, and a culture of fear and desperation is hard to hide.

As a mentor to entrepreneurs, I often get asked what you can do to build the right culture. The simple answer is effective communication and leadership. Here are 10 specific recommendations that I believe will help every founder put this into practice.

7 Actions to Take After Incorporating Your Business

Much has been written about incorporating a new business, including advice on how to incorporate and what business structure to pick. However, I have found that new business owners can have just as many questions after incorporating or forming a limited liability company (LLC).

As you can imagine, there are some essential differences between running a corporation and running a sole proprietorship, and it’s important to get all your legal ducks in a row as early as possible.

If you have recently incorporated or formed an LLC, here are seven items to check off your list.

You May Have an Awesome Product, But It Won't Mean Much Without a Marketing Plan

Last week, I wrote about minimum viable products, and that it is important for it to actually be viable. Viability, as I explained, means the ability to live. To be viable, the product needs to have enough hooks and feedback loops. But even if you design the most amazing product, it still may not take off. To have a successful launch you need a great MVP and a solid marketing plan.

Let's start by considering your typical launch. You picked a date. You secured an exclusive with a hot publication. You planned your Product Hunt strategy. You told all your friends.

The launch went really well. You got the coverage you wanted, got in the top five on Product Hunt and a ton of tweets. All that led to thousands of signups. The users seemed to be happy and engaged. They love the product and keep coming back.