Why are you running a business? (Alternatively, why do you want to start one?)

Stop and think about this for a bit. You need a good reason as to why you’re doing this. Otherwise, you won’t make it very far.

I ask this question of other budding entrepreneurs a lot, and I often hear a response like “I just want to make some extra cash on the side.”

That is a vague, hand-wavy answer. (more…)

This is one of the most difficult blog posts I’ve ever written…because I’m about to admit something that’s not easy to talk about. Even though I know some people will not be comfortable with the decisions I’ve made, I think putting all my ugliness, fear, and doubt out there may help you. And if writing about what I’ve been going through and subjecting myself to haters means that even one person gets real help, well, then, I have to write it.

Here goes: (more…)

As the owner of a startup, should you raise money for your business?

There are arguments both ways. In the software industry, developers are expensive, and it may take 12-24 months to come up with a viable product. Also, software companies are typically popular with acquirers, as the perception is that there is less work involved and they are more “scalable” than a service-oriented business. (Instagram had just 13 employees and was acquired for $1 billion.)

The flip side is that you can give up a lot of your company (and, perhaps more importantly, control of your company) to investors, and it may take you some months or years to find the right combination of code that customers will actually pay for. (At least in our market–business-to-business–we actually want people to pay for our software. I know, novel concept!)

To Raise or Not to Raise?

I’ve been on the fence about raising money for Whoosh Traffic. On the one hand, we are doing well–we have a Fortune 500 company using our rank tracker, as well as many other customers. Our business isn’t currently immensely profitable, but it is making enough to pay the bills.

If we don’t need the money, should we raise anyway while the climate for funding is exceptionally good (as it is now)? Or should we focus on product development and grow our way into strong profitability? (more…)

Erica’s note: This is a guest post from Jaime Tardy, who blogs at EventualMillionaire.com. I thought it would be interesting to get some perspectives from other people who have had success, both online and off, so I invited Jaime to post this based on her huge archive of interviews. Links to the full interviews are included where it is possible.

Jaime writes:

I’ve interviewed over 50 millionaires in the past year, and three big mistakes keep coming up. Here’s how successful millionaires found out how to get through them: (more…)

Scott McNealy, former Sun Microsystems CEO, and
Larry Ellison of Oracle announce a closer partnership
in 2006, which led to Oracle acquiring Sun in 2009. There’s one (unfortunately common) marketing tactic out there that can actually take down your entire business. This is the true story of how I watched it unfold at a Fortune 500 company… (more…)