500 Startups Batch 21 Demo Day was muted compared to past Demo Days.  Normally it’s a festive themed environment.  However, there was no theme this time. Christine Tsai, 500 Startups CEO, address the elephant in room and spoke about the difficulties following Dave McClure’s resigination after sexual hassament allegations.  

I joined a company about four months ago as a manager.  After the basic formalities, The Boss gleefully said, “Get ready for the technical presentation with the executive staff next week.” It was, "Ready, Get-Set, Go” from day one.

Protecting your startup from malicious hackers can be similar to protecting your king from the enemy’s attacks in a game of chess. The similarity can begin with the way a chess grandmaster moves nimbly on the board with intent. He or she employs tactics (“short-term calculations to accomplish goals”) and a strategy (a long-term plan) not only to protect the pieces but also to capture the enemy.

Many of us frequently feel that we don’t waste time at all during office hours or at the workplace. In general, we come across a lot of people who say the same phrase “I was too busy.” But the fact is that we never ever actually count the number of working hours that we spent on those specific tasks.

Association is the bread and butter of branding. Just take a look at all of the expensive yet massively successful marketing deals brokered on the basis of associating with the NBA: “Sponsorship revenue for the National Basketball Association and its 30 teams totaled $679 million in the 2013-2014 season, up 5.7 percent from the previous year, according to IEG Research.” Branding is an incredibly powerful marketing and sales tactic that is shoved under the rug and simply passed over too frequently.

Being the leader of a company means that you have a lot of responsibilities. But eventually, you have to shift some of those to other people: “As head of the company, you’re likely to be in charge of everything from hiring to bookkeeping. And that’s as it should be in those early days, when there’s so much to do and so few resources to do it with,” says H.O. Maycotte, CEO of Umbel.

Believe it or not, startups have a lot more choice about who’s on their board than you might think. Sure, some folks might want to be early investors or a part of a company they see as promising, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re a good fit. Why? Because investment and advisory aren’t just transactions of money or ownership, but rather of ideas and vision.

I remember it being 1998 and I'm in my room listening to Ultra Nate - Free, thinking of all the possibilities in life and being newly diagnosed with bipolar disorder, thinking, "Ah...crud."

One of the hardest parts about starting a website is directing traffic to it. Every business needs a solid site that represents their company well. You also don’t want your polished, electronic gem to sit in a dark corner of the internet where no one is looking at it.

Brand building and content marketing go hand in hand.  

How can a design be experienced?

Not so long ago, Matthew Carpenter, a young Australian entrepreneur launched a truly wicked online business. For a small fee, anyone could have an envelope filled with glitter delivered to a person they would likely never want to speak to again