business

In a study involving 212 US startups, 50% of the founders were no longer the CEO after 3 years of firm creation, less than 25% of the founders were occupying CEO positions during IPO, and four out of five founder-CEOs were forced to step down. So let’s look at the startup founders’ dilemma.

These are the facts. Most entrepreneurs are keen to make a lot of money and run the show. However, it can be difficult to do both. If you cannot set for yourself straight, which matters most to you, you could end up being neither rich nor in control.

To make a lot of money from a new venture, you need financial resources to make the most of the opportunities before you which you probably already have learned through international collaboration in college.

That inevitably means attracting new and keeping the old investors, this in its turn forces you to surrender control as you give away equity and as investors change your board’s membership. In order to remain in charge of your business, you have to keep more equity. But that means fewer financial resources to keep your venture going.

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There’s definitely a great deal of excitement about the best way the startups can benefit your crowdfunding and rightly so if you take a look at how much the crowdfunding industry has increased since 2012. Yet another phenomenon, crowdsourcing, has also increased significantly over the last years. So let’s take a closer look at Crowdfunding and Crowdsourcing – the new trends.

With that at heart, the MBA Resources website has presented five good reasons why companies and organizations really should take a good look at crowdsourcing.  The most important reasons why businesses should check out Crowdsourcing are:

• to save money
• to save time
•  to innovate, to increase customer satisfaction and
•  to scale up

Another way of crowdsourcing is turning to consumer feedback for generating new content or products. For example, you might ask website visitors for their opinion about online courses versus traditional classes. If you summarize the outcome of your survey you will be able to create interesting, original content and maybe a new product. This New Economy won’t displace all the old rules and some will still be faced with buyer’s remorse.

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I got it! I finally figured out why I am so burnt out of my job!!
When I got into recruiting, my mission was small. Make the candidates happy by finding them their dream job. It was so simple and so beautiful. I had a great work partner and the two of us were the true dream team.

I think I got greedy because one day, it just wasn’t enough anymore. I wanted bigger. I wanted better. I wanted more excitement. So I moved over into the corporate world. And then things got hella complicated.

You see, I still make the candidates happy. I still help them get a really cool job at a really cool company, but in the corporate world, it’s so much more complicated. Not only do I have to make sure the candidate is happy. I have to please the following:

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A recent survey revealed that advertising and marketing executives ranked “Social Media” as the most annoying industry buzzword. I believe that this is probably caused by a lack of understanding of how Social Media fit in the company and in its media efforts towards customers. So let’s look at paid vs owned vs social media.

In fact, I believe that many organizations (including those specialized in communications) have lost track of what media look like nowadays. Examples include company websites and Twitter accounts as students today already learn during their studies towards a rewarding career.

It’s time to zoom out

Although there is still a lot to be learned about Social Media and its implications for users like consumers and businesses, it seems that Social Media are starting to mature.

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For start-up companies that are without an established performance record or enough assets to obtain a bank loan, finding financial backing is critical for both business growth and success. Therefore, many start-up companies endeavor to secure finances from outside investors. So let’s see what it’s all about: Angel Investors vs Venture Capitalists.

The difference between these two types of outside financing is a question that we often receive; therefore we have outlined the differences below.

A typical angel investor will invest $50.000 up to $200.000 in any one company and may seek a hands-on role in the management of the company or will look to act as the company’s mentor, often in online businesses.

Venture Capitalists

Professional investors who focus their time and resources on investing and building innovative companies are venture capitalists. Venture capitalists usually invest more than €1 million per company and tend to focus on a specific niche, which is defined by size, stage of growth, and/or business type. They understand acquisitions and mergers and understand the valuation of an enterprise or venture.

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