How has being part of a business incubator or accelerator helped grow your business? 

To help entrepreneurs decide if — and which — business incubator is right for their startup, we asked leaders from business incubators and fellow entrepreneurs this question for their best advice. From reducing starting costs to benefitting from collective wisdom, there are several  insights that may help you determine if your business idea can benefit and grow from an incubator.

How has networking outside of your industry or discipline benefited you professionally? What is your best tip for making those connections and finding common ground?

To help entrepreneurs network with individuals outside of their industry, we asked small business owners and business leaders this question for their best insights. From finding similar values to actively listening to others, there are several pieces of advice that may help your networking ventures and grow your business. 

How has the pandemic permanently altered the way you do business? 

The pandemic hasn’t just changed our social interactions and personal lives, it’s altered the ways we have to conduct business as well. To understand the ripples the pandemic has caused, we asked business leaders and CEOs this question for their perspectives on the changes they had to make. From defining better work from home practices to reducing excessive travel, there are several ways business owners responded to the demands of the pandemic. 

Let’s not pretend that this article is going to make you into the perfect sales person. Habits, not a specific process or techniques, will help you find success in sales. More than anything, sales is about execution. In this post, I’m going to give you the secret sauce that took me over twenty years to fine tune.

A startup’s first website should come long before you’re ready to enter the market. Setting up a website is relatively low-cost, easy to do, and  it speaks volumes to your credibility. Even before you have a solid business model or working product/service, your site can set the tone for what’s to come and help people understand your vision.

Talent capital is vital in a fast-growing company; however, with the average time-to-fill sitting at just over a month—36 days!—talent acquisition can be a growth hindrance.

Talent acquisition can also be a burden without the proper systems, considering the labor-intensive and time-consuming hiring process.

Don’t let hiring hurdles slow your company’s growth. Learn from these seven hiring experts to inform your hiring strategy. 

Sure, it’s fine to support the wildly creative ideas of the kids in your life, but what if your best friend, family member, or life partner comes up with a business that may not have potential? 

Or even worse, what if you’re the one with the product that’s destined to fail, and you don’t even know it? 

The thing is, even a great idea might not succeed if it isn’t solving a real problem. But when you only surround yourself with people who think like you or want to make you happy — your friends, family, and peers — they may never tell you the flaws they see in your plan because they don’t want to hurt your feelings. And how could you blame them? It’s human nature to want to encourage the ones you love. 

Becoming a sales leader is one of the many roles you have to take as the founder of a startup.  And as a sales leader, your job is to do much more than sell — you have to inspire a team to solve their customer’s problems and put people first. 

If you’re like many new entrepreneurs, you might feel intimidated or not know where to begin. But if you want to drive revenue and growth, understanding your customer and articulating a vision that your team can follow is the first step.

The best way to accomplish this is to rely on six essential questions: why, how, what, where, when, and who. Once you have those answers, you can set a foundation to build your own sales leadership and accelerate your startup to success. 

Keep reading for a breakdown on how to use each question and grow into the sales leader your company needs! 

Humans are biased by nature. Our brain finds patterns and makes associations to simplify decision making. And while forming assumptions and creating biases may have helped our predecessors survive, today it can cause your business to fail before it starts. 

What is your best advice for onboarding new team members and training your employees moving forward?

When startups hit a growth phase, they need to onboard new team members fast. To make sure you’re prepared, we asked HR experts and business leaders for their best advice. From making paperwork simple and secure to opening up multiple channels of communication, we have several tips that may help your employee onboarding be more efficient.