Startup Advice

March 22, 2016

3 Tips to Raise Business Funding with Ease

Raising business funding is undoubtedly an important phase in any business. Whether looking for funds to start a new venture or to expand a growing one, this is an endeavour worth the preparations and challenges. Unfortunately, many business owners fail in this especially in their first few tries and most of the time, it’s not because the business isn’t doing well or that it doesn’t look promising. Here are tips to help you achieve success in this critical task. Manage expectations. As much as you like to impress investors, don’t fall into the trap of overestimating possible profit. True, you probably earned a lot recently and you want to use this to attract investors, but there are factors that could […]

March 17, 2016

Quick Guide to Setting Up a Business in Melbourne

Setting up a business is a milestone for many and if you plan to put up one in the lovely city of Melbourne, the excitement you feel may be coupled with a bit of worry. It is, after all, a huge city that is filled with almost every kind and size of business you can imagine. In fact, it is home to many of Australia’s biggest companies. However, its economy is robust and its population continues to grow, too, which means you have a huge market right at your fingertips. Soon as you have decided on what business to put up, determine your market. Who do you want to sell to? What exactly do they want? Would they try what […]

February 22, 2016

Lessons from Mark Zuckerberg: How to draw the line when asking for financial backing and not give up control of your startup

Source: StartupSmart How much equity to give away is one of the main concerns of entrepreneurs raising capital and rightfully so – as a startup founder, you don’t want to be fired from your own company by investors who get on board after a round of funding. ADVERTISING inRead invented by Teads And cases like this are not a rarity. Control is more important than equity share One of the mistakes first-time entrepreneurs make is believing equity share and control over the company are synonymous. They believe that in order to stay in charge of their startup they need to own at least 51% of the equity. That’s a false belief. Mark Zuckerberg owns 24% of Facebook, yet he’s in […]

December 14, 2015

Mastering the Art of Negotiation

Wouldn’t it be a different world if everybody thought the way you did? If everybody spontaneously conformed to your every wish, your every thought, your every feeling? Since life doesn’t work that way, you would do well to become skilled at the art of negotiation. In negotiation, after all, neither party holds all the aces. Instead, negotiation proceeds (or should proceed) on a rather level playing field. Since both parties want to win, what is the best way to proceed? Here are five steps. 1. Establish the relationship The wise negotiator establishes the relationship before proceeding further. Doing so allows you to get a feeling for the person with whom you are dealing, and vice versa. Though often ignored, “feeling” itself is […]