It’s natural to want to protect one’s awesome new business idea from copycats and competitors. So it’s not surprising when entrepreneurs start asking everyone they meet to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). This is a bad idea. For the reasons
How to Name Your Company
Your company name will be it’s first impression to the world, so it’s important. But it’s also hard because there’s no single right answer, there are many ways to mess up, and someone will always dislike whatever name you choose.
How To Test Business Ideas
While the process of building a business takes time and money, testing business ideas can be fast and relatively easy. Create a video showing what you will offer, explaining the back story and benefits. Use Indiegogo. Use fake products and
3 Ways To Save Your Startup
Launching a startup and guiding it to success is essentially a trial-and-error process of finding product-market fit. We test ideas and concepts on potential customers, then proceed with the ideas customer love most. That’s the ideal. But most of the time
How To Create a Plan
In 1911, two teams set off on a race to reach the South Pole. In a time before GPS and helicopters, the teams’ survival depended on their wits, fortitude and foresight. One group was led by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen
How To Build Smarter Teams
Businesses live and die by the decisions they make each day, so management’s decision-making skills should be optimized. New research by Carnegie Mellon professor Anita Williams Woolley and her colleagues shows us that group intelligence is almost always superior to
Have Coffee With Strangers
Most people are instinctively helpful and, after meeting someone new in person, we almost always want to help them move forward in life. This is why I value in-person meetings even more than in-office work; just about every important idea
Keeping App Content Fresh
Why didn’t anyone tell me about this? And if they did, why didn’t I listen? I could have saved myself some trouble while building the fast-growing exercise app Power 20 long ago. I finally learned that every mobile app needs
How To Translate An App
Translating an animation-heavy fitness app like Power 20 into many languages requires significant planning. I made the rookie mistake of building the initial iPhone app without thinking through translation. If I want to translate the app now, I’ll have to
How to Build an iPhone App
Validate the market. My quest to improve my network and product-building skills by building 10 products within 12 months has been one of the most fulfilling and exciting endeavors I’ve ever embarked on. This week we finished product number 7,