Every successful company has to start somewhere– at the bottom, to be more precise. And when the company is yours, climbing that ladder of success can feel awfully daunting at times. Luckily, there are tools available to help entrepreneurs advance their businesses. We have partnered with AppSumo to bundle five of the best ones…

In Part 1 of this series, I talked about why now is a good time to start a business. But without Part 2, Limiting Your Risk, you may be setting yourself up for problems. Now is a great time to start a business, but part of starting a business in this kind of economy…

Starting a business during a recession seems counterintuitive, doesn’t it? If the economy isn’t doing well and people aren’t spending money, doesn’t that mean a new business is likely to fail? Actually, the answer may surprise you. Fears about starting a business in this economy are common and understandable. But in this two-part series, I’m going…

In my role as editor at FreelanceSwitch, something I see a lot is freelancers interested in taking their business a step further – trading in their status as a freelancer and sole trader in order to start a company or firm in their profession. I also personally know of a lot of people who…

With the economy the way it is, lately I’ve heard a lot of comments like, “I want to start a business, but I just can’t afford it right now,” and “I want to invest in learning how to start a business, but I don’t have the money to put into it.” This is a legitimate, honest…

The number of websites dedicated to helping entrepreneurs is incredible: there are always new sites, to the point that it can be hard to keep track of them. However, I have a few favorites. There are some tools I absolutely rely on for everything from marketing to billing, some blogs I read constantly and a…

I have written an article about this question at Stepcase blog. It’s an interesting questions to think about: Wait, do you need an MBA to learn what you need to operate a startup? Maybe not. Starting up a venture is totally different from managing one. To start up, you need your time to work on…

Starting a business in a new field, one you’re not currently part of, is no easy task. It can be daunting to act on an idea associated with a new business path, but with the right knowledge it can be easier than you think. Pamela Slim has a 5 step plan that will put you on…

For people who have thought on starting a business, they may wait for the best moment, or the best idea to come before starting one. Are timing and idea really the main components for starting the first startup? Chris Campbell does not think so. He thinks first startup is important regardless of its success or…

I was listening to Startup Nation’s podcast yesterday, and they featured Prosper, a website that’s the “eBay for peer-to-peer funding.” The idea seemed interesting, especially to someone forming a startup. The basic premise is that you can borrow money from a group of peers instead of through a bank. The peers are all investing…

Business 2.0 has a super-huge article on building a bulletproof startup. They cover everything one might have to consider to get your big idea from your head onto the shelves of a new store. It’s a HUGE and thought-provoking article, worthy of lots of time and attention. I highly recommend getting out to the magazine…

You’re starting your own company, right? Isn’t everyone? Startups are the new “bands.” If you are, Matt Inglot has some points you might want to consider. He writes about the Top 5 Points a Venture Capitalist Wants to Hear on his site. There was a whole lot to be learned here, but the biggest take-away from…

Niall Kennedy’s Weblog has posted an audio record and transcript of Mark Fletcher at SDForum Startup SIG. His talk and the Q&A section has a lot of information regarding startups, its marketing, its design and money raising aspects. Mark had gone through two startup companies, so he has a set of very practical information. One…

You’ve got to respect an article that starts off like this: I’m not a sales person – and I don’t play one on TV. So, in case you’re wondering what qualifies a technology guy like me to offer advice on sales, my only response is this: The fact that I’m not a sales…