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The Curator: Startup Deception, Happy Entrepreneurs, Find a Niche, Ultimate Pitch Deck

Here’s our weekly link roundup of small business buzz, musings and muchness. A curation of the best small business talk around the web.

Weekend Reading: Here’s our weekly link roundup of small business buzz, musings and muchness. A curation of the best small business talk around the web.

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Ten ways entrepreneurs deceive themselves

Oh, the lies that entrepreneurs tell themselves. Even when all signs point to the contrary, it can be very easy to make up excuses for why your business isn’t succeeding.
Here are some of the worst lies that entrepreneurs tell themselves, and the (sometimes) hard truths. (The Globe and Mail)

 

Are Entrepreneurs Really The Happiest People On Earth?

The mythology of entrepreneurialism is powerful. You “answer only to yourself,” “set the rules,” and “make your own decisions.” Or so the myth goes. The leap out of safe, corporate life seems so daunting; the assumption is that those who manage to make it never regret the choice. More times than I can count, men and women, young and old, have cornered me to ask, “It must be great to be your own boss! Is it everything you ever dreamed it would be?” (Forbes)

 

Need a small business idea? Find a niche, fill it

Jumping on the latest hot trend seems like a sure-fire way to strike entrepreneurial gold. But while yoga studios and gluten-free bakeries may be popular, investors and business consultants say take a broader view. Trends in society, including changing demographics and technology are the best guide. Instead of joining the pack, would-be small business owners should look for a niche and fill it. (USAToday)

 

Real Entrepreneurs Are Hunters Rather Than Farmers

Most entrepreneurs believe they are “different,” but they can’t quite understand how. They usually explain it by insisting that they are driven to follow their passion, need to be their own boss, want to get rich quick, or want to change the world. I now believe that the roots of the difference may go back more than 10,000 years, when hunting and farming became two different lifestyles. (The Huffington Post)

 

Most startups hope to be acquired

Canadian startups are eagerly hanging “For Sale” signs on their businesses and hoping to be snapped up quickly through simple acquisitions, according to an annual survey of emerging companies. “The entrepreneurship ecosystem is growing and more and more people want to do it, but it’s a lot of work and a lot of ups and downs,” said Eugene Bomba, head of Canadian emerging company services at PWC. (The Record)

 

7 Magic Words (And 10 Negotiation Ideas) For Entrepreneurs

Of all the skills we teach prospective entrepreneurs, there’s an element missing. Where in our MBA or business preparedness programs do we talk about the skills of negotiation? Um… with the exception of sales training, which is highly focused on negotiation, perhaps the answer is never. (Forbes)

 

Startups: Surviving the Journey to Market

Over the course of a year and half, our team laughed, cried, learned, listened, celebrated, built and shared some truly remarkable experiences. Most importantly, however, we survived. We survived a journey that could — and many a time perhaps even should — have broken us. The fact that we have gotten to where we are now is a marvel. And while our story has barely begun, we do hope that it can be one of inspiration for young companies around the world. (The Huffington Post)

 

The Ultimate Pitch Deck to Raise Money for Startups

Great startups don’t fund themselves. Raising money from investors for your startup is challenging at any stage and requires a great pitch, even for experienced founders with significant traction in their company. The good news is that there’s a formula for pitching your startup that has helped startup founders raise millions. (Forbes)

 

6 Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me Before I Built A Marketing Department

A couple of years ago I was given an incredible opportunity to build a marketing department from the ground up. The truth is that I had no idea what I was doing… I did have some marketing experience, but definitely not enough to seamlessly design and execute a complex marketing strategy while managing a team of marketers. (KISSMetrics Blog)

 

The social networks that deliver the most-engaged users

YouTube, Google+, and LinkedIn drive the most-engaged social referrals to websites, according to a recent report from Shareaholic. In its analysis, the company examined the average visit duration, pages per visit, and bounce rate for visitors referred to its network of 200,000+ websites from eight social media platforms: Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Reddit, Twitter, StumbleUpon, and YouTube. (PRDaily)

 

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