Think Like A Sniper

If you are a solo entrepreneur and particularly if you are launching your first business, you are nothing. You have no track record, no credibility and no followers. This is the time to think like a sniper. Most first time entrepreneurs make the mistake of trying to please everyone, everywhere and give them as many …

How To Run A Successful Kickstarter Campaign

I had my lightbulb moment while I was working in a startup in London. Uberpong was going to combine ping pong with great graphic design. The aim was to make table tennis more fun and make it the most played sport in the US. I moved to Austin, TX from London, England at the end of February 2012 and …

WTF Is Bootstrapping?

There are two paths entrepreneurs typically take when starting a business: 1). The X-Factor path. With no proof that your business can actually make a dime, you pitch your heart out X-Factor style to get VC (venture capital) funding, almost lose control of the company, and have your balls in a vice until the VC …

The Art Of The Start

When people talk about startups, they often pigeon hole them in the broad category of business. I categorize them as art. Sure, "creating multiple revenue streams", "watching the bottom line" and "maximizing the ROI" are important, but it really it starts with a blank canvas. As the artist, you want to paint beautiful things onto …

How To Keep Your Customers Satisfied

When I used to live in England, Americans were hailed as the ambassadors of customer service. "The customer is always right." Well, that is what I remembered. I visited the US for the first time when I was 13 years old and I can remember feeling like royalty. Well, I don't know what changed but …

Start Investing In People

I saw an illustration from Gary Vaynerchuk the other day that really made me think. It is so easy to think of external factors that can benefit your business. Examples include advertising, social media and international markets. But the thing that very few companies look at is internal factors like their own team. Invest in your …

What Nightcrawler Teaches You About Starting A Business

I'm not sure if you've seen Jake Gyllenhaal in the gritty thriller Nightcrawler, but you need to see this movie. Shot almost entirely at night on the streets of LA, the film features Gyllenhaal as Louis Bloom, a guy desperate to make it in any industry he can get into. He stumbles into a new career as a cameraman …

Retail Me Not

I have spoken to my mentors a lot recently about where I could take Uberpong and always thought that retail was the answer. I mean, being in England, the American Dream is pretty much to start a business with the goal of getting into a store like Walmart or Lowe's. The problem is that this is …