Entrepreneurs (99)
Although it can be the most time-consuming and all-encompassing job you've ever had, running a small business offers significant benefits.
If you’ve taken the entrepreneurial leap, you will know it’s not without challenges. Yes, it can be incredibly fulfilling to set your own agenda and make a genuine impact, but it can also fill you with self-doubt and cause many sleepless nights.
Globally, the top three challenges of running a small business are: cash flow, emotional and mental health, and time management
Let’s look at these challenges and how you can overcome them.
Challenge 1: Maintaining cash flow
If you are an entrepreneur or small business owner, chances are you have worried about money. At least 59% of small business owners experience cash flow issues which have a significant financial impact. No matter how well your company is doing, the amount of cash you have in the bank will always be linked to your future success.
Just because your company looks solid on paper doesn’t mean it can’t take a turn for the worst if clients stop paying on time or your outgoings far outreach your income.
As a small business owner, you have to plan for things not to go as planned.
How to overcome cash flow concerns: It can’t be stressed enough that building up savings before starting a business is essential. Even once your company is up and running, try to save as much of your income as possible.
Consider setting up a separate account for this money. Your client relationships can also affect cash flow, therefore (1) make sure your payment terms and conditions are clearly defined and communicated to your clients from day one since it will cover you legally if a client refuses to pay, and (2) consider asking for a percentage of your fee up front to minimize risk.
Challenge 2: Sustaining your emotional well-being and mental health
Outside of the cash flow impact that financial challenges can create, they also affect small business owners emotionally.
In fact, 56% of entrepreneurs claim financial issues have a significant impact on their emotional well-being.
It’s not just money worries that affect emotional and mental health either. As a leader, work could potentially consume every hour of your life. Keep in mind that CEOs of major multinational companies learn to set limits on their working time so they can maintain their health and relationships.
How to protect your emotional well-being: Having a leadership role is intense, and therefore your body needs to train just as athletes do.
Keeping your body healthy will help to keep your mind positive. In your downtime, prioritize these three things: (1) rest, (2) health, and (3) fitness
Top CEOs on average spend six hours per day awake and not working. Of this, about half is spent with family. The remaining half is divided into one-third exercising and two-thirds relaxing. Spending time in nature can also help.
Just two hours per week in some sort of green space can result in greater feelings of health and well-being. Even a 20-minute daily walk through a park can be enough to produce these positive feelings.
Challenge 3: Managing your time
With entrepreneurship comes a constant pressure to achieve and grow the business. Not to mention the sheer number of things that need to be done.
Small business owners also often fear taking time away from the business, so will put holiday on hold– sometimes for years.
If you try to do everything yourself, you will never get it all done.
Too many hours working and a lack of time off brings on fatigue, and with it comes rash or poor decision-making. And your relationships, health, and life outside of work will also suffer.
It is essential to learn how to achieve a work/life balance and manage your time, so the most important things get done well.
How to achieve a work/life balance: Prioritize. This is critical. You must learn what matters to the business and make sure that’s done first.
After this, you need to delegate. Business owners often struggle with this because they fear a loss in quality. But keep in mind this sacrifice should only be temporary. There may be a slight quality dip while the team member gets up to speed, but if you’ve hired the right person it should recover quickly.
With effective time management of work in place, make sure to schedule time for yourself for thinking and learning. You are not expected to know everything about owning and running a small business, so you need to grow into your leadership role. ‘Thinking’ time is crucial.
Consider that Warren Buffett says: ‘I insist on a lot of time being spent, almost every day, to just sit and think.’
As the strategic leader of the company, you are the guide. Force yourself to spend significant stretches of time thinking, with no interruptions. Do this regularly. Put together questions to guide your thinking time so you use it efficiently.
You can even combine ideas and schedule your thinking and planning time when you’re outdoors in green space.
Other ideas for achieving a healthy work/life balance include:
- Block time in your calendar for things that are important to you and/or your family.
- Try setting an alarm on your phone to tell you it’s time for bed.
- Don’t take your electronics to bed with you; keep your bedroom a place of calm and serenity to unwind at the end of the day.
Remember that sleep is so important to your daytime function– getting adequate, quality sleep will improve your concentration, productivity and cognitive function.
Although it can be the most time-consuming and all-encompassing job you’ve ever had, running a small business offers significant benefits. In fact, 97% of self-employed professionals say they would never return to traditional employment.
Take these ideas to make the great challenge of running a startup just a little more manageable.
source: entrepreneur
It's high time when the country should think more about incubators. Incubators will help start-ups save the operating costs and provide wider business ecosystem.
It's high time when the country should think more about incubators. Incubators will help start-ups save the operating costs and provide wider business ecosystem.
Incubation Trends for Startups To Expect In 202A startup incubator is a collaborative program that helps new startup to grow.
It aids entrepreneurs in solving discrepancies associated with running of startup. Globally, incubators have become a biome with an array of initiatives that motivate and back economic growth. However, talking about India, incubators are a recent phenomenon, which is sure to upswing in the coming days. In this article, we have tried to focus on some incubators trends for startups that we expect in 2020.
Startup incubators are generally non-profit organizations, which are usually run by both public and private entities. In India, there is a perilous scope for learning and civilizing our global position as a startup hub.
According to the NASSCOM India Startup Ecosystem report, India has retained its position as the third-largest Startup Ecosystem in the world.
More than 1,200 startups came up in 2018, including eight unicorns, taking the total number to 7,200 startups.
This suggests that the numbers of startups are sure to augment in 2020 and incubators being the new tendency, startups need to espouse it.
Incubators actually need to be at the vanguard if India needs to push itself ahead as a global startup hub. That can be a help in improving the agriculture, food and climate businesses.
Here are some incubators trends for startups that we expect in 2020:
Use of AI-based technology skills
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the intelligence validated by machines, in contrast to the natural intelligence displayed by humans.
Use of AI startup incubator can progress business projects and deliver technological solutions to persistent problems of the startup industry.
It is sure to provide shape to the current shambolic landscape of startups and give solutions to section-oriented problems.
In 2020, the use of AI-based technology skills must be implemented in the country at large as they have a holistic approach.
The use of comprehensive 3D mentoring and dedicated network can make this incubator a chauffeur of AI innovation. The AI techniques will help the agrarian sector in improving the amenities.
Innovation-driven startups
The conception of innovation-driven startups is something which we assume to be absorbed in the coming days. These startups have the high growth potential that can bring new innovations with a clear viable advantage.
Like, an agri-business incubator plays an acute role in the development of the sector. It provides facilities, where startups can test their product samples before taking them to market.
The funding under government schemes through incubators helps the sector expand crop output, improve farm management and increase farmer incomes, just what IndiGram is doing.
Climate technology-oriented incubators support start-up organizations in a climate-responsive manner.
It generally offers business, marketing and technical services along with financial support by linking the entrepreneur to sources of finance and investment. Boosted provision of financing for climate technology entrepreneurship is desirable today. It has the potential to amplify and expedite the development, scale-up the market penetration of climate technology solutions.
Futuristic solutions for the current problem
Incubators can provide subterranean solutions to the problems of startups. In the coming days, incubators may provide much-needed sustenance and push to build a solid foundation for the entrepreneur industry.
There are many challenges of startup industry that need to be addressed. Incubators can solve some of the complications commonly associated with running a startup by providing workspace, seed funding, mentoring, and training.
Incubators can deliver the vital seed for the industry to propel with standing solutions. For example, food industry is facing copious challenges these days. And, all of us know food industry is constantly evolving. Food incubators can help startups breed by providing them with capital investment, well-furnished commercial kitchen spaces, access to networking classes, packaging and distribution support.
Ethical training for upcoming startups
The ethical issues in business need to be engrossed. The startup industry should work with demeanor based on integrity. That will develop trust and increase diversity of the industry. Empathetic decision-making and compliance must be the focus in 2020.
It is best to be aware of the turn-ons and to prevent the hiatuses from occurring that may be in agriculture, food and climate industry.
All the startups should focus on social and environmental impact
The more the investors will emphasis on achieving affirmative social and environmental consequences, the more capital will be available to back startups.
That will provide a better conception. For sustainability of the industry, it is important to look after all the impacts. The effort should be eco-friendly and must be targeted at providing long term social influence.
It's high time when the country should think more about incubators. Incubators will help start-ups save the operating costs and provide wider business ecosystem. It will help startups to grow at an early stage.
source: businessworld
7 Early-Stage startups from MENA Won Their Tickets to the global Seedstars Summit 2020
26 Dec 2019 Written by Admin AdminThe Seedstars World Competition 2019 in MENA has come to an end during the latest edition of Seedstars Summit MENA 2019 in Morocco that took place from December 10 to 12. More than just a tech conference, the Seedstars Summit MENA was an opportunity for more than 150 participants to create valuable connections and learn from each other.
The Summit was a long-awaited event for the startups selected during the local Seedstars World Competition in the region, as it’s the time when we announce the names of companies who will join the global Seedstars Summit 2020 in Switzerland and compete for 500,000 USD in equity investment.
Here is a list of all MENA startups to compete for the title of the Seedstars Global Winner in the global arena:
EButler, Qatar, an online platform that serves as a digital butler connecting people to the best service providers in the city.
Kenz, Palestine, a designer lingerie shop online that aims at becoming the premier destination for lingerie shopping in the Middle East.
Hayatech, Bahrain, a B2B, Software as a Service (SaaS) and connected hardware platform that aims to build an ecosystem around wellness.
Otaxi, Oman, a solution that integrates city transportation for users and driver-partners ina mobile platform, providing the easiest, straightforward, and snappy service satisfaction.
Hospitalia, Cairo, an integrated healthcare platform, which provides access to premium medical services any time and anywhere.
Quantum, Saudi Arabia, a data-driven targeted sampling platform, which aims to digitize the sampling industry and help make it more accurate.
Optiyol, Turkey, Optiyol helps freight and passenger transportation fleets with smarter route schedules that reduce costs and improve on-time performance
As part of a partnership between Qatar Business Incubation Center and Seedstars, Debito, a platform to manage credit in a traditional grocery, also joined the cohort of the winning startups and will head to the global Seedstars Summit in April. The startups selected as winners of ICT Accessibility prize Lazarillo and Talov will also compete for a 15,000 USD grant at the global event.
Prior to the main day of the Summit (December 10 and 11), an intensive Growth Bootcamp powered by the Seedstars Investment team aimed to teach the 20 startups how to integrate growth practices into their businesses took place. It was followed by the Investor Forum where participating startups had over 78 one-to-one meetings with top local and international mentors and investors.
On the Summit Day (December 12), the startups delivered one-minute pitches on the main stage in front of more than 150 hand-picked ecosystem builders, corporates, investors, startup enthusiasts representing some of the most prominent names of tech and entrepreneurship in MENA.
The Summit also featured speakers from global companies, business incubators and VC funds like Alisée deTonnac (CEO, Seedstars), Amal Dokhan (Director, Babson Global Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership), Adnane Addioui (President & Co-Founder of MCISE), Sophia El Bahja (Executive and Operations Director, Nobox Lab), Rami Helali (Co-Founder & CEO, KOTN), Saad Jittou (Co-Founder & CEO, Weego), Kenza Bounjou (Partner, Dentons), Tarik Fadli (CEO of Algo Consulting), and Neila Benzina (Founding Partner, Wimbee).
“We had an amazing time at the Seedstars MENA Summit in Casablanca when we had a chance to meet incredible people including investors, mentors, and entrepreneurs. Thank you, Seedstars, for bringing all of this together and we look forward to the global Seedstars Summit in April 2020.” Omar Ashour, CEO of EButler.
source: seedstars
We all know that startups have gained massive popularity over the past few years.
They even got to the point of becoming mass-commercialized all thanks to their presence in different industries and fields. From technology to medicine, startup trends are constantly changing, which makes it difficult to predict.
For startup founders, keeping up with the latest trends can be crucial for success.
At a time when technology development can disrupt entire niches and industries overnight, being unprepared can bring an early conclusion to any business venture.
On the other side, taking advantage of the right trends can easily catapult a startup to stardom.
Running a successful startup business requires at least keeping up with the trends if not setting them.
There are, however, lots of trends that can affect a wide variety of small and large businesses.
The following ones promise to shape entrepreneurship in 2020. Consider how the following startup trends fit into your business plan.
Table of Contents
1-Offline Retail Will Become A Side Feature
2-Subscription Services Will Continue To Sell Well
3-The Use of AI (Artificial Intelligence) Will Evolve
4-Customers Will Become Abreast of Their Data
5-2020 Is The Year of Voice Recognition Technology
6-Making Use of Voice Search
7-Extended Business Collaboration and Integration
8-Everything That Can Be Personalized Will Be Personalized
9-Blockchain Technology Will Blossom
10-Taking Advantage The Internet of Things
11-Marketing Will Become a Lot More Personal
12-Going Deep Into the Cloud Computing Era
13-Big Data Will Become An Essential Component of Digital Marketing, Healthcare, Security
Offline Retail Will Become A Side Feature
Are we going back in time?
Well, it appears so. However, offline retail is not going to change eCommerce at all. Instead, it will become a side feature of online buying. For example, we all saw that eCommerce companies have been experimenting with small retail stores and setting up experience zones in 2019.
In 2020, customers will be able to interact with the products even more before ordering them online. If you are a startup, think of all the ways you can provide this offline experience for them in detail.
Subscription Services Will Continue To Sell Well
Even though subscription growth has slowed a bit, the industry is still growing with an impressive 1% per month. Apparel, beauty, food, and lifestyle subscription boxes remain the most popular.
The market seems to attract more and more businesses and has plenty of space for new niche subscriptions.
Subscription-based businesses grow revenues 5 times quicker than other businesses. It is no surprise when subscribers place three times more orders than customers of non-subscription businesses.
The Use of AI (Artificial Intelligence) Will Evolve
AI is no longer a concept. In 2020, AI will power a sizable percentage of businesses.
It is everywhere – in your analytics, marketing tools, your customer service platforms, digital ads, and your smartphone.
Most of the people who are actively using AI don’t even know they are using it. That is because AI doesn’t look like what we once expected. It is working in the background to make processes more efficient, faster, and accurate. An AI can do various things that would normally demand human intelligence such as pattern recognition, decision-making, and creative endeavors.
Artificial Intelligence is not the same as machine learning. Machine learning refers to algorithms whose performance enhances as they are exposed to more information.
Startups that find applications for AI will succeed in 2020 as will businesses that bring the study of AI to new heights.
Customers Will Become Abreast of Their Data
Unless you are living under a rock, there is no chance you missed the recent startup trends – which are now dictated by consumers more than ever before.
In the coming year, trends like these are more than just expected. In a nutshell, consumers are very abreast of their data nowadays. So much, that they are always in need of more control over it.
The best way to adapt to this customer-centric future is by leveraging the trend with gift guides, themed polls, quizzes and content that speaks to the needs of your customers in a way that lets them manage their data.
2020 Is The Year of Voice Recognition Technology
Customers were positively surprised by Apple’s virtual assistant – Siri when it was officially released in 2011. One of the most unique features was the fact that you could communicate with Siri, search the web, and complete other tasks at the same time.
These days, voice recognition technology is entering our businesses, our cars, and our homes. Did you know that approximately 40 million Americans own a smart speaker? Apparently, virtual assistants are no longer a mysterious product but a necessity in today’s lifestyle.
To succeed in 2020, startup businesses don’t need to come up with their own voice recognition software. There are plenty of options out there to develop proprietary algorithms, apps, and other functionalities using the voice technology space.
There are opportunities for voice recognition technology in business services, manufacturing, education, healthcare, agriculture, and field service. Combined with Artificial Intelligence, startups can succeed in 2020 by creating voice recognition technologies that meet the needs of a specific niche.
Making Use of Voice Search
If you are rubbing shoulders in the startup crowd, you probably hear the term ‘voice search’ more and more often. The truth is, this kind of search has arrived – and it is bigger than many other forms of search discovered before.
On the question of why this kind of search is hot, we can say that voice recognition is a technology that improves. On another note, it is a technology that is customer-centric and as a result of that, has increased in terms of popularity.
Easy to use, fast and safer for people on the go, its use cases go in line with our fast-paced lifestyle. In 2020, the customers will use their voices to search for Google, and the startups will adapt to these changes.
Extended Business Collaboration and Integration
2020 will also be the year where more startups will collaborate between themselves and open up to potential partnerships and opportunities within and outside of their niche. Most importantly, this form of collaboration can be the perfect way to boost the sale value of your company/startup and make it worth more than before.
We already saw banks partnering with fintech startups – and startups seeking help from other startups, whether with their systems, APIs or data. Going ahead, these forms of collaborations will shape up the startup trends, allowing competitors to collaborate more and sell each other’s products for mutual benefit.
Everything That Can Be Personalized Will Be Personalized
The majority of customers prefer to work with businesses that offer personalized services. Personalization can take different forms, however, the most popular varieties are coupons on customer’s locations, recommendations based on previous purchases, and communications on the customer’s favorite channel.
Another type of personalization is a “channel of choice communication strategy”. Customers are turning away from live conversations as they prefer services that don’t require talking such as social media or SMS. Automated channels are growing in popularity, with more than 40% using chatbots. Around 45% of customers are open to any channel, as long as the service is personalized.
Blockchain Technology Will Blossom
Did you know that the demand for blockchain developers is now higher than ever before? Or that they are among the highest-paid developers out there?
Whether you have laid your hands on the blockchain or still haven’t explored this opportunity, you should know that in 2020 it will be very hard to not mention blockchain as part of the growth of a startup. In fact, blockchain is definitely one of the startup trends as the industry matures and its use cases expand.
Many Fortune 500 companies have been already exploring blockchain’s potential in terms of providing security and efficiency to their everyday operations – and this is just the start of it.
Taking Advantage The Internet of Things
In 2020, IoT technology will provide startup businesses with some of the best opportunities to make an impact. The Internet of Things is a system of machines, objects, computers, digital systems and people that are able to transfer data over a network.
When every possible object is a potential computer, IoT technology has limitless applications. Until now, many entrepreneurs have tried to build their own IoT products. Some of them succeed.
As technology gets smarter and smaller, APIs and business cloud services will become more and more standardized, creating a lot of opportunities for IoT projects. By the end of 2020, the IoT market will be worth $581 billion making it one of the most lucrative sectors among startup trends.
Marketing Will Become a Lot More Personal
This trend will keep on going as the user becomes the king. In 2020, we will see more actions that convince customers and speak directly to their needs.
Digital marketing, for example, has evolved quickly that most customers now have high expectations from brands. They want brands to understand them, know their needs, and give them what they want. Customers are looking for information online before buying a product or service. Businesses that provide the right information stand to benefit.
In order to succeed and adapt to these startup trends, you will have to provide high-value and personalized content in every step of the way.
Personalization is a very important startup trend, especially in email marketing. Around 70% of marketers use personalization in their marketing campaigns in the form of purchase histories, transactional information, and other data. Personalization, however, can go beyond greeting an email receipt by their name.
In 2020, we will see the next phase of personalization – hyper-personalization. It involves an in-depth analysis of customer data to provide the best marketing messaging at the right time.
Going Deep Into the Cloud Computing Era
Cloud-based hosting environments can gather hundreds of machines to provide a secure computing environment with no or minimal downtime. Both businesses and consumers have access to cloud storage, communication tools, and other centralized services where there is an internet connection.
Although cloud computing may sound like a dispersed computing environment that the internet brought to us, it isn’t.
There are lots of companies dominating the cloud computing niche. They are reliant on a network of data centers located in protected and secure locations. These centers must communicate with users and with each other which creates the possibility for lower discontinuation and security risks.
With 2020 edge computing, computation is performed on smart or edge devices instead of a centralized cloud environment. Related to the IoT or Internet of Things, edge computing is seen as an important concept for the production of physical computers and smart cities.
In the future, computers the size of your mobile phone may be able to take on workloads that only a data center can handle.
This is one of the most interesting and unexplored startup trends heading into 2020.
Big Data Will Become An Essential Component of Digital Marketing, Healthcare, Security
People think that Big Data means large sets of data. But that’s not the case here. It refers to data sets so large that computation software tools can’t handle them. In order to draw value from the data, AI or other new tools must be applied to find trends and patterns.
In 2020, Big Data will become an essential component for digital marketing, healthcare, supply chain management, industry, etc. Some of the assets that can be derived are:
- Business Process Optimization
- Predictive Analytics
- Cost-Effectiveness
- Organization Optimization
- Market Insight
- High-Performance Computing
- Marketing Effectiveness
- Behavioral Analytics
Startups that don’t accept Big Data will struggle. According to one research, data production by the end of 2020 will increase by 4300%.
As a startup founder, you must scan the horizon for new operational, technological, and financial developments to give your business the best possible chance of success. Knowing what is happening at the moment and what trends are predicted to make changes in the future is going to help you run your startup. You will be better equipped to run a business that takes advantage of favorable trends.
In the end, it is the year-on-year improvements that make the startup world great and innovative as every year goes by. In 2020, there will be many changes and the above-mentioned ones are definitely going to be in the spotlight.
So, do you know a way in which you can adapt to these trends and make use of them?
source: startupbasics
Everywhere you go, you’re in or around an ecosystem. Whether that term is referring to your company’s HR department, a group of products or services or even an entire country, ecosystem has become a catch-all for any entity that encompasses other entities smaller than itself.
In fact, according to Sloan Review, the word shows up 13 times more often in annual reports than it did 10 years ago.
So why the sudden spike in popularity? Is it just because people collectively decided the term was right? Maybe.
More likely, though, the rise of multicompany behemoths such as Alphabet, Apple and AT&T created a new world in which ecosystems are an inextricable part of daily life.
Amazon's recent entrepreneurial incentives are probably one of the most solid examples of this. The company is now offering workers $10,000 and three months of wages to quit working for Amazon and create small businesses that will deliver packages for the company instead.
Its goal is to create a unique ecosystem of businesses designed to support Amazon while still being separate entities.
This is all well and good, but what does an ecosystem actually mean for the people who start small businesses that aren’t part of multibillion-dollar conglomerates? If you’re one of these entrepreneurs, is the term "ecosystem" really relevant to you?The short answer is yes -- if you know how to take advantage of it.
The startup world is full of ecosystems that can help you get a foothold in your chosen industry. You just have to sift through all the buzz and misconceptions to get to what’s useful.
What 'Ecosystem' Means to Entrepreneurs
A healthy ecosystem is one that creates an environment where successful startups grow. Everyone needs to feel bonded to the greater purpose of the whole to create a network effect that drives the flywheel of success. As an entrepreneur, your ecosystem will consist of all of the contributors it takes to build a tech startup: investors, founders, operators, mentors, team members, corporate partners and more. Groups such as Y Combinator and Techstars are perhaps some of the more famous, but startup ecosystems also exist on smaller and local levels.
You don’t have to be plugged into Amazon’s ecosystem in Seattle or Walmart’s in Bentonville, Arkansas. Chances are that your closest metropolitan area has a budding startup ecosystem waiting for you to tap into.
However, tapping into an ecosystem and making it work for you isn’t as simple as just showing up somewhere and laying out a sales pitch.
A healthy ecosystem won’t support someone who just takes. It's about sharing experience and skills and bringing in your unique community to work with others.
With that in mind, there are some strong ways to ensure you get the most out of your ecosystem. Here are three.
1-Find your ecosystem center of gravity.
Most places have a central hub where people go to communicate, online or offline.
To find out where your industry’s meeting place is, start by checking with your local economic-development groups, which are active supporters of the ecosystem.
If that doesn’t work, you can also check with your local venture-capital firms, angel groups or even successful startup CEOs.
For me, joining a startup group called Positive Connections in college was an incredibly valuable stepping stone into the startup community.
It led me to my early customers and lifelong mentors, colleagues and friends. By finding your ecosystem’s hub, you'll be on your way to lifelong prosperity in the entrepreneurial world.
2. Schedule your participation.
According to a Gallup poll, even with a booming economy, Americans reported more stress and anger in 2018 than in the year before.
People are overworked and less likely than ever to take time out of their stressful days to go help others, which is why it’s more important than ever to do exactly that.
As an active participant in your ecosystem, it's crucial to show up. When your gathering place hosts events or asks you to judge a competition or volunteer, show up and bring others with you.
It often takes some time before you can start to make withdrawals, so take that opportunity to figure out what you actually want out of what you’re putting in. One useful trick is to end every conversation by asking, “How can I help?"
3. Become a super-connector.
In nearly every startup ecosystem, there are gaps. Play an active role in identifying those gaps and filling them in. Start the organization that you think is missing, and make it a goal to attract more VCs or build bridges between local corporates and startups.
Maintain a customer relationship-management tool that acts as a matchmaker for investors, mentors and founders, and when new folks show up to the ecosystem, embrace them and connect them to the old guard.
Being a super-connector takes time, but the return on investment is worth it.
According to a report from Impact Hub, 84 percent of entrepreneurs valued the sense of community that came with an ecosystem.
For many companies, collaboration in the community ended up resulting in more income and a better product.
By being the entrepreneur responsible for bringing this collaboration about, you can become a pillar in your community and a trusted collaborator in your own right.
So while ecosystem might be an overused term, don’t let that keep you from taking full advantage of the actual entrepreneurial ecosystems available to you. With work and the right collaborative attitude, you can tap into the power of your own and make connections that will last a lifetime.
source: entrepreneur
Financial technology (fintech), for all of its faults, helps us get more things done more efficiently. Artificial Intelligence (AI) takes it even further, allowing us to conduct business and have conversations when there isn’t even another human involved.
We can have online chats with bots, for example, to accomplish or learn myriad things. Innovation is always on the horizon, though, especially in the fintech realm.
As more fintech options become commonplace, every industry must either adapt or be phased out.
With the turn of the new year, 2020 promises big changes in how we manage, spend and access our money, so you'll want to keep an eye on some of these emerging trends as you make financial decisions regarding partnerships and investments.
Minimizing Traditional Institutions
Several types of financial business elements that have been handled manually or by standard institutions, like payroll, insurance and securities, are becoming automated.
We’re seeing online-only banking that eliminates the cost of brick-and-mortar buildings, and the best of them will be sharing the benefits with their customers in the form of higher returns and lower fees.
Companies adapting quickly to fintech and automation should also work to uphold compliance and maintain good standing with the governing agencies.
As regulation and risk-management for fraud, money-laundering and identity theft are becoming big business, regulation technology (regtech) companies are utilizing AI to combat these crimes faster and more efficiently than humans can.
The growth of fintech is causing a wave of startups and the opportunity for investment in the regtech realm.
Stepping Up Online Trading
Black box trading is a proprietary, fully automated option for your investments that has been talked up and down for its attributes.
It’s legal since it’s not expressly illegal, and relies on algorithmic and low-latency technologies. Computers and data-mining are not infallible, though, so you might want to consider a more personal approach.
Copy trading is basically crowd-sourcing applied to your portfolio. You can choose your favorite investors to follow and mirror their investment moves based on whatever percentage you want to allocate. Not only can it open you up to investments you might not know about, but you’ll also be able to interact with and gain insight from other members and influencers in real-time.
Monitoring Cryptocurrency Advancements and Conversions
In the digital world, financial assets can be used and exchanged with cryptocurrency, which isn’t tied to standard currency systems.
Its online, open-source administration doesn’t require banks or governments for regulation or exchanges, allowing anyone to participate in the system from anywhere in the world.
However, since there is so little regulation, the cryptocurrency market is extremely volatile. Several companies are trying to be competitive with Bitcoin as the space continues to evolve.
Smart contracts represent one such innovation by allowing people to enter into business contracts online with the terms managed by the system automatically as the parties verify that they’ve held up their end of the deal.
This could be revolutionary for the real estate market.
While blockchain transactions normally take place on public ledgers, many people don’t want their financial transactions to be public knowledge for a multitude of valid (or shady) reasons.
There are companies out there offering a type of cryptography that makes transactions anonymous and untraceable without damaging the blockchains.
This can create interesting options for investors and further regtech developments as well.
Although converting your cryptocurrency to real-world currency is possible with Bitcoin ATMs in many major cities, it’s not easily accessible.
There are a few online-conversion services and crypto debit cards. These methods often have fees, taxes and delays that hinder access to your money, which means it’s a wide-open avenue for innovation and new technology to emerge.
Considering Mergers and Collaborations
Finally, as you watch for opportunities to invest or invent, I predict you’ll continue to find that banks are trying to create partnerships with fintech and regtech companies as a means to stay relevant. Don’t be surprised if these are unsuccessful at saving the traditional institutions, because most of them are still trying to operate under the same old standards. They need new strategies for marketing and product offerings, not just new accounts on their books. As you move into 2020, keep that in mind for your own business decisions as well.
source:entrepreneur
6 Things You Need To Get Over To Become A Successful Entrepreneur
01 Dec 2019 Written by Admin AdminWhat’s stopping you fulfilling your potential, preventing you from taking action or slowing your progress as a business owner?
Conditioning your mind for success involves letting these things well and truly slide:
The opinions of naysayers
If you have a plan that you are convinced will work, go for it. If it’s true to your values, fits with your vision and you feel good about it, why not? Not everyone will agree with you because they don’t know what you are capable of. They don’t realise you’ve already done your research, weighed up the pros and cons and crafted a strategy. You know your audience and only they determine your fate.
Many an entrepreneur has been told that their business idea will never take off. It doesn’t mean it’s true. Someone airing their doubts about your business is a projection of their reality, not yours. Don’t internalise negativity levelled at you and don’t let someone else’s limited beliefs be yours.
Thinking too small
As Daniel Burnham, architect of Chicago, once said, “make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized.” Make plans so big they scare you. Make plans so big that thinking about achieving them spurs you into action and motivates you to keep going. The small wins will happen along the way as you consistently put the work in, but it’s the big juicy needle-moving accomplishments that make you remarkable.
You don’t need to tell everyone your grandiose plans. Just know them yourself and know the steps ahead of achieving them. As Seth Godin said, “you’re either remarkable or invisible.”
Feeling embarrassed
No matter what you’re creating or selling, you will, at some point, need to put yourself out there. For your customers to buy into your brand and your story they will need to see it. This is no time to shy away from the limelight for fear of ridicule.
If you have a niggling feeling that something isn’t right, work out what it is and fix it. If the only niggling feeling is the adrenalin you get from being centre stage, channel it into action, start taking action and find your audience.
Maybe it is embarrassing telling people that you’re starting a business, or growing a business, or looking for customers. But who cares? Be shameless. You’d much rather do that than sit in silence and let opportunities pass you by.
Dreams without plans and action
There must be a connection between the dreams you have and the actions you are putting in place. Avoid having dreams that don’t link to plans because you will just get frustrated at not achieving them. You might think you want to be fluent in Spanish, but have you signed up to the courses, downloaded the language apps and booked the trip to Madrid? A dream without a plan is just a wish, and wishing is not a strategy for success.
Turning up to an arbitrary desk for eight hours a day to tap away at a keyboard answering emails and going to pointless meetings isn’t progress. It’s definitely busyness, it’s definitely activity, but wasting time in between weekends isn’t going to get you to the milestones you have in mind. If you really want to get somewhere, work out the route there and ignore everything else.
Feeling like it’s too soon
If your current situation is cushy or if you are daunted by the thought of starting a business, it will never feel like the right time to begin. If you’re already running a profitable and stable organisation, it might not ever feel like the right time to think bigger, reinvest or take risks. Sure, you could hang back, take it slower and play golf on weekdays, but you’re capable of so much more than that and you’d be doing yourself and the world a disservice to succumb.
The hardest thing is starting. Once you’ve started, you know the drill and you learn quickly from there. You develop conscious competence, then unconscious competence, and then suddenly you can do the basics excellently without even trying. That’s where the real magic happens and that’s the time to keep pushing, not the time to back off. Get started now.
Being all talk
In the 2015 film The Big Short, Christian Bale plays Michael Burry, one of the first people to discover the American housing market bubble.
When he’s working, operating his own hedge fund, he is running through the numbers doing the work that his clients commission him to do.
He could spend his days gossiping with them or talking vaguely about investing, but he doesn’t.
He communicates only when he has something important to say. He has something important to say because he’s working at it and not looking for excuses not to.
Deep down, you know what you should be doing and how spending your time will add the most value.
But there’s a difference between saying you want to write a book and actually writing a book. Between launching a brilliant product and just talking about it. Progress, not busyness. Action, not words.
Fear of failure
When starting or scaling a business, things will crop up that you haven’t foreseen. It’s inevitable. But working out how to move past obstacles, as well as seeing them as fun challenges to be solved, is what separates great entrepreneurs from those who never quite reach their potential.
What’s the worst that can happen? It doesn’t work out, you have to close down and then you start again. I’d choose that over never starting any day.
If you don’t view anything as failure then it’s not failure. If someone else views it as failure then they have no place in your life. Only your labels for you count. You only fail when you give up.
Get comfortable in that unknown space and don’t tie your own success to outcomes you can’t control, or winning the support of people who don’t have your back.
If you need some motivation to see past potential failure, talk to someone who has achieved things you aspire to achieve, make yourself a hype playlist or remind yourself that one day you won’t be here and neither will anyone you know.
source: forbes
This past week, I attended Ernst & Young’s Strategic Growth Forum U.S. event. With some of the smartest founders in the country, I chatted about best practices and trends that will shape 2020.
Although my prior co-founder and I received the “Best Emerging Company” award at the 2016 event, I joined this year not as a competitor but as a listener.
I came away with new ideas for growing my company while playing it safe, which will be key in what I and others expect to be a volatile election year. With uncertainty ahead, I paid special attention to the trends on attendees’ minds. These five came up again and again:
1- Optimization is becoming the new risk management.
With political tensions running high and a potential recession on everyone’s radar, it’s no wonder this year’s event was focused on playing it safe while doubling down. Lee Henderson, EY Americas Growth Markets Leader, hit on the importance of Playing it Safe, but still doubling down. Lee said “Companies need to look at things like contracts, vendors, costs, and business operations so that there’s comfort in efficiency, but they should still be looking for areas to grow and innovate. There will certainly be opportunities, and you want to be ready to capitalize on them when the time comes.”
According to EY data, entrepreneurs are more optimistic about those opportunities than other business leaders. Among entrepreneurs, 67% said they were focused on “pursuing new market opportunities,” compared to just 19% of leaders at large companies.
2- Industry-specific startups are seeing the greatest growth.
One of my favorite people I met at this year’s event was Brad Keywell, CEO of Uptake and 2019’s World Entrepreneur of the Year. Brad echoed my belief that the best opportunities for entrepreneurs are not always found in broad business services. “Big companies like Amazon are great at delivering value through technology to mass market audiences,” Brad explained. “It’s the niches they do not deal in that offer real opportunity to entrepreneurs, who can be flexible and move quickly.”
3-Non-technical entrepreneurs are winning with partnerships.
Plenty of people with big ideas cannot code. Todd Buelow, founder of Dualboot Partners, pointed out to me that more non-technical entrepreneurs are trusting others to build out the technologies needed to turn their dreams into reality.
The reason for this, according to Todd, is that a lot of tech experts are also turning to entrepreneurship. They may have the skills to build the product, but they often need help on the sales and marketing side of things — where many non-technical founders shine.
4-Teams are using technology to maximize their operations.
One way companies are playing it safe, as Lee Henderson suggested they should, is through technology. Time-saving tools make it possible for entrepreneurs to accomplish more with fewer resources.One company at ground zero of this trend is Teamwork, a project management platform based in Ireland. CEO Peter Coppinger, who received the EY Ireland Entrepreneur of the Year award, and I talked at length about how efficiency improvements across operating systems are a great way to stay safe while pursuing growth.
5-Companies are becoming more culture-conscious.
A theme I heard over and over — and I wholeheartedly agree with — is that it’s people who make a business thrive. Many of the people who attended EY’s event this year wanted to learn about building diverse teams, bringing out the best in their employees, and creating the sort of work culture where the best employees want to stay. Especially with unemployment at record lows, a lot of entrepreneurs are struggling to find talent. The solution, I and others have found, is to invest in team members’ personal growth. That means providing a flexible work environment, plenty of autonomy, and performance-based compensation like profit sharing to maintain motivation.
Trend predictions do not always pan out, but I’m convinced EY attendees know what they’re talking about. With the new year just weeks away, I’ll be investing in areas like culture and technology that provide protection without putting a damper on growth. Bring it on, 2020.
source: forbes
Even revolutionary ideas need a little help to get rolling. When an entrepreneur has a new business vision, he or she usually needs to raise money for development, marketing, and talent management. Unless the startup founders are high rollers with years of experience, they will look to venture capital and angel investors who will guide them through the first round of funding, the seed stage.
There are a few guidelines that founders should listen to carefully in order to raise seed capital and grow their startup. First and foremost, leaders should be prepared before meeting with prospective investors, and have a list of references who will back the idea.
Founders should get creative with funding, always willing to put themselves out there beyond a comfortable limit.
What Is Seed Capital?
Seed capital rounds differ from proceeding rounds quite significantly. More than a few players are involved, as multiple funds invest an average of $200 to $700K each.
In addition, there are usually a few individual angel investors who invest more than just financially in the company. Angel investors usually get to know the founders and have an interest in the business that transcends the necessary belief in a high return on investment (ROI).
Some distinguished angel investors include serial entrepreneurs and former CEOs who have a track record of bringing businesses public.
The seed stage “plants the seed” for a startup to thrive, in order to launch business operations and show revenue data for the next rounds of funding.
Above All, Be Prepared
Business leaders need to have specified projections and hard numbers ready on demand for venture capitalists before diving head-first into the seed capital round.
A compelling business plan will include strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis (SWOT). Founders need to have a thorough understanding of how venture capitalists make investment decisions.
Venture capitalists will need to know exactly how much funding a business will need and specific plans for allocating investment resources.
A detailed cost projection will need to be explained and defended. In order to uphold credibility and shield oneself from entering an unfair deal, founders should have a strong idea of how much of the business they are willing to give up.
They should also have a clear concept of the interests and goals of the investors, and an understanding of the capital structure of proposed funding.
Many upside provisions are confusing and if not understood can prevent founders from realizing future profits.
Everything should be based on hard numbers that give best-case and worst-case ROI scenarios to founders.
The numbers will ultimately drive negotiations for the VC's percentage stock ownership.
Rob Go, partner at Next View Ventures, a seed stage investment firm, recommends on the company website that leaders develop a list of supporters prior to meeting with venture capitalists. Founders should identify references and make sure that they are on board, understand the business idea and know what to say when questioned by investors.
Gather Committed Investors
Wait, isn't winning over investors what seed capital rounds are all about? Yes; however, this will be easier if businesses have established themselves prior to seed fundraising. Human psychology has shown time and time again that if someone else already went through the decision process, another will be more comfortable in making the same decision.
No one wants to be the first one to take a risk, even risk-loving venture capitalists. Founders should solidify investor commitments.
This way, when prospective investors make contact, the committed angels can confirm their decision to invest X amount in the startup.
Founders may strategically shoot for relatively small commitments, around $20-$50K.
They should also consider giving reasonable provisions on these promises, such as “provided that the funding round is at least X and reasonable terms are met.” This will make early investors more willing to negotiate, given the downside protection.
Put Yourself Out There
If a founder doesn’t have mentors and angel investors as contacts, they cannot be afraid to get out there and go to the VC community directly.
Networking is the most essential tool and skill that an entrepreneur needs, ahead of business acumen.
Gagan Biyani, the co-founder of Udemy, a platform for online courses, told his story of seed funding wherein he was initially rejected by over 30 top investors. He wrote on the Udemy blog: “I went to every conference I could and literally killed myself while there.
I attending tons of networking events and met as many entrepreneurs and investors as I could."
Startup mentorship programs and incubator firms are open for applications. Y Combinator and TechStars are two well-known programs that churn out a mass of successful startups.
Many programs choose applications that receive on-premise coaching and a small investment to get the businesses off the ground, in turn for a percentage of equity ownership.
Ways to Plant Seeds
In the technology age, it's easier than ever to reach angels, who enjoy using social media channels and interacting with enthusiastic entrepreneurs.
Many lesser-known VC firms focus on local entrepreneurship funding, in counties and communities outside big startup hubs like San Francisco and New York.
Additionally, founders may consider the newly popularized crowdfunding method for raising seed capital. Kickstart.com and many others now act as a platform to match investors and startups.
The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, or JOBS Act of 2012, lifted restrictions on investing in early-stage companies so that the common person could have the opportunity to invest.
Companies that aim to raise less than $1 million in total capital can do business with aspiring investors.
source: investopedia
Unified Communications Will Make Your Remote Workforce More Productive
29 Oct 2019 Written by Admin AdminThanks to international clients, flexible work options for employees, increased travel in a global market and the surging gig economy, a digital workspace is now a cornerstone of the modern business office.
One struggle that organizational leaders face in their respective digital-workspace environments is fostering a sense of connectedness.
A recent story from Small Business Trends indicates that 70 percent of remote employees feel left out of the workplace.
Compounding this fundamental issue is the fact that many organizations are working with limited budgets for what is often an ever-expanding feature, according to the 2018 CMS Wire Digital Workplace Survey.
The ongoing battle to fund competing initiatives or departments is one of the highest-ranking obstacles to developing an optimal digital workspace.
As a rapidly increasing number of employees work remotely and organizations begin to scale, the need for collaborative communication solutions beyond the usual Google Hangouts or Zoom is quickly becoming a top priority.
The search for solutions to create a thriving digital workspace that fosters a sense of inclusion with office-based employees and the general atmosphere of the office has led to unified communications (UC) tools that add value for everyone, whether they're in the same office or on the other side of the world.
Top business and technology-advisory firm Gartner has explored trends in the UC universe and found that companies are expanding its range beyond the on-premises models to move to the cloud, opting for UC-as-a-Service (UCaaS). That shift is happening rapidly, since there is little additional investment required to move to a cloud-based solution according to the UC Magic Quadrant for UCaaS via Gartner.
Executive and IT leaders for businesses of all sizes are enthusiastic about the deployment of UCaaS, citing it as the preferred method of adopting budget-friendly communications solutions that enhance employee cohesion.
In fact, nearly all current UCaaS vendors are using microservices and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) architecture to a degree while running media in conventional data centers.
Cloud data centers like Google Compute Engine, Deltapath Managed Cloud, Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS) are largely hosting these platforms.
Four emerging trends provide organizational leaders exploring UCaaS with a good foundation in their search:
- Globalization. Given the need to reach employees and consultants in remote locations around the world, most providers offer global capacities.
- Improved Interfaces for Enhanced User Experience. Improved dashboards, tools and portals make use easier for everyone.
- Workstream Collaboration. A highlight in UCaaS trends involves workstream collaboration, which provides notifications, messaging, bots and tools that allow teams to effortlessly communicate -- in private or via group chats -- throughout the life of a specialized project.
- Video-Focused User Experiences. Key video improvements include high-definition resolution, collaboration-friendly features and the ability to invite large numbers of participants for video conferences, meetings and calls.
UC innovators continue to examine the needs of today’s business clients and work to answer the most pressing challenges.
The latest trends are set to bring UC up to speed to allow executives and IT teams to streamline communications for a better employee experience, which ultimately translates to better client experience and brand reputation.
source: entrepreneur
