Startup Revolution

3 Power Startups Tips
Stole this great email from Curagmai supporter and Startup Factory founder Chris Heivly to make a point about how to empower your Content and Brand Ambassadors.

Great tip from Chris too.

3 Power Startups Tips: http://www.curagami.com/3-startups-tips/?v=7516fd43adaa w/ Marty Note via @chrisheivly #startups #tips - 

Why Do People LOVE & HATE Startups?
Biggest startup haters? Answer: Other Startups. To be fair the VAST majority of fellow startups at the American Tobacco Campus and American Underground are AWESOME and HELPFUL.

Some have been abusive and mean. We got to thinking about what might be making some fellow #startups so snarky and angry. We think it may be the process.

This post shares the strange WALK THIS WAY undercurrent inside the startup ecosysem and wonders if David Amerland's New Value System might "beat the dogs" less and accomplish more.

We've been down this road so many times in life. Going to football camp as a kid first thing everyone had to know was if you could get hit. The next thing everyone wanted to know was could YOU hit. So much testosterone so little time (lol).

Why do you think people love or hate startups? Share your experiences and I will curate into the post. Thanks and have a great weekend. Marty

Get The RIGHT Startup Education
Twice a year my friends Chris Heivly and Dave Neal offer their "how to start a successful company" experience to another "class" of startups. What started as a Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, NC) idea is quickly gaining traction across America. 

Triangle Startup Factory's last class was 50% from outside the Triangle. You can read about TSF's last graduating class on a post I wrote for Atlantic BT when I was Marketing Director: http://www.atlanticbt.com/blog/triangle-startup-factory-fall-2013-showcase/. 

If you have "startup dreams" I highly recommend Chris and Dave. I'm applying for TSF's spring class. Even if CrowdFunde doesn't make it the business plan and I will be better for the experience! I can schedule some "open office' time and find out where I missed and what Chris and Dave would change too. 

Chris and Dave take a position in companies they include in their "incubator", but they didn't create such an influential "school" for money. Money, once you get to their level, is a scorecard, another feedback loop. Like everyone they would like to have more, but they will spend what they have supporting entrepreneurs with dreams. 

Supporting entrepreneurial dreams is what Chris and Dave love to do. They are all in and their joy, intelligence and insight are easy to see. Least someone think helping with TSF's content marketing means anything other than my admiration (lol).

I know Chris and Dave well enough to know if my idea doesn't have it they will tell me (by rejecting :). How valuable is that? I have ideas all the time, but figuring out THE idea to spend the next few years of my life and what is left of my poor 401k (after http://curecancerstarter.org), but have Chris and Dave's

But that's okay. Startups are the ultimate meritocracy. Your idea either scales or it doesn't :). Sure I have the best wishes of my "tribe" of supporters. As soon as I stop tweaking CrowdFunde I will share it for open comments before submitting to Chris and Dave. 

Help is always appreciated and how can I fail with the amazing friends I'm lucky enough to know. Friend who, like Chris and Dave, look for way to help and are living their lives for love not money. Funny, my friends who have been rewarding with the most money are grounded, love what they do, believed in themselves and others and wouldn't be stopped come Hell or High Water. 

Get your App into Chris, Dave and the team at TSF for Spring 2014 and maybe I will see you there :). Marty  

Startups Must Read
Remember building forts when you where a kid? We all do and thus the power of the universal metaphor my friend and Startup Factory founder Chris Heivly's new book. Chris organize the book around 5 things startup entrepreneurs must do to be successful:

1. Socialize their idea

2. Partner with good and trustworthy people

3. Gather assets close to you

4. Create a collective purpose

5. Build the fort

To say Chris' book is a must read is to be grossly inaccurate. If you are a startup or ever want to become an entrepreneur you must read Build The Fort.

Buy on Amazon
http://bit.ly/build-the-fort-amazon 

Visit Chris' site
http://heivly.com/  

What's it like to "graduate" from the Startup Factory at American Tobacco Campus in Durham, NC? Amazing & highly recommended. Startups apply for Fall 2014.