Fantastic question! First, a little about me and why I am qualified to answer. My father served 19 years of a 20 year sentence in prison where he passed and I had challenging background. I never met my birth mother and met my birth father at the age of 18. I've been on my own since I was 16 and have lived in the YWCA, homeless shelter's etc. I don't have any family support financial or otherwise. I haven't even had a call on a birthday, holiday, wedding day or even the birth of a child. I have a GED and now a Master's, built my first home before 30 and all while a single mom at the time. I worked very hard throughout my life and now I am retiring from a position at a Fortune 500 company after 10 years of service in my 30's. My husband has had challenges with his background and we opened a gym here in Atlanta for 8 months before closing and I also own several businesses online that focus on teaching part-time entrepreneurs how to convert their passion into profits. I have dozens of courses published on the world's largest destination for online courses including 3 best selling books on Amazon. Okay, now that ALL of that is out the way, here is my response. Yes, I have begun working with local entrepreneurs and small business owners in Atlanta, GA to build their Internet properties and protect their reputations online and off. I help them create and develop "trust based marketing" through email, books and online and I am partnered with the #1 trusted marketer online to accomplish this and a group of over 10,000 offline business entrepreneurs. Key things to avoid: - excessively talking about your past - blaming others for your current situation - the old environment Key things to do: - Read (or listen to) Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People" - Find a mentor/coach that you can share your goals with and get feedback - Invest in small business and personal development classes online or at a center (most are free) - Think outside the box - Build a community online - Transfer life skills into your business - Understand the pricing structure for your business - Set goals and create plans to achieve them - Invest financially and reinvest back into your business - Create a business and financial plan (on paper) I could go on and on and would love to connect with your organization. A 15 minute chat to provide more clarity would be great! ~Montina

I imagine a lot of it happens in private FB groups already. I'm a member of Dynamite Circle, which is a private community of location independent entrepreneurs http://www.tropicalmba.com/innercircle/

Anyone who calls themselves something fancy like that is probably one of the 99% in the industry that have no idea what they are doing and will make you hemorrhage money. Find a MARKETER with a proven track record and use them to build an empire. If you don't want an empire and, instead, want to make your friends jealous by bragging about "new hires," then hire a "growth hacker" or "assistant of hardcore development" or "rad visualization chairman" or whatever other stupid position all these failing startups get caught on.

I haven't come across something that does exactly that. If it's a relatively small number of companies you refer, signing up to an affiliate program for each of them is probably easiest. If the number of brands/companies is bigger, this sounds like something that should be built. Would love to have a quick chat with you on that.

This role in most organizations is designed for maximum fun! Well, maybe not, but I am ever hopeful. In twenty plus years I have led numerous projects and hired a few project leads [aka project managers] most of which have done a great job. For me, the best project managers are home grown. Promotion up through the ranks of the "A" players on the team, all with valuable insight on how all the processes work and interact with one another. However, should this not be possible, you have a lot of work ahead of you. Don't forget all the obvious steps like checking references. But the most important trait for me is that "eye of the tiger" concept. The will to survive. To thrive. The ability to think outside the box for sure, but it is more, it is the knowledge that they can make a difference in your organization. Not that they have done the exact same thing somewhere else, that almost never works! Find someone that must stretch to accomplish your goals. Make them convince you they are the right person for the position. Remember the 80/20 Rule: they need to do most of the talking. Give me a shout if you want a shoulder to cry on. I have hired over 300 people and only had to fire three.

Studying customer experience is fascinating, and one of my favorite parts of my work as a customer service strategist. Zappos is one of my favorite examples of incredible customer service. They regularly upgrade orders to overnight shipping and they allow you to return shoes even after you've worn them. Recently, I had a massage at a nice local spa. I was quite surprised to find a hand written card in my mailbox just two days later from the massage therapist. She thanked me for my business and let me know she looked forward to my next visit. I will only book with her from now on! It's the little things, truly, that can make you stand out. The upgraded shipping and free returns (of worn shoes, even!) costs Zappos, sure. And the card from the spa took time and thought. But those things stand out in my mind and the minds of other customers. If you'd like to dive deeper on this, I'd love to schedule a call. Thanks for the question!

The best advisors are those with real world experience-not just academic credentials-someone who has been there, done that. Also important, industry or company type experience (e.g., service company, software, manufacturing...). Look for someone who compliments your strengths and offsets your weaknesses. For example, I work with entreprenuers who have vision, yet lack the discipline to consistently implement their plan. I meet regularly with them to help them focus and be accountable.

Forget books, if you want to understand CSR just go online and read about case studies of CSR nightmares and read content from those who hate corporations. This will tell you both the problems and results of bad CSR. The solutions will be obvious.

Content curation can help businesses (1) build up a high-quality content pipeline and (2) establish a network among thought leaders in their industry. Content marketing is equal parts distribution and editorial. Curation through content syndication can help you hit both with one swing. Not to mention, syndication opportunities are typically reciprocal. When syndicating your content externally (for others to curate), ask for links to drive traffic back to your website. The concept is not new; rather, it has been a massive traffic driving strategy in the media/publishing industry (where I previously worked). We syndicated our content with larger media channels and were able to drive multiple millions of (free) pageviews a year (thanks to the level of scale at which we were producing stories). Happy to discuss further for anyone interested in the topic.

Any aspiring entrepreneur should be reading Fred Wilson's blog: http://www.avc.com Also, the team from All Things D just launched http://recode.net

Start by contributing a majority of your content to other blogs that already have an audience. (Also, create a really kick-ass bio with a link to your twitter handle and blog.) By gaining visibility in an already established community will make it easier for you to gain new quality subscribers and authority. It is a process that takes time. Don't expect unique traffic to blow the roof off overnight, it just won't happen. Make sure you are consistently publishing really REALLY great content that people want to share. Make sure it passes your internal 'F*ck Yeah' filter (http://onboardly.com/content-marketing/why-you-need-great-content-marketing/#.Usa5NWRDskI) *shameless plug*, and really nurture your community. Consider other content forms to help with growth, like: - Slideshare presentations - guides, eBooks, whitepapers - webinars and podcasts Best of luck and enjoy the journey!

I've lead the marketing team for 3 VC funded startups that all successfully acquired customers en mass, but along the way I've certainly observed a fair share of startups that failed due to inability to acquire customers fast enough. Here are some common reasons startups fail: 1. They incorrectly think their product is so good that the customers will just show up and pay 2. The product is "cool" but doesn't solve a pain that valued in the market 3. Users like the tool enough to beta it for free but not enough to actually pay for it 4. Company acquires customers but the lifetime value to customer acquisition cost isn't sustainable, or requires such scale that the company never gets there 5. Most companies waste a ton of money on Adwords until they realize they should hire an expert 6. Startups acquire traffic but can't convert it into repeat purchases or usage 7. The market just isn't big enough 8. There's another solution that is more compelling There's a ton of other reasons too. If you're having trouble acquiring customers, feel free to give me a ring. Happy to chat any time.

Check out https://angel.co/salaries Pick location, market & role. There you can see equity given + salary. There's a caveat though, if this is you first developer and he/she is going to be essential to your growth maybe you should consider him/her as a cofounder. Any tech business needs a tech cofounder in my opinion. In that case, a much higher percentage than what you would see for employees should be given out.

The short answer is yes if there is a local station that caters for your catchment area. Thing about the way that you do these radio ads though. If you look at the available data, most reported car breakdowns happen between 8am and 9am on Monday mornings (based on 70,000 reported breakdowns in the UK) while most car accidents happen between 3pm and 9pm on weekdays (with a peak between 6pm and 9pm - this is based on US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data). Can you target shows and slots that happen just before or around those times? So breakfast show slots between 7am and 8am on Monday mornings and some drivetime evening slots on weekdays? That might be an effective way to reach a likely audience - along with some spread of ad spend across other times of the day or in relevant programs (think about the majority of your customers - what sort of shows would they listen to and target some of those). The other thing to consider is trying to offer your services as an on-air personality. There is always merit in approaching stations to spend some money as an advertiser but also offer your services as someone who can talk about general car maintenance tips on some of their shows - so in the runup to winter, maybe you could come on and give some tips on how to Winter-proof your car etc. Or you could just have a general car maintenance segment every week or two. Radio stations have a lot of airtime to fill every day - if you can help them fill it with good content and a good personality, it will pay off. I used to be a radio producer and presenter, so I know how useful it is to have a good person on call for on-air slots about just about anything! There's a lot of PPC marketing that you could also do at a hyper local, targeted level, but it strikes me that in a smaller geographical area, radio would be a great opportunity. Happy to talk through in more detail if that would help.

Are you first-time entrepreneurs? If not, you might not even need an accelerator. Pitching accelerators is essentially pitching investors, so getting interest from three accelerators is an indication that you might be ready to raise. If you are first-time entrepreneurs, an accelerator could be beneficial, as it has the potential to greatly accelerate your first raise. Choose the accelerator with the best network. This is the single most important factor. Consider their history with companies similar to yours. The mentors and founder network are good PERKS, but you can build those relationships yourself. What's most valuable is the time saved in building INVESTOR relationships, and a good accelerator can open a lot of doors quickly. Good luck!

Hi Michael, Yes: there is a way to do this. That is the brunt of what I train business owners and professionals to do: the key is in brain science. There are a couple of points and then the basic practices: a. The brain can only handle about four items per day of high priority b. These items need to be outcome oriented: i.e. a number or observable event : not action oriented which is what most people do (if you don't the brain does a pattern mismatch and triggers a worry response) c. Create four max. long term objectives: e.g. for the year d. Ensure that daily there is some correlation between the daily outcomes and the long term objectives e. Create a mission statement, and ensure the same correlation Works very well: and I gave you the gist: however, this requires some practice and daily coaching: about 10 to 15 minutes a day for four days a week for between 3 to 6 months. We have experimented with apps, but found that email is hands down the way to get this done daily. The daily emails track the correlation, training in picking the best daily outcome, provides accountability etc. Then we train people in how to schedule into their calendars (electronic preferred with alarms set - so you don't worry about pacing - your smart phone does) using 21 Safe and Sane management tips: these are done in a way to increase flexibility : i.e. more blank space on the calendar to handle innovation time and breakdowns that inevitably occur. I am oversimplifying, but it works and we have the data and 22 years of working with thousands of clients to demonstrate Kind regards, Sunil Bhaskaran

Trying to get free advice about starting an international pharmaceutical company probably isn't the best way to go, man. That's your biggest red tape.

The way I've always built my Customer Advisory Board (I call them my A-Team, Advisory Team - just sounds cooler) Before Launch - Find users who currently have the problem and have already solved it themselves. After Launch - Find users who are active / using the app AND have not asked to be on the A-Team. The key isn't to add people who are excited to give feedback as they're usually trying to sneak in requests to meet their own needs ... instead find ideal users who have shown you by their actions and profile that they would give relevant feedback and have the time. The other filter is the people who will be paying for the product / service.

Yes, it will track. They're pretty good at parsing partial data. The more you provide, the better you can slice the data later but anything pretty much goes in.

Are you looking at this subject from a marketing or management of growth point of view? In other words are you asking how to grow or how to manage and track growth? Michael michaelirvin.net

For software startups it's more common to use a Delaware corporation. It gives you more flexibility when adding cofounders or giving out stock to early employees ( something you'll have to do to attract the best ). If you are seeking outside investment, you'll end up doing a DE C-corp prior to getting any money, so why not just do it from the get go? You'll need a foreign corporation in the state you're located and possibly pay franchise tax to both DE ( $450 / year ) and your state ( CA is $800 / year ). Then maintain a register agent in DE ( $100 / year ). So you save some money with an LLC but I think that structure is not suited for a modern software company.

Why don't you use Wordpress? Free plugins like s2member are available; DAP and Wishlist are great paid options. Easy to use, too.

Most of my friends use www.wordpress.org and http://member.wishlistproducts.com/ to create their membership sites. Hope that helps.

There's a couple routes you could travel. The first, is ads. You mentioned the data is usable? Do you have an API for which to grab it with? If so you could charge for access to that. But it's hard to suggest options without knowing more about the business

See my earlier posting on 3 tiered memberships and backend purchases of goods and services. If you don't think about your backend you can work your backend off with little or no profit to show. Michael T. Irvin NoHogWashMarketing.com michaelirvin.net