Kinda like a Harvard MBA sent weekly to your inbox.
Latest Newsletters
Founder Stories
Liz Melton / 4 months
How I Lead My Tech Company With Empathy and Kindness
In this guest post, we learn about how Ashley Sumner, CEO of Quilt, leads with empathy and creativity, encouraging her team to put themselves and their health first.
Founder Stories
Liz Melton / 4 months
The Twisted Road to Twisted Road
In this guest post, we learn about the risks Austin Rothbard, CEO of Twisted Road, was willing to take as a first-time founder. He outlines the resources he consumed, the processes he created for himself, and the mindset it took to get his company off the ground.
Founder Stories
Liz Melton / 4 months
How My Poppy’s Love of Sports Inspired LeagueApps
In this guest post by Brian Litvack, CEO and Co-Founder, LeagueApps, we learn why sports was such a big force in his life, how pivoting saved his company, and why hiring great founding team members is so important.
Growth
Liz Melton / 8 months
7 Tips for Introducing a New Revenue Channel
Creating a new revenue stream is like hitting the jackpot. So long as a channel makes more money than it costs to operate, people will get excited about it.
Growth
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
So You Want to Be a Founder?
I am not (yet) a successful founder, so take what I say with a grain of salt. However, there are a few lessons I want to share.
Growth
Liz Melton / 8 months
Strategic Pricing for SaaS Startups
Pricing is a delicate balance, and it’s even tougher for small startups that don’t have much data to go on nor resources to execute.
How to
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
Early Stage Recruiting
Today's hiring climate is uniquely hard for young startups. Incumbent growth companies raising massive amounts of money, record low labor participation, digital burnout, and more are contributing to an obstacle course of hurdles when sourcing talent.
How to
Liz Melton / 8 months
Strategic Partnerships for Startups
Becoming a strategic partner involves extensive research, continuous engagement, and diligent planning, but the rewards can really pay off in terms of thought leadership, marketing, and most importantly, sales.
Deep Dive
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
Insurance for Startups
If your CEO tweets like Elon, you might want to check your D&O Insurance policy. While you probably spend most of your day thinking about shipping and selling products, you still need frameworks in place to defend yourself against potential costly lawsuits in the future.
Deep Dive
Liz Melton / 8 months
Public Relations for Startups
With fewer resources and time on their hands, most startups put PR on the back burner. But there are scrappy ways to approach PR to get you the notoriety you are craving.
Culture
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
Improving Mental Health at Your Startup
Burnout and mental well-being in startups are even more precarious than in traditional work settings. Tight deadlines combined with fewer resources, a lot of ambiguity, and a high likelihood of failure place substantially more stress on startup teams and founders.
Deep Dive
Liz Melton / 8 months
What is LTV, and why does it matter?
LTV is a benchmark for the health of a business, indicating brand loyalty, product-market fit, and viable unit economics.
How to
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
First Time Founder Finance Stack
Finding the best accounting and finance software for a startup can be a challenge. Here is our finance tech stack for your startup.
Deep Dive
Liz Melton / 8 months
6 Ways to Get Started with Marketing for eCommerce Startups
eCommerce marketing is about making consumers aware of your online store, convincing them to convert, and reminding them to purchase again. To stand out from the crowd, you need a comprehensive strategy involving social media, original content, and paid campaigns.
How to
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
Running an Effective Employee Onboarding
An employee's first few days at your company are formative. Providing a structured onboarding program and making new hires feel welcome
How to
Liz Melton / 8 months
The Anatomy of a Good Offsite
Company offsites can inspire, motivate, and align your teams towards shared goals and prepare them for times of high growth.
Deep Dive
Liz Melton / 8 months
Vendor Procurement and Management at a Startup
Well-designed vendor procurement and management processes help cut costs, set companies up for successful SOC2 audits, and mitigate future risks.
Finance
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
The Cash Flow Manifesto
Cash is the lifeblood of an early-stage startup. Improperly managed cash flow will take down a startup before it's had the chance to grow.
Growth
Liz Melton / 8 months
Product-Led Growth: What Is It and How Do You Do It?
Product-led companies are characterized by rapid growth, little cash burn, and diehard fans, but those results only come to those that follow the product-led growth framework.
Finance
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
Investor Relations For Startup Founders
Writing investor updates consistently is important for company success. Startup founders use different tools and processes for updating investors. Learn how to set up an investor relations process.
Deep Dive
Liz Melton / 8 months
A Startup Guide to SOC 2
SOC 2 is a framework that validates an organization’s internal data center controls and other security-related operations that preserve client privacy. SOC 2 is often a critical component of enterprise decision-making, making it a must-have for startups selling into the Fortune 500
Deep Dive
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
When Robots Have Feelings
Founders are taking advantage of the new remote-first world to rethink personal interactions and push the boundaries of what can be automated. Enter: “people-ops-as-a-service.”
Deep Dive
Liz Melton / 8 months
Why It’s Not Too Early to Think About CSR
Startups are prime candidates for CSR because as they grow, so too can their positive contributions to society. And beyond making the world a better place, CSR programs strengthen culture, lure in customers, retain talent, support public image, and attract investors.
How to
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
6 InfoSec Practices Your Startup Needs Now
Ready for first steps in information security to maintain a secure startup? Use these six best practices for information security.
How to
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
Designing a Startup Hiring Strategy
As you add team members, your communication structure within teams becomes exponentially more complex. In practice, rapid hiring can lead to disastrous communication lapses unless planned for ahead of time.
How to
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
How to Set an Operational Cadence
An operational cadence is a blueprint for everything that happens at your company over the course of a year. Once you understand your cadence, you can coordinate the flow of the whole company.
Deep Dive
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
When Freemium Fits
As all aspiring private equity investors know, the first thing you should do when evaluating a business for purchase is to figure out how to raise prices. Counterintuitively, right after closing in early February, the first thing I did was set up a freemium pricing model.
Operations
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
Becoming a Customer Success Superhero
As companies in every industry compete to stay relevant to their customers, whether consumers or businesses, many have focused on improving
HR
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
Hiring for Rapid Growth
With Peloton's rapid growth, the recruiting team went from interviews at the ping-pong table to an enterprise-grade hiring process.
How to
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
5 Ways To Show Employee Appreciation
Employee Appreciation Day is Friday, March 5, so I’ve been pondering what that looks like as a newly remote company. With the rise of loneliness during the pandemic, some employees may be looking to their job for camaraderie and connection.
How to
Liz Melton / 8 months
6 Unconventional Customer Acquisition Strategies
Much of customer acquisition is trial and error. Brainstorming new customer acquisition strategies is key to keeping your strategy fresh.
How to
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
Creating Company Culture
Kard is in the middle of a hiring spree, and the process has made me think about who we’re becoming as a company. At eleven people, we are too big to get away without defining our company culture but not yet large enough to be hiring a Head of ...
Deep Dive
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
Perfecting Your PEO
If you find yourself struggling to properly understand and put together things like employee benefit packages, a PEO can be your best friend
How to
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
How To Make Big Decisions
A startup is either growing or dying, and a well-positioned one should have a strong market, assets, and team. Should you join?
Deep Dive
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
Writing Better Cold Emails
In today's era of drip campaigns and automated sales message, a well-crafted cold email stands head and shoulders above its competition. The only way to write a great cold email is to be authentic and maybe even a little bit weird.
How to
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
Avoiding Delegation Downfalls
Delegation requires trust, and trust is earned. Start off with small outcomes and work towards higher stake assignments.
How to
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
Summit Your Goals
Building a startup is like climbing a mountain. Except this mountain has no trails so you can only use your best guesses to reach the summit.
Q&A
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
Defining Your Brand Identity
Singer is the former founding Creative Director at Of Mercer, where she helped grow the brand from its initial concept into a multi-million dollar company. Prior to that, she was a cofounder of womenswear brand Alex & Eli, responsible for brand strategy and visual identity.
Finance
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
Become a Financial Quarterback
As the CFO of YipitData , Eric Lesser has to have a quarterback-like vision on his company’s financial health. Eric manages the finance and
Operations
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
Passion Behind the Hustle
Ravi Sharma, CEO of OOTify, joins us this week. Ravi has had two successful exits in healthcare and clean technology and has incubated and invested in numerous technology startups through his family office...
How to
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
Why You Should Write A User Guide
Decisions have always been hard for me, especially when I’m overwhelmed. For example, I break down in front of restaurants because I can’t decide if I want to go in or pick a different restaurant.
Operations
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
Mastering The Art Of The Playbook
Adam Lawrence is the former COO of Bolt, an online checkout platform startup that was one of Fortune's 2020 50 Best Small Workplaces, among other accolades. Prior to that, he started, built, and sold HR company, Liveli, and was the first hire at Addepar . Adam...
How to
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
Review Performance Reviews
Everyone's favorite time of year: performance review season! Roles in a startup change quickly, so the performance review process must adapt as team structure, company focus, and overall process also change.
How to
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
Finish the Year Strong
The End-of-Year Checklist: I like starting the year with an empty to-do list and a fresh perspective. As an obsessive list maker, this process naturally starts with another list...
Deep Dive
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
Money In the Bank
Despite the uncertainty of the past year, new business applications are up 38.5% year/year . For new entrepreneurs it can be hard to know what steps to take when it comes handling your new businesses finances. With the explosion of neobanks in the last few years, there are more options ...
Finance
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
R&D Tax Credits to the Rescue
We spoke with Brian Goodwin about R&D tax credits and what they mean for startups. Goodwin is the Director of Sales and Partnerships at Incentax, a tax credit consulting firm focused on these tax credits for businesses.
Deep Dive
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
Murphy's First Law
If your CEO tweets like Elon, you might want to check your D&O Insurance policy. Insurance is a big ugly topic. It is one of those costs that feels like a waste until the day you need it. When starting a company, most people only spend time thinking ...
Deep Dive
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
Location, Location, Location
We are excited to have Gabe Marans of Savills join us for a Q&A this week to cover what your team should think about when looking for a change in office space.
Deep Dive
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
Emerging Benefit Trends to Help You Compete
Hiring top talent is incredibly competitive. Most startups can't compete with FAANGs of the world in terms of cash comp. And because of this, most hiring managers and founders list hiring as the number 1 most challenging part of running a company.
How to
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
The One Thing That Kills Startups
The only thing that kills startups is hiring too fast. Calculating ROI on a new hire is very challenging. To start, you need to model out the initial cost impact on runway.
How to
Daniel Jakaitis / 8 months
Can You Afford To Do Enterprise Sales?
If you focus on enterprise sales, you will at some point need to show proof that your company has some operational integrity. SOC2 is the most common auditing procedure expected among early stage software startups. The SOC2 audit comes in two flavors: Type ...