StartupNation Blogs

The recent CIT Group news hit the franchise community late last week. One of the larger small business lenders announced, CIT Group announced it needed additional money from the government to stay affloat. The government denied their request but CIT was able to cut a deal with its creditors giving them a little more time [...]

Given the global recession, real estate presents new challenges and opportunities for business owners. Businesses especially are affected by the pressures of reduced demand and tighter lending criteria. The fact is, you’re challenged to do more with less.
I just moderated an expert panel on video as part of the Wells Fargo Webcast Series on this very topic [...]

StartupNation PR Team Connects you to a Casting Call for an ABC TV show about Entrepreneurs and Inventors!
Do you have the next great moneymaking idea?
StartupNation is working closely with the wonderful folks at Mark Burnett Productions/ABC to help them in their search for entrepreneurs, inventors, businesspersons, dreamers, promoters, creators, innovators, etc. We hope is to [...]

It’s no secret that running a business in this economy is a challenge. But with the right smarts, you can get through the storm.
To survive you’ll have to make the most of your time (which you likely have more of as a result of less customer activity) and take into account the impact of your [...]

It’s a recession. Entrepreneurs and small business owners can’t get money. Some can’t even make payroll. So why would starting a business in a recession be a great idea? Here’s why:
Time to practice.
Recessions are the pre-season: Do you think Kobe Bryant starts hitting the gym in October?  Business, like basketball, takes preparation, training, and [...]

If you’ve been following StartupNation for years, not just months or weeks, you know that we were one of the pioneers that popularized the “Elevator Pitch”, your chance-of-a-lifetime opportunity to pitch your dream investor in a blazing 60 seconds. It was always one of the most popular segments in our nationally syndicated radio show and [...]

Angel investors have become more cautious in light of the recent economic uncertainty, trying to reduce their risk exposure by including more angels in each deal, according to the Angel Market Analysis for the first and second quarters of 2008 released by the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire.
According to the [...]

On a recent appearance on The Big Idea with Donny, I was one of three people on a panel. It was our role to help people fed into the show via satellite and phone.
It’s a huge challenge to be in the hot seat and be ready to fire away with valuable advice. But it’s thrilling, [...]

I made a public promise on this week’s telechat with Dan Roam, author of The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures. The promise was to use the techniques that Dan recommends at a very high-powered sales presentation that I was to give yesterday to a big potential partner.
Well, I did [...]

As I indicated in Part 1 of this series of blog entries, Suzy Batiz, founder of Poo-Pourri, shared her advice, further proving what a true shining star she is, right here, living and working among us in the StartupNation community. What a role model!
Below Suzy provides more of her advice.
In Suzy Batiz’s Words:
COVER YOUR BASES/PROTECT YOURSELF
Only once [...]