Successfully validating your business, new products, services and/or features requires a varied approach. There are countless tools you might use as part of your overall strategy — traditional ads, social media, SEO… But if you neglect the most important tool of all, your efforts won’t be nearly as effective as they could be. To become a world-class business and gain the trust of your customers, you have to prioritize Social Proof.
Social proof is one of the simplest, most cost-effective, and crucial ways to validate your business. Even after you’ve attained initial traction, as you roll out new products, services, features or pivot in entirely different directions, social proof is the constant that sets you up for success in each instance. According to Nielsen, 83% of people trust the recommendations of friends and family, while BrightLocal found 85% of respondents trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. …
As your startup begins to grow, every new hire changes the company’s DNA, so it becomes increasingly important to take a strategic, systematic approach to hire.
5 Things To Look For In Prospective Hires
Finding the perfect hire can seem like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
1. Attitude vs. Skills
It’s easy to fall under the trap of assuming the most qualified candidate is your best option. However, attitude is actually the best indicator of new hire success. Asking questions while interviewing candidates will allow you to uncover the type of person they are, what motivates them, and character traits that make them unique.
The best practice is to determine technical qualifications in the first round(s) of the interview process and then focus on the attitude/emotional skills of a prospective employee. …
Gone are the days when employees prioritized salary over all else when looking for a new job. Company culture has now become the centrepiece of a company’s identity and as the next generation of the working class enters the job market, companies need to start paying closer attention to the type of company culture they have created for their employees.
Company culture is the personality of a company. It defines the environment in which employees work. Company culture includes a variety of components, including work environment, company mission, value, ethics, expectations, and goals.
When you talk about company culture it’s almost impossible not to associate it with the big tech companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter that show up on numerous “Best Places To Work” lists. These companies have established themselves as a hot destination in the market and employees rave about their experience working at these companies. …
The founder of a brand new startup begins their endeavour with a clear vision for their company in their head. The ones that are smart will create an action plan as to how they will transform their innovative idea to a billion-dollar enterprise. Or should that even be the goal?
After all, not every entrepreneur runs a business purely to make a profit. Whatever the reason, it is vital for entrepreneurs to establish their WHY right from the get-go. Generally speaking, the WHY can be simplified into two things:
- The desire to become wealthy. 💰
- The drive to create and lead an organization. …
We are now living in what can be called the AI Gold Rush. There are thousands of innovative AI startups popping up every day and investors are quick to claim stake. Venture capital funding of AI companies soared 72% last year, hitting a record of $9.3 billion.
The increase in AI investment partly reflects the frothy funding environment overall. But there is an elevated excitement with AI technology as it has matured in recent years. …
