Isolated concentration is not the best way to bring clarity to your ideas.

The More Voices You Engage With, the Clearer Your Own Voice Becomes

By listening to, and interacting with, diverse groups of people—especially those with dissenting opinions—your ideas are tested from a variety of viewpoints. Your thoughts become stronger and more complete.

“Sometimes a voice from left field can set your right.”

Safe, boring messages don’t get passed along. To effectively spread, an idea should be remarkable enough that people say “You won’t believe this.”

Messages that are Controversial Demand to be Repeated

Go to the edge, be shocking. Embrace a worldview. Don’t be afraid to alienate a few people, great companies don’t please everyone.
It’s hard to be remarkable and support the status quo.

Most businesses are short-lived, but people have longevity. Customers find it easier to trust individuals than they do organizations.

Personal Brands are Becoming More Important than the Brands of Organizations

Organizations are being defined by the brands of the people that work for them. Individuals must cultivate their own brands for the long-term.

An employee’s value is increasingly determined by how visible and findable they are.

When employees are given a chance to match the challenges of their jobs with their skills on a daily basis, their talents become highly refined.

To Grow Your Business, Grow Your People

Creating a culture of fully engaged and constantly improving people should be a priority for any startup.

When its people are continuously looking for new challenges, an organization will be continuously finding new opportunities.

. . . Become interested—in others.
Listen closely to the challenges they are facing. Make their problems your problem.
– From The Startup Daily
Commit Yourself to the Growth of Others

Use every opportunity to help those around you. Recommend a book, offer a new perspective, or connect them with someone else who can help.

People will want you around when you make them stronger and more successful. They will find ways to hire you, buy from you, and make you successful in return.

Startups can devote all their time and resources to making every sale themselves. Or they can have customers proactively selling for them.

Make Evangelists, Not Sales

Evangelists have more clout because they have the best interests of others at heart, where salespeople usually have their own best interests at heart.

For people to evangelize for you, your product needs to be “good news” to somebody. People need to believe in your product, and believe that it makes the world a better place.

As a leader you must frequently tap into your passions. But don’t let yourself be ruled by unhealthy emotions, positive or negative.Unchecked emotions lead to incorrect conclusions and bad decisions.

A Leader Must Always Control Their Emotions.

It is the responsibility of a leader to remain in command of their emotional responses, and never to make decisions under the influence of anger.
– From The Startup Daily

Having low prices or outstanding service is no longer enough to beat the competition. These things are just the price of admission.

Creativity is the Only Sustainable Competitive Advantage

The ability to improvise, solve old problems in news ways, and adapt faster then everyone else is the most important skill in an age where change is the only constant.

There are many advantages to bootstrapping your business. But if you need to borrow money, don’t wait until you are desperate.

The Best Time to Borrow Money is Before You Need It

Desperation repels people, and puts you in a weaker negotiating position, allowing the lender to dictate the terms of the financing.

People are attracted to businesses that are on the right track, and want to be part of a success story.

When you have a great product of course you want to tell your prospective customers about all the great features and benefits of your offering. But don’t lead with that information.

Don’t Talk About Features and Benefits, Talk About How People Will Feel After They Buy

The details should be available to help people justify their purchase, but after they have bought into the feeling of owning the product.