Don’t spend your time and energy chasing the competition. When you let others set the pace your thinking becomes limited by herd mentality. Your attention is on your competitors and not your customers.

Ignore the Competition and Focus on Providing the Best Solution You Can

When you stop competing you are no longer limited by the agreed upon norms, rules, and traditions of the industry. Only then can you start doing the things that the competition can’t or wont do, and lead the industry.
– From The Startup Daily

Hard work is one of the key ingredients to success. But it is a modern paradox that people often fail not because they aren’t working hard enough, but because they are working too hard.

People Cannot Perform at their Best When They are Overloaded

When people try to do too much they start falling short in all areas. A frantic, frenzied atmosphere leads to the kind of stress that kills performance and causes people to enter survival mode. Imagination shuts down, ideas don’t come, and problems don’t get tackled with depth.

To achieve peak performance, limit the amount of information you are taking in, avoid distractions, and preserve a positive mental state. Protect your time think deeply, and leave space for your imagination to work.
– From The Startup Daily

Most businesses don’t understand what they are really selling, and therefore they use the wrong sales pitch.

Nike doesn’t sell sports apparel, they sell “winning.” DeBeers doesn’t sell diamonds, they sell “forever.”

People Don’t Want Products—they Want their Problems Solved, their Dreams Realized, and Peace of Mind

When you stop a pain, help someone become a better person, or help people sleep at night, then you are providing value that people are happy to pay for. Just make sure that is what you offer in your sales pitch.
– From The Startup Daily

David Ogilvy used to give each new office head a set of Russian nesting dolls as a gift. Inside the smallest doll at the center was a note that read:

“If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs. But if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants.”

Hire People Who Are Greater Than You

As your business grows, the hiring choices you make will be mirrored and exaggerated by each new layer of employees.
– From The Startup Daily

Next time you are stuck on a problem or learning something new, remember that sleeping may be the most productive thing you can do.

The Mind Continues Solving Problems and Processing New Experiences While You are Sleeping

The processing that happens while you are sleeping is separate from the processing that occurs when you are awake, but just as important to the learning process.
– From The Startup Daily

Traditional meetings are boring, but no one says you have to follow the same format for every meeting. In fact, alternative meeting styles may be more effective for different tasks.

If Your Goal is Sharing Ideas and Getting Feedback, Try Having an Open House Instead of a Meeting

Allow participants to come and go at their leisure during an allotted timeframe. You will get more one-on-one time with each attendee, without a lot of the politics that plague larger traditional meetings.

And the best part is that you don’t waste people’s time waiting for that one late person to arrive.

A bad hiring decision is disruptive and costly. You must be methodical and extremely thorough before hiring someone.

Avoid Making Snap Judgements Based on First Impressions in Interviews

This is one situation where first impressions are often wrong. The ability to interview well has little correlation with the ability to perform well in a startup environment.

To get a more thorough impression of a candidate:

Ask open-ended questions.
Look for clues about their work ethic and integrity.
Give them a follow-up task. Use the time it takes to complete the task to judge their sense of urgency and level of interest.
– From The Startup Daily

Don’t spend your limited time and resources on tasks and problems that are outside of your area of expertise.

Focus on What You are Good at, Delegate Everything Else

On an organizational level this means outsourcing functions that are not core to your business. On a personal level this means delegating those tasks that don’t leverage your strengths.
– From The Startup Daily

People can relate to a single individual on an emotional level. However, when many people are involved they become a statistic. Numbers are much more difficult to relate to emotionally.

Individual Examples are More Effective Endorsements than Statistics Showing Many

The most persuasive examples highlight a single individual, and feature a photo or a personal story.

Shouting is not the best way to be heard, nor is it the best way to convey passion. Raising your volume also raises people’s defenses.

The best way to get people to listen carefully is to lower your voice.

People Speak Softest When it Matters Most

To further emphasize a statement, leave plenty of silence both before and after.

This is true in visual design as well. If you want something to emphasize a message, it needs to be surrounded by plenty of whitespace.
– From The Startup Daily