Founding a startup doesn't make you an expert in your field. If nobody knows about your expertise, investors might see you as an outsider. Investing in PR, you are investing in building a portfolio of your public opinions, mentions, and columns in the outlets that matter in a startup scene.Being a guest on a podcast talking about the future of your industry, authoring an opinion column or giving a quote on product innovation will help you build your credibility.

PR helps you show off your expertise

VCs are constantly looking for the best deals — they open TechCrunch, VentureBeat and Crunchbase every morning to find another potential multi-billion dollar company.This is why you have to create hype air around your startup using PR:<ul><li>Get articles about your startup published in publications</li><li>Work on different formats to reveal the best angles of your business (ex. articles, mentions, interviews or commentaries)</li><li>Focus on what problems your startup solves, and why the world needs it</li><li>Make it a big deal, give bold statements and provocative quotes to create a buzz around your company.</li></ul>

When the investor's FOMO kicks in, PR is gold

Your early-stage startup data undoubtedly contributes to investors' decision-making. However, at the beginning of your startup journey, you sell yourself and your vision and not the product yet. Therefore, you have to make sure you are telling your story right, and take your name out in the right publications. Secure placements in online media, but grab more innovative opportunities as well, such as:<ul><li>Reddit "Ask Me Anything" sessions, where you can participate as an expert and authority on a subject that matters in your field</li><li>Product Hunt launch campaigns</li><li>Twitter and LinkedIn chats, where you can create a buzz around your persona as an expert</li><li>Alexa Flash Briefings.</li></ul>

PR sells you and your vision to investors 

Competition is fierce for venture capital, and budgets are tight. You may have a service or product that is innovative and so needed for your potential customers. But if investors never heard of you, it can be almost impossible to prove that your startup is worth investing in, especially if your market is already crowded. What are the odds of you standing out? This is another reason to be active in the press and on socials to get the funds. Seeing you in every major tech publication and on social platforms is a form of proof that you are worth their money and time.

PR helps you stand out

PR helps you and your business become known for all the great things you and your team do. It increases visibility and raises your company’s profile — everyone wants to use the products and services of the go-to company with a good reputation. Engaging your customers with case studies can build trust and a positive attitude towards your brand. PR drives demand among your customers and helps you build strong relationships with VCs.

PR adds value to your company

If you're looking to get your startup funded, here's how to use PR to attract investors.

marketingandsales

Marketing & Sales

entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship

business

Business

startup

Startups

How PR Can Attract Investors and Add Value to Your Startup

Many artists and creative professionals find themselves feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, and even paralyzed when they cannot meet their work’s mental and physical demands. Stress is a natural part of life, but it can also be detrimental to your health and creativity if not appropriately managed. In this blog post, I will discuss how stress impacts our mental state and our creativity levels and share some tips on managing stress so you can continue being productive despite it.

Artists and stress

Stress is all around us every day. Getting caught in traffic, rush hour, dealing with difficult customers at work, screaming children, barking dogs, and demanding bosses; are examples of chronic stress. The stress we experience as creative artists would be considered a combination of chronic and acute stress because we are constantly dealing with deadlines, mental blocks, and other stressors that threaten our creativity levels. But on top of those self-imposed stressors, a creative professional may also have to deal with high levels of uncertainty in a competitive field.

Two types of stress

Stress can cause mental disorders because it impacts the neurotransmitters responsible for relaying messages between the brain and other body parts. For example, serotonin is a neurotransmitter that regulates moods, and cortisol is known as the stress hormone. When we experience prolonged periods of high levels of these hormones in our system, they can disrupt mental health.

Mental health and stress

Physical health is also negatively impacted by stress. According to the Harvard Medical School, Chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and obesity are all associated with unusually high stress levels in the body leading to adverse health consequences.

Physical health and stress

The psychological side effects of too little stress might also be harmful to us as creative professionals. It’s vital to understand that stress isn’t always negative. <a class="idea-content-link" href="https://news.berkeley.edu/2013/04/16/researchers-find-out-why-some-stress-is-good-for-you/">Research shows </a>

Good stress

<ol><li>Eat Healthy and Exercise Regularly</li><li>Spend Time with Family Members & Close Friends</li><li>Practice Yoga</li><li>Mindfulness Activities</li><li>Belly Breathing Technique for Stress Reduction</li><li>Avoid Excessive Alcohol or Substance Use</li><li>Affirmations and Positive Self Talk</li><li>Laugh More</li><li>Get Plenty of Sleep</li><li>Keep a Gratitude List</li></ol>

Ways to de-stress

The right amount of stress can improve performance and health and is especially beneficial for improving brain function. Too much or too little will have negative consequences on both your mood and physical well-being, so you need to find your “sweet spot.” So, what do you need to manage stress as a creative professional?

Find your sweet spot

"Finding ways to cope with stress and avoid overwhelm is an individual journey and, luckily, there’s no shortage of research-backed strategies available. Try them out and see which ones help you lower stress while also remaining activated and creatively productive."

Dana P. Rowe

Many artists and creative professionals feel overwhelmed and paralyzed when they cannot meet their work’s mental and physical demands.

productivity

Productivity

mentalhealth

Mental Health

creativity

Creativity

Managing Stress and Making Art

Personal branding is a strategy that creative professionals can use to stand out from the crowd and be recognized in their field. A strong personal brand statement will help you rise above your competition because it instantly gives people an idea of who you are, what you do, and why others should hire you.  The overarching goal of a personal branding campaign is to provide information about who we are and tell the story behind our products and services.

What is a personal brand statement?

Think of a remarkable personal brand statement like a killer song title or a logline for a movie. A good title makes a song instantly memorable (think, THE BEATLES: ‘Hey Jude’). And when people read a well-crafted logline (think, JAWS: ‘A police chief, with a phobia for open water, battles a gigantic shark with an appetite for swimmers and boat captains’), they instantly know what kind of story it will be about before even seeing any trailers or posters. Once you have a clear personal brand statement, it can guide career and marketing decisions and serve to keep you true-to-brand...

The value of a personal brand statement

<ol><li>Who are you? </li><li>What solution do you offer them? </li><li>Who needs and wants what you have to offer? </li><li>What’s the emotional impact of spending time with you? </li><li>What makes you uniquely qualified to deliver all that fantastic goodness?  </li></ol>

The Fives Elements of a Successful Personal Brand

Renaissance woman Maya Angelou said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Maya Angelou

Personal branding for creative professionals is different from other fields. Personal brands are a type of self-promotion, and they’re often used by designers, artists, architects, and many other creative professions such as graphic design or writing. A personal brand should focus on what you can do in your field rather than who you are personally (e.g., name, address, occupation). Personal branding for creative professionals is about the value you can offer to potential customers and colleagues.

Critical Elements of a Creative Professional's Brand Statement

"It’s important to note that a personal brand isn’t only a logo, a color scheme, or an elevator pitch, although those things are essential and can help support your online and offline brand. A personal brand combines your unique presence in all aspects of your life! Personal branding starts with who you are and how you show up in all contexts. A well-formed personal brand can be used to creatively express yourself or strategically communicate your skills, experience, values, and attitude. The elements you choose for your brand must resonate with who you really are!"

Whether you’re a performer, a writer, a visual artist, or a musician, personal branding is vital for anyone in the creative industry who wants to stand out from the crowd and be recognized in their field.

career

Career

A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Your Personal Brand Statement

Whether you’re a writer, a performer, a musician, or an entrepreneur, creative life can be a complex one. And let’s face it, managing your mental health, balancing work and family commitments, or just trying to figure out what the next step is going to be in your career isn’t always easy. And that also goes for deciding what projects you should take on, ways to deal with clients and colleagues, where to spend time and energy. These are all big questions creatives have to answer every day—and sometimes they need help doing it. A Good Coach Is a Good Investment.

Investing in your creative career

Oprah has always been a vocal proponent of the emotional and psychological benefits that coaching can provide. Martha Beck, one of Oprah Winfrey’s first coaches, is quoted as saying, “Coaches help people find their essential selves and plot a course to their unique best lives.” Along wit, Serena Williams, Bill Clinton, Andre Agassi, and Hugh Jackman (to name a few). All these famous people know that a coach can help them achieve their goals better than they could on their own.

Play the big game, win the big prizes

How Do You Define Career Success?It’s essential to know what more career success means to you to get a clear picture of the coach you are looking for. There are many factors to consider. A potential coach may have any qualification from being professionally certified and holding relevant degrees, to having a variety of prior coaching experience, or maybe they’re a newly minted coach, which could bring yet another unexpected level of discovery and support.

Defining success for you

What Skills and Areas of Experience Could You Look For in Your Coach? Sometimes coaching specialties will include different career interests, such as business strategist, professional speaker, or executive coach. It’s essential to find a coach who understands your particular challenges there must be an organic connection so they can bring out the best in you!

What to look for in a coach

The first thing a coach will usually do is help you figure out what you want and need. They’ll ask lots of questions to get a sense of where your head is at, and then they’ll help you identify your goals and think about the best way to help you get there. The coach doesn’t give you the answers or make significant decisions for you. Instead, they’ll ask questions to help stimulate your thoughts and ideas so that you can be the one making those decisions. They’ll give you the tools and support you need to get clarity, focus on what’s important, and even create habits that help you move forward.

Working with a coach

“Everyone needs a coach. We all need people to give us feedback. That’s how we improve.” – Bill Gates

Bill Gates

A good coach will help keep your life and career aligned with what you want to achieve; they’ll be an unbiased sounding board for ideas and give clear feedback about where there might be some blocks or limiting beliefs holding back your progress. They’re also someone who’s going to encourage you when things get tough and remind you how fantastic your successes are when times are great! Hiring a coach is not just for business owners, executives, and entrepreneurs but also for creatives.

What level of success is possible for you?

“Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” – Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist, Letters, 1973

Carl Jung

"For all the study, practice, hours, and hard work you have put in so far towards becoming a successful creative artist, why not hire yourself a coach who will not only help guide you through the tough times to get over your obstacles but help you move to that next level of success?"

A good coach will help keep your life and creative career aligned with what you want to achieve and give clear feedback about what might be holding you back.

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

Why Creative Artists Hire Coaches for Career Success

There's a common perception that entrepreneurs and small business owners are overworked and stressed out. Both of those things can be true on occasion. At the same time, <ul><li>94% of small business owners say they are happy with their lives, and </li><li>81% attribute this happiness to their entrepreneurship.</li></ul>The reason for this may be that entrepreneurship stokes a type of happiness called "eudaimonic happiness".

Entrepreneur Are Busy But Happy :)

There are two popular conceptions of happiness in psychology, hedonic and eudaimonic. <ul><li>You experience hedonic happiness through pleasure and enjoyment, like when scarfing down your favorite dessert, watching your beloved sports team win a big game, or hitting a jackpot in the casino. </li><li>On the other hand, eudaimonic happiness is derived from activities that provide meaning or purpose, like volunteering for a cause you care about, raising children, or striving to make your business a success.</li></ul>

2 Concepts Of Happiness

<ol><li>Both eudaimonic and hedonic happiness contribute to overall life satisfaction, but eudaimonic seems to provide a far more sustained effect. </li><li>That's because hedonic forms of happiness tend to provide only fleeting bursts of wellbeing, and the more hedonic activities you engage in, the more their positive effect on mood becomes muted. </li><li>Eudaimonic pursuits (such as nurturing a hobby, starting an exercise program, or learning a language) are of goal-driven activities, which realize personal talents and potential, evoke happiness that tends to stick around, raising overall wellbeing.</li></ol>

Eudaimonic Pursuits Give Sustained Feeling Of Well-Being

Both eudaimonic and hedonic happiness contribute to overall life satisfaction, but eudaimonic seems to provide a far more sustained effect. That's because hedonic forms of happiness tend to provide only fleeting bursts of wellbeing, and the more hedonic activities you engage in, the more their positive effect on mood becomes muted. Eudaimonic pursuits (such as nurturing a hobby, starting an exercise program, or learning a language) are of goal-driven activities, which realize personal talents and potential, evoke happiness that tends to stick around, raising overall wellbeing.

<ol><li>Again, all this isn't to say that hedonic happiness is worthless. </li><li>For a quick, mood-boosting pick-me-up, partying with friends or playing hours of mindless video games is fantastic. </li><li>On the other hand, basing one's wellbeing purely around hedonic happiness requires repeated, and often more stimulating, triggers. </li><li>This is one aspect of what researchers term the "hedonic treadmill," the observed tendency of humans to return to a fairly stable level of happiness despite experiencing positive or negative events.</li></ol>

Hedonic Happiness Requires Repetition & More Stimulating Trigger

<ol><li>Interestingly, cues of hedonic and eudaimonic happiness seem to stimulate different parts of the brain.</li><li>In a 2019 study, researchers found that subjects in an fMRI brain scanner cued with hedonic events "showed enhanced activity in frontal medial/middle regions and anterior cingulate cortex." </li><li>On the other hand eudaimonic events prompted "increased activity in the right precentral gyrus."</li><li>"Hedonic and eudaimonic happiness activate similar neural correlates. However, both kinds of happiness are also associated with distinctive brain areas serving distinctive functions," the researchers wrote.</li></ol>

Different Parts Of The Brain Are Affected

<ol><li>Another fascinating physiological difference between eudaimonic and hedonic happiness may arise in the immune system. </li><li>In a 2013 study published to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, subjects who characterized their lives as having “a sense of direction and meaning” had lower expression of genes tied to inflammation and higher expression of antibody and antiviral genes compared to subjects who described their happiness as more founded in hedonic pursuits.</li></ol>

Having A Meaningful Pursuit Is Good For The Immune System

These are important to me as I resonate so much with eudaimonic concept of happiness. :)

There's a common perception that entrepreneurs and small business owners are overworked and stressed out. Both of those things can be true on occasion. At the same time, 94% of small business owners s

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

motivationandinspiration

Motivation & Inspiration

Is Eudaimonic Happiness the Best Kind of Happiness?

<ul><li>MRR or ARR: For startups seeking a Series A funding round, the old benchmark used to be $1 million in ARR. But recently, the threshold has been around $500k ARR, as rounds get preempted and happen earlier.</li><li>Compound Monthly Growth Rate (CMGR): For startups seeking Series A or B funding, we like to see a CMGR of at least 15% below $1M ARR and 10% above $1M ARR. A CMGR of 10% is about 3x year-over-year growth.</li><li>MRR Components: Retained MRR / New MRR / Resurrected MRR / Expansion MRR / Contraction MRR / Churned MRR</li><li>Customer Concentration: Is growth driven by a few big contracts or many small ones?</li></ul>

1. Growth

<ul><li>Dollar Retention / Net Revenue Retention (NRR): measures how much revenue a cohort is generating in each period relative to its original size.</li><li>Logo Retention: measures the percent of customers that stay active (non-churned).</li></ul>Logo Retention is typically a function of customer size: 90-95% is common for enterprises, 85% for mid-market, and 70-80% for small businesses.Dollar Retention is much more important than Logo Retention.

2. Retention

<ul><li>New Sales ARR vs S&M Expense: How much did S&M departments (all programs and personnel) spend vs how much New Sales ARR was added in the same period. </li><li>CAC: divides S&M expense in the preceding period (month or quarter) by the number of new customers in the current period.</li><li>New ACV vs CAC: It’s useful to compare Annual Contract Value (ACV) of new customers to their CAC. Ideally, ACV is greater than CAC.</li><li>CAC Payback: divide S&M spend by MRR x Gross Margin. </li><li>Magic Number: the Net New ARR in a period divided by S&M expense from the prior period. Ideally, the ratio is > 1.</li></ul>

3. Sales Efficiency / Unit Economics

<ul><li>Gross Margin: reflects a company’s margin after subtracting the cost of goods sold (COGS) from revenue. In the long-term, SaaS companies should have a Gross Margin of at least 75%.</li><li>LTV: is the cumulative gross profit contribution, net of CAC, of the average customer in a cohort. Therefore, LTV incorporates CAC, Dollar Retention, and Gross Margin to show overall company health. Healthy cohorts cross the $0 LTV line before month 12, and LTV grows to at least 3x original CAC over time.</li></ul>

4. Margins

<ul><li><a class="idea-content-link" href="https://medium.com/craft-ventures/the-burn-multiple-51a7e43cb200">Burn Multiple</a>: a company’s Net Burn divided by its Net New ARR in a given period. For fast-growing SaaS companies, a Burn Multiple of less than one is amazing, but anything less than two is still quite good.</li><li><a class="idea-content-link" href="https://kellblog.com/2016/03/22/introducing-a-new-saas-metric-the-hype-factor/">Hype Ratio</a>: Capital Raised (or Burned) divided by ARR.</li></ul>

5. Capital Efficiency

<ul><li>DAU/MAU: A good metric for most SaaS startups is 40% DAU/MAU during non-holiday weekdays.</li><li>DAU/WAU: A good metric for most SaaS startups is 60% DAU/WAU during non-holiday weekdays</li></ul>

6. Engagement

Send company metrics through <a class="idea-content-link" href="https://www.saasgrid.com/">SaasGrid</a> to be considered for an investment.

SaasGrid

Plus now you can easily generate them using our secret sauce SaaSGrid.

strategy

Strategy

The SaaS Metrics That Matter

The term “the customer is always right” is a phrase that was pioneered by Harry Gordon Selfridge, John Wanamaker and Marshall Field, and even though it is still unclear who exactly came up with the phrase, this notion was used successfully by these men to run their businesses…then.Today, the term has been overused and misinterpreted to mean “you can accept shitty behaviour from your customers, just to get their money”

The Origin Of Things…literally

What it really means is that the customer is important and has to be treated specially- like a king . This is essential in keeping customers because they are now equipped with a very powerful weapon; social media, and can easily either boost or destroy your business in a single post.So, how do you relate to customers in a way that promotes openness and transparency without compromising the quality and experience of your service?

True Meaning

Always listen before you actEveryone likes to be heard and understood and customers love this even more. Patience in listening, even to the silliest of complaints, can go a long way to improve your customer service experience.If a customer’s complaints are outrageous, out of context or just plain rude, try to stay mute. Take deep breaths and calm down. Smile and make sure not to avoid eye contact.It is your responsibility to clear things up with the customer and leave a good impression about you, your company and its products and services.

HERE ARE STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE YOUR OVERALL CUSTOMERS EXPERIENCE

What a customer thinks may be wrong, but what they feel can never be wrong. This is what makes the customer “always right”, because you can’t say someone is wrong for feeling one thing or another. Imagine how it feels to be told how you should be feeling. Annoying right? That’s exactly how it is for customers. Instead of using negative power statements, you can start by expressing how you feel and use that as a point to correct whatever is making them feel that way. Your customers will know their feelings are being taken into consideration , but need to be changed.

Deal With What Customers Feel, Not What They Think

When a complaint is made, or a situation arises, make sure to handle it on the spot. The faster a complaint is resolved, the more confidence your customers will have in your company’s services. Look out for quick and simple solutions. If an issue cannot be resolved immediately, explain the situation to your client as clearly as possible and assure them that it will be resolved in due time and possibly give a specific time or date to calm them down. If they are still not satisfied, you might want to ask them what they think would be the ideal situation and work with that if you can.

Tackle any situation immediately

Sometimes, a customer is wrong, no matter where you look at it from. These types of customers are mostly very rude in such situations or just create a nuisance. In such situations, you need to be assertive and get your message across in a very firm but polite fashion. State the details of the situation clearly and confidently especially if what they are doing or saying are factually wrong or go against the rules of the company. Also, make it a point to back up your colleagues when they find themselves in similar situations. That way, you can count on getting their support back.

Stand firm

Dealing with problems from customers is a very stressful experience, so it is important to take time off to calm yourself afterwards. Remind yourself that not all customers are that way and cheer up, especially if you’re able to resolve the situation as expected. Remember to follow up on the customer, even if you know it might not be a pleasant experience.check up on your employees who deal with rude customers to be sure they are okay. Be sure to give them your support because even though customers are important, you have a greater responsibility to your people.

Deal with the aftermath and support teammates after an encounter

Making sense of customer experience #business #customerservice

Is the customer always right?: Ways to maintain solid customer relations

The older generation of self-employed people liked working long hours, powered by fast food, and thought their business would fall apart if they didn't show up. However, Millennials and Generation Z take a different approach. We value our time and our health. We think of building a business that wouldn't fall apart if we took time off.
This concept is not new. Savvy entrepreneurs have always built businesses they could walk away from. They employ systems and employees that do the work for them.

You can't do it all

Many people think they own businesses, but they really own jobs. They can't leave for a week on vacation because they will lose a week's worth of money. You can't do everything yourself if you want your business to grow exponentially, create wealth and make an impact. You have to build a business that is bigger than you.

Let your business be bigger than you

<ul><li>Don't be the single point of contact. Don't be the only person to handle customer inquiries and client communication. Plan early on for someone else to handle as much communication as possible.</li><li>Don't be a single point of failure. You may do everything yourself in the beginning but should prepare for your escape by documenting everything. What are the steps or repeatable processes? Can you write them down as a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)? Can you automate the process or hire an employee?</li></ul>

How to build a "freedom business"

If you think your business can operate without your personal attention, put it to the test by isolating yourself. Leave your phone and your computer at home. Then book a week away and make yourself unreachable. If that goes well, go away for two or three weeks.

Test your business by isolating yourself

If you want your business to grow exponentially, generate wealth and make an impact, you can't do everything yourself. You have to let your business be bigger than you - even if it still belongs to you.

Discover the world of business and economics.

economics

Economics

Don't Become a Slave to Your Business

Leadership has little to do with dominance and a great deal to do with understanding the problems and motivations of other people.

Your journey to becoming a better person starts with understanding who you are at your core. This is about becoming more in tune with your deeper self, so you recognize what riles you up, what makes you happy or sad. How do you deal with your emotions? How do you react when life goes astray?

Know Yourself

When we forgive we let go of anger and hostility that eats away at our happiness and clouds our mind. Forgiving someone who has hurt you empowers you to let go of the pain from the past. It doesn’t mean you forget what happened; rather, it means you learn to release resentment and anger, which would otherwise be a burden on your mind and heart.

Forgive

You take control of your life when you accept that you alone are responsible for your actions. To take this a step further, ask yourself whether you’re taking responsibility for creating the life you want, for becoming the person you want to be. Or are you just letting life happen and then blaming the world for your failures?

Hold Yourself Accountable 

Listening to others, and really hearing them out with an open mind, is one of the best things you can do for another person and for yourself. It shows the speaker that you value their opinion. It allows you to develop closer connections to others and hear perspectives you might otherwise dismiss.

Listen More

Leadership has little to do with dominance and a great deal to do with understanding the problems and motivations of other people.

education

Learning & Education

leadershipandmanagement

Leadership & Management

Actions You Can Take to Become a Better Person and a Better Leader

When getting started raising money from friends and family, and even into pre-seed, people are investing in you because they know you, they want to support you. Or you’re building something that they believe in and want to do their part to bring your product to fruition.
But once you start talking to professional investors, whether angels or venture capital firms, you’re not selling your product, nor your team, nor even your traction. You’re selling an investment in your company. Your pitch needs to be a story about how the investor makes money.

Your pitch needs to be a story

<ul><li>The context is the problem, your solution, and the market size. The point is not to sell the product or even explain it in detail, but only to convince investors there’s a real need and a big opportunity. </li><li>Next is the evidence. You have the perfect team to solve the problem and build the business. There are other people in the space, but you not only have a better solution, but patents or another moat to keep the competition at bay. </li><li>Last is the investment. How large will the business grow in five years when you’re ready for acquisition. </li></ul>

Structure of a pitch

After writing more than twenty articles on pitching, I was asked if I could sum up my advice in a single sentence. My first reaction was a snarky, “Yes, read all the damn articles.” But while working…

moneyandinvestments

Money & Investments

The One Thing That Separates Great Pitches from Amateurs

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