Shifting your company to an inbound marketing strategy
Shifting your company to an inbound marketing strategy

Inbound marketing is a consumer-centric marketing model that focuses on building a lasting brand image and attracting longterm consumers. Instead of forcing information on potential customers (outbound marketing), inbound marketing attracts customers to the firm organically. This shift in ideology from "push" to "pull" marketing tactics allows companies to focus on building and maintaining customer relationships based on a foundation of high-quality content aligned with company values. Inbound marketing, in a sense, is simply a form of customer education.

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ManagementAudrey DaleyStrategy
The Best Entrepreneurs are Gym Rats
The Best Entrepreneurs are Gym Rats

It’s fun working with early-stage companies, because every company and every situation is different.  Some need to be set up, some are raising angel and venture capital, some need help with general contract negotiation and drafting, and others are on a hiring spree.  However, a few things hold true throughout these diverse startup companies.  For one, it takes a ton of work to make a new business successful.

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ManagementJesse JonesTeam Thoughts
Biology is Destiny: Choice of Culture Models and Startup Survival
Biology is Destiny: Choice of Culture Models and Startup Survival

In 1998, just a year after returning to lead the company he founded after a 12-year hiatus, Steve Jobs took the opportunity presented by a MacWorld address to confront Apple’s critics in public.  During his appearance, he humorously outlined what he dubbed a “Hierarchy of Skepticism,” in order to make a clever, pre-emptive strike against the criticisms he’d inevitably face next.

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ManagementTy HaglerCulture
All Business Metrics are not Created Equal: Key Performance Indicators
All Business Metrics are not Created Equal: Key Performance Indicators

Measuring a business's success can be a difficult task for many entrepreneurs running today's startups.  Who or what's to say a business is successful? Does generating revenue mean success? Questions like these can create a lot of sleepless nights for entrepreneurs.  However, there are ways to answer these types of introspective questions.  Use your business' metrics as a measure of success.

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ManagementJon SpinneyMetrics
What are Vanity Metrics? And How to Avoid Them.
What are Vanity Metrics? And How to Avoid Them.

Not all metrics are created equal. It takes time, effort, and a strong understanding of your business to identify the best metrics to track for your situation. Metrics fall into two categories for most companies: vanity metrics, or actionable metrics (Key Performance Indicators). Today, we are discussing what exactly makes a vanity metric so we can either avoid tracking something of no value, or better yet, turn that metric into a KPI.  To start, let's take a look at the definition of vanity.

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ManagementJon SpinneyMetrics