Raising money from VC’s creates a long-term relationship, so you may as well get a good understanding of each other and set up the foundation for a strong two-way dialog.  The VC needs you as much as you need them, so the discussions should feel balanced where you’re

I was recently asked to talk to a bunch of budding entrepreneurs about how to use Twitter to grow their own personal brands and therefore additional value to their companies.  The presentation talks about the “why” and the “how” to achieve this and includes some very cool stats from other

“What details should we use for the final closing documents” is something that every entrepreneur wants to hear. I’d been working on a new idea for over 6 months, had a great team lined up and was on the eve of closing a $1.5M seed round with some

Understanding social media is critical and grocking the trends is a good start.  Our team at Rival IQ just put together some good data to get you started.  For more like this, check out our blog – blog.rivaliq.com or download the whole report with data from our massive survey

I went to Purdue and studied mechanical engineering.  It was an amazing education and prepared me in many ways for the work I do now as a software entrepreneur. (technology, software development, critical thinking, data>>opinion, math…). Recently, I was contacted by a student looking for an internship.

For a startup, raising a seed round is a daunting endeavor.  Techstars Seattle Demo Day is looming and I recently finished mentoring the teams at the Kaplan EdTech Accelerator so advice on fundraising is top of mind. I’ve written about fundraising before here and here, but I recently saw

Troy Henikoff is the managing director of TechStars Chicago.  I recently saw him do a great talk outlining the tools and strategies around building your financial models.  Lucky for you, the Techstars team in NYC, where Troy spoke, videotaped the whole thing, but I thought I would pull out a

Last week, I participated in The Meeting in Aspen, CO.  I was invited by my good friend Christopher Jerard who is former editor of Freeskier Magazine, Rival IQ customer and all-around good dude working with some amazing clients in action sports.  The event, held annually for the last 10 years,

Building your startup team is the most important thing you’ll do in the life of your company.  The team includes the people who work on it every day as well as your advisors, investors and in certain cases, partners.  At Rival IQ, we are hiring for a marketing leader

"Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity." -John F. Kennedy