Startup entrepreneurs often need to juggle many roles, ranging from administrative assistant and accountant to project manager and marketer. But thanks to technology – Nowadays, apps become more prevalent and more powerful, entrepreneurs and small business owners are relying on these savvy tools to help their businesses grow and run more smoothly.

And today things have become much smoother than before – Whether you want to create memorable presentations? Design awesome infographics? Manage team projects? Increase productivity or keep track of expenses?There is a wealth of apps available to help small businesses streamline their operation, some of which come with a free version to allow small businesses appraise their features before opting for a paid version.

Here’s our pick of eight cool and growth hacking apps for start-ups who don’t have funding:

1. Intercom.io:

This tool allows you to not only see your users’ behavior when they are using your online tools or apps, but it also helps you interact with them through popups while they are on specific pages or using specific features. This type of user interaction can help further your product development and customer service.

Price: Intercom ranges in monthly pricing packages from free to $99, depending on how many features you need.

2. Optimizely :

This service bills itself as “A/B testing you’ll actually use” and focuses on making testing as easy as possible. It allows you to track what you are actually interested in (as opposed to tracking information and data that you’re not going to use) and also allows you to set deadlines and run reports for specific timelines.

Price: Free starter plan and paid plan for enterprise

3. PR.co

Pr.co is a public relations toolkit that enables users to create online pressrooms, publish press releases, pitch them to media contacts, and manage PR content. Personal pressrooms contain all the users’ press releases, coverage, contacts, media, and company information. It enables users to attach high resolution images, videos, sounds, and documents on to their PR content. They also can import press contacts, distribute latest releases, personalize messages, and send mass emails.

Price: $ 300 per year for start-ups and 14 days free trial.

4. Animaker

Animaker is an intelligent video making DIY app, which simplifies the process of animated video making and presentation. Which makes you feel wow with the studio quality professional videos.

With Animaker, start producing online videos for internal business communication, content marketing, presentation, Explainer video, Demo video, social media marketing, e-Learning, video advertising, video Resume, Support/FAQ via video, and more purposes.

Price: Free to $39/month

5. Canva

Canva makes great graphic design within anyone’s grasp. It has hundreds of pre-designed layouts, elements, fonts and image styles that make it possible to design everything from a great Twitter header to a flyer for your business. It offers free design elements, but also allows you to buy premium elements piecemeal, for about $1 each (at the moment). It also keeps track of all your designs in your account, so you can re-edit or re-download them as needed.

Price: free or $1

6. Buffer:

Not everyone has the time to be online all day Tweeting and Retweeting their website updates and product developments. Here comes Buffer to solve your social media engagement issues! You just put up your best articles, share images and videos, and let Buffer do all the magic- it will auto-magically keep posting for you throughout the day. , Buffer app saves you from forgetting to send updates and from making your social media accounts looking dormant.

Price: free

7. Mention:

Media monitoring made easy with Mention. Which lets you manage online presence: create alerts on your company name, brand, competitor, and be updated in real-time about the most relevant over the web and react, get statistics, collaborate with your teams around them.

Price: One-month free trial and then choose plan that fits your need.

8. Survey Monkey:

As a startup, you would like to create a simple poll? or In-depth market research? SurveyMonkey offers a cloud-based online survey and questionnaire tool that helps users gather survey-related information.

You can access the library of sample survey questions and expert-certified templates. Which also lets you customize your survey questions, distribute your questionnaire on the web, and helps to collect responses in real time. The analyze tool helps you turn survey data into insights and create professional reports.

Price: From $25 and free basic version

All these above apps are great options for start-ups who don’t have fund. They even help to become more efficient and productive, freeing your man-hour.

Trying the app of free version is always a good idea to verify whether or not it works for you before investing in the paid version.

Is there a great tool you use that’s not on the list? Share it below and spread some startup love…

1. Telling a great startup story

Many of us use it but only a few have mastered it. Storytelling. Yes, a story is worth a good start. In an era where consumers are bombarded with irrelevant information, success in business will be had only by those who have mastered the art of narrating a captivating story. “Tell it, Don’t sell it” should be your mantra. Your customers are mobbed by millions of advertisements, campaigns, hoardings and so on. Precisely, they live amidst noise and cannot hear you. But you can edge out your competition with a powerful and convincing story; the most powerful way to put ideas in the world, today.
Even the tech-titan Apple had to learn the importance of a good story. In 80’s, Apple attempted to persuade IT executives and top companies to adopt Mac through ads but they failed. Overtime, they turned the stone only with a gentle persistent storytelling.

2. Define your brand

Branding is a survival tool. It helps you to sustain in the competition before a fierce combat. Branding involves 2 components- Naming your business and discerning the logo of your product.

Naming your startup right

Naming your startup is an overwhelming and an exhaustive experience. Name is like an address for a startup. Names might seem simple. But, in this cluttered information highway, startup names should be unique to mark them well from the competition. It has become a trend to reach out to consultants and name developers who suggest the right name that fits your product and brand. A brainstorming of the company’s mission and vision is followed by a linguistic and context analysis. Language patterns are analyzed in the consultation and the study resolves the cultural nuances of a name.

• Know what makes a good name.
• Brainstorm a list of names.
• Narrow it down to a few decent names.
• Pick the one that is perfect.

Names generate emotional responses. In fact, popular brands such as Apple and Google, made the cut recently in an Adweek survey that measured emotional responses from consumers to major brands. Define your brand with the right name and site a triumphing address. Create a unique brand personality.

Spend time for your logo

Logo is the face of your brand. It is related to every aspect of your business. An identity to your company and forms a first impression on the consumer’s mind.
The reason behind a logo design is knowing your startup story. Know your company’s objectives and how you are going to brand yourself, while knowing what your consumers will respond to. Company principles and values come alive in logos, and it shouldn’t just be carried by market data. Know that your logo can emerge along with your brand without losing the core of your business.

3. Social Media Branding Plan

Social media is both bane and boon for marketers. It is one of the most standardized marketing strategy. There are 3 steps to follow,

• Ascertain your startup goal.
• Decide your target customer.
• Build real world relationship with them in the media.

4. Founders’ business behavior

A startup founder should be a good leader. He should set a role model to the members of his organisation. There are certain virtues that portray a fine business behaviour and always keep a founder in control,

• Trust and Integrity.
• Focus only on things that are primary for the business.
• Reinforce productivity.
• Establish Authority in the market.

5. Know your competitors

Study the competition you are facing. By doing so, you will identify the areas you need to improve. Who are they? What are they selling? What is their USP? How do they stand out in the market? The answer to these questions will enable you to gain insight on the competitive nature of the market and helps in resolving solutions to handle the fight.

6. Connect with customers

To combat potential poaching, build and maintain a relationship with your customers. Deepen your customer relationship by being responsive to their needs. Take time to survey and understand what they really want?

• Price
• Quality
• Service
• Latest Product

Once you have gained insight on their requirement, attempt to meet the customer expectation. Be flexible and reassess your marketing strategy. Excite your customers with innovation. Promos bring excitement. Plan a new promo every month.
Early Bird promo, invite a friend promo, Get one buy one promo, Weekend promo and so on.

7. Stand Out

Establish your uniqueness. Show the market that solid reason to buy your product and draw the customers towards your product. They should not have a second thought of going back to your rivals. Explain to the market Who you are? What you sell? Why customers should come to you? It can be a small flyer or, brochure or a classy and expensive media campaign. Frequently, emphasize the freshness in your product or service. Customers fantasize and are attracted towards newness.

8. Leverage a skilled team

The success stories of many businesses is backed by a strong team. Attract fresh and motivated skilled talent by providing a healthy work culture and environment. Throw an opportunity for a structured career growth. And hence draw in the key resources that can serve the best for your organisation. The key resource can equip your product to stay ahead of the competition.

9. Stay ahead in technology

Technology is the need of the hour in any field and is unavoidable for a mobile startup. A mobile launched with the current technology is more likely to take the market by storm. A mobile technology which offers real-time interoperability solutions, a compatible platform for all mobile networks can definitely stay ahead of the competition. Be it Android or IOS, look out for innovation and exploit it in your product. Update with the latest technology to pull the customers towards your product.

10. Maintain a business blog

Brands are incomplete without a voice, and there is no better way to deliver branded messages than blogging. Content Marketing is going to stay, we may see changes only the forms of content. Hence, it is good to maintain a blog and regularly post content supporting your business. Content that are keyword rich and optimized by search engines can enable you to reach your goal.
There is beauty in brevity. Reach your target customers with crisp informations about your product in the form of infographics and explainer videos.

Hope this article aids all startups, especially to stay ahead of the competition. Wishes for a successful startup branding. Share your views on startup branding and your experience as a startup in staying ahead of competition.

Hope you have read and relished our article on The Untold Story of MagicLeap – The billion dollar secret startup”,a couple of weeks back. Thanks for staying tuned with us and appreciate your eagerness, to know more. In this article, we layout some magical tips for the startup companies, all inspired from the giant startup- MagicLeap.

Be a wizard

Sounds enchanting. But how to become one? Take that magic wand in your hand to cast that magic spell and shower your startup in that wizardous bliss. We suggest some tips to you to attain this. Let that magic happen, by you and for you.

Magic Spell 1- Unique

Stand out from the crowd. In this dog eat dog day, it is highly essential to sketch a one and only exclusive idea. Doing so, blueprint a market with absolutely no competitors thereby, raising your chance of winning. In that case, MagicLeap has reached the summit of uniqueness. Do not copy anyone’s idea and also create a cannot-be-copied idea. You can take your business to greater heights with with such an uniqueness.

Magic Spell 2- Unexpected

Don’t be predictable. Shock the audience with a surprise. People know well that great things in life come from unexpected places. So instead of launching in a cloud of hype, pitch in unexpectedly. Abovizt, the founder of Magicleap states, “We are definitely blowing people’s minds. They definitely don’t think of it as happening in their own world”. Build such an unforeseen product for your startup.

Magic Spell 3- Never-been-seen-before

A problem-solving product. Not again! Apple’s iPhone does not solve any desperate problem but is a hit as it portrayed that Never-been-seen-before effect. Give a first of a kind feel. Stun people with your futuristic thinking and frame such a business model. As far as MagicLeap is concerned, people think this technology isn’t possible and is 50 years away.
In evolving such a technology MagicLeap will attain that Never-been-seen-before effect.

Be vivid

Show your products as a reflection of nature. People always reach out to realistic and genuine things. Throw your product as so live, so very real, so very present. MagicLeap’s website quotes – Human brain is the is the best display ever made. What a thought of vividness?
Grip the audience attention with such a vividness. Animation can best help to attain that reality.

Be tight-lipped

Do not publicize. But, create fumes of mystery at some quite notable places to light that forest fire across the globe. The lesser information the more scope for curiosity.
Like how, MagicLeap, the secretive startup has yet to publicly describe its technology, and also declined an interview request. The little information that spread like the forest fire is got from the patent and trademark filings.The best hint so far is that it is working on a lightweight wearable that is shipping soon which leaves us clueless.
The first step of the inquisitive audience is to check out the company’s website. With Magic Leap that is not an enlightening experience.The website unveils with a cute video of an elephant calf flying from cupped hands. Next, a page opens where a whale is floating over a beach leaving people in a shrouded mystery.
Till date we are drowning in speculation about Magic Leap beyond an eye-popping video of what the company hopes to achieve with its technology.Thus, gaining its fame from the lesser fumes.

Bet yourself

Set yourself to achieve extraordinary ventures. Challenges give you an obsession to accomplish. Accomplish the best, indeed. Pre-defined objectives always trigger you to work and concentrate more to raise quality products.
Magic Leap’s biggest challenge is to find a solution to place virtual 3- D objects seamlessly in the real world.
But Magic Leap will probably need to make major breakthroughs in computer vision software for a wearable device to make sense of the world enough for very rich augmented reality.Once they achieve they will make the people feel that this is computing for next 30 or 40 years. With such a vision, they triumph their mission.

We are very assertive that the above list will enable you to gain the confidence to leap with that magic wand in hand. Wishes to Go magical! Share your informations on MagicLeap in the comment section below.

You know that dogs are the current darlings of marketers. We are in an era where people are looking for an exceptional association with companies and brands and most find dogs endearing.

The dog power

Dogs are popular and just plain irresistible, because they are,

• An epitome of simplicity.
• A symbol of energy.
• Enthusiastic and motivated round the clock.
• Transmit a thought of freshness.

When the positives are so many, why not use dogs in your startup videos.

Dogs can lock attention

Our primary goal is to lock the attention of the target customer. In the first place, realize that your customer is sick and tired of watching thousands of ads in TV, mobile phones, hoardings and posters on the road. To make that fatigued consumer spring up from his couch, imagine a video showing a beautiful chocolate Labrador retriever running over a green pasture. People who have an affinity towards dogs stop a moment to take a look. And when that happens, your video has successfully scaled an incredibly challenging hurdle.

Dogs can evoke emotions

You have made your customer notice your video. You have crossed half the bridge. Now, you ought to lock your video in his memory. All you need to do is- engage his emotions. Generally, dogs evoke warm emotions. So you can simply achieve it, by recalling his childhood pet experience with a tint of amusement. You have triumphed in showering your customer in an emotional rush. Job well done. The customer can effortlessly summon back your ad from his memory, and decides to buy your product. What can be better than this?

Dogs can build Trustworthiness

Nowadays, everyone wants to spend their dollars, rightly. If you intend to be recognised by your customer for your genuineness, you need to register that feeling in his mind in first place. It is an universally acknowledged truth that dogs are the faithful, best friends of humans. Man trusts his best friend. So, the dog can help as an agent to the customer to take that crucial and final decision by recommending your product as a trustworthy product. As it is a known fact that, dogs are a source of security and are our protectors, people believe that it won’t let them down.

Big Brands Adopt Dogs in Videos

The Most Viral Advertisement of 2003- Hutch

Winner of Best Ad Award 2011- Lotto Dog

Volkswagen Woofwagen dogs advertisement 2013

A real treat to startups who are dog-lovers

Watch some of the dog videos to best know how dogs can be smartly handled to convey your marketing message.

Dog recommends HousePlans

Dog reinforces environmental messages- P.O.O.P(Protect Your Only Planet)

Dog endorses its Toy

However, this is not an exhaustive list. Share some of the best dog videos that we have missed out in the comment section below.

Using Whatsapp as a marketing tool is the most discussed topic among many a marketing professional today. Whatsapp, whose main objective is to connect people from around the world does not sound commercial in any way.

Whatsapp has gained commercial importance among businesses mainly after its acquisition by the Social Networking major Facebook for a whopping $19 billion.

When a brand like Facebook, the most sought after online marketing platform had turned its attention towards an instant messaging app like Whatsapp, we can only expect Whatsapp to have some commercial use for businesses.

Brands big and small have started investigating on the possibility of using Whatsapp in their brand communications. Whatsapp has many advantages and we have listed out a few of them which had made whatsapp a valuable marketing platform.

It’s quicker

It is as simple as that. Whatsapp is an instant messaging application which involves lesser efforts to get the message across.

Marketers had used emails and social networks to communicate with their customers and this simple app let’s them to directly interact with their customers with just a smartphone

We all know that people like to fidget with their smartphones looking for information every now and then and Whatsapp allows you to feed them instantly. Text messaging is not dead yet, the SMS is.

Like the social networks, Whatsapp allows you to do text messaging along with images and videos which is too good to ignore for marketers. Unlike Social networks, efforts for creating content is lesser and much easier with Whatsapp.

Absolut vodka has best used the simplicity of Whatsapp’s features to promote its campaign. It created a conceptual campaign for the young.

The users have to get themselves invited to a party which is for Absolut Vodka reaching a milestone of 4 million uniquely designed bottles. The engagement had been overwhelming with users sharing rich content with images and videos.

Costs you almost nothing

With just $1 a year, Whatsapp costs you absolutely nothing for your marketing efforts and instantly boosts customer conversations around the brand.

With SMS becoming expensive, the wider audience have moved on to Whatsapp for messaging purposes which had already resulted in a huge blow to the telecom service providers.

Whatsapp Marketing has proved to be a boon for small businesses who aim at cutting costs at every step and adopt frugal practices. To run a marketing campaign on Whatsapp, all you have to do is allocate a person exclusively to manage the campaign and respond to the messages promptly just like what the Israeli Chocolate brand Klik did on Whatsapp.

Customer relationship

With the shift in power from the producer to the consumer and with the rise of social media, consumers are habituated to voice their concerns about a brand quite easily. Whatsapp is yet another tool for them.

Be where your customers are: Smartphones have enabled easy access to your customers. To get in touch with your customers, you just need to have their numbers saved in your mobile phone and you will now be able to Whatsapp them. Communication with the customer is not time bound and is open 24/7.

To give you a valid example, in Kazakhstan a rumour had spread that 3 of its top banks are on the verge of bankruptcy and the situation was tensed with customers running around to withdraw money. Whatsapp came in real handy to inform their customers that all is fine. Such is the power of Whatsapp in spreading a message at the right time.

Brand Positioning

With much more personalized interaction, you would know what your customer wants from you and hence will be able to position your marketing communications based on that. Your customers will be delighted that all their queries are answered in real time by real people. As a brand, you can very well show your customers, how much you care.

Homeshop 18 used Whatsapp to change customer’s perception about the brand as a TV shopping network. The campaign, “shopping makes me Happy”, positioned the brand as an all rounder for the consumer’s shopping needs not limiting itself to the television. To add the fun element to its messages, the brand used Billy and Sunny, the father and son duo as the brand’s voice.

Marketing communications through Whatsapp

Whatsapp can be used for a variety of marketing activities. It is the best place to showcase a product’s image, a video explaining the product’s features, discount coupons and festive offers. Whatsapp makes it easy to invite customer feedback and for grievance redressal. One-on-one interaction is helpful in conducting surveys and a Whatsapp group can be used as a focus group to discuss about the brand.

Brands had started using a platform which is as personal as Whatsapp to send marketing messages. Red FM had asked their listeners to engage with them on Whatsapp, the listeners sing a line from any song and send it via Whatsapp for the opportunity to become a “RedFM ka Whatsapp Star”.

The store managers of various brands like Cartier, Armani and Diesel are effectively using Whatsapp to communicate offers and promotions according to an article by Economic Times

Dos and Don’ts of Whatsapp Marketing

Dos

1.Share your Whatsapp Contact details on your website and other social media platforms.
2. Use whatsapp only when you have an established relationship with your customers even though it is not made mandatory.
3. Though whatsapp is an informal platform, always maintain a decorum while speaking to your customer.
4. Respond immediately to queries. Timely communication is essential for any business. Who knows you may even close deals by being prompt.
5. Post images and videos of your product. Visual messages have a greater impact.
6. Include some fun element in your messages- A joke or a meme would be appropriate.
7. If you are not available all the time. Mention that you can be reached on a specific day at a specific time period.
8. Select your prospects carefully.
9.Posting a product offer on FaceBook and follow up on Whatsapp is the key to targeted communication.

Don’ts

1. Do not send messages to all the mobile numbers that you get your hands on. If you send irrelevant messages, you would anyway end up being blocked.
2. Do not send messages too frequently. Overdose of information is not healthy for your brand image.
3. Do not ignore customer feedback or queries. Customers may tend to lose interest on your brand.
4. Keeping your profile inactive may also send a signal that you are not keen on promoting your brand. Update your profile regularly.
5. Avoid creating groups of unknown people. A group must have something in common- it may be the locality or school or interest.

Following the above mentioned points will help you manage hassles in sending out marketing messages to your customers. Text marketing has not lost its charm yet. With a few visuals you are good to go. While Whatsapp does not come in to the category of permission marketing like that of SMS and Email, we may expect the service to adopt the same sooner or later. Until then, anyone with a phone number saved in his mobile phone may do Whatsapp Marketing.

Whatsapp Marketing to us must be a part of a well integrated market plan, ignoring it or fearing the extra effort will only let you lose the reach to those you can otherwise easily influence.

It is easier said than done with a lot of emotional attachment tied to the startup. We say that your final days are approaching when the time and energy in the startup is just absorbed like quicksand and getting positive results has become an impossibility.

1. Money is how we keep score

According to Cooper, a serial entrepreneur and Vice President of Enterprise Services, Elanceo Desk, one of the primary signs that a startup would die is its inability to generate revenue, cut back on expenses, and access capital. His very own first startup suffered a very slow death due to this.

If your startup has started loosing too much money in too little a time and the expenses just shoot up without a chance of cutting down with the returns seemingly uncertain, you know what to do. At a point, when you have lost everything, the investors had started clamoring for their money back, there is financial exhaustion and any chances of sustainability looks too dim, there is no point in persevering further.

2. Popularity does not indicate profitability

Boo.com is a classical example for gaining attention but was not able to reap any benefits out of it. Boo.com, spent lavishly on its e-commerce site to increase the aesthetic appeal of the website. The result, there was an enormous flood of traffic visiting their site and no significant leads. When we analyze the situation, we could find that the conversions are not happening because, the right kind of crowd is not visiting you. This could be traced back to wrong targeting or a blunder in deciding the product-market fit.

3. Sudden decrease in customer usage

Remember Orkut! It started huge and was a pioneer and a leader of all social networking platforms of its time. Today, nobody uses Orkut. Even Google, the search engine giant who owned Orkut, was not able to withstand a strong competition (Facebook) with better features for the customers. The same way, startups fail when their vision no longer fits a market which has got an advanced product to use. When you fail to differentiate, when you fail to innovate, when you fail to satisfy your market and when your customers have lost interest in you, you know that you had become obsolete. If you observe an abrupt downturn like this, you can decide to cut the cord and quit.

4. Competition from Open source

If your product can be replaced by another competing product which is for free, you are in hot waters losing traction. Moreover, if your competitor can do so and gain profit at the same time, you are in deep waters. Any successful company will get a competitor that will undercut your prices.
Google Answers encountered a free competitor like Yahoo! Answers which were for free. Most people do not spend from their pockets if they don’t have to. So, it is always wise to give in to competition when you are not able to match them with pricing. A free product can never make you sustainable.

5. Product not a solution

Google Video Player failed due to the competition it faced from YouTube. Any video you like to search on Google Video can be spotted on YouTube, all the videos have transferred over. It enabled people to download videos from Google video and watch videos in full screen, which was difficult, earlier. But, the problem was that nobody needed an alternative. Moreover, it did not solve any problems.
Hence, if your product is not launched aiming at solving unresolved problems, you cannot thrive for long. So, we suggest you to quit.

6. Fighting Head-on with Big Boys

When a bigger brand senses a threat for its products from a startup, it is easier for the bigger player to go for a kill. The first thing that you could have experienced is a slash in prices followed by add-ons. When you cannot differentiate your product and you try to fight head-on with a bigger brand, you are facing your doom.

The same happened to Virgin atlantic, when British airways slashed prices aiming for a kill. But the founder, Richard Branson was too wise and had decided to quit. He did not quit the airlines business, but killed Virgin Records instead. The lesson we learn from this example is when quitting seems to be the only option, do not think twice.

7. Lack of a proper team

Many entrepreneurs try to ride more than one horse at a time and would take many roles in their business, afraid that an employee would not be able to share his vision. This would result in the entrepreneurs losing focus and concentrating on every small task which robs them of their time and energy which could have been used elsewhere with much productivity. The time which he could use to convince an investor is unnecessarily spend on either marketing activities or fixing a bug on his product. There arises a situation where you have bit more than you can possibly chew with no one to support you.

8. Jumping from one idea to the other

A startup entrepreneur is good at multitasking. When you do it too much with all the ideas that come to your mind and try to open more than one shop at a time, you have exhausted yourself beyond repair. Jumping from one idea to the other without learning from the present experiences is a risk many entrepreneurs take without knowing that it would only lead them to shut shop sooner or later. Feeding more than one startup at a time will result in irregular money flow in and out of the businesses, resource wastage and marketing hurdles. What you need is focus and you just have to quit one to gain from the other.

9. Bitterness between the founders

The founders share the companies vision and mission than any other person employed there and they act as role models for other employees. When they split, they take away the integrity the company had so far. This results in decreasing employee morale. The problem sometimes becomes so bitter that the result is no better than a suicide. The most common reason for the founders to get themselves into a lawsuit is their ambiguity in the shares which they ignore during the setting up stage. As a result, dissolving becomes the only way out to settle things.

10.Test the waters before you set sail

We know most of the startups launch in a cloud of hype which is actually useful, as kickstarting is really difficult. But many a times this hype puts your startup at peril. The reason being, it creates an illusion among the audience that this startup will not fail. So give it a shot to test your project on a small scale and spread, gradually. Startups that does not prove its potential in the test can sure, quit.

Testing waters also mean the right time to launch the product. Too early and too late is not advisable. Launching a product at the right time when the market is ready gives you results. Companies have become extinct by launching then too early like pet.com which lost due to bad timing and not because of the product. The late ones had become mere imitators and were not recognized as innovators.

If you see your ship sinking, do not let your team sink with it. Try taking the life boat instead and reach the shore safely.

To conclude,

We have not presented you an exhaustive list, they all illustrate patterns observed in autopsies of various pitfalls. Analytics shows that 9 out of 10 products of Google is a flop. But it took the courage to quit many of its products like Google Buzz, Google Video Player, etc. If Google is humble enough, why can’t we?

Once an entrepreneur, you are always an entrepreneur. It is better for you to quit now and quit early rather than being stubborn. You always have an option to start something afresh by learning from the mistakes. If you had quit at the right time and has experienced any one of the symptoms that we had mentioned, let us know.

1. Brian Clark

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170k followers

He is one of the top 10 social media marketers to follow on Twitter. The sole genius behind Copyblogger Media which is an astounding and important resource site for content marketing. A site that preached people the essentiality of powerful content to flourish as a business. Follow him on Twitter for fantastic and free online marketing strategies, updates on the latest marketing trends and answers to all your marketing questions.

Hot Spots

• The infographic on The Amazingly Simple Anatomy of a Marketing Story. It helps to gain insight on the importance of compelling stories, How to tell the right story? How to structure the story? and 5 Elements of a story. This infographic is smartly designed to look like an old story book.
• Focus on 4 steps to harness the addictive power of Email and turn traffic to your business.
• 4 ways to break the insanity of content marketing competition.

2. Matt Cutts

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384k followers

He is the head of the webspam team at Google. He helps the startups by his articles on gadgets, Google and SEO. His blogs are mostly on how to secure your Google account. He wrote the first version of SafeSearch. He states the decay and fall of guest blogging for SEO.

Hot Spots

• Great advice for small business owners
• Video on How To Start A Startup
• Article on iCloud

3.Rand Fishkin

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200k followers

Rand Fishkin is the co-founder of SEOMoz, a successful and popular SEO resource of all time. The fame and reach of SEOMoz compelled him to establish it into a big company named as Moz. Currently, one among the top provider of online marketing tools and internet services. In order to concentrate on his book on startup marketing, he stepped out of the shoe of a CEO. On Twitter, he regularly shares his observations on the state of the online marketing industry and tips on how to use social media marketing to your best advantage.

Hot Spots

• How to be ranked as No. 1 on Google for “best X apps”
• The Landing Page Manifesto- A Slideshare which serves as the guru for landing pages.
• Superb analysis of title tag length & how/when Google might change them for you.
• Is it possible to have good SEO with great content?
• 7 concepts of advances on-page SEO

He retweeted many SEO secrets that a startup can adapt and frame better marketing strategy.

4. Neil Patel

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114K followers

He is an entrepreneur, investor, advisor and blogger. He has started 2 SaaS analytics companies, CrazyEgg and KISSmetrics with hnshah. He clearly states what to do and what not to do in social media.

Hot Spots

• The 5 marketing must haves of an online startup- Forbes website.
• How to persuade customers to convert on a high-priced SaaS products
• 4 Techniques That’ll Double Your Landing Page Conversions

5. Michael Hyatt

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232k followers

He is the author of New York Times best seller, Platform: Get noticed in a noisy world. He is one among the Forbes list of Top 10 Online Marketing Experts. Most of his blogs are value-based, imparting knowledge on the qualities a entrepreneur should adopt.

Hot Spots

• Changing your perspective goes a long way
• Why keeping your commitments is critical to your influence?
• 7 Apps that help you achieve your goals

6. Danny Sullivan

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He is widely considered as Search Engine guru. He is the founding Editor of MarketingLand and SearchEngineLand. It covers Google, Facebook, Twitter, SEO, SEM and all things about digital marketing, search marketing and search. His expertise helps startups in their online marketing efforts.

Hot Spots

• Analysing social media and optimising SEO’s.
• Retweets from Search Engine Land and Marketing land.

7. Gary Vaynerchuk

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1.1million followers

Realizing the importance of e-commerce, he created WineLibrary.com and WineLibrary TV. He became the CEO of Vaynermedia and the most wanted host of AskGaryVee show.

He suggests on strategies that has worked for his business and how you can make social media work for you. He throws tips on social media marketing and insights into the inner workings of the online marketing world.

Hot Spots

•Videos that play the best of his own shows

•A short film on How I do a business?

•How to determine ROI of social media?

Thanks for following the footprints of some great entrepreneurs. These gurus on twitter will enable you to follow their trail and plan a successful marketing strategy. We must have missed a few of them, do take a few minutes to mention them in the comments section below.

Eric Schmidt with his latest post in slideshare came up with something exciting to read. Yes, it is all about how Google scaled from a startup to an uncompetitive world brand.

Highlights from Eric Post

• Any old business rule won’t work, especially the most successful rule.
• Big Brands are scared of small startups.
• Even a small startup from any part of the world will get the equal opportunity to grow like a Silicon valley startup.
• How to do amazing things at amazing speed?
• Your idea is just an idea until you have the right team.
• Attract smart people, since smart people can build smart products.

If you explore the adventurous world of a Startup Entrepreneur (SE), you can observe that it is driven by a fairy tale with its own triumphs and disasters. He has his own story to tell and to sell. How mighty is his wing or how high can he fly? Like the hero of his tale his endeavor is to “steal” golden treasures from the Giant’s den; that is the Venture Capitalist (VC); which is no easy task. Yet, these very stories show us that something more than a random distribution of luck will determine the success of an entrepreneur.

Let us first see how he tries to churn that tale to attract a VC to make or break his luck. He tries all kinds of stunts like that of a typical hero to get an invitation from a VC to narrate his story. But the all-time-busy VC, who gets thousands of business plans and hundreds of pitches every year has no time to spare for our SE. Obviously, he is not ready to pie his time for a gratifying chat with each and every company that needs funding. To win a ticket to pitch to the VC, our SE is compelled to enchant all his magical tricks. He dials the VC’s number, follows his footprints everywhere and shares his card. All in vain.

He may even be a real hero with his business on track and a lot of good press elsewhere. He has an end goal for the company, building something quick that could change the world, ramp up revenues and can sell for a nice payoff. But that one invitation from a VC to present his mighty idea seems to be a nightmare.

Here, we help you to craft your own “happy ending” trusting on your ability to cast yourself as a star.
Venture capitalists look for a strong management team, a large potential market and a unique product or service with a strong competitive advantage. They also look for opportunities in industries that they are familiar with, and the chance to own a large percentage of the company so that they can influence its direction.

If you have it all, then, you are covered. That’s not all! you need to focus on your starcast. All your attempt as a hero has failed.Think different. Why not this time act as a heroine?

If you are a young and promising startup, then all the ramp in style. Be a show stopper and leave the rest to the VC to call you on a date.

How to walk the ramp and show off?

Be a good performer in a business presentation.
After all, a wise man once said it’s always better to hear it “straight from the horse’s mouth”. Grab the VC’s attention by a persuasive presentation of your venture.

Hit at all business events

• Take part in events like Techcircle Showcase.
• Join Microsoft’s Bizspark community.
• Attend Techcrunch and attend the various events organised by them.

These platforms will hand-pick start-ups to make presentations on their businesses to an audience comprising of leading technology focused venture capitalists.

Show off your abilities in business conferences

Attend conferences like TED , Webby awards , The Global 1000 Conference that allows attendees to meet the most active venture investors and build their own network of people with common interests. Conferences help you in exchanging business stories, Ideas, brainstorm a new concept and have a lot of fun in the process. Conferences pave way for in-depth follow-up with the new contacts after it is completed. This approach helps you in getting the attention of the Venture Capitalists in no time.

Be active on social media

Upload your venture’s super-cool logo and other details in sites like Startup.pitchxo.com where potential investors actually log in with LinkedIn, AngelList or Facebook and see the super-secret business idea. And you get an email right away about this guy looking at your stuff. To a VC who gets thousands of business plans it is exponentially harder to prove your business as a worthy investment. So present your data with some nuances. Present market data effectively which will help draw-in potential investors and shed light on what you are doing. Let investors see the vision and mission of your venture.

Let people recommend you instead of you screaming for yourself

Indulge in communicating with peers of your VC. Take a chance to spin your tale to them. While doing so, keep the following in mind;

• Do not dwell on backstory, explain what you are doing today and where you are headed tomorrow.
• Keep descriptions grounded.
• Show off expertise to raise confidence.
• Know the VC’s strategy, philosophy and attributes.

Thus, a happy-ending can be crafted in a small businessman’s tale. Thanks for travelling with us throughout the tale. Hope it helps you to impress the VC by elegantly walking along the ramp as a heroine and henceforth decipher any business treasure map like a hero!The curtains are up and there you go, be the heroine,seduce your VC and sell your product. Share in your views on whether a startup should be portrayed as a hero or a heroine?