Member Articles

Vet vendors carefully: Just because you’re a start-up doesn’t mean you should hire a another start-up for help in critical areas. Do your homework before you engage anyone. Make sure that people you hire for critical jobs that you can’t do yourself, such as Web site design, are really experienced and can deliver what they say they can, on budget and on time. Create budgets for key functions -- and stick to them.

Stay in touch with your original vision: When new ideas crop up, they can be very seductive. But it’s important to keep your eye on the prize and stay laser focused on your original business intention. You can always branch out later, but if you get sidetracked too early in your launch, you can lose valuable momentum. So set clear goals for yourself and move steadily toward them, day by day.