Ultimately, the fit is as important to the advisory board candidate as it is to the entrepreneurs and the company. If it is learned that the fit doesn’t exist after the advisor has been on-boarded, it will likely turn out to be a waste of time for everyone.

If you’re not careful, it is easy to focus on avoiding onerous rules or minimizing tax consequences at the expense or your core business operations. These are certainly important factors, but they take a clear second place to meeting the market demand-solving the consumer’s problem.

Stephanie Vozza has spoken of the six lessons gleaned from entrepreneurs’ experience (Fast Company). It was illuminating to evaluate how our startup company (FundingSage) and its founders dealt with these business improvement issues.

Starting a scalable company is a daunting task. This will challenge even the most experienced management team. The team’s success requires a complete understanding of the issues and risks it faces in its quest to succeed.

Even the great ones can screw this one up, case-in-point: Apple, Inc. Consider this lesson when preparing for your next investor pitch.

We often think of business as a special function. In reality, it operates in much the same way normal things around us do. In fact, the concepts behind Newton’s Three Laws of Motion are as applicable to business as they are to physics.

There is one key to ensuring your best chance at startup success: “Brutal Honesty.” Without that, you likely will not succeed.

You are launching your startup! After reviewing the legal structures available, you decided on the LLC structure for your venture and have filed your Articles of Organization with the state. Now what?

Greek historian Herodotus once said, “Great deeds are usually wrought at great risk.” The great company you are building will not come easy. It may require you to go “all in” (and take a prudent risk) to make it work. But what does that mean and when do you undertake such a risky action?

Efficiency, the ability to accomplish a job with a minimum expenditure of time and effort, is one of the most important ingredients to business success. Startup companies must be ruthless in this pursuit.