Stock Option Plans are an extremely popular method of attracting, motivating, and retaining employees, especially when the company is unable to pay high salaries. A Stock Option Plan gives the company the flexibility to award stock options to employees, officers, directors, advisors, and consultants, allowing these people to buy stock in the company when they exercise the option.

It doesn't necessarily take a lot of money to make a lot of money, but it does take some. To beat the odds and avoid running out of money, successful entrepreneurs prepare by developing rigorous financial plans that forecast essential information such as how much money it'll take to get off the ground and what to expect in the first few years so they can best allocate resources. Smart financial planning is crucial, but actually developing a reliable plan can feel impossible.

What does your brand stand for? When we are starting out, we have no brand. So setting down what you want your brand to stand for is a foundation to how you will be perceived by employees, customers, investors and all others that your company touches. I know you don't see how brand pays the bills, but setting out who you are in the eyes of your constituents can set the tone for the things that do pay the bills.

You’re an entrepreneur with a big idea and you’re poised to disrupt your target industry. Intellectual property is key to your success. To get your company moving, you may bring in others such as co-founders, employees, consultants, advisors, developers and creative talent. Founders, employees, developers, suppliers, and other contractors should all be bound by a written agreement stating that all intellectual property created in connection with the services performed for the startup is assigned to the startup. Absent a written agreement, the individual or entity providing the services will generally have ownership rights in such intellectual property, which will cause problems for the startup when it is looking to raise capital or be acquired. You have to set yourself up for the future by making sure that all of the intellectual property developed along the journey belongs to the company.

It's quite common for the entrepreneur to wonder if anyone will ever notice you or what you're doing. Since we're of the mindset that nobody's paying attention anyway, we assume it's ok to act as if no one is ever really watching. It's a trap, don't fall for it, because you are always on stage and your every action, interaction and reaction is being scrutinized and analyzed by every constituent of the company.

Failure to understand your cash position and current and future cash needs can ruin a business, even a profitable one.The sad truth is that cash-flow surprises kill many startups. Overall, 90 percent of small-business failures are caused by poor-cash flow, according to Dunn & Bradstreet. To prevent becoming part of the 90 percent, you'€™ll need to maintain a focus on cash. When it comes to the financial management of a growing company, always remember that cash is king.

Many businesses struggle not because they can't generate sales, but because they don't manage cash. There is nothing more important to the success of your business than your system for managing cash due from sales through your process of billing and collections. You can have lots of customers, but if you don't collect money from them, you will go out of business.

Raising capital in the midst of running a business is challenging. Often it is the most important thing that you do and the one for which you are the least equipped. For many new ventures, the investment process is a constant scramble to put together new PowerPoint presentations, documents and financial information for every investor meeting that comes your way. It may seem as though each investor is asking for something unique or different than the last one, but preparing one-off packages and reinventing the wheel for every new meeting is incredibly time consuming and inefficient.

In the early stages of a business, you often have two simultaneous problems that affect the efficiency of your sales process. First, it is often the founder or management team that are the only ones that understand the nuances of your market. Second, because you are arguably providing a unique product or service, your target market or the use of your product or service may be undefined. As a result of these two factors, you must create a set of standard sales materials that embodies the founder's knowledge and defines the market.

Many small-business owners mistakenly believe they cannot afford to offer benefits. But while going without benefits may boost your bottom line in the short run, than penny-wise philosophy could strangle your business's chances for long-term prosperity. Offer the right benefit, and your business may just jump-start its growth. Give employees the benefits they value, and they'll be more satisfied, miss fewer workdays, be less likely to quit, and have higher commitment to meeting the company's goals.

Raising capital in the midst of running a business is challenging. Often it is the most important thing that you do and the one for which you are the least equipped. For many new ventures, the investment process is a constant scramble to put together new PowerPoint presentations, documents and financial information for every investor meeting that comes your way. It may seem as though each investor is asking for something unique or different than the last one, but preparing one-off packages and reinventing the wheel for every new meeting is incredibly time consuming and inefficient.

One of the most important aspects of marketing your company or product is its position in the market. This is often overlooked because positioning isn’t as sexy as getting Facebook Fans or Twitter Followers. However, it’s the best way to separate yourself from the competition, especially if you are in a crowded space. I have seen far too many companies build their product or service, and then leave the product’s positioning to the marketing department. People rarely pay attention to each of the features and functionalities, but strong positioning always stands out.

Many small-business owners mistakenly believe they cannot afford to offer benefits. But while going without benefits may boost your bottom line in the short run, than penny-wise philosophy could strangle your business's chances for long-term prosperity. Offer the right benefit, and your business may just jump-start its growth. Give employees the benefits they value, and they'll be more satisfied, miss fewer workdays, be less likely to quit, and have higher commitment to meeting the company's goals.

Whether you are marketing to consumers or marketing to businesses, understanding the landscape of digital marketing is a must. These trends impact how individuals digest informations and should be understood as you craft your marketing efforts.

When you get started, you will start to enter into contracts with customers. When you do so, it is important to have a standard form contract that puts you in a position to protect your company.

Your entrepreneurial wins and why we must celebrate them. You must appreciate being challenged because it means you are successful enough to be growing. Investors, customers and employees are attentive to your venture because you are bringing some- thing that is valuable to them.

Who has time for training? That's what many entrepreneurs think. But a little training can go a long way. Whether it is making employees more productive, or providing clarity or improving quality, training can help team members contribute more effectively. The type of training you roll out has to fit into the day-to-day workload of employees.

Entrepreneurs dream of having their company appear on the front page of a major publication or doing an interview on a major network. Public relations can certainly create breakthrough moments, but in most cases it is simply an important part of an overall marketing strategy. Public relations offers several advantages not found with other promotional options.

Hiring is hard. Do you give candidates a test? Do you ask about their experience, or pose theoretical situations to see how they think them through? These questions are hard enough for recruiters to answer, but even more of a mystery for entrepreneurs. While there’s no perfect formula, when it comes to finding talent, interviewing has to tell you a lot. Enhancing your talent efforts is a combination of creating a process for interviewing and improving how you interview candidates through that process.

Advisory boards can be an invaluable source of insight. Think of an advisory board as a collection of mentors that can provide individual expertise, provide you a sounding board for ideas, give you advice, introduce you to valuable contacts, and tell you when you’re potentially making a mistake.

You've worked from inception to birth and now your company is evolving. You might be bringing on co-founders, senior level team members and employees. You want everyone to be aligned to and share in the success of the business, but how do you determine how much equity to give everyone? The objective of employee equity is to make the first employees sensitive to feel an emotional ownership with your/your company’s great idea, its gripping product and the organization you are asking them to help grow. The percentage equity a hire gets depends on factors such as domain expertise, how early he joins (if he joins earlier, there is more risk and less stock), how critical the person is to the company and its funding, experience with associated ventures, whether or not he is replaceable, and connections. An equity premium may be considered if the employee is irreplaceable.