As a business grows, pitching becomes increasingly important. As the business seeks investors, new clients, or even new employees, a business owner must repeatedly reveal details about the company to others. Idea theft is an ongoing concern for entrepreneurs. A competitor could snatch the idea. An investor could take it and fund it. While this behavior happens less than you would think, it is worth taking some basic steps to protect yourself.

Think of all the email, text messages and other communications that fly back and forth throughout the day. Not only is it hard to keep track of it all. It is even more difficult to make sure that the information and messages that are coming through are consistent with the messages you want to portray. While communication may not be at the top of your list, it certainly affects everything you do.

How many times a day do things happen and your initial reaction is that of raw emotions without much thought to the consequences? That's normal occurrence for entrepreneurs because our days are full of pressure, passion, pleasure and pain. We don't have time to think how certain words, phrases, remarks in the middle of a jam packed day effect people around us. The expectation is that if you're working in an entrepreneurial environment, you've got to be tough-minded and thick-skinned to deal with the ups and downs of each day. Not exactly.

Knowing your current and potential customers is a foundational piece of information for you to create your unique offering. In the process, not only do you see where you stack up, you learn how competition acts, whether it be how they approach a market or communicate a message. A competitive analysis is a key step to understanding how you can win in an increasingly competitive world.

When you start a business, you spend a lot of time alone with your thoughts. Even if you’re not a solo operation, there may be very few people that you confide in or talk openly to. You probably have your inner circle. It may start with a circle of one—you—or maybe your small team. To get your business moving, you develop relationships with a select few people who are helping you get ahead.

Being an entrepreneur is not a job, it's an identity. Our very existence for the most part lies in bringing our vision to life. We live, breathe and obsess over every detail of the business 24/7. It's our baby. Our business and personal life becomes one life. A problem develops, however, when we have the expectation that anyone associated with our venture wakes up with the same visceral desire to see it come to fruition as we do.

Cutting through the clutter of information that is presented to consumer and business buyers is a challenge. Doing so requires us to hone in on the exact customer that we are looking to serve. Marketers talks to finding your "customer avatar" - a fictional character that represents your ideal prospect. When complete, it will help you understand the motivating beliefs, fears and secret desires that influence your customer's buying decisions. Creating a buyer persona helps you hone in on this ideal customer.

The term “hunter” is used to describe the type of sales rep who is focused on closing deals with new customers. Once one deal wraps up, hunters aggressively move on to the next prospect and try to close another new deal. This energetic focus on deal-making and capturing new “prey” (sales) makes hunters a tempting option for technology startups. The drive for transactions often stems from the commissions they can earn.

How do you get a buyer to view you not as someone selling them something, but a trusted resource that they value and look forward to talking to? There are various communication and related techniques that will move you closer each day to holding this coveted place in a buyer's mind.

Why goal setting drives business execution - how to set goals, align a team to them, and track them through actions and results rather than good intentions.

The type of investment you take in your business will have implications for many years. Investments are generally broken into three types: equity (in which you receive capital in exchange for ownership of your company), debt (in which you receive capital that you have an obligation to repay but do not give up any ownership in your company) and convertible debt (which is the same as debt but is converted into equity based on some triggering event).

When it comes to selling to businesses, one of the issues that creates cash flow issues is the need to wait until contracts are signed to receive payment. For decent sized companies, even when a company has communicated that they have decided to use your company, it can take another 60 to 90 days to get a contact signed - and even more time to receive payment.

Understanding the different types of investors is an important part of the investment process. The basic concept is that the type of investor that you seek should be the right one for your stage of business (pre-revenue, revenue, growth stage) and for the amount of money you are seeking. We outline the major types of investors and the general rules for what stage they are best for and how much they look to invest. While these are not hard and fast rules, they should help in your investment process.

Entrepreneurs with a flawed perspective let the pressure, passion, pleasure and pain overcome their judgment, and the judgment of others, to ignore the facts in front of them. There is nothing wrong with being excited, but don’t let your need or desire (or panic) about the necessity of capital cloud the details of the meeting, terms, or relationship that is actually occurring.

The disadvantages of public relations - no control over the message, unpredictable timing, and hard-to-measure results. What PR can and cannot do for you.

How business-to-business selling differs from selling consumers - reaching busy, cost-conscious owners, tailoring the pitch, and shortening the sales cycle.

When you focus on overall risk and big picture concerns, it can be debilitating. If you focus on your present to-do list, you offer yourself the remarkably satisfying and motivating experience of completing the tasks before you. When so much is out of your control, the chance to finish something each day is priceless. And if you continue to prioritize each day’s list, your sense of accomplishment will grow exponentially. After all, each day’s work is a piece of the puzzle that will eventually become your “big picture.” But if you worry about the big picture first, you’ll never assemble its parts and reach your ultimate goal.

How do you validate your idea to determine whether it can be a business success and help you achieve your personal and professional goals as an entrepreneur? There is no magic formula, but there are certainly ways that you can have a better sense of whether your idea has legs.

Attracting the type of talent that understands the entrepreneurial venture and can bring expertise to that journey is essential to success. Doing so requires a great deal of your talent and creative thinking. Try some of these techniques to see if you can help others see why working for your company will be the best move of their life.

How you bring the value of your product or service to your target audience is a function of how well you market it. In this age of clutter, you must be able to cut through that clutter using the variety of strategies and tactics at your disposal.

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.

Knowing your current and potential customers is a foundational piece of information for you to create your unique offering. In the process, not only do you see where you stack up, you learn how competition acts, whether it be how they approach a market or communicate a message. A competitive analysis is a key step to understanding how you can win in an increasingly competitive world.

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.