Founder’s Forum

Make More Money!

So, 2012 is finito. It’s over. We survived. Let’s get going on 2013. What’s your plan? As entrepreneurs, we have a big mountain to climb next year. We’re facing another serious increase in costs in 2013 and some major regulations that will take time and expense to comply with. If you run an already successful [...]

Posted by Rick Bell on Friday, January 4th, 2013
Posted in Founder's Forum
Tags: Founder's Forum

Eating Google’s Lunch

Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg would LOVE to eat Google’s lunch, but they were not invited today to Google’s California headquarters like I was. And Google’s not afraid of them anyway, because lunch at Google is just one of many meals they serve on a 24/7/366 basis. Now, I’m not really a “big-company” guy. I [...]

Posted by Rick Bell on Tuesday, February 14th, 2012
Posted in Founder's Forum
Tags: Founder's Forum

Year’s Over – Year Ahead, and the State of Your Company

If you are already a successful entrepreneur, you’re a planner. So you’ve already done a lot of thinking about surviving and succeeding in 2012.  How do you plan for your business to survive and succeed in 2012? At this time last year I told the whole team here at HBS, that I could not argue [...]

Posted by Rick Bell on Wednesday, January 4th, 2012
Posted in Founder's Forum, INC Knowledge
Tags: Founder's Forum, Incorporating

The Best Revenge: Make More Money

American entrepreneurs really are a whole different breed. They don’t expect anyone to give them a break or a pat on the butt. They get their satisfaction from scoring, not praise. They take pride in doing something better than mankind ever did it before, not just their competitors. They pay their taxes to the local, [...]

Posted by Rick Bell on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
Posted in Founder's Forum
Tags: Entrepreneurs, Government, Money, Taxes

Happy New Year! 2010

If you’re just starting a business now, or thinking of it, your timing couldn’t be better. Starting a small LLC during an economic slump greatly increases your chances of success in so many ways. If you already run a successful small business, 2010 will challenge your ability to adapt. For a start-up, you succeed or [...]

Posted by Rick Bell on Monday, January 4th, 2010
Posted in Essays, Founder's Forum
Tags: Entrepreneurs, Startup

YouTube is an LLC and Google is a General Corporation. Do You Know Why?

Both, of course chose Delaware as their corporate home, even though they are headquartered elsewhere. But why did they choose different entity types? The difference between an LLC and a corporation is clearly defined by this one example that the new generation of entrepreneurs will fully take advantage of. This is not a question of [...]

Posted by Rick Bell on Wednesday, March 18th, 2009
Posted in Delaware, Founder's Forum, General Corporation, INC Knowledge, Limited Liability Company, Q&A
Tags: Delaware, Entrepreneur, Google, Limited Liability Company, Shares, Stock, YouTube

If you’re just starting your business now, in 2009, where do you raise money?

Banks aren’t lending, venture capital firms are now effectively hedge funds, and American angels are about to be slammed by the crashing market and expected tax increases on capital gains, the source of angel investment power. Money has never been easy to raise when you’re selling a dream… presented confidently as a vision — for [...]

Posted by Rick Bell on Monday, March 9th, 2009
Posted in Capital, Founder's Forum, Q&A
Tags: Capital, Investor

Einstein Failed at Business

Einstein, as brilliant as he was, wouldn’t have been able to start a business or even manage a business successfully. He proved that to his disappointed father, an entrepreneur who built two successful businesses and wanted his son to follow in his footsteps. Einstein tried, and was miserable at it. He ended up packing his [...]

Posted by Rick Bell on Wednesday, March 4th, 2009
Posted in Founder's Forum
Tags: Entrepreneurs, Risk, Vision