Startups

Looking for Startup Success? The Best Advice From 5 Successful Startup Founders

Published

8 years ago

Mar 14, 2018

Being a startup founder is hard, don’t make it any harder on yourself. You can learn from those who already have a successful startup and follow in their footsteps. Why fail when you can learn from someone else who has already failed? There are numerous startups that fail each year and I don’t want to see yours become another statistic.

The founders mentioned in this article are tried and tested. They have built their own successful startups each in unique ways. There’s never going to be one set way in which you can start your company.

Each founder has a different piece of advice to give you on how they achieved success. If you follow even one of the tips mentioned below, you’re giving your startup a greater chance to succeed.

Here is the best piece of advice from 5 different startup founders:

1. Effort is the ultimate equalizer

Dominic Pratt is the founder of eMINDSCLUB, a startup that’s hoping to pair you with the next Mark Zuckerberg by connecting you with entrepreneurs all around the world. Dominic learned that as a startup founder and in life – effort is the ultimate equalizer. He went on to say that society is idea rich and effort poor. Too many of us want the success but aren’t putting in the required grind to get it. It can be challenging he admits, but at the end of the day what is the alternative?

It can be lonely as an entrepreneur because so few of us get it and there has never really been a support group in place for entrepreneurs. Our friends and family want us to conform to their realities, but reality is a matter of perspective. He reminds us that it doesn’t make you a bad person for wanting more for yourself.

As an entrepreneur, you will feel resentment from your friends and family. Don’t allow this to get to you. At the end of the day, you only have yourself, do what makes you happy and what will allow you to succeed. Never take advice someone you wouldn’t be willing to trade places with.

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot

2. Become comfortable with the unkown

Aaron O’Hearn is co-founder of the Startup Institute, a startup that offers courses, and programs that help give people skills, the mindset, and the opportunity to network and build a career they love.

The best piece of advice Aaron could give is to become comfortable with unknown. As an entrepreneur, study all you want but you need to put yourself out there. You can learn from the past but you also need to learn from applying what you’ve learned. The worst thing you can do is attain knowledge and let it go to waste.

You can let the unknown hold you back entirely. Don’t let this be you. Almost everyone who has become successful had to start from somewhere. They were just like us but the difference between them and you is that they took action despite being uncomfortable.

The problem is if you become too comfortable, you’ll think you have it made and lose your edge. Learn to become comfortable with unknown and always be willing to push yourself past your fears.

3. Place a financial wager on yourself

Nathan Chan is the founder of Foundr, a startup that has a highly regarded magazine and app that teaches entrepreneurs how to grow and build their business.

The best of advice Nathan could give a startup founder would be to place a financial wager on yourself. What he means by this is when he first started his company, it required a software that he put on his card for $2,000. This was neither money he had or money he could spend. It put his back against the wall. He had no other option than to succeed.

Depending on the entrepreneur you are, go all in. There are different periods when you can do just that. If you’re twenty-three, then by all means go all in but if you’re forty-five with a family, I’d recommend putting money in your business that forces you to become uncomfortable without putting your entire retirement fund in.

As an entrepreneur, you should thrive when your back is against the wall. Stress can be good when it forces you to put in work for your business. What can you do today that will put your back against a wall and force you to put work into your business?

4. Remember, you’re the one calling the shots

Brent Grima is the founder of EverTrue, a startup that works with schools and colleges to help automate their fundraising efforts. The advice Brent gave was to remember that it’s your company and at the end of the day, you’re the one calling the shots. You can speak to mentors and trusted advisers, but if it feels wrong in your gut, then don’t do it. No one is forcing you to make a decision you don’t want to make.

Sometimes when you’re trying to start a company, you take advice from others but often that advice can become conflicting. People will tell you different price points for your service or different ways to market your service. There’s not enough time to try every single price point or marketing service, pick the price or strategy you believe will give your business the greatest chance to succeed. This is your company, make the decision that best suits you.

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs

5. Hire remote employees

Sam Bruce is the co-founder at Much Better Adventures, a startup that helps you book adventurous vacations. When Sam was building his company, he realized the importance of hiring remote employees. You no longer need an office space to connect with your employees. If your employee is full-time, you can do a Skype call with them once per week to make sure they’re doing their work.

When you hire remote employees, you may save money rather than if you had an employee coming into an office. With the money you have save by hiring remote, you can reinvest back into your company. Embrace the nature that you can hire anyone from around the world to work on your company.

Being a startup founder isn’t easy. Don’t make it harder on yourself by not following the above advice.

Share with us below, what advice you would give to someone looking to get into the startup world!

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Trevor Oldham

Trevor Oldham is a 19-year-old entrepreneur who’s had eleutheromania ever since he can remember. When he’s not working or studying, you can catch him by the ocean taking photos of the world in which surrounds us. Trevor is the co-founder of Become The Lion and founder of Trevor James Products.

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Startups

How an LLC Can Help Shield Your Personal Assets

Published

3 weeks ago

Aug 1, 2026

Addicted2Success Editor

Image Credit: Addicted2success

You are a freelance designer, and your client sued you over a trademark mistake. If you believe that your personal savings are safe, then you may be wrong. You are operating as a default sole proprietor. You and your business are the exact same person. As a result, your personal bank account, your car, and even your home are legally up for grabs.

However, if you start an LLC, you can build a legal shield between your business liabilities and your personal life. These days, you can easily form an LLC online.

How Does This Legal Shield Work

When you start an LLC, your business gets a distinct legal identity. Now, your LLC can open its own bank accounts, sign contracts, take out loans, buy equipment, and be held responsible for its own actions. You are not liable. This boundary between you and your business is called the “corporate veil.”

Visualizing the Separation

Inside the Shield (Business Assets)

Everything your company owns is included in this shield. If your business faces a debt collector or a lawsuit, only your business assets are at risk, such as:

Money in the business bank account
Inventory and raw materials
Office equipment, computers, and company vehicles
Business intellectual property

Outside the Shield (Your Personal Assets)

You don’t have to worry about your personal assets, such as:

Your personal checking and savings accounts
Your home and personal real estate
Your family vehicles
Your retirement funds (401k, IRA) and personal investments

What LLC Protection Covers

Business Debts and Contracts

When your LLC signs a commercial lease, hires a contractor, or buys inventory on credit, these are the obligations of the LLC. Your creditors will come after the assets of the LLC if your business can’t pay.

Lawsuits

If your business is sued over a contract dispute, faulty service, or an operational issue, lawsuits will be filed against your business. All your personal assets are safe.

What LLC Protection Does Not Cover

Personal Torts

The term “tort” refers to an act that causes harm or injury to someone else. The LLC shields you from the mistakes of your employees and general business liabilities. However, it never protects you from your own personal actions. For example, if you personally commit fraud, you can be sued personally.

Personal Guarantees

Vendors often hesitate to lend money to new, growing businesses. Such businesses don’t have long credit histories. Lenders often require you to sign a personal guarantee.

How Owners Accidentally Destroy Their Protection

The legal shield provided by forming an LLC only works when you run your business properly. The corporate veil can be pierced when a court decides that your LLC is not legitimate and strips away your protection in a lawsuit. This usually happens when you make one of the following three mistakes.

Commingling Funds

Many small business owners often mix their personal money with their business money. You are commingling funds when you use your business debit card to buy your personal groceries or you deposit a client’s payment directly into your personal checking account. The legal wall crumbles when you don’t treat your business and personal finances as completely separate.

Missing an Operating Agreement

An operating agreement is the legal document that outlines:

How your LLC is run
Who owns what percentage
How profits are handled

If the creditor’s lawyer finds out that an operating agreement is missing, they may argue that your LLC is just a shell.

Falling Out of “Good Standing”

When you start an LLC, you must file annual reports and pay franchise taxes to keep it active. The state will place your business in “Administrative Dissolution” or bad standing if you miss any of these deadlines. You could lose your limited liability protection if you operate a business under an inactive or dissolved LLC.

Startups

Move Fast without Breaking People: Product Safety Lessons for Ambitious Startups

Published

1 month ago

Jul 15, 2026

Addicted2Success Editor

Image Credit: Addicted2success

Fast growth can hide product risks until customers get hurt, especially when safety comes late in development. A software bug can be patched, but a chair, charger, or smart device can cause a burn, fall, cut, or crash.

For founders moving from a prototype to mass sales, the cases handled by Michael Kelly Injury Lawyers in Boston show why launch goals should not push testing, warnings, and foreseeable risks aside. A product claim can involve the design, how a unit was made, user instructions, or several firms in the supply chain.

Why Minimum Viable Should Never Mean Minimally Safe

A minimum viable product should test whether people want an idea, not how much danger they will accept. Teams can delay colors or premium finishes, but not guards, safe heat limits, sound wiring, or clear instructions.

Set Safety Rules Before the Build

The product brief should define who will use the item, where, and what could happen during setup, cleaning, storage, wear, or mistakes. It should also consider what a child, guest, tired worker, or first-time buyer might do.

Shared rules help teams move faster. Designers know which guards must remain. Engineers know which parts cannot fail. Suppliers know what cannot change without review.

Test How People Really Use It

A neat demo is not the real world. Users place products on wet counters, soft rugs, or rough ground. They skip a guide, use the wrong cable, or handle an item in unexpected ways.

Testing should cover misuse without predicting every extreme act. When a risk can be reduced through a guard, lock, stop switch, or clear signal, that design change is often greater than a warning alone.

How Design and Manufacturing Risks Differ

Some risks are built into the design. Others arise when production fails to match the approved plan. Teams need to identify the source before choosing a correction.

Design Problems Start with the Plan

A design problem can affect every unit. A base may tip, a blade may sit too close to a hand, a control may activate too easily, or a battery space may trap heat.

Final inspection cannot repair a flawed plan. The team may need a new shape, shield, limit, material, or control, followed by testing before more units ship.

Manufacturing Problems Break the Plan

A manufacturing problem occurs when a unit or batch does not match the approved design. A fastener may be missing, a weld may be weak, a wire may be damaged, or the wrong component may enter production.

Good records help define the scope. The team should know who made each part, which batch used it, what checks occurred, and where units went. Fast trace work can keep one fault from becoming a wider crisis.

When Customer Feedback Signals More Than Dissatisfaction

Support teams hear about delays, difficult setups, strange sounds, and refunds. Most reports are routine. Yet heat, smoke, sparks, breakage, sharp edges, sudden movement, falls, or failed guards require review.

Treat Complaints as Safety Data

One report may lack key facts, but similar reports can reveal a pattern. Staff should record the model, batch, date, use, photographs, and outcome, then alert someone who can pause sales or order testing.

Teams should not blame unusual use before asking whether another reasonable buyer could make the same choice. A support ticket can be the first sign of a hazard that lab testing missed.

Preserve the Product and the Record

After an injury, the product can help explain what failed. A repair, disposal, or undocumented test can remove evidence. The same applies to old labels, manuals, test files, customer messages, and design notes.

Startups should keep relevant items safely, record who examines them, and preserve earlier versions of instructions and warnings. This history can show what changed and why.

Why Warnings Must Reflect Real Use

A warning works only when a user notices it at the right time. Dense text at the back of a manual may not help during setup. The message should name the hazard, explain the harm, and state what reduces the risk.

Placement matters too. A charging risk belongs near the port. A weight limit belongs where weight is added. Even so, warnings should not replace a safer design when the hazard can reasonably be removed.

How Founders Can Preserve Speed without Cutting Safeguards

A delayed launch, redesign, or recall can feel like defeat. In practice, early action can prevent harm, protect trust, and give the team better facts for the next version. The strongest startups move quickly because their systems protect people.

When a product injures someone, legal guidance can help preserve the item, collect design and manufacturing records, identify responsible companies, and examine whether a defect or unsafe choice caused the harm.