I keep hearing startup entrepreneurs tell me “We need funding. If we just had $XXXk of investment, we’d be killing it right now.” I press them with one question: what would you do with the money if you had it? Inevitably the question is met with a blank stare. Most of the time people haven’t thought about it. The answers that do come feel a little half-baked:“Buy a bunch of ad words to get people to our site – that’s all we need”“Build the product”“Finish the product”“Hire a bunch of sales guys”Sure you hav...

1. However much money you think you'll need to start a business, you should take that number and double itI thought I had strategically planned every penny when I first started, but I had no idea that there would be so many unanticipated costs. Since we have a home office, I use temporary commercial office space and conference solutions for meetings and demonstrations. We always like to buy lunch for our clients, and we like them to lunch well.By the time everything is factored in, depending on how many people will be at lunch, you could be looking at a cool grand just as a baseline. Being a g...