SmallBizResource Blog -- Startups

36 Software, Infrastructure, PR, And Finance Tips for Startups

Posted by Fredric Paul Thursday, Dec 27, 2007, 09:34 PM ET

Are you starting a company? Thinking of starting a company? You may find these 36 tips useful in dealing with the many challenges you face. Or they may convince you that creating a startup is simply too difficult and that you should go work for IBM instead.

Compiled from AdaptiveBlue's BlueBlog and published in ReadWriteWeb, the tips cover everything from the importance of hiring "rockstar" programmers to managing PR firms and lawyers.

Overall, it's a great list of essential information, especially the technical tips. But Scobleizer and others have questioned some of the PR tactics. (Funny, the tech guys grumbling about PR, hardly their core area of expertise.)

As a "media professional," here's my take on some of the tips:

Hiring a PR firms is a good idea, if you can afford it. While there are ways to cut costs, PR ain't free and there may be better ways to spend your cash.

Manage your PR folks carefully. Let them use their expertise on the journalism process, while you contribute yours about your company and products.

As the skeptics note, launching at a conference isn't always a good idea, as it can be difficult to rise above the "noise" level. One alternative is to be a Lobbyconnerand hang out in the conference corridors and pitch your product on the margins of the official show. According to Valleywag, only fools actually pay to attend conferences these days.

Multimedia is fine, but a simple email is the key to getting attention. If you can't explain your product in a couple paragraphs, maybe you need to go back to the drawing board.

It's fine to make your pitches any day of the week. These days, journalists and bloggers need material 24/7.

Embargoes are pointless, and "real" journalists hate them. If you send out an unsolicited release with an embargo, you can expect that date to be routinely - and rightfully - ignored.

Word of mouth is the best PR. Legions of happy users will make sure other folks learn of the reason for that happiness.

I curious, though, what do SmallBizResource readers think of these tips? What did they get wrong? What did they leave out?

Startups