As you navigate the social media landscape, you may realize similarities among the platforms. Hashtags that began on Twitter have since been embraced by almost every platform. Twitter Moments remind me of Snapchat Stories. Facebook’s emphasis on profile pictures and Instagram’s visual focus are ubiquitous.

With all the changes Facebook has experienced, it remains the most popular social media platform. Instagram wears the social media engagement crown. Snapchat owns the youthful demographic, and Pinterest remains the go-to for women. What does that mean for Twitter?

It saddens me to inform you that it’s dying. On February 6, 2016, #RIPTwitter was trending on Twitter amidst the idea that it would be launching an algorithm reminiscent of Facebook. Uh-oh! Kiss the reverse chronological timeline goodbye.

A few days later Twitter posted a blog, “Never miss important Tweets from people you follow.” Say it isn’t so. Luckily, it’s not mandatory, yet. Users have the option to opt-in. This is important because, going back to its core, I believe one of Twitter’s strengths is how fast news travels on the platform and how easy it is to find it.

As an avid Twitter user, there are three tips I suggest to cut through the noise and maximize the platform. In short, take advantage of lists, hashtags and direct messages.

Lists

Creating and managing lists is my most-prized Twitter tip. I very seldom visit my home feed because it’s cluttered and I don’t have a context to follow. The reason I love lists is because it gives me the opportunity to segment based on interests, location, event, etc. After creating a list, I can look at that list and follow exactly what I want.

Private lists can only be seen by you and users have no idea they’re on the lists. This may be a competitive tactic to use if you want to keep an eye on a competitor without them knowing it.

Before we go any further, let’s talk about some of the parameters of lists set by Twitter.

• 1,000 lists permitted per user
• 5,000 users permitted per list
• List names cannot exceed 25 characters
• List names cannot begin with a numerical character.

Sidenote: Being one that pushes the limits, I will tell you that you can begin a list with a numerical character. I’m not sure if it’s an oversight, but I used to write out numbers, but one day I decided to attempt to name a list beginning with a number and it worked.

There are two types of lists: public and private. Public lists can be viewed by anyone and once an account is added to the list, the user is notified they have been added. Private lists can only be seen by you and users have no idea they’re on the lists. This may be a competitive tactic to use if you want to keep an eye on a competitor without them knowing it. If you decide you want a private list to become public, every user on the list will be notified they’ve been added upon making it public.

You can share public lists with others or subscribe if someone has created a list you find valuable or useful. Creating a list for an event is a great way to keep track of attendees, speakers, sponsors, venues, etc. While building a list can be cumbersome, there are tools such as IFFFT that can help make list creation easier.

IFFFT uses a recipe that adds users to a list based on the hashtag that’s used.

Hashtags

That brings me to my next tip, hashtags. Twitter didn’t invent the hashtag, but they definitely propagated it. Hashtags have found their way into popular culture and it’s to the point where people have made it part of their vernacular.

From the days of Internet Relay Chat (IRC) and now Slack, hashtags have been around. August 23, 2007, is considered as the birth of hashtags on Twitter. Chris Messina suggested it be used for groups.

how do you feel about using # (pound) for groups. As in #barcamp [msg]?

— Chris Messina ✌︎ (@chrismessina) August 23, 2007

Hashtags have become the way users join, follow and categorize digital conversations. Like apps, there is a hashtag for everything. I don’t recommend going crazy with hashtags; there is a hashtag etiquette for each platform. Use hashtags responsibly.

Direct Messaging

My last tip is the often times abused direct messaging feature in Twitter. This is the way I further connect with people. Private conversations are great for quick messages. Twitter has allowed tweets to be shared in direct messages, accounts and hashtags are searchable, images and videos can be sent, and the 140-character limit is in favor of longer messages. Of course it didn’t start out like this.

On August 2015, the 140-character limit was removed from direct messaging. I, for one, can’t explain the excitement I had when this became a reality. Rumor has it that Twitter is thinking about changing the 140-character limit on tweets. That could potentially drastically change the digital real estate for Twitter. That’s another conversation, but an interesting one.

I’m not a fan of automating Twitter direct messages. I know that’s not scalable, but I prefer to be authentic in the way I engage. I like the idea of a welcome message, but most of the automated direct messages I encounter are people trying to sell something.

Although I’m not a fan, it may work for you or your brand. It doesn’t hurt to test and see what happens. In case you decide to test automating direct messaging, Crowdfire (formerly JustUnfollow) and SocialOomph are two tools you can try.

Quick points about direct messages.

• There is no character limit like the 140-character limit with tweets.
• You can send a direct message to anyone who follows you.
• If someone sends you a direct message you can reply even if they don’t follow you.
• Images, tweets and videos can be sent in a direct message.
• You can send a group direct message

Lists, hashtags and direct messages are my favorite Twitter tips. Embedding tweets, which you got a preview from above, is also a good tip. Embedded tweets are interactive and they encourage engagement. It’s become common to do it in blogging and other platforms such as Medium and Storify.

I can’t forget the integration of Vine and Periscope being significant or Twitter’s love for emojis and recently gifs. Did you get invited to the #GIFparty? It’s obvious there are more tips. I didn’t talk about analytics, live-tweeting or tagging. Maybe next time. What are some of your go-to Twitter tips?

The post 3 Ways to Maximize Twitter for Your Startup appeared first on Startup Southerner.

‘Founder’s Tech – Tech trends, tips and advice for founders, entrepreneurs and bootstrappers’ is a recurring column by Jake Hare, founder of Nashville-based Launchpeer, a web & mobile application development agency focused on startups, entrepreneurs and bootstrappers.

Trying to kickstart your tech startup can be difficult, especially when your budget is close to zero. Staying lean is easier to do now than ever before, but maintaining a smooth-running startup can be difficult with tons of tools are out there that run from $15 to $30 or more per month, with that cost adding up quickly. Because my company has been working with startups for so long we’ve been able to find and utilize some incredible tools, not only for our agency but also for our clients whose budgets are trying to go toward their product or payroll and not toward software costs. Below are some incredible tools, all free, that can help any startup run.

Uber Conference: Ever tried to use Skype or GoToMeeting for conference calls or screen shares? For us, it was less than reliable. Then we heard about Uber Conference, a free online tool that gives you a dedicated URL for your startup along with a dedicated conference line that you can use anytime. With the free tool you can collaborate with up to 10 people, sharing screens and talking on your conference line, and it also has an in-app chat so you can share files and notes with those on the call.

Trello: Whether you’re managing complicated workflows or just need a place to collaborate on product requirements, Trello is lightweight enough to do it all. With the Kanban-style boards it’ll be easy for you and your team members to use without being stuck in the monotony of detail that some other tools have. What’s more, Trello allows you to collaborate with not only your team members but also outsiders who you can give read-only access to.

Slack: If you don’t know Slack by now you’re wrong. The company is growing at a self-reported rate of $1 million a week in revenue, and there’s a good reason why. Slack is an incredible tool for team communications, allowing you to add in as many team members as you like, create private and public channels to communicate with different team members on various topics, and also upload and comment on files when needed. The company is even looking to add screen sharing and conference calls to its list of features, which should scare a lot of competitors. If you want a taste of Slack, go check out Nashville’s own NashDev Slack Channel, a community of people in Nashville interested in the tech community. Nashville’s not the only city to have such a channel; Charleston, Atlanta and Huntsville along with many others are using the tools to connect startups, entrepreneurs and business people in their city in a way that’s never been done before.

Wave Accounting: When our company was looking for an accounting solution, we figured we’d have to shell out $30 to $50 per month or more to find a tool or service to do bookkeeping. Then we found Wave. Wave is a free, lightweight accounting tool that connects to your bank account and does the heavy lifting for you. All you have to do is login and assign items to categories like travel expenses, sales, payroll and more while Wave keeps detailed reports for you. The premium plans even allow you to manage payroll at a really reasonable rate. Definitely recommended, and your accountant will love you for it.

Zapier: Ever wish you could automate some parts of your business? Zapier will let you do it. Zapier has worked for years connecting different software tools for you. For example, we’ve used it to send automated emails to clients when an item in Trello gets marked as complete. We’ve also automated our sales process, so when a client signs a proposal they’re automatically sent an invoice. Zapier can save you hours a week if not more, time you could be spending building your startup.

Invision: Creating good wireframes and mockups is incredibly important for most tech startups. Without them your developers are left hoping the front end reflects your wishes. Invision is a great tool you can use to create clickable mockups that mimic your product. It lets you add actions to various elements of the mockup, such as ‘On Click’ send the mockup to a new screen. You are also able to collaborate with team members and outside people within the tool with a unique share link, at which the collaborators can comment on various elements of the mockup.  

Canva: Creating social media images, blog graphics and infographics used to be a pain for us. We were using an Adobe Illustrator license that’s not cheap. Then we found Canva and it’s like our whole world changed! Canva is a free tool that lets you create any sort of graphic you can think of. It has a ton of predefined templates for you to use that are all incredible, and you can even upload your own images to use. The templates are also cut at predefined sizes so no more worrying about ensuring the images you create are appropriates sizes for your needs.  This tool also saves us hours a week in design work that we’d rather be spending on our clients.

Calendly: Appointment scheduling has never been easier than with Calendly. Whenever we need to schedule a call with a new prospect, partner or client we send them a link to our business’s Calendly page where they can choose a time that works well for them. The best part is that it syncs up with your calendar so people can only schedule appointments at times you’re available. The only downside to it is that you have to have a Gmail or Outlook account to connect your calendar.

Typeform: Google Forms are great but they’re also pretty ugly most of the time. Typeform is a beautiful form-building tool. It has a ton of predefined fields such as checkboxes, dropdowns and numbers so users enter only the information you’re trying to capture. It also can send an automated email to the people who fill out the form which you can customize to fit your needs. It’s a great way to capture whatever information you need. If you want an example of one go check out our old Project Calculator.

Hubstaff: OK, this one’s not free, but it’s worth it. Paying team members, especially hourly staff, is not easy.  We used to do this manually, having members track time in our project management tool, then manually adding numbers up and paying them with a check. That sucked.  Hubstaff lets you add team members, set their hourly rate and then pay them through the tool. The best thing about it is that it lets you add projects to which team members can track their time against. Your team can just click a ‘Play’ button and it’ll track the hours they’re working. If you want to get really fancy it also has a feature that lets you record the screens of your team members while they’re tracking time, a good way to ensure your team is working the hours they say if that’s your cup of tea.

The post Awesome (and Free) Tools for Startups appeared first on Startup Southerner.

Kela Ivonye is the co-founder and CEO of Arrow Food Couriers, a hyper-local multi-restaurant food delivery service in Louisville, Kentucky. He is also involved with a startup called MailHaven, a service that provides safer, more convenient local package delivery. Ivonye has his own blog, which features insightful information about his experience in the startup world. But we decided to dig deeper into his story to discover the inspiration behind Arrow Food Couriers, the challenges he faces as an entrepreneur and his plans for the future.

Q: Where are you originally from? What inspired your decision to move to Louisville?

A: I was born in Lagos, Nigeria and I moved to America 11 years ago, specifically Little Rock, Arkansas, before I relocated to Louisville. My late father—who was also a technology entrepreneur—got both his degrees in America, and I always knew I wanted to come over to the United States to go to school.

Q: What sparked the idea for Arrow Food Couriers?

A: While in graduate school, I was a graduate intern at several labs, and I also waited tables at a small restaurant. I noticed the restaurant was not making enough money from sit-ins and takeout; however, they had customers who wanted to have food delivered, and there was no means to do it. There was a multi-restaurant delivery company already in the city, but they charged exorbitant prices, took over an hour to deliver on average, and had a 1.5 star rating on Yelp. I saw an opportunity in the market and decided to go for it, adding our own spin of environmental awareness, which has gotten us recognized by the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat as a Climate Neutral Now Champion Company.

Q: How is Arrow Food Couriers currently growing and changing?

A: Arrow Food Couriers had a lofty goal of expanding across the United States; however, we reassessed our position in the market and the availability of—and our access to—capital, and we decided to focus on a relatively virgin market where our lead investor resides. We will keep supporting our Louisville operations, but focus on increasing our development team and software assets in anticipation of a launch in a foreign country at the end of the year.

Q: Where do you hope to be in five years?

A: I see myself being at the forefront of hyper-local logistics technology, and developing physical infrastructure for the future of commerce, setting the precedent for what I refer to as “fluid commerce.”

Q: What has been your biggest mistake—or lesson learned—in the process of starting your own company?

A: Being headstrong, allowing my passion for environmental technology to cloud my judgment, thereby overshadowing the primary tenet of a business: achieving profitability for the value we create.

Q: Have any tips for entrepreneurs like yourself?

A: You are your worst enemy, no one else is. Conquer your demons, make the best use of your time. Don’t accept failure, accept learning lessons. When your success is temporarily impeded by your own mistakes, place yourself in the best position to learn and succeed.

The post Learning From Experience: A Q&A With Kela Ivonye appeared first on Startup Southerner.

I recently had a call updating an investor about all things LineGard Med, and he ended the call with one of the most poignant questions I’d been asked in a while: “What keeps you up at night?” I laughed, and admittedly had to strain to think about it and answer; it was kind of an awkward thing to think about! Awkward because what keeps you up at night might not necessarily be the biggest structural hurdle or largest expenditure. Here are three questions that I’ve had to answer recently that go a little deeper than timelines or margins, and that every founder needs to answer.

What about your business keeps you up at night? It’s the thing buried in your inbox that is still marked unread. It’s the person you’re counting on to perform but who is showing sings of falterning. It’s the user input that you can’t figure out how to satisfy. It can be anything. I love this question because it’s a gauge of how things are feeling; and I don’t mean boo-hoo feelings, I mean the way people’s chemistry and dynamics are affecting things. Having a development team building your application checks the box, but do you feel like they are giving you quality work? Should you lean on them for more? You have research staff for your study, but are they feeling engaged about the data collection? Don’t be afraid to use this question to root out that pesky little issue in your business.

Is your personal happiness separated from your business? I cannot stress how important this separation is. Entrepreneurs put their heart and soul into their businesses. It’s what makes them great, but it’s also problematic for managing stress. You cannot let the ups and down of the business dictate your attitude. Most importantly, you cannot consolidate your self worth in your business. If you wear the stress of your business on your shoulders, 24/7, it will wear you down. You have to understand that it’s OK to unplug and handle it later.

Are you continuing to grow as a leader? Always being the best leader for your company means you have to grow and evolve as your company’s needs do. This doesn’t mean shifting principles for convenience, it means knowing when and how to best manage your people and processes. Staying up on best practices doesn’t happen naturally; it takes reading new journals, being active in the industry community, staying fresh on research. It’s a great way to challenge yourself and mature personally, as well.

The post 3 Questions Every Founder Needs to Answer appeared first on Startup Southerner.

Last month, the White House announced a new multi-billion-dollar Computer Science for All initiative, with a mission to provide every student a chance to learn CS in school. The commitment at the national level comes at a time when the dialogue, advocacy and regional mandates for more STEM education are at an all-time high. One of the key factors in creating such initiatives is that these skills, including coding, are necessary in order to participate in the current economic landscape.

I learned coding in school, too—at a coding bootcamp, at age 35. And one of my main reasons for deciding to quit a steady job to take a six-month deep dive into uncharted waters was to become armed with a skill set that would help guide me to broader career options in tech. This decision and subsequent completion of the program at Nashville Software School have already paid off. My current part-time positions are in software development, with hopes to eventually move toward UX strategy.

And, well, I started a business. What I didn’t expect that I would learn from learning to code were developing habits that have allowed me to galvanize skills and perspectives that I already had and then propel them into something useful, something better. Even if studying coding doesn’t lead everyone to pursue a career in software development, there are several lessons that can carry into life in general.

1. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. In going through a coding bootcamp, new concepts are thrown at you day after day, practically every day for the duration of the program.  One concept may build on the previous one, but it was often frustrating when a new lesson was introduced before I had a chance to figure out the one I was previously working on.  

The reality is that this is often how life is. If we keep looking for that perfect moment to take control, you may never find it. That sense of discomfort is most often a clear sign that you’re learning something new. And that’s a good thing.

2. You don’t really know it until you do it. There’s really no other way to get better at coding than to write the code yourself. No matter how many tutorials you watch or Stack Overflow posts you discover with the so-called best solution, the supposed academic understanding of a concept really doesn’t count as understanding anything at all. By having to actually take action, it also means learning this next lesson.

3. Make Mistakes. In choosing to learn code, you’re also choosing to make mistakes. And for many of us who have lived a lifetime trying to avoid those dreaded pitfalls of life, the idea of making mistakes to become better seems like a really bad idea. But those mistakes you make in code are not permanent by any means, and they’re also the only way to make progress toward the solution.

4. Versioning means there’s room to keep getting better. Because the turnaround time on projects comes quick in a coding bootcamp, you learn to set priorities on what’s enough for the MVP (minimum viable product) of version 1.0, with expectations that the other features would be built in subsequent versions. For me, I’ve applied this sort of iterative method to working on my personal well-being. It’s OK to not be your desired self now. What really matters is that you are making incremental progress toward a bigger goal.

The post 4 Startup Lessons I Learned at Coding Bootcamp appeared first on Startup Southerner.

Samantha Fong is cofounder and lead business developer of Front Door, a Memphis-based startup that is disrupting the real estate industry by providing home sellers with full-service agents for a flat fee of $1,500. Front Door completed Start Co.’s women-led Upstart accelerator program last year.

Being Type A, I was never big on taking chances or surprises. If I took a chance, I usually had at least one back-up plan, possibly even five, ready to go. In high school, I had the ultimate 10-year plan that included school, love, marriage and kids. About two years into college, I learned to accept that a majority of things in life are out of my control. You can’t really predict your life, let alone your career. I did do the usual, though: I graduated college, went to grad school and found a job in my respective field. But about two weeks into my first “big girl” job, I felt stuck. It was as if everyone around me was moving, advancing, while I stood still.

We started Front Door on a very small budget compared to most companies—we’re talking $25,000. But in just three short months, we were able to validate our market, obtain customers and even establish partnerships within our space. Right now, it is still just the two of us (Jessica Buffington is cofounder and CEO), but as we begin to expand, we want to seek out employees with values that are aligned with ours. I grew up playing sports and studying the sciences, not business, but the lessons I’ve learned since creating Front Door simply could not have been obtained in any classroom.

I’m often asked about my story and leveraged for some sought-after advice, and to be honest, I think the biggest one is to establish trust. I know what you’re thinking: Is this advice for a startup or a relationship? But hear me out. If I didn’t trust Jessica to start this journey or the process of our accelerator, I don’t think Front Door would be the company it is today. Of course this isn’t for the faint of heart and you will experience your fair share of highs and lows, but the reward at the end when you take a step back is completely worth it.

I think for me, realizing every day was a new adventure was the hardest adjustment in starting a company. But I’ve come to enjoy the roller coaster that is life and have welcomed each day as an opportunity to learn and grow.

The post #MyStartupStory: You Don’t Learn Startup in a Classroom appeared first on Startup Southerner.

Over the last year, much of the buzz about the Nashville Entrepreneur Center (the EC) surrounded their accelerator program offerings. And rightfully so. Their accelerators increasingly attract applications from international companies and financial support from industry leaders. With the recent launch announcement of a new healthcare accelerator, it’s easy for the casual observer to think that the EC is a place for companies in an accelerator, while overlooking all the other functions that the EC provides.

Such may be the case for PreFlight, now in its fifth cohort. Until joining the EC in December, I, a semi-casual observer, had never heard about this 12-week educational program for the “‘idea-stage entrepreneur.” But I was certainly aware of some of the companies that came through the program, such as Dart Music and Aloncii.   

Now I am four weeks into my own PreFlight experience, and I’m so glad I didn’t have to start my entrepreneurial journey without it.

We are getting ready to launch….by first attending #PreFlightEC in @entrecenterpic.twitter.com/9CJdMYrFwV

— Startup Southerner (@StartupSouthern) January 25, 2016

The PreFlight cohort is larger than one might imagine. With about two dozen entrepreneurial ideas represented—and at two seats allotted per class fee—there are about 40 people in our class. (Our staff writer Rachel Cypher is in attendance with me.) And when the EC says “idea-stage,” they really mean it. While some groups may have already been working on their ideas for some time, others really have an idea that they are taking through to PreFlight to determine if it’s even viable. At PreFlight, all varieties of entrepreneurial ideas are welcomed.

The PreFlight program is led by John Murdock, EC’s VP of entrepreneurial development. The hour-and-a-half-long class, which meets on Monday nights, involves a mix of lecture, group exercises and discussion. In just four weeks, I’ve had to become better at quickly formulating words to describe certain aspects of my company so that those ideas made sense to another classmate. The time spent on Monday night go quickly, and those sessions have led to more hours of thinking and plotting well past the class time.

In addition to the classroom activities, PreFlight also has a robust online portal, with video lectures and reading material that could keep the participant busy for many hours beyond that. The weekly assignments that stem from material released every week are graded by Murdock, with valuable feedback for every assignment turned in.

So, what’s my major takeaway from PreFlight so far? It’s allowing our group to get to the point faster.

In just these four weeks, the PreFlight curriculum has allowed me to work smarter (and harder) when time is of the essence. Without PreFlight, I would not have been able to access such condensed and pinpointed information on starting a business in such a short amount of time. Sure, one could argue that some of the information could be found in books and other online resources. But at this point, I’m working off the principle of time value of money. Our startup cannot afford the time it takes to search for and read through random information, especially when my time is also being allocated to other aspects of life. If you want curated, foundational content without having to wade through the self-congratulatory passages, PreFlight may be your best bet.

I finally appreciate why the EC has a sign that says “Turning Ideas Into Reality” right at the entryway.

Author’s Note: As a recipient of the Nashville Entrepreneur Center’s Female Founder scholarship, the award included tuition to PreFlight.

The post Impressions on PreFlight, a Program of the Nashville Entrepreneur Center appeared first on Startup Southerner.

The hardest part of owning a startup is always the beginning: the process of turning your idea into a company with a working business model and appropriate funding. Luckily, there is a multitude of accelerator programs in the South available to entrepreneurs who want to launch their startups quickly.

In four years, the Points of Light Civic Accelerator has graduated six cohorts of civic ventures all focused on achieving a social or environmental mission. The Atlanta-based accelerator, the first of its kind to focus on civic ventures on a national level, currently is accepting applications for its seventh cohort to help address the current digital and financial inclusion challenge. The 10-week program, which includes an entrepreneur boot camp and investor fund, runs April 11 through June 18. Applications are due Feb. 26, and they’re looking for both for-profit and nonprofit ventures. The program itself is free, although startups do have to incur travel and lodging expenses during the program.

According to Jasmine Cato, senior program coordinator for the Civic Accelerator, the upcoming class will accelerate innovative, scalable ventures that increase opportunities for the underserved, underbanked and underemployed through solutions such as financial services, tech tools, digital skills, financial literacy and access. In exchange for working on these civic problems, the accelerator provides participants with education, peer learning, mentors and networks, as well as continued support post-graduation.

At the end of the program, the two most promising ventures, determined by the participants themselves at a demo day presentation, will each receive a $50,000 investment.

In its four-year history, the program has graduated 74 ventures—50 percent of them with female founders or cofounders. In addition to being sponsored by Points of Light, the world’s largest organization dedicated to volunteer service, the Civic Accelerator also receives funding from the PwC Charitable Foundation, the Starbucks Foundation and, new this year, Capital One.

To apply or for more information, including frequently asked questions, visit cvcx.org.

The post Accelerator Spotlight: Points of Light Civic Accelerator in Atlanta appeared first on Startup Southerner.

Missed our previous article on Girls to the Moon? Access it here.

This Saturday, I joined several amazing girls and their caregivers for the Girls to the Moon Galentine’s Day celebration in Nashville, Tennessee. The event, titled “The Love Within,” featured crafts, snacks, pink mocktails and three keynote speakers, who taught the girls how to be happy and confident in themselves while providing them with a few basic tools for self-care.

While listening to the keynote speakers, I found that although their presentations were catered to young girls, their content could easily be applied to the startup community as a whole. Here are three lessons I took away from the afternoon:

1. Your mental and physical health are important factors in your success. Sarah Hays Coomer, author and self-proclaimed diet abolitionist, delivered her talk “Loving Yourself on Ugh Days.” Coomer explained that caring for your mental and physical well-being builds confidence and increases happiness, which can impact overall success. Here are her four steps for tackling difficult days:

1. Notice it. Acknowledge that you don’t feel your best.
2. Do something you love. Read a book or take a walk. Just do something that makes you feel happy.
3. Explore, be free, and keep and open mind. Remember to be open to new possibilities and new solutions.
4. Rest, regroup and start again. Navigating a difficult day can take its toll. Allow your mind and body to recuperate before starting again.

Taking care of your mental and physical health allows you to focus more of your energy where you really need it—toward the success of your venture.

2. Put your best face forward. Tabatha Tipton Hall, the second speaker of the afternoon, is a certified aesthetician and owner of Pinup Skin Spa & Boutique in Franklin, Tennessee. Hall taught the girls basic skincare and makeup tips, emphasizing the idea that putting your best face forward can give you a confidence boost that motivates you throughout the entire day.

In other words, feeling confident in yourself—whether that confidence comes from your appearance or otherwise—is the first step in feeling confident in what you do.

3. Your differences make you great. Our final speaker was Dr. Sharon Y. Moore-Caldwell, a pediatrician with Tristar Centennial, who spoke on how our differences are what makes us significant. Because each person operates as a single part of a larger whole—the human race—our differences are valuable. To help the girls remember this lesson, she taught them this catchy mnemonic.

Entrepreneurs cannot innovate unless they bring something new to the market. In this sense, honor your differences, because they are what make you valuable.

The post Startup Lessons from a V-Day Workshop for Girls appeared first on Startup Southerner.

‘Founder’s Tech – Tech trends, tips and advice for founders, entrepreneurs and bootstrappers’ is a recurring column by Jake Hare, founder of Nashville-based Launchpeer, a web & mobile application development agency focused on startups, entrepreneurs and bootstrappers.

There is so much documentation out on the Internet regarding this. Most articles talk about how code is at the core of tech startups, especially SaaS (software as a service), which has become an increasingly popular area for bootstrappers and entrepreneurs to get into because of the promise of monthly recurring revenue. Who wouldn’t want to build such a business?

The problem with the idea that founders should learn to code is time. How realistic is it for hopeful founders to spend the time needed to learn to code, and I’m not talking about WordPress or simple HTML and CSS, but an actual application framework such as Ionic, Ruby or countless others that will yield a usable web or mobile application. Even if it’s just building a minimum viable product, it’s difficult to spend hours of your day, oftentimes after already working eight hours at a full-time job that pays the bills, to learn to code. There are a lucky few who have the time and money to attend schools like Nashville Software School or The Iron Yard for months on end, but that’s simply not realistic for most. For most, it’s spending time on sites like Codecademy or Code.org trying to pick up some knowledge, which could take months if not years to master enough to fully build what you need, if you were electing to build on your own.

At the end of the day founders should ask themselves why they should learn to code. If the answer is to build your MVP inexpensively and quickly, that’s likely not a correct assumption. The reason a founder should learn to code is actually something quite different. It’s really to know enough that you don’t get screwed by the freelancers or developers you hire to build your product. At Launchpeer at least half of our clients come to us with an existing, often horrible, code base, with the founder or team having worked with freelancers in the past, writing code in a silo with little checks on the work they were performing. Best-case scenario is the code actually works, but is buggy; worst-case scenario the team gets something that doesn’t work at all, all while they were billed some hourly rate that ended up being for nothing. The reasons for this are often the same: the founder or team didn’t know enough about code to provide meaningful assistance in terms of application requirements, didn’t know enough about code to know what items should be worked on first and for how many hours, and didn’t know the best framework for their situation to begin with. This leaves the founder at the whim of the freelancer, who doesn’t have near as much invested in the business venture as the founder.

The reason a founder should learn to code is actually something quite different. It’s really to know enough that you don’t get screwed by the freelancers or developers you hire to build your product.

In short, a founder should definitely learn how to code. Not necessarily enough to build a full application, but enough to know how long some features will take to build over others. Enough to know that their application should be a native app instead of a hybrid app because of the features being built. Enough that when their freelancer or development team is running into problems, the founder understands, at least at a high level, what the issue is and can provide assistance or prioritize certain items over others.

If you’re a founder trying to learn how to code, and you have the time to attend a code school, then definitely do it. Our agency has hired developers out of The Iron Yard and other schools, and the training they provide is definitely enough to build an MVP. But, if you’re like most entrepreneurs and you’re busy working a full-time gig, hustling part-time to build your startup, then elect for something like Udemy, Pluralsight or Codecademy if you’re OK with self-guided modules that can teach you the basics. If you’re looking for something a little more intense with the help of a mentor try the online programs at Bloc or Thinkful, both fairly costly but come with a mentor who you can meet with regularly.

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