Danny Boice is the CTO of Speek – a 500 Startups funded startup that let’s users do conference calls with a simple link (speek.com/YourName) rather than using phone numbers and PINs. A serial entrepreneur and executive, Danny started his career as a software engineer working for startups like Network Solutions and MusicMaker.com in the 90′s. Danny founded his first company, Jaxara in the early 2000s (exited via acquisition). Danny attended Harvard and is a guest contributor to The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Fast Company and Pando Daily as an expert on startups, product, technology and user experience. He was recently named a Tech Titan by Washingtonian Magazine.

#StartupLab is a free virtual mentorship program created by The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of hundreds of America’s most successful young entrepreneurs. #StartupLab takes YEC’s mission to help more people start successful businesses to the next level by offering millions of entrepreneurs direct access to YEC members through interactive video chats, email lessons and a library of how-to articles, videos and eBooks. Whether you’re just starting up, a current business owner, or you run an organization that supports entrepreneurs, sign up for #StartupLab today for real-world advice from some of the coolest entrepreneurs on the planet.

Don’t forget to check #StartupLab tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. Eastern (12 p.m. Pacific), when Danny will answer your questions live via video chat.

Photo courtesy of Danny Boice.

Make FuseDesk a Feature

"My teams use FuseDesk to handle incoming requests, assign cases and track case history. The app links directly to an Infusionsoft account so we don't spend a lot of extra time trying to remember who is emailing for support, what they bought and when it was shipped. It's all integrated making it easy to send a template response. The system cut our response time dramatically!"

- Kelly Azevedo | Founder, She's Got Systems

HelpScout Helps Out

"We use HelpScout to provide a technical help desk for students of our online school. To them it means simply being able to request help by email -- no logging into a dashboard to see updates or followups. For us, it means we can provide greater personalized support, really get to know students and manage all requests in one place -- no cluttering up inboxes, yet still providing that personal touch."

- Lea Woodward | Founder, Inspiring Ventures

Take It to Twitter

"No matter what's going on, our team is always on Twitter -- and so are most of our users/readers. They resort to it if there's any trouble and it gives us an opportunity to answer back, help out, and throw in some personality."

- Derek Flanzraich | CEO and Founder, Greatist

Segmented Customer Support

"Providing customer service throughout the day will only break up your day and take focus away from the stuff that's making you busy. Instead, take an hour in the morning and an hour before you finish for the day to close out all customer service requests. By doing this, it becomes a game, as you work diligently to finish in that specific time slot you have allocated for customer support."

- Todd Garland | Founder, BuySellAds

Follow @toddo

Real Time With Olark

"Olark gives us instant access to our customers and since users want to chat right away, it's a good way to force us to talk with them and remember that they are the most important part of the business."

- Wade Foster | Co-founder, Zapier

It's a Team Effort

"For many businesses, customer service may be easily shared among all members of the organization. Addressing customers' needs is something no one should be too senior to do, and spreading the load will ensure that no customer feedback goes unaddressed. It's a model worth trying out if you're overburdened with customer requests."

- Doreen Bloch | CEO / Founder, Poshly Inc.

Figure It Out Face to Face

"Establishing genuine relationships with clients needs to be a top priority for all leaders. Yes, this means taking time out of your "busy" schedule and really asking them for feedback over coffee, drinks or dinner. You should likewise create opportunities for group client engagement. Results from a facilitated focus group at my company produced the "pivot" that we now credit for our success."

- Christopher Kelly | Co-Founder, Principal, Convene

Give Access to Real People

"As long as someone human has heard a concern and has made it clear that it will be addressed, most customers can be a little flexible about how long it takes to fix an issue. But the human touch is key to getting that room to work from your customers — if they feel like they haven't been heard, they're going to keep hammering until they get a response."

- Thursday Bram | Consultant, Hyper Modern Consulting

Follow @ThursdayB

If It's So Important, Create a System

"If customer service is truly a top priority for you, then you should have systems in place to ensure quality control. Record and review all client interactions with your employees so they can constantly improve, and hold each employee accountable for customer service standards."

- Nick Friedman | President, College Hunks Hauling Junk and College Hunks Moving

Stay Steps Ahead

"Always be prepared and be a few steps ahead of your client to guide them in the right direction. With a team that's great at project management and account management, you can seamlessly stay in contact with clients, updating them and building their trust."

- Bobby Emamian | CEO, Prolific Interactive

Create a Process Checklist

"Documenting procedures and processes are key for us. We have developed a checklist called "The Customer Experience" in our office. This makes us more in-tune to consistently deliver our vision for how a customer should feel after doing business with us, no matter how busy we get. We make sure every client we have has experienced each step of the checklist before proceeding further in the relationship and project."

- Kenny Nguyen | Founder/CEO, Big Fish Presentations

Remember Their Importance

"Ultimately, our businesses exist to serve our existing customers, not to create products or to attract new customers. Both of the latter two items are important, but not the most important. By reminding yourself of your priorities, it makes it easier to set aside the time to serve them well."

- Elizabeth Saunders | Founder & CEO, Real Life E®

Follow @RealLifeE

Keep Up Communication

"It's not so much important what you say, but how often you say it. Customers, clients, and people in general love to feel that you are aware of their presence. Providing good customer service isn't all about being pleasant, but also just communicating often and allowing your clients to feel validated. So whether it's staying on top of emails or phone calls, make sure you respond often and quickly."

- Steven Le Vine | CEO/President, grapevine pr

Make It Natural

"Build a team that has natural customer service skills. Personally, I don't have to get as involved with customer relations because my team is awesome and cares about each of our clients."

- John Hall | CEO, Influence & Co.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.

To give you an example, YouTube was founded by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim, who were all early employees of PayPal. According to an oft-cited story, Hurley and Chen developed the idea for YouTube during the early months of 2005, after they had experienced difficulty sharing videos that had been shot at a dinner party.

When you’re solving your own problem or one that you feel is the pain point of a certain target audience, how do you know whether there is a large enough pool of people that face the same problems or challenges that you are trying to solve? If you’re just selling a product, you’re better off creating it and getting it to the market. But if you want to build a business out of it, you need to have a sizeable market for scalability.

So the question is, how do you determine the market demand for your startup idea? Read on for several ways to get the answers you need.

Google

Yes, it can be as simple as looking it up on Google. Haven’t you heard that Google is God? It has most of the answers that you are looking for. So how do you get Google to help you? Use the Google Adwords keyword tool to look for the number of people seeking out what you’re trying to do.

Put the keyword(s) in the search box, select the target country or countries and Google will show you the number of average local and global monthly searches. This is a good indicator of demand.

Minimum Viable Product

“Market research and business planning are overrated. The best market research is putting a product out and seeing if people will buy it. The best business plan is to create something great and sell it fast,” says Guy Kawasaki.

Writing a business plan with projections through market research is a sure-shot way to a startup doomsday. Nothing beats an actual customer using your product or service. So how do you get to the customer when you’re at the idea stage and don’t want to spend a huge sum building something they might not want?

Build a minimum viable product or a prototype. The idea is to put out something that offers the core value or your startup or that solves the core problem of your customers.

The MVP could be a PowerPoint slide, a dialogue box or just a landing page. This is something that you can often build it in a day or a week. A prototype can be an actual functioning product with the core features offered.

Share this with your network and see the response. Are people excited to use it? Do they actually feel their needs or problems are resolved by using your product? Is it easy to use?

Landing Page

You don’t have a product yet but still want to get customer buy-ins? Then landing pages are your best friend. Create a teaser or promotional landing page, which highlights the core proposition of your startup.

Ask for their email addresses in return for an offer or simply to be updated about when the startup is launched. Here’s a great example of a landing page that does just that. The number of email subscribers will determine how many people are interested in your startup. Try using Launchrock to create your landing page. Or use KickoffLabs.

To increase traffic, one method is to create a Google Adwords and a Facebook marketing campaign. Point the adverts to this landing page to drive traffic. Use Google Search and Network Partners to spread the campaign among a huge number of people.

You would much rather spend a little money to be sure than spend fortunes building a product that customers don’t want.

Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is an excellent means to get actual buy-in for your product. This concept has increasingly becoming popular with the likes of Kickstarter, RocketHub, Indiegogo launching their platforms on the Internet that bring together startups looking for funding and individuals who are interested in contributing towards an idea or a product.

Apart from securing funding for your startup, you also get to know how many people are actually interested in your product or service. Interested enough to pledge their money. Here’s a list that showcases the most funded projects.

Whatever be your path, make sure you build on something that your customers want. As Kawasaki puts it, “This isn’t rocket science. It’s mostly hard work and luck.”

This post originally appeared on the author’s blog.

Rahul Varshneya is a startup coach and the co-founder of Arkenea, an enterprise mobility and cloud solutions provider. He writes on starting up and mobile strategy at http://rahulvarshneya.com/blog.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.

Question by: Ashley

Don't Dwell on the Past

"The worst thing you can do after you or "your brand" has suffered a personal setback (e.g. public failure, integrity loss) is to dwell on it. Anything you think you've screwed up, you can always fix, but it's up to you. Take action -- go start something new and ignore the haters. Just start somewhere. Start a new company, or a new project. You're your own worst enemy in these type of situations."

- Matthew Ackerson | Founder, Saber Blast

Own Up to What Happened

"The best way to bounce back from a screwup is to be forthright about what occurred. Be an open book with your customers, clients and fans, and send out an email or other update about what happened and how the misstep was made. Your honesty will strike a chord with your followers, and you may find your "mistake" is no big deal in their eyes."

- Amanda Aitken | Founder and CEO, The Girl's Guide to Graphic Design

Follow @amandaaitken

Don't Lose Momentum

"As you strive to rebuild your brand, continue to network inside and outside your organization, and take on new projects that will restore your confidence. Take stock of what went wrong and how you can prevent a similar outcome next time. Assessing the situation honestly and talking about your insights will put the scandal in its proper context, and allow you to start anew without regret."

- Alexandra Levit | President and Founder, Inspiration at Work

Seize Your Moment to Shine

"A screwup can sometimes be an ideal opportunity to showcase your other strengths. Acknowledge the mistake, but focus on how you'll take action to remedy it going forward. An aggressive recovery can help to build an even better relationship with those you offended."

- Michael Tolkin | CEO, Merchant Exchange

Keep Showing Up

"After a screwup, it's natural to want to hide away, take some time to focus and energize. That's often what people will expect you to do. Do the opposite and keep showing up. Be better, be bigger, be bolder. People will soon forget the screw up and focus instead on what you've achieved since then."

- Lea Woodward | Founder, Inspiring Ventures

Frame the Situation Constructively

"It's important to admit mistakes, but how you do so is important. Try to draw parallels to larger truths, such as, "We are human and we still make mistakes," or "Software is never perfect," etc. Then, follow up with a personalized statement: "But we learn each time and pride ourselves on never repeating past mistakes." Reframing the context helps people understand that perfection is unrealistic."

- Kent Healy | Founder and CEO, The Uncommon Life

Follow @Kent_Healy

Make Up for the Mistake

"If you are truly at fault, it is imperative that you admit the mistake immediately in order not to hurt your long-term reputation. Then try to show goodwill by going above and beyond to make up for it. For example, let's say you billed someone twice by mistake. You should not only immediately refund all their money, but you should also give them something free on top of an apology."

- Patrick Curtis | Chief Monkey and Founder, WallStreetOasis.com

Monitor the Media

"Although customers will accept an apology, you must monitor the media for any negative reviews about your brand. Be ready to provide a positive response and let the public know what you have done to avoid the mistake from happening again."

- Nancy T. Nguyen | President & CEO, Sweet T Salon

Make That Phone Call

"I haven't personally ruined my brand or reputation (that I know of), therefore, I can only suggest a few things that I would do. First off, make a few phone calls to your top clients and ask for their recommendation and testimonies for future and immediate reference. Second, I would amend the situation promptly, this could include redoing the job, or simply asking for that second chance."

- George Mavromaras | Founder and President, Mavro Inc. | Praetor Global LLC.

Ditch the Excuses

"Mistakes are actually an opportunity to enhance your personal brand. When you screw up, don't try to make excuses --acknowledge that the mistake was your fault and be clear and direct about it. In these moments, you can exhibit your character for openness and honesty. People love doing business with open and honest people."

- Eric Bahn | Founder, Beat The GMAT

Follow @beatthegmat

Readjust Your Brand

"The first step after a screwup is to update all of your social media accounts reflecting your stance. Then, own your first page of Google real estate by using BrandYourself to optimize your social media search results. This service ensures your message is in front of the general public."

- John Hall | CEO, Influence & Co.

Assess the Damage

"Often times, it's after a big screwup or setback that you have the most clarity on where you're currently at. Use this as an opportunity to take an honest look at the direction your brand has taken, and then move forward from there. The best step you can take towards rebuilding it is to remind yourself exactly what it stands for."

- Sean Ogle | Founder, Location 180, LLC

Follow @seanogle

Play the Offense

"When you find something online that you don't like about yourself, the first thought is, "How do I get rid of that?" The honest answer is, you can't. So get on the offensive and litter the web with positive proof of your personal brand. Be consistent across all platforms and just be yourself -- your personal brand will shine through."

- John Meyer | Founder/CEO, Lemon.ly

Follow @johntmeyer

Own Your Mess

"Mistakes happen. The only people who truly get tarnished are the ones who try to spin it. People see through the BS and don't trust you enough to even let you make a mistake again -- let alone, do anything good."

- Brent Beshore | Owner/CEO, AdVentures

Follow @BrentBeshore

Fix It Before It Happens

"Unless you've worked to build your brand before it happens, it's a tall order trying to repair public perception after a screwup. If you're already using your social networks to organically highlight the passion and expertise you have for what you do, your community will be forgiving (within reason) as you make mistakes. Just be honest and take ownership for your part in the mistake."

- Pete Chatmon | President + CEO, Double7 Images

Follow @@petechatmon

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.

The answer is simple — you turn them into strengths. Everyone always talks about how retaining youthful characteristics like curiosity and optimism is a great way to succeed. Why can’t those who truly embody those characteristics also reap the rewards?

Why Your Age Is Actually an Asset

As a twenty-something Canadian entrepreneur with a funded startup and past experience at a well-known social news company — who was literally thrown into a pit of extremely successful American entrepreneurs — I’ve had my share of challenges and benefits as the new (and incredibly young-looking) kid on the block. People sometimes view the fact that I’m “too young” or “don’t know enough about life” as a flaw, but I actually believe it’s helped me succeed.  When you have no knowledge of the boundaries that exist, you’re able to think bigger; you’re able to be truly and genuinely audacious. That kind of bold, optimistic creativity doesn’t come from being jaded or experienced; it comes from being completely unaware of what lies ahead of you.

Even more so, young people have the fresh ability to learn new skills quickly and retain a ton of information at a time. You can learn a language in a month while you’re younger, but when you’re older, it’s much harder to pick these things up. I try to take full advantage of that, and I’ve seen it happen right in front of me in the tech space. Young people are changing the world through their combination of youth and entrepreneurship. They’re able to establish multi-billion dollar companies because they just don’t see any boundaries, and they can adapt to an evolving landscape quickly.

Young entrepreneurs sometimes tell themselves, “I’m young. No one is going to take me seriously. I don’t have enough money. No one is going to let me do this. I don’t have enough knowledge.” You can solve all those things yourself, without doing anything absurd or fake, like growing facial hair, putting on more makeup or trying to “sound older.” No one ever gets very far by pretending to be something or someone they’re not. The older folks in the room will see right through that, and that’s far worse than being young. Here are three ways to get others to take you seriously — despite your age — while still staying true to yourself:

1. Trust your instincts

Entrepreneurship is inherently instinctual – you’re devoting your life to something unknown and ambiguous. Your decisions and “strategy” are most often a culmination of your basic instincts and parallel, but not directly relevant, data. It’s a very subtle feeling that can be mistaken for many other things – but once you can focus on it, you’ll find your decisions not only for the best, but consistent and wired to your thinking. That intuition, in turn, shapes the vision and culture of the organization you are trying to build. Deviating from your instincts brings unrest not only for you, but among your stakeholders as well.

2. Use your youth

Being young isn’t all about age. It’s about curiosity, capacity, and ultimately, your limits. Test them. There might never be a time in your life where you can stretch your mind and your physical capabilities to their maximum without consequence. As a result, you can leapfrog your success, build amazing products, and live life to its fullest while bringing others along with you.

People often ask me, “How has your youth prevented you from achieving certain things?” I almost always view my youth as an enabler rather than a barrier. Many will assume the latter simply because business/experience/age has gone hand in hand in the last decade. But with the Internet, we are no longer operating on a linear curve of growth of knowledge and numerical age. We are now living in the era of exponential knowledge.

In fact, the younger you are, the more likely you will be viewed as innovative. Don’t conceal or hide your ideas – let them flow and mingle with others, especially during the conception stage. Being young is finally a good thing in the consumer web space. Let’s all make sure that we continue to honor the stage that has been set for us, and continue to innovate incessantly.

3. Generate serendipity

If you create your own luck, there is no sense of reliance. I really, truly, believe in people who understand how to build the right relationships,  thrive in the right environments, and believe in their own capacity and propensity to create. The last few years of my life contain a string of events that came from taking a few extra forks along the path of my life — forks where I could have chosen to simply stay still. The doors that open for you may be just the serendipity you need.

For me, being a young entrepreneur is all about asking how I can make things happen by actually executing on my word. Many young entrepreneurs like to talk. I like talking too, but I’d rather show and prove my abilities. The challenges really aren’t challenges at all unless you view them as such. It’s all about perspective.

Brian Wong is the CEO and co-founder of kiip (pronounced “keep”), a category-creating mobile rewards network backed by Relay Ventures, Interpublic Group, Hummer Winblad and others. Kiip has raised over $15.4 million in funding to date and was named one of the world’s 50 Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company in 2013.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.

Josh Weiss is the Founder and President of Bluegala, an online retailer of prom dresses, evening, party, and cocktail dresses. Previously, he worked for Lehman Brothers as a High Yield Credit Research Analyst. Josh graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.S. in Commerce with a concentration in Finance. Follow him @bluegala.

Who is your hero? 

Steve Jobs.

What’s the single best piece of business advice that helped shape who you are as an entrepreneur today, and why?

Match and exceed. Always keep a close watch on your competitors and make sure to match and exceed them in everything they do.

What’s the biggest mistake you ever made in your business, and what did you learn from it that others can learn from too?

When we first launched Bluegala, we placed a large order for lower-priced dresses before doing any research to see if we could actually compete in the market selling them. In hindsight, we should have placed a smaller order and tested the waters with a small PPC campaign. The lesson learned is to walk before you run and test everything.

What do you do during the first hour of your business day and why?

Check orders from overnight and go through the previous day in Google Analytics. I do this to keep a handle on what’s selling and if there are any issues. Google Analytics helps me to constantly get a sense of where our traffic/sales are coming from and if there are any red flags causing consumers to bounce off the site.

What’s your best financial/cash-flow related tip for entrepreneurs just getting started? 

Bootstrap your business for as long as you can and try to scale it from there. If you eventually need money, you want the business to be as profitable as possible to get the best valuation, and you want to hold onto the most equity you can.

Quick: What’s ONE thing you recommend ALL aspiring or current entrepreneurs do right now to take their biz to the next level?

Dive into your analytics. If you don’t know what to look for, there are tons of books and blogs that can point you in the right direction.

What’s your definition of success? How will you know when you’ve finally “succeeded” in your business?

I define success as being one of the dominant players (if not the most dominant) within a certain industry or niche. Success is accomplishing what others were unable to accomplish and thriving where others have failed.

I will know my business has succeeded when Bluegala is the go-to resource for social occasion gowns. We have had a lot of growth since our founding in 2009, but there is still a long way to go before we establish dominance in the sector. Each year that passes allows us to learn more and more about what it will take to establish dominance and I am confident we will get there eventually.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.

If you haven’t yet found a viable business model that will allow you to acquire customers at a lower cost than the lifetime value of that customer, you simply are not ready to scale. But you can ready your company by focusing on your finances first. Consider the following suggestions to help you to refocus your company development in a thoughtful and calculated way:

1. Understand how growth will impact your cash burn. Your burn rate is simply how much capital you go through every month. Staying on top of your burn rate is essential all the time, and, perhaps, even more so when you’re considering scaling. When you scale, your cash burn will be amplified. Any issues you have with your working capital requirements will be magnified exponentially. So keep a close watch on your cash-flow statement and a tight rein on your expenses. Bootstrap as much as possible to keep your business lean.
2. Hire only as needed. When you scale, you will need to expand your staff to support your acceleration. But before you scale, it’s a good practice to get into the habit of only hiring when absolutely necessary. Hiring is a significant cost — not only payroll, but the costs of recruiting, training, retention, etc. To cut costs, outsource as much as possible, especially non-core functions like accounting, finance, and human resources.
3. Create milestones for your company.  Identify target milestones, create a realistic timeline,  and then manage your cash to those milestones. In some cases, this may mean that you need to raise the cash to match and support these milestones. If you’ve already raised cash or are bootstrapping, you’ll need to reduce your burn rate so you can achieve the milestone before your cash is gone. Once your milestones are set, don’t let them slip. Your main focus must be executing to these milestones.
4. Get systems in place. Before scaling, make sure you have a solid infrastructure for managing financial processes. How will you manage billing and invoicing on a larger scale? Or, the bigger potential headache of payment collection? If your customer base and earned revenue are still small, that’s when you need to find and establish successful systems and processes.
5. Plan for cash-flow positive. If you have revenue, create a plan to help you understand how and when you’ll be able to get cash-flow positive. Scaling requires an increase in cash flow. You need to be prepared to match this with earned revenue.

If you think you’re ready to scale, you may be right. But before you press on that gas pedal, ask yourself: are you sure you have a viable business model, your processes are repeatable, and the market is ready? Once you scale, you’ll be entrenched much more deeply in your processes and making changes will be much more difficult. So take these early days to establish your company model and processes, and gain an understanding of — and control over — your finances, before rushing to scale.

David Ehrenberg is the founder and CEO of Early Growth Financial Services, a financial services firm providing a complete suite of financial services to companies at every stage of the development process. He’s a financial expert and startup mentor, whose passion is helping businesses focus on what they do best. Follow David @EarlyGrowthFS.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.

Question by: Ashley

Network for Opportunities

"It's easy to overlook the relationships that lead to collaborations, funding or new opportunities. Teach your child how to meet and network with lots of people, and encourage relationship building. By developing a long-term view of business building, you'll cultivate a characteristic many entrepreneurs struggle with -- patience."

- Kelly Azevedo | Founder, She's Got Systems

Equip With a Computer

"If you're child is ready to start a business, he or she is most likely capable of navigating the web to find relevant sources of funding. There's plenty of guidance available online to those that seek it. And this publication is the perfect starting point!"

- Michael Tolkin | CEO, Merchant Exchange

Coding Always Counts

"Your child can learn the basics and even advanced coding through Codecademy. I wish I could have done this as a kid growing up. Your child doesn't need to become a developer, but if they're looking to raise funding in Silicon Valley, it's important to understand how to code and how to communicate with developers."

- Jun Loayza | President, Ecommerce Rules

Study the Art of the Pitch

"Like most facets in the business world, there are norms that, if understood, can increase the attractiveness of the business for investors. This is not the "art of the spin" but rather learning how to share important elements of the business so the founder and business is perceived as credible. I recommend starting this education with the book The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki."

- Kent Healy | Founder and CEO, The Uncommon Life

Follow @Kent_Healy

Start Your Own Business

"I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs, making starting my own business the logical thing for me to do. It was important for me to do each step myself (including figuring out the money), but being able to ask experienced entrepreneurs, like my parents and grandparents, for their advice was invaluable. But if they hadn't had their own businesses, they wouldn't have been able to give information."

- Thursday Bram | Consultant, Hyper Modern Consulting

Follow @ThursdayB

Talk Isn't Cheap

"Your child's business is best coming from their mouths, and that's what will get people excited to invest in it. So even if you're managing the deals, don't push them to the side. Let them talk to friends, investors, or anyone else who may be giving them money. It might take them a few tries to get the pitch down, but this will put them way ahead of the game in the long run."

- Sean Ogle | Founder, Location 180, LLC

Follow @seanogle

Chaperone the Conferences

"Bring them to conferences like TechCrunch Disrupt, DEMO, BlogWorld, etc. Let them meet other entrepreneurs and VCs so they can learn what they need to do in order to raise funding."

- Ben Lang | Founder, Mapped In Israel

Follow @entrepreneurpro

Look Beyond the Dollar Bills

"The best skills your child can learn are how to bootstrap, and creatively solve any issues that arise in their business -- without letting an excuse like money stop them. "

- Yanik Silver | Chaos Catalyst, Maverick1000.com

Assist, but Don't Do the Work

"The trick is to assist, but don't do all the work. Parents can supply the helpful experience that young entrepreneurs lack. However, parents should just point their children in the right direction. For example, use some of their resources to find out what banks or investors to get in front of. My parents were always supportive, but never handed me money or made it easy."

- John Hall | CEO, Influence & Co.

Is Funding Actually the Answer?

"Is funding what he or she wants for the business, or is it what you want? Make sure to ask that question to your kid directly, so that he or she isn't pressured to take a path and later regret it because it wasn't his/her choice. Money is everywhere, but give your child a new point of view: many of the greatest businesses are built and bootstrapped without outside funding."

- Matthew Ackerson | Founder, Saber Blast

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.

Brennan White is the CEO and Founder of Watchtower, the social media intelligence software that automates the details so marketers can focus on engaging with the community and creating great content. Prior to Watchtower, Brennan oversaw six years of uninterrupted growth and profitability as the Founder and Managing Director of the international social media agency, Pandemic Labs.

#StartupLab is a free virtual mentorship program created by The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of hundreds of America’s most successful young entrepreneurs. #StartupLab takes YEC’s mission to help more people start successful businesses to the next level by offering millions of entrepreneurs direct access to YEC members through interactive video chats, email lessons and a library of how-to articles, videos and eBooks. Whether you’re just starting up, a current business owner, or you run an organization that supports entrepreneurs, sign up for #StartupLab today for real-world advice from some of the coolest entrepreneurs on the planet.

Don’t forget to check #StartupLab tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. Eastern (12 p.m. Pacific), when Brennan will answer your questions live via video chat.

Photo courtesy of Brennan White.

One of the most important steps, of course, is figuring out which platform to sell your wares on. That’s why, at Ecommerce Rules, we decided to analyze the 9 types of would-be e-commerce entrepreneurs and recommend the perfect e-commerce platform for each one.

From retail entrepreneurs to tech founders to stay-at-home moms, this infographic analyzes the drawbacks and benefits of the major e-commerce platforms — and which one is right for you:

This infographic was created by the team at Ecommerce Rules and originally appeared on their website.

Jun Loayza is the President of Ecommerce Rules, a company that helps entrepreneurs build a lifestyle business through drop-shipping. In his startup experience, Jun has sold 2 internet companies, raised over $1 million in funding, and lead social media technology campaigns for Sephora, Whole Foods Market, Levi’s, LG, and Activision.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.