 Written by Nick Glavan
Have you ever felt tired, in spite of getting a good night’s sleep? Or felt lacking in energy right after a long weekend away from work? It turns out that time away and sleep are only a portion of the rest we need to avoid running ourselves into burnout mode. To truly recuperate from daily stress, entrepreneurs should be addressing the seven different aspects of wellbeing.
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 By Elyse Ball
As our deadline for I-Corps applications nears, I’ve become fascinated by the way asking customers simple questions can teach us so much. Teams that have completed the I-Corps program have launched more than 100 startup companies, raised $27.6 million in funding, been accepted to accelerators like Y Combinator and TechStars, and achieved 2 exits (selling their company to larger companies so everyone makes money). All of this grew out of a commitment to learn about their customers’ problems before they try to build something. Written By Linda Hale We just completed the summer cohort of I-Corps in July, and I had an opportunity to watch the final presentations in-person at the Bounce Innovation Hub. It was fun to meet some of our entrepreneurs in person and learn more about the ideas and technologies that drove them to I-Corps in the first place. We don’t allow the participants to focus on their technologies during the program, so the finale is usually an eye-opening experience for everyone.  I-Corps focuses on Customer Segments and the Problems those customers face. When emerging technologies can solve those problems for the customer segment, we call that Product-Market Fit.
Most businesses fail because they didn’t take time to identify product-market fit before spending time and money on product development. I-Corps provides a safe space to delve deeper into the motivations of a customer segment PRIOR to expensive R&D, working prototypes, or software platforms. Once you identify your customer and the problems or pains they face, you will be able to identify your technology’s unique value proposition, which will guide your product development process. For those who haven’t participated in I-Corps, let’s define some of the topics above and explain why they are so important to startups and emerging technologies. Written By Julia Meyers An employment contract is an essential part of the relationship between employer and employee. If the employment agreement is drafted properly, it will protect both the employer and employee. These contracts are designed to create job security for the employee and labor certainty for the employer. The understanding of position and duties comes from an employment contract. Further, an employment contract is a great way to maintain trade secret or confidentiality for an employer. An employment contract gives a good foundation for a healthy relationship between employer and employee. Below are six tips for employers when drafting an employment contract and for employees when signing an employee contract.  Written By Shannon Marshburn While going into part two of a business card blog, it really is safe to say that business cards are exciting to me. The challenge of putting a business’s worth of branding, identity, and individuality into a 3.5” by 2” space is such an exciting challenge. Bad design is expensive and good design can pay for itself in time. Bad design could cost you customers and be forgotten in someone's wallet, but good design will pull Its weight, get a buzz going and be remembered by investors.  By Nick Glavan If you are like me, you may be feeling a little more stressed out than normal this summer. My mind is often racing with thoughts about personal and “real-world” issues, on top of trying to produce quality programs and advising for clients at work. I took to the internet to research a bit about how entrepreneurs are handling their stress and picked a few ideas that resonated with me.   Written by Linda Hale
What do you think when your advisor asks you to identify your competition? If you are like me, the first impulse is to say, "I don't have any competition," or "I'm solving a unique problem, so there is no competition" When I was asked this question about my continuing education startup, I thought it was a trap. The advisor was trying to kill my dream by showing me that I'd never compete in a crowded market. He clearly didn’t understand my technology. (…sound familiar?) I wasn't planning to compete with the existing schools and providers. I was creating a whole new platform that would change continuing education as we know it. The current solutions were stale and uninspired. The current solutions were low-tech and irrelevant. My industry Needed my technology to shake things up and inspire attendees to actually Listen and Participate in their professional education. (…sound more familiar?) I didn't realize at the time that my “no competition” argument actually proved that competition exists. Continuing education is a requirement for professionals in my industry and they are clearly fulfilling their CE requirements somehow. If my startup was going to improve on the current solution… I needed to understand "how the problem is solved today" to truly differentiate my product from the existing solutions. I didn't realize at the time that my “no competition” argument actually proved that competition exists. How Is The Problem Solved Today? Written by Shannon Marshburn
It always seems like when I need to share business cards I never have them on me and when I’m getting dinner with friends I find them in every pocket of my purse, coat and pants. Are business cards even needed anymore in this digital age we live in? During a graphic design class in high school, we were tasked with creating business cards for ourselves for a project. Since then I have looked at business cards as an extension of oneself. (This may seem like a bit of dramatic thinking, but keep in mind I am a designer at heart.) The card is small leaving you with a small space to work with. This small space needs to be able to convey the branding of a company or yourself as an individual. At the end of a conference, you will have too many cards to count and this starts the process of weeding out the ones to take back to the office. There is an extensive history of business cards dating their first use back to the 17th century in Europe. These cards would be sent to announce the planned arrival of prosperous or aristocratic people to their local town or even to one's home. I suggest you take a read about the full history of business cards here: Business Card History! So should you put the time and money into some cards? Written By Elyse Ball Customer discovery is the building block of everything we do at UARF. From our online pre-accelerator Starting Line to our 20-team I-Corps cohorts to every startup I’ve ever sat on the board of, we wholeheartedly believe that interacting directly with customers on a regular basis is the best way to make sure that a product, service or business idea is actually worth pursuing. Like any skill, customer discovery takes time and practice to master. Luckily there are some resources to help you level up your customer discovery capabilities. My favorite is Giff Constable and Frank Rimalovski’s excellent book, Talking to Humans. Why do I love this book so much? It’s short – only 87 pages. It’s concise. And it’s free for students and educators to download at talkingtohumans.com. I have read it about 10 times. Every time I read it, I learn something new. Here are a few of my favorite takeaways:  Written By Shannon Marshburn  Without customers, businesses would not function. It’s that simple, but why does it seem so difficult? After all, customers are everywhere, but the customers that desperately need your product can be hard to find. I often think we are so lucky to be doing business today with social media as a marketing outlet where you can reach the whole world with your content! The hard part is that now that we have the whole world marketing their products right beside us, how do we stand out and find your customers?
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