Article: 5 Lessons I Learned Closing Big Deals With Companies like Amazon

Business development is a key driver for your success as an entrepreneur. To sell your product, you have two options. You can sell a few units to many customers , which requires lots of marketing dollars and sales support. Or, you can focus on selling to businesses. We chose the second path for my hardware startup, SkyBell. As a co-founder, I lead business development efforts that have landed d … Read More

Article: This Leadership Quality Was the Real Reason Steve Jobs Was a Success

A dynamic and brilliant person, Steve Jobs created products that have changed our lives, and built the world's most successful brand in the process. Many attribute Jobs' success to his intelligence and vision. If you look deeper though, you'll see that the foundation for his success was something more profound--authenticity. … Read More

Article: The Fastest Way to Be More Likable

Extremely likable people are very talented in conversation. Yet their secret to success is less about what they do than what they don't do. The most likable people avoid the fastest conversation killer: Interrupting. I've written about other secrets to being a better conversationalist, but not interrupting produces the quickest results. My life quickly changed for the better when I stopped i … Read More

Article: Turning an Angry Customer Into a Happy Customer

One big secret to success hides in plain sight - yet we frequently overlook it. It's the reason for Amazon's success and Apple's amazing brand: customer happiness. Making customer service a central part of your company's mission is an underrated key to success. By doing so, customers feel delighted and act as brand advocates - increasing sales and brand value. When customers are angry, they … Read More

Article: Don’t Pitch Investors Without These Important Things

Raising capital is one of the most critical and intimidating parts of the startup journey. Capital is the fuel you need to obtain resources, scale and ultimately achieve the success you desire. But an idea, a great name and beautiful presentation are not enough to get investors to say "yes." At the end of the day, investors are looking for substance. Whether you're a new founder or raising your … Read More

Voice will be the new user interface -- The IoT will fundamentally change the way consumers interact with nearly everything in their lives. Whether at home, at the office or in the car, voice control will lead this charge as our voices become the new user interface. Instead of touching a button in our car, we'll just say a command. Instead of using our phone to play music through a bluetooth speaker, we'll just ask Alexa (Amazon's voice service) to play our favorite song. Currently, users can tell Alexa to turn off their lights, call an Uber or even turn off their doorbell so a delivery person doesn't wake up a napping baby. This will continue to expand into every area of our lives as products add voice capability and create a web of interconnected products that are waiting for us to tell them what to do.

Andrew Thomas

Article: 7 Rockstar Female Founders Share Their Best Startup Advice

There's proof in the data. According to Bloomberg and research by Lesa Mitchell and Professor Vivek Wadhwa, women-led high-tech startups are more capital efficient, achieve 35 percent higher return on investment, and generate 12 percent higher revenue than male-owned companies when venture-backed. Despite these facts, women receive less venture funding and hold fewer C-level positions and fewer pa … Read More

They lack clarity in roles and responsibilities. -- You'll experience a higher level of turnover when your employees do not feel a sense of clarity in their role and their responsibilities. Prevent this by clearly articulating all roles and responsibilities within the company. Be sure each employee understands how they impact the whole, what success looks like for their position, and to whom they are accountable.

Andrew Thomas

Article: 6 Strategies to Master the Mental Demands of Startup Life

What is the hardest part about being a founder? If you're like me, that answer has changed over time. When I'm being honest, I know the real answer goes deeper than obtaining funding or making a product. The real answer is the psychological demands of creating something from nothing -- all in the face of uncertainty. … Read More

Article: 5 Underrated Conversational Skills of Highly Successful People

Do you ever marvel at how easily successful people seem to make friends and build strong networks? They make charisma look easy--even unattainable. This charisma comes from a few key conversational skills that are actually so basic that most of us overlook them on a daily basis. As a founder of SkyBell, a video doorbell that homeowners can answer from a smartphone, I'm responsible for busin … Read More