How BCG is rethinking the workplace at New York’s Hudson Yards. How do you make a space inviting? How do you encourage BCG alumni in the area to stop by? To get nonprofit clients to hold board meetings at the new location? To encourage existing consultants on different projects to share ideas? Here’s how BCG did it:

#1: Make a good first impression

When you enter their new Hudson Yards location, one thing’s for certain: it’s a very open space. A concierge in the building offers all the same benefits as a hotel concierge, from assistance with getting a laptop table to advice on what restaurant to take a client. And the views are spectacular, overlooking both downtown and midtown Manhattan.

#2: Make it social

BCG’s headquarters are more than just clusters of offices – they’re also places to network and socialize. To that end, the café has become an important space for employees to work and network. During the week, there are anywhere between 450 and 550 employees spending time in the café area – in a business where consultants typically spend most of their time at the client’s office.

#3: Make it collaborative

The collaborative aspect is especially important in an environment like BCG, particularly since people are coming in from all over: roughly two-thirds of the workforce is mobile. During the week, from Monday to Thursday, people come in from different offices to “replace” all the people who have left . The design was intentionally built with the goal of making it a magnet for consultants, alumni, clients, and other constituents, bringing people together in the name of greater collaboration.

#4: Make it unpredictable

Every floor of the new BCG office building is different. The traffic patterns are different, the furniture is different, even the feel is different, giving the space a kind of unpredictability. Each floor has a different theme that is reflected in the conference rooms. The 43rd floor, for example, is art-themed; there are different manifestations of art throughout the space, including street art. A street artist that used to sneak into the rail yards years ago to create art illegally was now commissioned to produce a massive piece for BCG, bringing things full circle.

#5: Make it functional

At the end of the day, however, it has to be a functional office that works for everyone. It’s clear that a lot of thought has gone into the design, as well as the functionality. Take the music-themed room, for example. Everything in this room reflects music in some way, from the record player in the corner to the acoustic panels lining the walls.

BCG also put plenty of soundproofing throughout the building, so people can’t hear from one room into another and meetings aren’t interrupted by noisy phone conversations. Screens outside each room show you who has each room booked – minimizing the risk of conflict. And the furniture is movable, allowing tables and chairs to be moved around to suit people’s needs. Wireless presenting, another hallmark of the new space, means no need for messy cables.

#6: Make it inviting

“For a lot of consultants, Friday is their home base time,” says BCG’s Senior Partner & Managing Director for New York Ross Love. He believes it’s important that these consultants feel at home. The desks devoted to mobile employees each have a tablet, so when you check into a desk for the day, people can track you down. Once you’re checked in, the tablet becomes a photo frame, displaying some of that employee’s photos. It’s a nice way to personalize the space, especially for those employees who are always on the go and aren’t able to bring personal mementos with them.

#7: Make it convenient

Rather than rely on anecdotal data, BCG did a thorough zip code cluster analysis and discovered something interesting: unlike what they’d assumed, their senior partners weren’t typically on the Upper East Side (a Manhattan neighborhood quite far from the Hudson Yards site) and far out in the suburbs. Instead, they found that they were more likely to live in neighborhoods in Brooklyn.

But the company wasn’t just interested in looking at where their employees live now. They were also looking to the future and making an investment in the long term. It’s not enough to know where people are living in 2017; you also have to think about where people will live 15 years from now.

#8: Question Everything

While the Hudson Yards site was on BCG’s shortlist, when all was said and done, BCG had less than a year to complete the design. What’s clear is that BCG had the foresight to determine that Hudson Yards was a viable option, despite being so far away (relatively speaking) from where most corporate offices are based in Manhattan.

It helps that the office was run by someone who was not a native New Yorker. Despite being a visitor to the city for years, Love arrived in January 2015 with a relatively unbiased perspective of the city and its neighborhoods. Native New Yorkers tend to have a preference for their own neighborhoods over others, which makes it difficult for them to see the merits of other areas – so having an outsider’s perspective made all the difference.

What does the new space say about BCG as a firm? “It was a deliberate and authentic statement of our brand. We often say in the consulting world, our competitors roll out world’s best practices to our clients,” explains Love. “We’re not happy with world’s best practice, because everyone’s going to do that, so you’ve got to think about how you competitive differentiate yourself beyond that instead of just following the herd.”

#9: Plan for the Long Haul

Employees know that short-term distractions, like the construction, will go away. “The goal was to make a place that was a destination in and of itself so it didn’t matter where it was,” says Love. “Even though we were in early, you could tell the developers had a vision for the space, and there weren’t new commercial spaces going up.”

Source: www.incarabia.com (by Jeremy Goldman)

Take time to ensure that your earliest hires fit your company culture.

Even in the biggest, most stable corporations, putting together a small team can be a perilous process fraught with personality clashes, hierarchical imbalances, and conflicting visions.

But in a startup, the challenge of assembling a solid team — and then keeping its members inspired and focused — carries the added stress of being potentially fatal. When a company consists of a half-dozen people, a single recruiting misstep can topple the house.

Stanford Graduate School of Business professor Lindred Greer has been studying and teaching the art of team-building for 12 years, with an ever-increasing focus on startups. In Greer’s course The Psychology of Startup Teams, students spend time outside of class analyzing the interpersonal dynamics at a nascent business, report their findings to the class and visiting experts, and then return to the startup to offer advice.

Much of this course-related fieldwork has made its way into Greer’s scholastic studies and even directed her future research. “It’s a nice feedback loop, because there isn’t a lot of good research on the people side of startups,” she says. “There’s a lot on product and strategy and structure and funding, but not a lot looking into the social interactions.”

Here she shares how startup founders can assemble strong, motivated teams.

What are the key differences between creating a team for a startup versus creating a team for an ongoing business?

First, there’s the intensity of interaction. If you’re on a project team at a big existing company like, say, Google, you’re not really married to the people on your team. But if you’re starting a business and choosing co-founders and making your first hires, you’re looking at one of the most intense relationships you’re going to have in your life. It’s similar to marriage.

At Google, there’d be more room for error, because the team is more likely to be a small cog in a huge machine.

Yes. But with a startup, it’s more of a life-or-death situation. Issues around power and fairness are bigger, because your entire life is probably vested in the business. You might be living hand-to-mouth while waiting to get funded. With so much at stake, little obstacles are harder to navigate.

It’s essentially a hiring challenge?

It’s hiring decisions, and it’s having a clear culture and clear statement of values even before you go looking for a co-founder. And then when you start the first phase of hiring, it’s making sure that you and your founding team have an aligned vision, so it’s clear who’s going to be a cultural fit. One of the things that can really break an early-stage team is bringing in the wrong person and then not having any idea how to fire them. That can be a train wreck, especially if there’s equity involved.

You might not even have an HR team in place.

You usually don’t, so you’re doing it on your own. And that’s rough because most people aren’t trained in this.

Would you go so far as to actually sketch out a dream team and then go find them?

Definitely. You don’t want to just be grateful for the first decent coder you find. You want to be intentional about it. That’s the main takeaway from my course: Be as intentional about your people as you are about your product.

Does that mean looking beyond personality and experience?

It means looking at everything. Make a list of your own competencies. What are you great at? What are the skill sets you need to have in other people? And, just as important, what common values are you looking for?

Can you define values in this context?

Things that you hold dear to your heart. Things that you’re not willing to compromise on if you get into a conflict over them.

So that’s a squishy, ethereal thing?

Not necessarily. The best value systems for startups are directly tied to the product. One startup that I know, they have a 3-D printing company, and their value system is, “We love to build things, and we love sharing what we build.” So there’s a passion for building things, but also some gregariousness and intellectual playfulness.

You should also ask, “Am I in it just for myself, to make a million bucks, or am I in it to make the world a better place?” That’s a fairly big, basic value decision.

That would seem to be one core value where you’d definitely want people aligned.

You need to find people who are excited by the company’s mission statement. Like Disney makes families happy. Adidas is competitive.

Would you consider that a primary filter?

I would apply an ability filter first and then choose between my top five candidates based on who is the closest fit in terms of values. It’s easier to siphon out people based on ability — you can do that with their resumes. And then once you have them in for interviews, that’s when you start thinking about values and culture. Is this person going to be happy here? Are they going to fit in with you?

So maybe you’ll end up selecting someone who’s a slightly less talented coder.

If they’re a cultural fit, absolutely. But there’s a caveat. You want them to have similar values, but they don’t need to be your best friend. Too often, founders think, “Oh, I need to get along with them.” We overrate that. It’s important to have a diversity of personalities. Risk aversion, for instance, is more of a personality preference than a value. And that’s actually a really good thing to have diversity on.

I know one founding team that has a CEO who’s extremely risk-prone. If it were only up to him, he would scale way before his company is ready. But he’s paired with a great CTO who’s very good at putting on the brakes. And together the two of them balance out. So it’s also knowing yourself and your personality. And then finding complementary teammates.

But when it comes to personality traits, how do you narrow it down? There are dozens of personality types.

Whatever is more salient to you. If you had to describe yourself in five words, what pops into your head? Like I said, risk aversion is a big one. Optimism and pessimism are also important.

Do you actually want a pessimist on your team?

Yes. There’s research on that, showing that too many optimists can be bad for startup performance. Having a contrarian can be a great thing, especially at startups, where people tend to have such rose-colored goggles about the future. Having someone who’s more realistic can help turn around some pretty bad decisions.

How do you make sure that you’re asking the right questions and doing the right research on someone so that you get to know their personality?

Take your time. My favorite advice I’ve heard from VCs to founders is, “Hire slow, fire fast.” That one rule alone could save a lot of startups, because people are often far too quick to jump into relationships. If you meet a new coder who’s a friend of a friend, a one-day interview isn’t sufficient to say, “OK, you’re hired.”

You need to go slow because it’s really hard to fire someone after you bring them on board and get to know them. Beyond the legal issues, it takes a lot of emotional gumption to make that decision, especially if you’re an early-stage founder and you haven’t done it before. Some startups will take six months to fire someone who doesn’t belong. But in six months, the wrong person can corrupt your culture.

Because, like you said, it’s a marriage.

And it’s really hard to end a marriage. Emotionally, financially. You just don’t want to go there. That’s why it’s so important to take your time before you hire. You want to engage with them in a lot of different contexts. If you’re hiring a CTO, give them a task similar to what they’d be doing in your company. Give them two weeks to work on it, and see how they do.

Also, spend time with them one on one and in groups. Look at them across a variety of social situations, and look for indicators in behavior and personality. Just asking someone questions doesn’t tell you everything you need to know. It’s very easy for smart people to appear socially desirable.

There’s a startup I know where they really value having a positive, kind culture. The CEO has arranged his office so that when he’s at his desk, he looks out at his secretary. When people come in for an interview, his big thing is to watch how they interact with his secretary. If they’re kind and courteous or dismissive and abrupt, that’s a strong yes or no indicator for him.

Taking your time must be especially important when choosing co-founders.

Definitely. You want to spend months with someone before you formally commit to a partnership. We’re actually doing new research now in the realm of close-relationship analysis, looking at the benefit of prenuptial agreements between founders.

With my students, one of the big things I ask before they commit is, “Have you had a fight yet? Do you know what this person is like when things get stressful and ugly?” And if you haven’t seen that yet, then you need to find ways to gently explore how this person will react if you disagree with them or stress goes up.

Really?

Yes. Push back on something much harder than you usually do, and see their reaction. That can reveal a lot. I’ve had students come back to me saying, “Oh, my gosh. I’m so happy I did that. That was terrifying.”

Have you ever heard any stories of people who feel like they’ve been falsely seduced during the founder-dating period?

Oh, yeah. It can happen.

Are there ways to guard against that?

References. Talk to people who’ve worked with the person before. See how they are with other people.

Once you’ve hired a new team, how do you keep them marching in the same direction?

You have to put more effort than many founders realize into communicating your mission and your vision

What’s your distinction between vision and mission?

It’s something that we talk a lot about in my class. Mission, to me, is a very brief statement of purpose. “What’s our reason for existence?” So, again, for Disney, it’s “we want to make families happy.” For Stanford, it’s “bring knowledge to the world.”

A vision, on the other hand, is, “Where are we going with that? How are we going to do it?” It’s action-oriented. The best ones usually also have a timeline and goals that you can benchmark against.

Richard Branson has a great saying: “A good mission statement should fit on a coat of arms.” And that mission statement should not only dictate your hiring decisions, it should also be embedded in your rituals. How you celebrate success. How you decorate your office. What you do with your off-sites. That mission should be everything. And the vision should be, “Where are we going?”

Do most of the companies you study succeed at that?

Actually, no. When my students go in to study startups, the single biggest problem they see is lack of alignment around the mission and vision. We usually look at companies with about 10 people. They’ve done their first round of hiring, and they’re often still in Series A funding. My students go through and ask people, “As a company do you know where you’re going? Do you know how to contribute?” And most employees say, “No, we really don’t.” And you tell that to the CEO, and he or she will say, “Well, I told them six months ago what the vision was.” It doesn’t work that way, especially in startups. Things change so much and so quickly. Six months is forever. You have to keep emphasizing in all your internal communications: “Who are we and what are we doing right now? What is our goal?”

Is building a team something that you can get better at with training?

Second-time entrepreneurs are astronomically better than first-time entrepreneurs in building teams and creating startups that succeed. The number one reason startups fail is people problems, and the second time around, entrepreneurs realize this.

This story first appeared at Insights by Stanford Business.
Source: www.incarabia.com

Working abroad has the same allure that studying abroad does: the opportunity to immerse yourself in a foreign culture, get invaluable work experience and push your creative boundaries. Whether you’re working abroad through your agency network or setting out on your own, here’s some advice for landing an overseas job—and how to survive once you’re there.

GETTING THERE

Landing a work abroad fellowship program that’s sponsored by an agency or holding company can make the global transition easy. WPP has a dedicated fellowship program, while Publicis often transfers its workers around its agency network across the globe.

The WPP fellowship program, which started in 1995, lets employees work for three different WPP companies around the world for three years, learning a different discipline (advertising, PR, media or digital) in one-year rotations. WPP fellows have worked on projects with NGOs in Brazil, on Britain’s winning bid for the 2012 Olympics and with Hillary Clinton’s presidential election team.

“Moves are much easier within a network, and it makes the relocation process easier too,” said Jon Steel, director of the WPP fellowship program.

Last year, BBDO launched its Energy Exchange work abroad program, which starts its second iteration this month. The 13-week program is for employees with at least four years of industry experience and at least one year at a BBDO office.

Four agencies participated in the first version of the program—Energy BBDO in Chicago, BBDO Mexico, AMV BBDO in London and BBDO Shanghai. This year, six more have signed on, including four BBDO agencies in Spain, one in New York and one in Minneapolis.

“I didn’t speak much French, but in my first interview, the creative director was amazed that I said I was willing to learn, even though the position didn’t require the language.” -Ogilvy’s Jeremy Claud

“Year one proved our hypothesis that you could have a life-changing 90 days through the program,” said Tonise Paul, CEO at Energy BBDO. “Participants said it was a transformational professional and personal experience. You won’t get a lighter load; it’s actually harder than your regular job because you have to learn the agency, learn the culture and learn another language sometimes, and you have a real contribution to make.”

Scoring a spot in an agency’s fellowship program isn’t the only way to find a gig abroad. Ogilvy senior copywriter Jeremy Claud suggests using a recruiter, which allowed him to move from Mono agency in Minneapolis to Ogilvy in Paris two and a half years ago.

“I said, ‘I’ve never been to Paris; why not send my book there?’ You can shop around your portfolio and can get hired, as long as you have a book [the agency] is interested in,” Claud said. “I didn’t speak much French, but in my first interview, the creative director was amazed that I said I was willing to learn even though the position didn’t require the language. Showing that I had an interest in the culture and wanting to be a part of it helped.”

Debbie Bougdanos, evp and creative recruiter at Leo Burnett, who hires overseas workers to come to the U.S., suggests demonstrating your willingness to move as well as experience. “We look for relevant work experience, even if it’s just internships,” she said.

SECURING THAT ALL-IMPORTANT VISA

Before you arrive in your new country, the HR department at the agency that hires you should help you secure relevant visas and work permits.

“If a company knows what they’re doing, you should never arrive the first day at work with questions about your validity to be there,” Claud said. “Having all of the paperwork sent to the consulate in the country and the approval process [takes a while]. I got my offer in May and didn’t arrive in France until September.”

To help secure a work permit or visa, provide documentation, such as awards, publications you’ve been featured in or articles you’ve written, according to Steel. “The rules are changing all the time, so you have to have HR people who are focused on that,” he said. “Every time someone asks you for a document, provide it as soon as you can, because [processing] always takes longer than you think it’s going to.”

Because you’re leaving your home country behind, Claud emphasized the need to have a direct conversation with HR about what they can offer you as an expat, “There’s no such thing as a stupid question. The company should be able to help you assimilate to the culture.”

For workers coming to the U.S. from other countries, an H1B visa provides three years of work eligibility, which can be renewed for another three years for a maximum of six, but it’s chosen by lottery. More seasoned workers can get an O visa, for extraordinary ability, if you prove that you’ve won awards or you’re exceptional at your craft.

“Millions of people apply and only a certain number are chosen. It’s a crapshoot,” Bougdanos said. “The visa process can take six to eight weeks, sometimes longer.”

If you can’t secure a visa in the U.S., she suggests taking a job within the same network or agency in your home country, and then transferring to the U.S. after a year or two.

“Once you have a year under your belt, a transfer visa is easy,” she said. “Or, if you’re at the mid-point of your career, since you already have category experience, you should look for global brands that you’ve already worked with locally, and find agencies in other countries that are working with those brands. Although there are no guarantees, since getting a visa is never easy.”

Once you’ve secured that visa, see what services your HR department offers to help ease your transition, like language classes or helping you find an apartment and open a bank account prior to your arrival abroad.

SURVIVAL TIPS

Adjusting to the day-to-day realities of living in a foreign country can also be a challenge.

“Don’t be afraid,” said Andres Castro, an account director for BBDO Mexico who spent three months at BBDO Shanghai. “Try new food, walk the streets, get lost and talk to people. And, if you have enough time, learn the local language.”

Jesse Unger, a senior strategist at Energy BBDO in Chicago who spent three months at BBDO Mexico, said her time abroad was an eye-opening experience.

“I had worked on brands in Mexico before and always thought I had a grip on Mexican culture, but I realized I only knew about it in the context of focus groups and testing,” she said. “It’s amazing what you learn when you leave the research vacuum. Mexico City sounds so close, but Mexico has enormous cultural depth. If you don’t speak Spanish, you’ll definitely feel the culture shock.”

WPP’s Steel, who is now based in Perth, Australia, moved from agency Boase Massimi Pollitt in London to join Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco in 1989, where he stayed for 10 years.

“I figured because we all spoke English that I knew America,” he said. “On my first day at the agency, needing a pencil eraser, I asked my new (young, female) assistant if I could ‘borrow a rubber.’ Her expression, and subsequent awkward explanation, suggested that maybe we didn’t share a common language after all. Later that day, Rich [Silverstein] and Jeff [Goodby] put me on a red-eye to Connecticut, for a client meeting. The next morning, horribly jet-lagged, I sat at breakfast with clients who all wanted to talk about baseball. In my previous life, I had played cricket, and never traveled more than 20 miles to a client meeting. So, I made it my mission to be able to hold a knowledgeable conversation about baseball, football and basketball, studied American politics and watched a lot of TV. Maybe I was lucky that, as a planner, it was my job to ask dumb questions.”

Claud said that working to master French aided his adjustment to life in Paris.

“On my first day at the agency, needing a pencil eraser, I asked my new assistant if I could ‘borrow a rubber.’ Her expression, and subsequent awkward explanation, suggested that maybe we didn’t share a common language after all.” -Jon Steel, WPP, on moving from the U.K. to the U.S.

“Even if you have a [language] teacher, if you don’t apply it yourself, you’re still going to fail,” he said. “The beauty about being in a country that doesn’t speak English is that the whole country is your classroom. Don’t be afraid to ask your colleague what to expect at a bakery or a market. You’ll feel weird speaking another language at first, but just go for it and be willing to make mistakes. For almost every country you can think of, there’s either a book or a blog written by an American expat about their experiences there, so those can be helpful to read, too.”

Getting used to French work culture also was an adjustment, he added.

“People really respect time off here,” he said. “When you’re on vacation, you’re on vacation. You’re not obligated to answer emails. In San Francisco and Chicago, I spent nights until five in the morning working with my team. That doesn’t happen as much here. But on the other hand, as far as efficiencies go, you don’t hear ‘yes’ or ‘no’ as quickly. In France, it’s a high debate culture. You’ll spend hours in meetings talking about something because it’s about the art of debate here. And, not being a French speaker at a majority French agency adds to the day-to-day roller coaster.”

Being an English speaker at a French agency has its benefits, though. “I feel more valuable here than I ever did in the states,” he said. “You get more responsibilities because you’re a rare commodity.”

Similarly, Steel said the work cultures of the U.K. and the U.S. differ in size, pace and attitude.

“It’s a cliché, but everything really is bigger in America,” he said. “And everything happened much faster than on the east side of the Atlantic.”

In the early ’90s, for instance, he worked with Goodby, Silverstein and Partners to help put ads on the air for Sega in 10 just days.

“In the U.K., 10 days after that client meeting, the agency would still have been arguing about why that request was impossible,” he said. “I had worked for an agency in London that approached the creation of advertising as one might craft wine—slowly and methodically. ‘Late but Great’ was the agency’s unofficial motto. In the U.S., it appeared that there was neither the time nor the patience for such an approach, and I had to develop a much more pragmatic style of planning than I had been used to.”

Working abroad is fantastic experience, if for no other reason than it gives you a completely different perspective on your own market, if you return to it, Steel said.

“It would’ve been easier for me to stay at the job I was in in London and be comfortable,” he added. “But I know that if I hadn’t done it, in five or 10 years time if I had a bad day at work I’d be wondering, ‘What if I had gone to California?’ You should never have that ‘what if’ feeling.”

Source: www.adweek.com (by Christine Birkner)

The best ideas are the ones that force you to level up and execute quickly.

The title of entrepreneur is often misunderstood. Although the majority of the world wants to believe that owning a business or working on an idea means you are an entrepreneur, the reality is that entrepreneurship is so much more than just these two things. It is about the ability to innovate by helping society progress.

That title could take a decade to be earned by those who follow through to the very end and see their change come to life. But every one of them started with a simple idea. For those who aspire to become real entrepreneurs, the path to go from idea to entrepreneurship is one that requires a bit of self-analysis and self-awareness. Because not all ideas are worth pursuing, and not all individuals are ready to take on the next big idea.

To identify the perfect crossroad between an idea and the right idea is the place where vision meets the visionary or the place where the idea meets execution.

1. Identify your skills and allow your talents to manifest themselves.

Everybody wants money. But many fail to realize that money is the extension of your skills, so the most important aspect of learning to make money starts by identifying what skillful attributes you possess. Make a list of your talents. Then add a small star to each talent that you seem to excel at, even compared to your peers.

Take a look at those skills labeled with a star and you should see a pattern; that’s where your aptitude lies. The goal with this exercise is to recognize what skills you excel in naturally and capitalize on them. It is much more engaging to participate in businesses that leverage your real talents rather than random businesses that seem to have an upside to them.

Continue fostering such aptitudes until you eventually convert more of your skills into useable abilities for your business.

2. Tap into your confidence to create belief.

Confidence is a byproduct of repetition. The more you practice doing something, the more confident you become in the process needed to see it to the end. Starting a business requires confidence, thus most individuals who have zero sureness in the process fail to get started because it is an unknown realm. That is why it is important to have self-assurance in your expressed skills.

There is a level of confidence needed in the process, and when it is not existent, self-assurance in your control is the next best thing; it is needed for the vision to turn into execution. You have to believe in the idea, the process and the ability within yourself to bring your business project to life. Without confidence, belief doesn’t exist; and without belief, the chances of giving up are high.

3. Allow your love to evolve to state of passion.

The last ingredient outside of your skills and confidence is the capacity to focus on ideas that you feel passionate about. Having passion will push you to pursue something you love and transform that urge into action.

You might love politics, but your desire to be involved in politics makes you passionate about it. You might love cars, but your need to be involved in a function like racing, mechanics, design, etc., makes you passionate about it. The goal is to identify topics of interest so that you can start manifesting some aspects of passion as you start your project. The closer a project is to your heart, the less discouraged you will become from giving up when results don’t go your way.

The perfect and powerful ideas are not the ones with the most monetary potential, but rather the ideas that are within your capacity to execute. Any idea that taps into in your skills and focuses on solving a problem you feel passionate about only requires a hint of confidence to get started. And the best ideas are the ones that force you to level up and execute quickly.

Source: www.success.com (by Pejman Ghadimi)

Crowdfunding has quickly become everyone’s favourite way to turn an idea into reality. Much is now written about alternative finance channels, how much to ask for, how to write the perfect pitch and how to get it out there but what about the boring things you don’t always think about when you’re in the throes of excitement about your new idea?

1. Check out the fees

“You’ll wanna think about fees,” says Jessica Ratty from Crowdfunder, as some sites charge fees on each pledge, “for example, what does Paypal charge? What does Stripe charge? Look into the platform you are using. You’ll want to plan for those aspects and wrap in into your target,” she says.

2. Think about who you want as a brand ambassador

Yes the money is important, but, says Seedrs’ senior campaigns associate, Tom Horbye, “it is a very public way of raising capital so if your business isn’t interested in benefitting from having hundreds and thousands of investors acting as brand ambassadors and evangelist of the business, or the market exposure you can get from doing a crowd raise, then this financing route might not be best for the business.”

3. Read a grammar book

Ensuring you sound professional and reliable at all times is really important. Says Horbye “Make sure everything is proofread, from the written campaign to the answers in the Q&A section. It is really easy to type things up on your phone when you’re on the go or in a rush, but make sure it all looks and sounds slick before pressing post as those little mistakes can be damaging to an investor’s trust.”

4. Get a legal eagle on side

It might feel like something you don’t need to think about until your idea has a million backers but getting good legal advice up front is crucial. A good legal eye won’t just advise on what type of crowdfunding and platform is appropriate, as well as ensuring your corporate structure is sound, advising on current and future shareholder relationships, protecting IP (intellectual property) and advising on potential employment issues.

5. Remember the big tickets

“Even if you bring a third or more of your investment target before you launch on the platform, you as the founder(s) still need to bring in further big tickets after going live for the crowd to properly engage,” says Maya Kumar, founder of Get Smooth, the vetted barber marketplace, which has launched its first campaign on Crowdcube. “The crowd is encouraged by these large investments as they demonstrate confidence in the idea. This network effect is more likely to be triggered if you hit your target, not before. Founders who bring in those big tickets after going live and hit their target with still a few days or even weeks left on the platform, will often draw a greater swell from the crowd and see over funding.”

6. Think about the humans behind the platform

“Tap up the team behind the platform, you’ll never know how they can help you unless you ask,” says Ratty, “Yeah crowdfunding is a tech-solution to raising funds and awareness, but all platforms have humans behind them.”

7. Firm up your supply chain

The campaign itself might be thrilling but there are plenty of things that need to be lined up before you start. Make sure you have ecommerce, supply chain and distribution ready to go to fulfil the orders you might suddenly have to ship.

Source: www.virgin.com (by Hazel Davis)

The UK’s capital is well-known for business – it’s the birthplace of some of the world’s most famous brands, including ASOS and of course the Virgin Group.

Population: 8.8 million

Pros: Europe’s most diverse workforce, more than four million workers with 230 languages, home to much of the world’s media and some of the biggest companies.

Cons: Lots of competition for talent and office space, it’s expensive to live and as a result employees expect high salaries.

Cost: One of the most expensive cities to start a business in.

What to expect: A collaborative, creative, fast-paced city, with many networks and a lot of support for entrepreneurs.

The UK’s capital is well-known for business – it’s the birthplace of some of the world’s most famous brands, including ASOS and of course the Virgin Group. But what is it like to run a start-up in London today? We spoke to Marcus Franck, founder of Franck Energy, Nikolay Piriankov, CEO of Taylor and Hart, and Adela Hussain, founder of Style Lyrical, to find out.

What are the best things about doing business in London?

Marcus Franck: Talented and innovative people flock to London from around the UK and the rest of the world. This makes recruitment challenging due to the wealth of expertise. A good problem to have, of course. Also, we’re in a city that is forward-thinking and packed with people that wish to make an impact on the world. This means that Franck Energy has the perfect location in which to help homeowners switch to renewable energy. London has a population which embraces new technology and fresh ideas across the board, which is brilliant for business in general.

Nikolay Piriankov: We moved to London from Manchester to grow our business. At the time the decision was based on the greater availability of talent and access to investors, but London has a lot more to offer entrepreneurs.

In particular, the community has been extremely useful for us as we’ve grown our business, we’ve found mentors that have guided us, other entrepreneurs who have made intros or helped us with specific challenges we’ve faced. And, thanks to widely available crowdfunding platforms, many investors who’ve financed our growth but also been hands-on given they’re all in London too. From an admin point of view, doing business in London and the UK for that matter is by far the easiest compared to our experiences setting up and running companies in HK, the US, South Africa and Belgium.

Adela Hussain: The accessibility to so many phenomenal entrepreneurs and events supporting start-ups. Every day there are high quality panels or training events covering topics such as funding, branding, PR and leadership. By attending such events entrepreneurs can ensure they meet experts and fellow founders who can support their journey.

What are the downsides?

MF: Naturally there is a lot of competition in this incredible city, meaning that business owners must stay sharp and alert to new threats. The hustle and bustle is challenging, but compelling at the same time. London can also become all-consuming, which is why it’s important to get out into the greener air now and again for peace and reflection.

NP: The cost of living is very high, and that means as a founder you often live at a very basic standard. For most entrepreneurs, this is ok, but when you start growing and hiring, the high cost of living is reflected in the high salaries people in London demand and this can be a barrier to growth for many companies, especially those bootstrapping.

AH: The cost of office space can be expensive especially if your business requires storage of goods. Entrepreneurs have to therefore be creative in their solutions for office space and storage.

How would you describe the business culture of London?

MF: Collaborative, competitive, and fast-paced. There’s no room to slow down and keep steady in London’s business culture, due to the inherent drive for growth and success. Luckily you won’t be short of partners and collaborators in London; smart company founders spot diversified ways to help their business grow, and in this city there are many routes to sustainable success.

NP: The London entrepreneurship culture is creative, with an emphasis on great design and UX, innovative, collaborative, a growth-hacking culture.

AH: Exciting and full of opportunity. From a female founder perspective it is quite white-male dominated but there are lots of female founder networks trying to change this.

What tips do you have for anyone thinking of starting a business in London?

MF: Stay sharp and be prepared for hectic years that fly past in a matter of moments. Seek mentors where possible, and mix it with established business owners to educate yourself with key advice. But ultimately, the best method of learning is by doing. Look for influencers in your field and get them on-board with your project to get ahead of the competition. Keep a thick skin, and get as much rest as you can!

NP: Consider one of the many London based accelerators to immerse yourself into the network and community of entrepreneurs, investors and mentors.

Keep costs low and the team small until you are confident you have found a product market fit as hiring can be very expensive.

Join a co-working community as your office to keep office costs low, while immersing yourself into a strong support-network of other entrepreneurs that may end up your customers, friends, or both.

AH: Surround yourself with other entrepreneurs either by working for one or working alongside many. This will help you change your mindset (especially if you were a former corporate).

Source: www.virgin.com (by Natalie Clarkson)