I met with my attorney, David Holstein, managing partner of Bousquet Holstein PLLC, yesterday. The meeting reminded my how important it is to have a good business lawyer, particularly as a startup. Bousquet Holstein offers StartFast portfolio companies mentorship sessions (pro bono advice) during the…

Investors want to know what makes your business different. “What’s your ‘secret sauce’?” The reason is simple. Companies that can differentiate their offerings can create sustainable competitive advantage, and that gives them a larger share of any market and more profits than companies with “me…

An essential part of entrepreneurship is integrity, especially with your investors. Keep your investors up-to-date with your company by sending them weekly summaries of your business progress. StartFast Managing Director Chuck Stormon recently related the following tips in a seminar at the The Syracuse Tech…

Comedians are famous for entertaining us, but many times they are often the ones to offer the deepest insights about life. Clever and creative, these entertainers have many excellent observations about effort, failure, and success. “I love sleep. I need sleep. We all do, of course….

The Maker Movement is helping StartFast grow. Our startups have been working tirelessly throughout the summer and the resident design and prototyping lab, the Le Moyne Maker Zone (LMZ), has been lending a helping hand, incorporating 3D printing into their prototyping and design processes. Some of…

As the focus on gaining traction continues in the second third of our program, Managing Director Chuck Stormon led another workshop on growth hacking, this time with a focus on how to encourage your users to advertise your product to their friends. As a refresher, growth…

Serial entrepreneur Grant Kirkwood has been founding and working on startups since 1997. Currently founder and CTO of Unitas Global, he has a love for new innovations, currently trying out a watch whose faceplate transforms into a bluetooth earpiece. “Both features suck equally,” he quipped. As a StartFast mentor,…

We’re almost at the halfway mark of this year’s program, which means the focus for our founders has shifted from meeting mentors to focusing on growth and traction. Managing Director Chuck Stormon shared how to find your first 1,000 (or 500,000) users, and the teams began presenting their growth…

With StartFast’s fifth week already rushing by, the 2015 cohort is solidly in Phase II: Traction and Growth. While the teams are still meeting with mentors occasionally, the majority of meetings are now led by a very special mentor: StartFast Managing Director Chuck Stormon. Here…