Launching a startup is no walk in the park. Once you decide to follow your dreams, it's a long marathon to success. Luckily, you're not the first person to take on the challenge. Read these inspirational quotes from well-known founders and CEOs for actionable startup launch advice. They cover everything from finding your niche to the most dreaded topic: money matters. Want to inspire other startup founders and hopefuls? Share this infographic on your blog using our embed code: Infographic brought to you by Wrike Let us know which quotes fired you up in the comments below. And if you have other inspirational quotes that you turn to when launching a startup seems like a race you'll never win, share those too! Related Reads: 30 Startup Founders Share Their Entrepreneurship Advice Launch Your Startup in 22 Steps (Checklist + Resources) Dos and Don'ts of the Startup Pitch: Expert Advice from 5 Famous Investors 3 Ways Bootstrapping Strengthens Your Startup: Advice from GoPro
We're currently in the beautiful country of Switzerland enjoying the Geneva Health Forum, surrounded by international thought leaders in the healthcare industry. And what is even more breathtaking than the majestic scenery of Switzerland itself is the energy around us as great minds come together to tackle global health issues. Robert F. Kennedy once said, "The purpose of life is to contribute in some way to making things better," and everyone, from healthcare professionals to human rights leaders, is here to make a difference. If you're here at the GHF with us, let us know — we'd love to meet you. Wrike is proud to be participating as a Productivity Partner for this event. We're excited to help attendees collaborate online and create a positive impact on the world. Here's a list tomorrow's events where our CEO Andrew Filev will be participating: Wednesday, April 16, 10:45AM-12:15PM: Workshop on Project Management Our CEO and founder, Andrew Filev, will lead an exclusive workshop about the importance of online project collaboration for healthcare organizations. Space is limited, so RSVP right now. Wednesday, April 16, 2:00PM-4:00PM: Story of a Successful Entrepreneur Andrew will be giving a lecture and fielding a Q&A session for students at the University of Geneva regarding his journey as a successful entrepreneur, the creation of Wrike, and why efficient task management is crucial for every startup. Wednesday, April 16, 5:45PM-7:15PM: Big Data and the Knowledge Economy: What is There for Global Health? Our champion CEO will wrap up his day by participating in a panel discussion on a topic near and dear to his heart: Big Data and the promises and challenges it brings to global health. Curious about what you can learn from Andrew's morning workshop? Here's a teaser: "Here at Geneva Health Forum, many of you might be asking: "Why would a healthcare organization need project collaboration software?" We spoke with a healthcare institution that relies on Wrike to find out how an organization operating in this industry can benefit from a project collaboration tool... So to answer the question..." Hope to see you at the forum and events. We're eager to revolutionize health care and increase international collaboration — because all our futures depend on it.
In our Quickstart Project Management Glossary for Newbies, Part 1, we revealed the secrets behind Gantt charts, the Critical Path Method, and more. And now your boss has walked in with more confusing jargon to muddle your brain: "Can you double-check our resources to make sure this project isn't in danger of scope creep?" Uh, what resources? And scope creep? Relax, it gets easier with time. Here are a few more key project management terms to learn that will educate you and boost your confidence before you talk to the boss again. Project Portfolio Management (PPM) — Your project portfolio is much like any other portfolio. It contains all of your best work as an easy reference tool so that you can properly manage your resources. It keeps all of the processes, methods, and technologies right at your hand. With the help of PPM you can mix-and-match your resources for optimal planning before a new project begins. Resources — They're all you've got. Literally. Your project resources are anything and everything you need to complete your task. They may include people, tools, money, facilities, or other tangible necessities. Scope — For project managers, scope is the information and work required to complete a project. Gather your "how-to"s before jumping in blind - How will we fund it? What are our milestones? How will we define success? Documenting your project scope should be a part of your planning process. Controlling it becomes the challenge once you have begun. Scope Creep — Everything seems to be going fine, but then those little issues sneak up on you and suddenly everything is wrong. Maybe it's the uncontrolled growth of a project. Or the new feature you add to your project plan without updating the constraints. This is scope creep and it usually appears near the end of your project timeline. If it occurs, you risk overspending or missing deadlines. Update your budget, schedule, and resources with every project addition to eliminate scope creep before it can surprise you. Gold plating is another type of resource management issue. The difference between scope creep and gold plating is that gold plating is a problem arising internally. Stakeholders — The people who have an interest in the completion of the project. Your team, your investors, your boss. Simple as that. What-if Scenario Analysis (WISA) — The key to the WISA is to anticipate many different possible project outcomes and create solutions before they occur. Examples include a delayed deliverable, going over budget, or a change in available resources. By preparing for those "what-if" situations, you will be able to act quickly in any situation. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) — This is how you break down your work into smaller deliverables. It is a hierarchical tree structure that builds up to a final product. In Wrike you can build this hierarchy by creating sub-folders for your projects. Have you heard of small wins? Reducing projects into bite-sized pieces can help boost your team's productivity. Start with your overall project folder, and break it down further and further until you can effortlessly manage its every component. With these words in your knowledge handbook, you are one step closer to successfully taking charge of your new project management role. Now, what did the boss ask for again? Gantt Charts? Critical path? No problem. Report back and confidently say: "Our critical path is on track. I checked the Gantt charts and we have a few days of free float for some tasks. Let me show you what I've found..." Did we leave out any terms that still leave you puzzled? Let us know! There are more "Project Management Basics" coming soon, so check back later for more information you can't go a day without!
Do any of these situations sound familiar? You're completely focused, getting work done, and then your coworker taps you on the shoulder just to chat... and now you can't get back in the zone. Your manager assigns you a new project, but it's such a large effort that you know you won't be able to make any real progress today... so you start working on something else instead. The deadline for your collaborative project is two days from now, and suddenly your team member lets you know that they still have four days worth of work to do... the last-minute scramble ensues. These three examples highlight some of the most notorious productivity killers around: interruptions, procrastination, and inaccurate plans. Fortunately, there are ways to fight back. Check out this infographic to learn what you need to do to put these notorious killers behind bars for good: Want to share this productivity killers infographic with your readers? Embed it on your site with this code: Infographic brought to you by Wrike Related Reads: 50 Productivity Tips to Boost Your Brainpower (infographic) 8 Mental Weapons to Vanquish Procrastination (infographic) Free eBook download: Get Things Done with Wrike Free eBook download: What Doesn't Kill You Makes You More Productive
Your boss just walked into your office and said: "We've overstretched our resources. I need you to check the Gantt chart and tell me if there is any free float for this task so we don't delay our critical path." Wait, what was that? Gantt chart? Critical path? Maybe I'm just not ready for this... Whether you're an accidental project manager, or you're are just starting your professional journey into the PM space, it's easy to get overwhelmed by all of the new information the role entails. The last thing you need is linguistic headaches. Don't worry, we've got you. We consulted with Project Management pros, researched the question, and created a list of terms every project manager should know on Day 1. Study these definitions so that the next time your boss rushes in you can calmly respond, "Got it." Baseline — Our list starts with it, and so will every new project you'll undertake. Time is money, and the baseline is both. It is the original cost and schedule you set for your project. We'll tell you a secret: no project goes exactly as planned. The baseline will help you determine how far team has deviated from the original plan. Based on this knowledge, you'll be able to better estimate the time and resources your team needs to complete the next project. Constraint — Project constraints are the limitations of your project. Like road signs, they tell you what you can and cannot do. Before you start a project, it's important to carefully evaluate all of your constraints. Don't miss any blind spots; make sure you assess cost, human resources, time limits, quality, and potential ROI. Critical Path Method (CPM) — The critical path method is used to model projects. According to Professor Scott E. Page from the University of Michigan, thinking with models helps you outperform those who do not. Don't forget to include these factors in your model: all tasks necessary to complete the project, time estimations for each step, task dependencies, and final milestones or deliverables. By taking all of these factors into account, learning how to calculate critical path helps you create your optimal timeline to intelligently plan every project. Float — Sometimes referred to as "slack." It's the amount of time you can potentially burn on a task before affecting the project timeline. Float is the extra cushioning protecting your deadlines. Note that items on your Critical Path will have "zero free float" and if you want to maintain your schedule they cannot be delayed. Gantt Chart — Meet your lifesaver. This horizontal bar chart was devised by Henry Gantt at the turn of the twentieth century and was used to visualize project schedules by project managers all over the world ever since. It includes start and end dates for a project, and illustrates task dependencies. We, at Wrike, are proud of our cool, interactive Gantt chart. It helps you update project schedules, due dates, and dependencies with a quick drag-and-drop! Key Performance Indicator (KPI) — The measurable indicators of where your project stands, like timed laps around a track. When you set benchmarks for success in the beginning of a project, it's easier to check them off along the way. "Did we hit 10,000 page views today? Make 50 sales calls this week? And what about the revenue, has it doubled yet?" And while you obviously can't determine project success by numbers alone, it's helpful to use your KPIs to navigate the project path and, if needed, easily get back on course. We hope these definitions will help steady your nerves in the PM world. Pin them to your wall and don't forget to drop in for our glossary for PM newbies part 2 where we'll introduce even more vocabulary every project manager should know.
When you prepare and execute the launch of a new product, service, or a website, there are so many things to take care of and details often fall through the cracks. The challenge is magnified when responsibility is shared between multiple teams and you need to coordinate them in the most succinct way. If a deadline is missed or a task is forgotten, your team can quickly disintegrate into a blame game, e.g. "I thought they were handling it!" To avert such miscommunications and seamlessly track all of the small pieces for your launch, Wrike comes to the rescue. One of our customers recently shared the success story of his company, which relied on Wrike for launching their new site - read further and see if this situation is familiar to your team. Sync the Efforts of Several Teams Only-apartments is a Spain-based company providing global apartment rentals. Once they decided to relaunch their website, they had to coordinate the efforts between many different departments in order to deliver good results on time. Moreover, they had to adapt all of the marketing activities for eight individual marketing teams to reflect the new branding on the website. They tried Trello, Zoho, Asana, and other tools, but they felt more comfortable with Wrike since it facilitates both planning and collaboration. One of the reasons Only-apartments chose Wrike (and it's actually one of the key features that helped them with the website launch) is the flexible folder system. "Project management over several marketing areas has never been so easy. Hands down, the most useful feature is the ability to access one task from multiple folders," says Ramon Glieneke, the Marketing Director at Only-apartments. As an example of leveraging Wrike's flexibility for cross-functional teams, let's say you have one a task for your new website launch: "Write a new company description." In this case, your Content marketing team needs to write up the initial draft. Later, the Product and SEO marketing teams need to contribute to the messaging. You'll probably also need approval from Executives once the write-up is finished. One more step: send the task to Designers so they can create a cool image to fit your new description. Tagging this one task to place it in 4 different folders - one for each team - helps each contributor track progress on shared work. The same exact task will be accessible from every folder it is included in. Content will start the task, Product and SEO will review when they see that Content has made headway, and Design will know to start once Executives have left their approval. Your project coordination becomes significantly easier. To take flexible folders to the next level, you can also share a sub-folder within multiple larger folders. This gives you the ability to share an entire project - instead of just a single task - with multiple teams. If you are worried about wasting time and losing track of important work before your next launch, use our folder system to track updates and progress. What other challenges has Only-apartments solved using Wrike? How do they use Wrike to avoid meetings? Find out all the details in their case study we just published!
As a driving force in our economy, a lot of research has been done on the world of sales. What do sales orgs need to do to drive profit? What leads to a successful sale? When is the best time to call someone, and how many times do you have to call? If you're trying to improve the performance of your sales organization, check out these stats on what works (and what doesn't) when you're trying to close a deal. If you want to learn more, check out this post: 26 Sales Process Statistics & Best Practices. 15 Statistics to Help Improve Your Sales Performance What have you done to improve your sales team? You can't only rely on stats and figures if you want to improve your sales org. You also need experience, and a knowledge of how other departments can help your sales department, including how to interpret what are leads in marketing. Share how you've improved your sales team in the comments below, and we can all learn from one another.
Providing a smooth and efficient content collaboration experience is one of the top priorities in our product development. With this in mind, we integrated Wrike with several popular file sharing tools, introduced live text collaboration, and much more. Today, we're happy to announce one more prominent enhancement: you can enjoy instant previews of all your docs attached to tasks without downloading them! We implemented this new functionality with the help of Box View, a new technology that was officially announced by Box today. Thanks to our integration, you no longer have to immediately download any files to your computer when you want to view them. Now, they can be previewed right in the task where they reside. No matter what computer you're on and what software you have installed - just a browser is enough to open all attached .pdf, .doc, .docx, .ppt, and .pptx files. Instant file access means you can comment on the latest uploads as soon as they appear in your workspace. And if you decide that you want to make edits directly to the document, you can still download and save it to your computer from the preview screen. Content technology has been updating and improving faster than ever before. In the consumer world, we have Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Vine, and a never-ending list of new apps that allow us to share and access photos and videos with a few finger swipes. At work, Wrike delivers similar speed to the project and task management space with real-time collaborative editing, push messaging, and Office integration. But Wrike always looks for opportunities to raise the bar, and by implementing Box View we will take your document collaboration to the next level. The new view combines the superior experience Wrike demands with HTML5 and high-fidelity viewing technology. And it works for all attachments, not only the ones uploaded directly from Box. The use of HTML5 technology means three things for Box View: (1) it loads lightning fast using small file sizes while maintaining image quality, (2) it works on all modern browsers without extra downloads, and (3) it looks great on any device at any size. "With their continuous investment into security and infrastructure, Box View delivers on two values indispensable to Wrike: enterprise-grade service and excellent user experience. As a Box partner, this is great news," comments Andrew Filev, our CEO. "With very little development effort, Wrike can deliver the latest, greatest content viewing experience across web and mobile, and expand upon it with more real-time collaboration capabilities. We can continue to provide improved content sharing for improved productivity. It's transforming how companies spread information inside and outside their organizations." We're excited to present to you docs without downloads. It's instant and it's revolutionizing content collaboration. Take a peek and let us know what you think! We're beginning to steadily release the new view for all Premium and Enterprise accounts, but if you're eager to try it right away, contact our Support team.
Two Wrikers helped host a #PMChat discussion on Twitter last Friday, where a community of project managers comes together once a week to discuss and share knowledge on various topics related to project management. Our team asked everyone to share advice on best practices and common roadblocks in a challenging project management area: stakeholder management. Experienced project managers from around the world shared their wisdom with us, and now we've collected their thoughts here for you. Implement their advice and improve stakeholder management for your next project. 7 Important Lessons in Project Stakeholder Management You can read many of the best tweets from the #PMChat on stakeholder management here, but if you don't have time to scroll through them all, we've summarized the key takeaways below. 1. Different project stakeholders to keep on your radar Your project stakeholders include EVERYONE who has an interest in the project outcome, including team members, sponsors, and end users. The stakeholders most often neglected: people impacted by your project. This includes (but is not limited to) customers, employees not on the project team, contractors, suppliers, unions, shareholders, financiers, government, special interest groups, community, the general public, and future generations. Keep a close eye on stakeholders who approve deliverables, and those who can stop or pull funding from your project. And their influencers. Suggestion to keep them all straight: identify and rank your stakeholders according to their level of influence and how much they will be impacted by the outcome. 2. Tips to motivate and lead project members who don't report to you Highlight the purpose of your project at the very beginning. Seek project stakeholders' input in the early planning stages. Find out what they think is important. Get them to buy in early. Take advice seriously to make sure everyone feels respected. Treat others the way they want to be treated, not the way you'd want to be treated. Praise when someone has improved and made a difference in the project. Give credit where credit is due. Good project managers need to be behavioral scientists; learn what makes people tick and use it to motivate them! Bribe them with candy. ;) 3. Getting stakeholders to dedicate time to your project Build a good relationship with stakeholders before you need it. When the time to make requests comes, have a one-on-one conversation (in person ideally). Talk with key stakeholders early to understand their perspective. Make the project about the customer and the business, not you or the individual stakeholder. Clearly outline the project outcome, everyone's roles on the road to project success, and the benefits for their party. Ensure they've bought in to your project by highlighting shared objectives and how your visions align. Ask the most reliable people (and main stakeholders) for a short period of time, rather than asking more people for more time. Give reasonable time estimates, so they know exactly what they are getting themselves into. Respect that they have other priorities, and learn how your project can fit into that bigger picture. 4. Keep project sponsors engaged Meet your project sponsors in person, show your passion for success, and be the enthusiastic cheerleader for your project. Set clear expectations and build a sponsor roadmap with each project sponsor. Include what they should do with the project team, managers, etc. Get them actively involved in the project and its outcome. Give consistent updates, with real numbers and results, geared toward their interests in the project. When there is good news or press, point the spotlight at your champions, instead of at yourself. 5. Ways to manage and avoid negative scope creep Make your project plans clear and accessible. When new requests come in, highlight the impact of those requests on your project schedule. Have your stakeholders share their project goals with each other. Bring everyone together to discuss competing or creeping requests. As a project manager, your role is to unify and clarify. Get everyone to sign off on the project plan. Once in the beginning with your project charter, and throughout the project when requirements change. Write your initial project plan in terms of problems being tackled (and what is not being tackled), instead of just stating what work is being done. Invest in expectations management, requirements management, and — most importantly — change management. 6. Proactively identifying and preventing potential issues Study proper risk management: imagine worst-case scenarios and their solutions. Provide risk management workshops, lessons learned, and historical data if possible. Solicit feedback on potential issues from current team members, and people who have worked on similar projects. Trust your gut. If something feels off, investigate and act immediately. 7. Best ways to communicate with stakeholders during the project Early and often! Informally, as well as formal status updates. Repeat your reports and communicate even if you have "nothing new" to say. Communicate with people in the way that best suits their style, not your style: face-to-face and phone calls, or virtually communicate through email, weekly reports, monthly bulletins. Don't assume everyone wants to communicate in the same way. Tailor reports to suit the project stakeholders' interests. When they give feedback, listen to what they have to say. Avoid status update meetings that waste everyone's time. Bring the group together to discuss the project, and "don't be lame." More Advice on Stakeholder Management What did you learn about project stakeholder management from our #PMChat? What did everyone fail to mention? Share more advice in the comments below, so everyone can learn from your expertise. If you're interested in reading the entire #PMChat on stakeholder management, funny asides and all, we organized the great stakeholder management insights and advice from project managers for your easy reading on Storify. Related Reads: 4 Strategies for Dealing with Difficult Stakeholders Why You Need to Record Your Project Management Lessons Learned 23 Project Management Books for All Experience Levels
There are three main factors that determine the success of a new project or campaign: Excellent top-down and bottom-up communication, so everyone is on the same page with progress, challenges, and achievements; Organized and collaborative project management to make sure all work is completed on time and within budget; Collaboration between team members and across departments to bring in more ideas and breed innovation. But it's a mistake to think about these critical success factors for project management separately in today's innovative work environment. You can improve in all three areas by focusing on just one aspect of work: your collaborative project management. Refining this will enable everyone from the CEO on down to communicate with colleagues, manage projects and ideas, actively work together on tasks, and get work done efficiently. The best way to improve your collaborative project management is to bring your team out of the dark ages of back-and-forth email conversations and introduce a software specifically made to do the job. The Keys to Effective Collaborative Project Management Whether you decide to continue using your old methods, or you're looking for a new collaborative project management tool, here are a few things to consider: 1. You need a tool that updates in real time Some cloud-based and online software allow your team to share and monitor updates in real time; as soon as a change is made, that change is visible to everyone. That means your team will never accidentally work with outdated information (e.g. spreadsheets), so collaboration can move forward smoothly and efficiently. 2. Colleagues need to be able to work at the same time Live collaboration is the new hallmark of the best teamwork. One of the first popular tools of this type was Google Docs — one person updates the online document, and another person can edit simultaneously or simply watch the process as it's happening. Wrike is a collaborative project management tool that provides the same real-time collaboration capabilities on tasks and projects. 3. You can discuss work right where its being done Instead of keeping conversations in one tool (e.g. chat tools) and your actual work in another, you should find one tool that allows you to hold conversations right where work is being done. This way, if you bring someone new into your project or you need to pass off work, you can also give them insight into past decision-making and project-related conversations. They'll be able to get up to speed immediately, without you taking time out of your day to walk them through every project detail. 4. You need a consolidated place to store & manage all work-related information It's common these days to keep information saved in many different places, such as email inboxes, cloud file storage systems, and on the hard drives of personal computers. That makes it nearly impossible to ensure your entire team is working with the latest information. If you want to improve your collaborative project management, you need to find one place to store everything related to work — all your one-off tasks, long-term projects, files, conversations, meeting notes, and reports. Doing this gives your people immediate, always-available access to the information they need, without having to hunt through multiple tools. 5. You should be able to change project details & let the team know immediately Every team will need to change project details or priorities at one point or another. Your process or tool should allow you to update work and let your team know immediately, so that everyone is always working on the most important projects with the most accurate information. 6. You should be able to see what's coming next Effective project management software allows you to plan for future tasks and projects using scheduling, Gantt charts, task dependencies, and more. You'll be able to logically organize your tasks and projects, set up workflows to move work from beginning to end, monitor progress to make sure nothing falls behind, and check in with colleagues to see if they need help. As one project is ending, your team can immediately start on the next priority work. Free Collaborative Project Management Tool If you've decided to implement a collaborative project management software, try Wrike absolutely free for 2 weeks, and then upgrade or stay free. Invite your team to Wrike, complete a short project together using the tool, and see how we can help your team work better.
Creating and developing a successful startup is not all glitz, glamor, and magazine interviews. It's a lot of hard work and long nights producing something out of nothing. Thankfully, there are a lot of people who want budding entrepreneurs to succeed — and they're all writing tips and articles full of great advice. The problem now is: how do you find the best of the best to make sure your startup is heading in the right direction? With all of the information floating around out there, there is one go-to source for aggregated advice on creating a successful startup plan: Twitter. It's impossible to find and list all the great accounts you can follow — and we're not even going to try — but we'll give you a good starting place. Here are 21 startup movers and shakers we think you need in your feed to get great advice on following your dream idea, hiring the best team, and creating a successful startup business. (If we're missing your favorite startup thought leader, add your Tweetspirations in the comments!) Our Suggested Follows for #StartupAdvice on Twitter Individuals to Follow 1. Paul Graham — Co-founder of Y Combinator. Tweets startup news, often related to YC companies, and also shares articles and advice for startups and small businesses. Posts at a human pace, AKA as often as he sees fit; some days only twice, some days more than six times. 2. Jason Calacanis — Serial entrepreneur and investor. Founder of Weblogs Inc. and Open Angel Forum, among others. Follow him for entrepreneurship advice and business news. Fun fact: he has a dedicated (and well-earned) following of Jason fans. Seriously. His tweet frequency: He will certainly not leave your feed empty. What I learned running The LAUNCH Incubator for 12 weeks http://t.co/LQVQFIe9qR — jason (@Jason) March 12, 2015 3. Dave McClure — Founding partner at 500 Startups accelerator. He retweets a lot of successful startup news and articles about better business practices. Tweets frequently throughout the day. 4. Fred Wilson — Venture Capitalist. Mostly sharing links to good articles and interesting startup business information. Unlike most of the names on this list, he keeps his messages to a humble 1-2 tweets per day. 5. Charles Dixon — Investor, entrepreneur. The only news-centric tweeter included on this list, because Dixon tweets about startup news you should probably keep your eye on: drones, bitcoin, the growth of the tech industry, and a sprinkle of business humor to break up your too-serious Twitter feed. Shares articles throughout the day, all day, every day. 6. Sam Altman — If you're interested in startup investment, Sam Altman is your man. As president of Y Combinator, about 90% of his tweets deal with smart investing, bad investing, and companies that are doing well after recent investment. Tweet frequency: a few times per day, with days of productivity (i.e. no tweeting) in between. how to be successful: focus, choose a good market, believe in yourself, and learn to identify unproven talent — Sam Altman (@sama) March 11, 2015 7. Eric Knopf — Co-founder of his own company, he tweets advice for the human side of people behind successful companies: how to stay organized, motivation for the days when you aren't feeling it, and, of course, some tips for making your business boom. Tweet frequency: some days he's completely silent, other days he tweets over 10 times. 8. Martin Zwilling — A veteran in the startup field, he has great advice on what it takes to start a company and succeed. Only tweets a few times a day for a very manageable (not overwhelming) feed-filler. 9. Roy Povarchik — Startup mentor and growth hacker. Tweets good advice for all businesses, but especially useful information for companies just starting out. Tweet frequency: upwards of 5 times per day. 10. Omar Mohout — Entrepreneur turned startup mentor. Tweets advice for the best mindset, basic principles for successful startups, and shares educational resources like eBooks and webinars. Tweet frequency: daily (almost hourly), and occasionally in French. Why #Startups fail #96: The product doesn’t uniquely solve a big enough (no viable business) & frequent (no viable market) problem #GoTechEU — Omar Mohout (@omohout) March 11, 2015 11. Gordon Daugherty — Angel investor and startup mentor. Shares frequently about startup money matters and advice for growing your customer base. Tweets once a day, if at all. 12. Alex Turnbull — Startup founder and CEO at Groove. Shares incredibly helpful, insightful posts from his company's blog (mostly related to their business success), as well as quotes and products he enjoys. Full of great advice for any new entrepreneur. He's also known to pose questions he actually wants answered — a rare treat. Tweet frequency: a handful of times per week. Businesses to Follow 13. 500 Startups — Startup accelerator program spreading startup news and trends to help you build a relevant, talked-about business. Tweet frequency: multiple times per day, almost every day. 14. Y Combinator — Popular startup incubator in the Bay Area. Their Twitter account shares startup success stories and advice articles. Tweet frequency: a few times per day, but has been known to sleep on slow news days. The 1st episode of Startup School Radio with @harris is on SiriusXM's Business Radio right now! First guest is reddit's @alexisohanian. — Y Combinator (@ycombinator) March 11, 2015 15. OPEN Forum — The Q&A site run by American Express, their Twitter account shares popular articles and Q&As from their site with tips on popular tools used to run startups, social media, customer relationships, and more. Only tweets 1-2 times per day. Nothing too overwhelming. 16. Idealab — Startup accelerator tweeting startup stories and business advice. They dish out tips on everything from sales to customer success. Tweet frequency: multiple times throughout the day. 17. The Lean Startup — Foundation of the Lean Startup movement. Tweets cool talks and articles about things every startup needs to care about, especially if they're trying to run lean. Tweet frequency: at least 5 times per day, 7 days per week. On how to say no without burning bridges, from @HarvardBiz. http://t.co/Ug4ccJ1iZm — The Lean Startup (@leanstartup) March 2, 2015 18. Upstart Business — An online business journal that shares startup news, mostly from their own site. Tweet frequency: sharing articles at all hours of the day, every day. 19. Bplans — Business blog featuring tips and tricks for entrepreneurs and small businesses. Tweet frequency: anywhere from one to "blow-up-your-feed" times per day. 20. Bootstrappers.io — Online community of business bootstrappers sharing articles on everything from getting your first customer to the best startup office locations. Tweet frequency: 2-3 times a day. 21. Entrepreneur Quotes — Motivational quotes for entrepreneurs. It's a good place to get a reality check or a kick in the right direction when you feel like the entire world is against you. Tweet frequency: 1-2 times per day. Add them to your feed! Want to add all these accounts to your Twitter feed? Subscribe to our "Startup Thought Leaders" Twitter list! Who are your favorite startup thought leaders on Twitter? Share your inspirations with us in the comments, and we'll check them out and add them to our Twitter list!
If you read our first batch of productivity proverbs, you may remember that a picture is worth 1,000 words. So, without further delay, here are 5 more proverbs to get your productivity juices flowing on those days when all you want to do is crawl back into bed. 6. “An hour in the morning is worth two in the evening.” Wrike recently conducted a survey to determine work how different lifestyle habits play a role in workplace productivity. We found that the proverb exists for a reason; only 10.2% of early birds feel overworked versus 26.7% of night owls. It might be difficult to wake up in the morning, but at the end of the day you'll appreciate the stress-free evening. 7. “Any time means no time.” We all work with or know someone who constantly says, "I'll do it tomorrow." Or maybe their cousin, the person who flippantly thinks, "It doesn't matter if I procrastinate now, I can get it done any time." Don't take a lesson from them. According to Wrike's productivity survey, more than 50% of employees feel that deadlines mobilize their best skills. If your boss claims that a project has no deadline, set one for yourself and stick to it. Working without deadlines increases chances you will never start the project at all, so do yourself a favor and make "any time" today. 8. “Think of many things, do one.” Think you are good at multi-tasking? Research shows that only 2% of people are good at juggling tasks without letting the balls drop. The rest of us may think we're keeping everything in the air, but more research suggests that we are actually knocking down our IQ by 10 points when we try to multitask, and our productivity is decreasing by as much as 40%. It's not your fault; the brains of "supertaskers" simply process information differently. So if you have a lot of ideas, write them all down (after all, a dull pencil is greater than the sharpest memory!) and then focus on one task at a time for the best results. 9. “Tell me and I’ll forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I’ll understand.” This proverb goes one step farther than the classic, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime," proverb. It is better to teach someone the answer rather than giving it away, but even more than that, you must involve them in the teaching. We retain 50-90% of what we learn by participatory teaching methods, compared to just 5% when listening. No more lectures! 10. “Better an ounce of happiness than a pound of gold.” Do you remember the old Mastercard commercials? The products bought in the commercial were expensive, but they happiness received was priceless. And according to Wrike's productivity survey, over 56% of surveyed participants feel motivated by a good mood, while the possibility of reward encourages efficiency in just 42.1% of those same employees. So don't overvalue money while undervaluing happiness; happiness is enough of a reward to boost your productivity. Did you like these amusing productivity lessons? Share them with your friends! We hope our 10 pieces of wisdom will help rejuvenate you at work. Save them in your phone, print them out as office decor, and read them over again when you're in a slump. And don't forget to spread the wealth to your friends and colleagues - we all have off-days.