MarketBeat’s revenue grew by 71% in 2018, but it didn’t happen because of some amazing new marketing strategy, significant prices increases, new employees/talent, or an overheated market. There are two things we did in 2018 that allowed this growth to happen. We significantly increased advertising spend and I stopped trying to do any side projects […]
View PostHow to Raise Money for Your Business in the Great Plains or the Midwest (Updated 11/18)

As the public face of Falls Angel Fund, I receive a lot of inquiries from entrepreneurs and would-be business owners that are looking to raise money to get their businesses off the ground. In the past couple of weeks, I have received inquiries from an entrepreneur running a medical devices startup, an entrepreneur running a […]
View PostHow to Get a Meeting with a Busy or Successful Person

Between my commitments with MarketBeat, Zeal, Falls Angel Fund, 1 Million Cups and other organizations, I had 15 meetings this week. However, I could have had 10 more meetings if I had said yes to everyone that wanted to have a meeting with me to discuss their business or non-profit. There are four questions that […]
View PostWebinar Recording: Holiday Email Marketing Campaigns

Black Friday, Christmas and New Years are just around the corner. If you have an email list for your business, the holiday season is the best time of year to leverage your mailing list to generate sales. I recorded a live webinar on this subject. On the webinar, we talked talk about sequencing of messages, […]
View PostShould You Hire an Entrepreneur to Work in Your business?

If you’re a business owner, hiring other entrepreneurs to work for you can be a double-edged sword. They can provide a significant contribution to your business, but may ultimately be unhappy working for someone else. I recorded a short video that has discusses the considerations if you’re thinking about hiring an entrepreneur to work for […]
View PostShould You Start a Business That Has No Competitors?

Some entrepreneurs believe they can’t compete with other players in an existing market and should try to invent a brand new business idea from the ground up. You should be able to corner a market and build a profitable business with no competitors, right? Turns out, that’s not usually the case. Existing competition in a […]
View PostWebinar Recording: Email Marketing Demystified

I recently recorded a webinar on the basics of Email Marketing, including email service providers, list building, copy-writing, list monetization and list maintenance. You can also view the recording on YouTube here.
View PostWhat Would an Ecosystem Organization Look Like in Sioux Falls?

Please note that the thoughts expressed in this article are my own personal opinions and do not reflect the opinions of any group, organization or company that I am involved with. The next few months will be one of the busiest seasons for the entrepreneurial community in Sioux Falls in the last several years. A […]
View PostMy Not-Quite Monthly Update – August 2018

I had lofty goals of sending out a monthly update to keep you informed with what projects I’m working on this year, but that goal fell flat on its face like most New Year’s resolutions. There’s a lot going on at MarketBeat, in my personal life and in the Sioux Falls entrepreneurship scene, so I […]
View PostFive Misconceptions Startup Founders Have About Angel Investors

Each month, I meet with five to ten business owners that want to raise money for their startups. Since I’m the chair of a community angel investment fund, there are a lot of people that are told “go talk to Matt” when they ask around about raising capital to grow their business. I take as […]
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