There is no magic formula for building a technical team. However, I can offer advice based on my hard-won experience through meeting with over 60 developers, development shops and technical mentors.

Here are a few things that I learned the hard way about finding a technical co-founder:

1. Don’t be the “idea guy” looking for a “coder.”

Talented engineers can see “idea guys” from a mile away and will avoid them like the plague. No hacker wants to be the code monkey for your [insert hyperbolic superlative here] idea. The reality of the market is that there’s a great demand for developers, from growing startups to established companies like Google and Facebook.

The most talented are not merely one-dimensional tech geeks, but entrepreneurial-minded engineers who have ideas of their own. Get your perspective right from the start to attract top candidates.

I was able to attract and build relationships with a number of top-tier engineers because I was seeking true partners that could grow and shape my vision with me, not simply execute it for me.

2. Validate your concept before you start building.

Part of attracting talent is not only having a great idea, but also demonstrating that you are the right person to execute it. There are a lot of ways you can field test your concept early on before programming anything.

For example, you can collect invaluable feedback from potential users and customers with simple mock-ups that can help refine your product road map. InVision is a great user interface prototyping tool that turns designs into interactive mock-ups. Additionally, it takes minutes to set up a landing page with LaunchRock and Optimizely. With minimal ad spend, you can prove whether there would be interest in your product by getting actual signups and analyzing click-through rates.

When I started out, I got buy-in from key stakeholders on a simple video and deck, which I also used to sign up 75 retailer partners. The feedback I got from potential users on my front-end prototypes was invaluable in shaping and focusing our product road map.

3. Find advocates and supporters within the software engineering community.

If you don’t have a network in the developer community, build one! The relationships that I fostered were integral to my process and are paying off in dividends today. The developers I met early on have become friends who have made developer introductions, helped out with technical interviews and even reviewed GitHub accounts (a popular repository for code).

Additionally, these mentors have helped me understand how to manage development resources. To build these relationships, I generally avoided the “find a co-founder” type of meet-ups. Instead, I learned a lot more and made meaningful relationships at meet-ups for developers (e.g., Ruby Developers, machine learning, CTO School, etc.).

CEO branding is the new corporate branding. People want an emotional connection to the brands they are invested in, so it’s important for those brands to have a face — and that’s where CEO branding comes into play.

CEO Branding — The New Corporate Branding

CEO branding is the process of aligning your face with your corporate brand. This process includes public relation activities, media interviews, philanthropy, articles, books, speaking engagements and company culture.

It requires integrating the CEO’s brand DNA into how the company is viewed publicly. In a competitive marketplace, it is a differentiating factor. Though it happens naturally, CEOs need to be forward-thinking when it comes developing their brand — or proactive in managing it.

Consider these survey results compiled by Burson-Marsteller, one of the world’s largest PR firms, that illustrate the importance of a CEO’s reputation to the success of the company.

The results indicated that, based on a CEO’s reputation:

95% of those surveyed decided whether or not to invest in a company
93% would recommend a company as a good alliance or merger partner
88% recommend the company as a good place to work

Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx and the world’s youngest female billionaire, is a walking example for the power of CEO branding. In her company’s early days, she had no money for advertising, so she hit the road with her new product. She was the heart, soul and face of Spanx. Blakely took her passion and propelled Spanx to phenomenal heights.

Blakely also stands firmly by her personal beliefs about how business should be done. In the recent CNBC Town Hall Event, “Getting Back to Business,” Blakely responded to venture capitalist Kevin O’Leary’s statement, “Business is war,” by saying, “I have only been focused on my own quality – what can I offer that’s the best and give value.”

It’s not just the words, but also the CEO behind them that the audience responded to so enthusiastically. Her authenticity is noticed by customers, investors, employees, and the general public, and it influences their readiness to connect to the Spanx brand. That’s the power of CEO branding.

Leadership is what moves us from point A to point B; leadership is what makes each of us all that we have the potential to be. Leadership is what gives us hope for a better tomorrow.

But no one ever said it was easy. Follow this 3-step process to become a more effective leader:

1. Lead Yourself First

The most important and most difficult person to lead will always be yourself. It is this aspect of leadership that will require the most discipline, commitment and determination. However, it is also an aspect that will reap the greatest rewards.

One of the most effective methods of leadership is to lead by example. Everything in an organization starts at the top; as a leader, the tempo you set will set the tone for how members within your organization interact with each other as well as others outside of your organization. This is a double-edged sword. It can give you great influence over creating a positive company culture within your organization. However, by the same token, the next time you are about to lose your temper towards an employee or counterpart, don’t be surprised when one of your employees decides it must be acceptable for him or her to do the same.

There is no simple and fast rule here, but generally speaking, not only should you know the difference between what is right and what is wrong (i.e. business ethics), but you should practice it and live your words each and every day. As a leader, you are on 24/7. There can be no transgressions. Conduct yourself with the same level of self-discipline and maturity that you expect from others — and you will get it.

2. Cast Your Vision

No matter how strong your leadership and persuasion skills are, without a clear vision, your team is going nowhere fast. One of the defining traits that separates leaders from everybody else is that they know where they are going two, five, 10, 15 and 25 years from now. They feel a strong sense of purpose, have a plan to get there, and most importantly, are able to communicate that to others.

The practice of casting a vision as a leader is two-fold. First, you must have a vision to begin with. But secondly, you must be able to clearly and vividly communicate this vision to others in a compelling way that will persuade them to follow you. They have to believe in what you are proposing. You need to communicate to them why their lives will be better off for having achieved your vision.

First off, the biggest difference between these two company types is in their top objectives. Small businesses are driven by profitability and stable long-term value, while startups are focused on top-end revenue and growth potential. Steve Blank (i.e. a Silicon Valley serial-entrepreneur and academician who has founded or worked within eight startup companies, four of which have gone public) shares great insight on the primary differences.

Blank suggests, “Founders wake up every morning saying, ‘I don’t just want to be self-employed, I want to take over the universe — I want to change the world; I want to do something important! This is the most exciting thing I could ever do.’ This … is the first major distinction between scalable startups in the technology cluster and small business.”

Earlier this year, I also got the opportunity to meet Mark Cuban, Kevin Plank, and Scott Case, who asked me a classic question with a special motive: “What do you want out of your life in five years?” I knew how Cuban and Plank had made eight-figure companies in their twenties, so I said, “Thirty million dollars,” thinking it would impress them. Instead, Plank said, “That’s a terrible goal!”

That remains the best piece of business advice I have ever gotten. Instead of focusing on great products and huge customer bases, I was too focused on dollar amounts — a small-business mentality instead of a startup mentality.

Research suggests that approximately 294 billion emails are sent per day.  More than 2.8 million emails are sent every second and about 90 trillion emails are sent per year.

According to an independent study, “the typical corporate email user sends and receives about 105 email messages per day. Despite spam filters, roughly 19% of email messages that are delivered to a corporate email user‟s inbox are spam. This includes what is referred to as “graymail” (i.e. unwanted newsletters or notifications).”

Of course, an introduction or referral is ideal, but we don’t always have connections that can help us get our foot in the door. Personally, I’ve had some success meeting amazing people via email. I’m talking about not even having a connection or an introduction — just cold-emailing.

A lot of things I’ve accomplished as an entrepreneur — meeting Sheryl Sandberg, getting media coverage in leading business magazines, securing a speaking opportunity at Davos and growing my own business — came from cold emails. Here’s how I did it:

1. Write your email with the reader in mind.

What is it they want to know when they read your cold email? Who is this person? Why is it important that they read your email? What action should they take after they read it? Be clear, be persuasive and, most importantly — be relevant.

If you’re looking to form a strategic partnership start composing your email with something like, “My name is Jane Doe. I am an entrepreneur and founder at ABC Widgets with a revenue opportunity for you. Can I set up 10 minutes with you next week?”

2. Make sure to ask the question.

Sometimes we make the mistake of saying, “Let me know if you have time.” That’s not a question, and it is neither direct nor clear. If you don’t make it important to you, the recipient won’t make it a priority. Instead, write something like, “Can we meet for 15-minutes over coffee in the next two weeks?”

3. Be specific about who you are and what you will offer.

Don’t give a three-sentence bio. Give a one-sentence description about what — specifically — you have to offer. Also, cater it to the person you’re emailing; it won’t be a “one size fits all” pitch.

For example, if you’re looking for a mentor, your education might be relevant if you have alumni connections. If you are forming a relationship with a potential client, your latest business accomplishments are far more relevant.

From day one, my team and I decided that Staff.com was going to be chiefly a virtual company. We believed that this model represented the future workplace, and building our company any other way would counter our work philosophy.

Going virtual has had significant challenges, but regardless of how or where we work, these same lessons have stuck with me:

1. You’re not good at everything.

If you’re an entrepreneur and you are reading this article, then this is going to be difficult for you to hear: out of all the thousands of jobs you have to perform in your business, you are not necessarily an expert at all of them. In reality, you are probably really bad at a vast majority of them! That is why it’s so important to hire out people you trust to do what you’re not good at, allowing you to concentrate on adding amazing value to what you are good at.

Even though some entrepreneurs would love to say they got where they are because they’re amazing entrepreneurs, it’s never the case.

When you think about it, entrepreneurship is a team sport. It requires like-minded people to work together in order to solve new problems with restricted resources. I learned the lesson late: the more people you talk to, the better you will do. Getting like-minded entrepreneurs in the same room has been critical to my success. The combined brain trust you gain from these kinds of connections provide long-term dividends that you can reach for throughout your entire career.

2. Don’t worry about long-term goals.

Why concern yourself with long-term plans when you haven’t figured out the short-term ones yet?

For example, I spoke to a new entrepreneur who was worried about incorporation, scaling the business and his two-year plan. As he was asking me for advice, I answered him with my own standard question: “Have you actually made any money yet?” This is a problem that most entrepreneurs run into — they think about what will happen later without actually taking care of what needs to happen now.

Don’t worry about retaining customers before you’ve even acquired them. Entrepreneurship is a step-by-step process, and you have to crawl before you can walk.

3. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

This piece of advice applies to both your business life and personal life, as I have seen this happen to myself and friends so many times.

When you make your life about your company, and then that company fails, you’re absolutely lost. Make sure you have multiple interests outside of work. That way, if the business fails, your entire identity and livelihood won’t go down with it.

Connect with Liam on Twitter.

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Photo: Liam Martin

Liam Martin is the co-founder of Staff.com, a remote hiring platform that connects good employers with employees that want full-time work.

Often, the premise behind startups implementing public relations activities and media outreach is not completely obvious. Here are seven feasible objectives behind PR activities alongside tips on how to apply them to your public relations strategy.

1. Customer acquisition

This is the most common reason startups seek press, but it’s often misguided, or expectations are set too high. Viral and word-of-mouth marketing are usually more powerful channels for startups, but press is a great way to start the viral loop.

Jason M. Lemkin, the CEO and founder of EchoSign wrote that press, “mainly TechCrunch” along with networking, “over time generated perhaps 25 percent of our first $100k [in annualized revenue] directly or indirectly.” After about a year, EchoSign’s top source of new revenue was viral.

Where to target: Develop relationships with consumer and trade magazine, blogs and news outlets that your perspective customers read and watch. A company that offers products targeted at small businesses may pitch to business publications while a sports app would target sports titles.

2. Boost SEO rankings

If you know anything about search engines, you know your company websites’ page rank will improve as more credible sites link to it. Gaining press coverage across a verity of media outlets is a great way to build links.

If this is your goal, make sure the media outlet actually links to your company’s website. If they don’t, email the journalist after the article is published and politely ask them to add a link to your mention or quote.

It’s even better if you can gain links from articles that have SEO friendly-titles. For example, Muck Rack still gets a lot of traffic from a 2009 article on Journalistics entitled “Where to Stalk Journalists on Twitter,” since people keep discovering it for the first time via search.

Where to target: Focus on low-hanging fruit to build a lot of links. It’s often easier to get a quick hit in a publication’s online-only blog rather than its print or TV arms.

3. Build credibility and trust

Many companies list the press outlets that have covered them on their homepage. Even popular iPhone games will list press quotes on their App Store pages. If they still need a credibility boost despite their tremendous scale, your tiny startup might too.

Where to target: Go for targeted outlets with strong brand recognition. For example, gaining a mention and or a full feature in a print or broadcast outlet can be leveraged to build social proof on your company’s website homepage.

4. Attract advertisers

If you are a programmer building an ad-supported business, you will soon learn that media buyers (i.e. agency professionals that buy advertisements on behalf of advertisers) don’t read Hacker News to learn how to do their job better like you do. They read their own set of “ad rags” aimed at the Mad Men (and women) of today to get fresh ideas about who to include in their next buy.

Even ubiquitous companies like Facebook and Twitter with little to gain in general notoriety from media will put a tremendous amount of effort to getting the right kind of coverage in Ad Age.

Where to target: Target industry trade magazines that media buyers and advertisers read such as Ad Age, Mediaweek, Adweek and Digiday.

Some use the terms interchangeably, but there are a number of elements that distinguish one from the other. At the same time, there are also overlaps across incubator and accelerator services — which can undoubtedly explain the confusion.

In my experience it is easier to grasp the differences between two similar paradigms by first understanding the commonalities they share. For example, both incubators and accelerators prepare companies for growth by providing guidance and mentorship, but in slightly different ways, and more importantly, at different stages in the business life cycle.

Due to the staggering number (and variety) of accelerator and incubator services that exist, it is difficult to provide clear definitions — but here’s an analogy to get started:

How Business Incubators Help Startups

The life cycle of a business can be likened to the life of a human being. In the same way, there are roughly three major stages of life:

Childhood –> Adolescence –> Adulthood

Like a father to a child, a business incubator provides shelter where the child can feel safe and learn how to walk and talk, by offering office space, business skills training, and access to financing and professional networks. The incubator nurtures the business throughout the startup phase (childhood) and provides all of the necessary tools and advice for the business to stand on its own feet.

While learning to stand on your own is a great entrepreneurial achievement, the walk through adolescence is often filled with more unique challenges; and the need for guidance is far from over.

As any parent knows, guiding a teenager through adolescence is perhaps the most trying period in a person’s life, as the adolescent gains a sense of self and identity. One major challenge facing most companies that operate on the verge between childhood and adolescence is that sooner or later, they get stuck in the trenches of day-to-day operations.

At this transition, more often than not, startups fail to incorporate long-term strategic planning in the development of the business. The company can then lose track of its unique value proposition – its identity – during this phase.

How Business Accelerators Help Startups

It is at this critical point in the business life cycle that most incubator programs end, as the firm is technically ready to spread its wings.  Nonetheless, the journey towards sustained growth is far from over. Often it becomes necessary to receive additional advice and guidance on the path towards sustained growth.

At this juncture, the services provided by a business accelerator become extremely useful.

By means of acceleration services, often in the form of an “acceleration program,” business accelerators help companies get through adolescence and prepare them to enter adulthood, i.e. helping them develop strong arms and legs (e.g. institutional strength), sound values and a clear mindset (e.g. vision and strategy) for the future.

In other words, while incubators help companies to stand and walk, accelerators teach companies to run.

I’ve found that one of the best marketing strategies or Internet (or e-commerce) businesses is search engine optimization (SEO) — the process of tailoring your company website to the algorithms that search engines use to rank websites based on “signals” that your website emits.

However, search engine algorithms continue to change with time as the Web evolves (e.g. Panda Updates, anyone?). So Internet-based companies need to evolve with the major search engines; staying up to date with best practices to claim the best possible rankings for industry and business-related keywords.

Improving your Company Website’s Page Rank

If you want your company website to rank well in top search engines, here are six SEO components you should be aware of when you or your web development team is optimizing your site:

1. Keywords. 

Keyword research is your first step toward a successful SEO strategy. First you must understand what online users are searching for when they discover your business in a search engine.

Utilizing the right keywords on your website can drive targeted traffic and ultimately convert searchers into customers. To get started, brainstorm potential keywords associated with your products and services. Then assess the competition for these keywords using Google AdWords Keyword Tool. If certain keywords are too competitive in your niche, go with long-tail keywords (between two and five words) which will be easier for you to rank. The longer the keyword, the less competition you will have for that phrase in search engines.

2. Meta tags. 

Meta tags still play a vital role in SEO. For example, if you type a keyword into a search engine, you can see how that keyword is reflected in the Title for specific pages. Google looks at your page title’s as a signal of relevance for specific keywords. The same holds true for the description of that same page.

However, don’t worry about the keyword title tag —  Google has publicly confirmed that they don’t pay attention to that tag, since it has been abused by webmasters and those attempting to rank for certain keywords.

3. Content.

It’s true, content is still king.

Most search engines have stated that creating quality content is the best way to not only rank for keywords, but to create a positive user experience. Creating good content can go a long way by assisting with consumer education and becoming an authority in your niche. All of these things can translate into more sales.

Recently, I advised a friend who felt hopelessly stuck in the process of growing his small business. As we talked over coffee, I asked him a few simple questions to help him gain more clarity about his business despite its slow take-off. Afterwards he shared with me that he walked away from our conversation with newfound focus and confidence. He now knew how to grow his small business faster.

If you find yourself in a similar scenario, here are the three questions that every entrepreneur should ask themselves to jump-start business growth:

1. What is already yielding results in your business?

The one thing your small business needs, more than anything else, is momentum. Momentum is critical for keeping your energy and spirits high as you deal with the inevitable ups and downs of building a startup.

The key to gaining momentum in business is to work smarter and identify what is already working, and then do more of that activity. Use the Pareto Principle to your advantage. This principle (also known as the 80/20 rule) states that roughly 80 percent of all effects come from only 20 percent of causes.

For example, if you look closely at your business, you will likely find that 20 percent of your marketing activities are resulting in 80 percent of your revenues. Look closer and you may find that (an estimated) 20 percent of your customers account for 80 percent of your sales.

In my friend’s case, partnerships were the biggest success factor in his company’s success. In a relatively short period of time, he had attracted some very powerful partners who were capable of delivering thousands of customers to his business. Because partnerships were already working, the conclusion was to focus more energy on cultivating relationships with existing partners, while bringing new partners on board.

2. What’s not working in your business?

Next, identify what is not producing results. Look for problem areas within your business that have caused one too many sleepless nights. Then, instead of trying to fix what is broken, stop investing your energy in that area.

This advice cuts against the grain of conventional entrepreneurial wisdom. As an entrepreneur, you have probably been told that perseverance is the key to success. While that is true, you may not have enough time or resources for unlimited spins of the wheel.

Instead, put whatever is not working on hold and focus your resources on areas that yield favorable results.

For example, my friend had been focusing all of his time and energy on search engine optimization (SEO), even though it did not immediately generate short-term revenue for his business. For that reason, I advised him to pause his focus on SEO and invest the majority of his resources into partnerships that had the potential to drive immediate revenue.