Inc.

inc.com — Let a good one get away? That's a bad mistake but not the worst. Here's the one that trumps all the rest. shutterstock images We've all hired people we just knew would be superstars... who turned out to be duds. And we've all passed on people who turned out to be superstars at another company.

inc.com — A good product is always more important than the free alternative, even when you sell yo-yo upgrades. I recently visited a colleague at home, where I met his 10-year-old son. When prompted by his dad, the boy--let's call him Andrew--told me about the yo-yo business he had founded with a classmate.

wire.inc.com — Fundable.com Aims at JOBS Act-Friendly Crowd-Funding The new website is betting new regulations will bring more entrepreneurs onto the Web to seek financing. Add Fundable to the crowd of start-ups hoping to take advantage of crowd-funding. The new website, which launched Tuesday, aims to make itself the primary platform for entrepreneurs seeking crowd-funding in the wake of the JOBS Act's new crowd-funding rules.

inc.com — Understand your customers--and the possible return, if any--before you make a Groupon-like offer. In the past several years, the world has seen a huge increase in daily deal sites. There has also been a surge in "on premise" offers like those from Foursquare, which recently announced it would start to offer personalized discounts to in-store customers in July.

inc.com — The SBA brought together government contractors and entrepreneurs for nearly four hours of instruction in how small businesses can go to work for Uncle Sam. Here's what we learned. Federal spending is up. No matter how you might feel about that politically, it means great opportunity for government contractors.

inc.com — Trying to speed up your sales cycle? These organizational changes should make your team more nimble. Shutterstock Is your sales organization suffering from a lack of velocity? High-speed sales teams tend to outperform industry standards, turning out a large work product on time and with limited resources.

inc.com — Summer is the most difficult time to prospect and land deals. Get ahead of the game now to max out your sales productivity. Flickr photo courtesy of Mays Communications When you are selling, getting connected to buyers is critical. Whether you are talking about current customers, referrals or cold prospects: You can't sell to people you can't reach.

inc.com — The SBA loaned small businesses more this year than ever before. But behind the scenes at Small Business Week 2012, entrepreneurs are still fretting over credit access and financing health care. Inc.

inc.com — Mobile phones have become slimmer, lighter, and laden with features. But the basic phone call has hardly evolved. Sidecar aims to change that. Courtesy Company As mobile devices have evolved to become smaller, thinner, and increasingly feature-laden, the way you conduct a voice call has pretty much stayed the same since phones were plugged into walls.

inc.com — Tools and advice from Neil Patel, co-founder of KISSmetrics, and Scott Gerber, founder of the Young Entrepreneur Council. Scott Gerber is the founder of the Young Entrepreneur Council and co-founder of Gen Y Capital Partners. He is a serial entrepreneur, TV commentator, and author of the book Never Get a "Real" Job.

inc.com — Some companies are bought for huge sums, while other similar ones never get much notice. How to get on the road to the big acquisition. shutterstock images Getting acquired for a huge price is the dream of virtually every start-up I see.

inc.com — Your first year as an entrepreneur can be terrifying. Here's how to make it less so. shutterstock images The bottom line about a startup's first year is that it's very scary. There are two aspects of fear that will trail you the whole year. The first is fear of failure.

wire.inc.com — Business Owners Name Biggest Concerns During a town-hall meeting at Small Business Week 2012, entrepreneurs fret over credit access, health care, and more. At a town-hall meeting kicking off National Small Business Week 2012 in Washington, entrepreneurs took to the microphone to voice their economic worries.

inc.com — Five ways to forge relationships--and close more deals--directly with CEOs. Getty The longer I've been in business, the more I realize that the business of selling any product or service has very little to do with the product or service. Sales is about building relationships of trust, and you build relationships of trust by finding common ground.

inc.com — Google's chief happiness officer shares some of the wisdom that has made the company's employees more content and productive. iStock Working at a start-up can be stressful. Just ask Chade-Meng Tan, who as Google's 107th employee, experienced the company back when it was a start-up instead of the behemoth it is today.

inc.com — Building, nurturing and growing your professional network is more important than ever. Here are three simple steps to increase the value of your network. shuttterstock A recent article in Fortune proclaimed Ron Conway a "start-up's best friend." Conway is a Silicon Valley angel investor, but his value to start-ups isn't in the capital he provides.

inc.com — Behance CEO Scott Belsky recently addressed the 99% Conference, offering tips on bridging the gap between inspiration and execution. shutterstock images Great ideas are, well, great, but sadly even the best inspiration doesn't guarantee something remarkable is actually produced.

inc.com — High-pressure sales tactics can be more annoying than effective. There's a better way to move a deal forward. Flickr photo courtesy of Edwin Wisse When you're moving a sale forward, it's a mistake to be either too passive or too aggressive. Instead, be assertive, which is a completely different thing altogether.

inc.com — We've sent more than 1.5 billion emails since launching five years ago. We've made a few mistakes--and learned some vital lessons. shutterstock images As an e-commerce company with more than 4 million subscribers to our daily fashion-sale alerts, we keep a close eye on what makes emails most effective.

inc.com — High-pressure sales tactics can be more annoying than effective. There's a better way to move a deal forward. Flickr photo courtesy of Edwin Wisse When you're moving a sale forward, it's a mistake to be either too passive or too aggressive. Instead, be assertive, which is a completely different thing altogether.

inc.com — Victoria Tifft contracted malaria in West Africa, which inspired her to found a booming medical research company that earned acclaim at National Small Business Week. Do you marvel at the degree to which your life story inspired your business? Do you think you've faced challenges as an entrepreneur?

inc.com — Who's buying Facebook stock, the CEO that thinks Dropbox is overvalued, Tumblr's growing pains, and more from today's TechCrunch Disrupt. Courtesy company Which companies should Yahoo acquire next? What's the secret to a successful start-up ecosystem in New York city? When is Facebook stock worth the buy?

inc.com — Victoria Tifft contracted malaria in West Africa, which inspired her to found a booming medical research company that earned acclaim at National Small Business Week. Do you marvel at the degree to which your life story inspired your business? Do you think you've faced challenges as an entrepreneur?

inc.com — Who's buying Facebook stock, the CEO that thinks Dropbox is overvalued, Tumblr's growing pains, and more from today's TechCrunch Disrupt. Courtesy company Which companies should Yahoo acquire next? What's the secret to a successful start-up ecosystem in New York city? When is Facebook stock worth the buy?

inc.com — You may think you know what's going on with your team. But survey data is far better than anecdotal observation. "Despite the economy, morale is really high," a CEO recently told me. I said: "That's great. How can you tell?" The CEO replied: "People just seem buoyant, smiling.

inc.com — James Miller and Samantha Ballenger, co-founders of Network After Work, have helped thousands of people secure new jobs and useful contacts. Here's a look behind the scenes of their growing start-up.

inc.com — Effective motivation comes down to one surprising word... which might be why so many leaders fail to do it right. Nikada via iStock No business is better than its employees, which is why engaging and motivating employees is so important. Too bad it's rarely done well.

inc.com — Using data, Turn is revolutionizing the way marketers advertise. In the process, it has to head off Google.

inc.com — In today's digital age, it's hard to focus. But the Not-Right-Now list can help you get things done. Most people operate with To-Do lists. If you're like me, it seems as though that To-Do list never ends and you never check everything off of it.

inc.com — At a recent gathering of fast-growth inner city companies, founders and CEOs were surprisingly optimistic about the economy. shutterstock images At a recent gathering of fast-growing inner-city companies, the consensus was clear: We're back. Manufacturing is back. Things are getting better. Granted, these are all companies being recognized for their fast growth.