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This approach will help you think of a solid startup idea.It is broken into 5 steps to facilitate progress through a system that in total should take about 30-40 hours to complete over a week or two, if you do it all.Add rigor and discipline to your brainstorming and idea evaluation process:Build lists of potential customer types and business or pricing models.Evaluate the opportunities where these lists overlap.Then, exit your ivory tower and evaluate the top ideas with real potential users, customers, or suppliers.This will improve your likelihood of success and waste less time down the road, even if you pivot from your original idea.Preface: There certainly are simpler answers like, “pick an area that is trending”, “look for a large market that hasn’t changed in 10 years”, or “convert your hobby into a business”. Unfortunately those aren’t particularly helpful, and since this question comes up often in discussions, I wanted to get my thoughts down in a more comprehensive way. I’m sure Quora will have some good feedback for me :)Also, while this answer covers the ideation part of the journey, keep in mind that implementing the idea is the hard part.Three primary paths to a new business idea1. The spontaneous idea: It hits you when you’re in the shower, driving in your car, talking with friends, or doodling during a meeting. The dots suddenly connect in a new way and you have an epiphany...your sudden insight is surprising and exciting, and the value of this new idea seems obvious. You can’t believe nobody else has thought of it before!So you go online and poke around...and...most of the time it turns out that someone has thought of it before. But, you still might be able to do it better...so you keep thinking about it and a day passes, and you start to realize some problems. You share it with a few trusted friends and get feedback about a lot of things you hadn’t thought of yet (e.g., nobody pays for it, it’s a tiny market, etc.). It could turn out to be a great idea, but you don’t know, you have a good job, and it is uncharted territory...so you let the dream slowly die away. Cheer up, that was probably the right decision.2. The insider idea: Maybe you’ve spent the last 7 years building enterprise software for airlines and you’ve noticed some voids in the product stack or issues with how your company brings it to market. You point these deficiencies out to your bosses, but there are other company priorities and nothing changes. Or, say your company pays vendors a lot of money to do some work, but nobody ever seems happy with the results....and you see a way to do it better for less. Or, maybe you witnessed your company kill an amazing new product or feature not because testing didn’t show user interest, but for political or organizational reasons.You see an opportunity to do it on your own, so you start moonlighting on a solution. You gather more specific information, talk to trusted co-workers and industry contacts, and determine the viability of solving the problem. The good thing is, you’re already knowledgeable and well positioned/networked in the business space...so good luck to you!3. The deliberate idea: In this case, you aren’t starting with a business idea. Instead, you’re starting with a desire to create a new business and become an entrepreneur. You may be ready to quit your job and go for it whole-hog, or just start it on the side of your desk...but you’re looking for the right business idea to pursue (which could be a business related to your work environment or industry, as in #2).While the first two paths may happen unintentionally, the third is for people who know they want to start a company, but don't yet have their idea. If you fall into the third group, then this answer is for you.#3 The Deliberate IdeaIdeation is fun and freeing, but it is the easy part of the process. Execution of your idea separates the wheat from the chaff and is where most people fail. That said, coming up with the right idea will improve your odds of successful execution. This system will help you do that well.Step 1 - Decide what is your primary motivation or personal goal for starting this (1 hour)For example, do you want a:Fun or hobby based business (e.g., making bracelets to sell on Etsy (product))Part-time lifestyle business that could become full time (e.g., running a wine-investment club)Full-time startup hoping for acquisition exit in 3-5 years (e.g., It’s like Airbnb (product) for fish, get it?)Large, cash-flow positive business (e.g., B2B furniture import and delivery business)Path to industry credibility and networking over financial gain (e.g., scriptwriting peer-training exchange for aspiring comedy writers)Create a new spreadsheet and write down your goal in the first tab. It may seem like overkill now, but if you take a break from this project you’ll want to be able to have it as a frame of reference when picking it back up.Step 2 - Frame the problem (2 hours)If you try to just write down a list of ideas from scratch, you’ll probably be underwhelmed with the results. You’ll likely hit a block after a handful of ideas, and what you come up with will be based on your predispositions...i.e., if you are a gamer, you’ll have ideas for games. If you work in cloud computing, you’ll have ideas for new approaches, etc. This isn’t a bad thing, but it is limiting.Instead, make a deliberate effort to facilitate your own brainstorming.In the spreadsheet you created in step 1, create a new sheet and type out a list of 15-20 different categories of customer/audience types in the first column. Don’t start with the usual demographic descriptions like, “18-35 year olds in urban environments making over $100k per year”. Instead, use descriptive phrases that represent specific groups of consumers and/or businesses with unique challenges and needs. These tend to be easier to conceptualize so they are more useful and helpful for generating ideas.Start with some that relate to your personal interests, hobbies, experience or professional network, but don't limit yourself to them. Some examples include retail insurance agents, cyclical dieters, ex-pats in Asia, news junkies, people that eat out 3+ times per week, new college grads, stay-at-home mothers, winemakers, startup founders raising money, youth sports teams, companies at trade shows, wedding planners, gamers, health nuts, software development agencies, etc. If you’re having trouble coming up with enough, broaden to specific industries, e.g., public transportation, dating, real estate, etc. If you’re going after a specific geography, call it out (e.g., ex-pats in Asia).Next, along the first row of your spreadsheet, type the business or pricing models (i.e., the type of business) that you could apply to these customers/audiences. There’s no exact right or wrong approach, and I’m using the term “business model” very liberally here. Not all models will apply to each group and some overlap is okay. Remember, you’re doing this to help you brainstorm and compare new business ideas, not to become an expert on business models.For example, subscriptions, product bundling, risk management/insurance, auctions, resale/classifieds, peer-to-peer exchanges, outsourcing non-core functions, freemium, advertising-supported content, new product development, after-sale care, daily deals (discounted pre-sale), collaborative consumption (think AirBnB), rapid evaluation/matching (e.g., Tinder), sales channel innovation, lead generation and referrals, marketplace, brokerage, BI/CI solutions, community, etc. (more here: TechCrunch business models)Step 3 - Generate ideas (4-6 hours)Your spreadsheet is now a grid with customer/audience types down the side and business/pricing models across the top. Each box where the two lists overlap is a place to brainstorm ideas. Go through each square in this grid. You can dismiss many of the boxes in a few seconds (e.g., Business Intelligence for stay-at-home moms?), but it is worth giving each consideration as you’ll inevitably come up with ideas you didn’t expect.The easiest way to do this is go column by column. Pick a business or pricing model, think of a few existing businesses that use it, and spend 5 minutes reading about them to get your head into that space. Then, apply it to each potential customer or audience group: how could it fit? What are their priorities, what gets in their way, where are they wasting time or money, what do they depend upon? Browse discussion forums where they participate or are discussed. See what they care about, what people complain about. Search online for other companies that already compete to offer them products and services. What are they?Your pass through the first column will take the most time, because you're learning about each of the 15-20 customer types as you go. It speeds up after that.Each time you come up with a keeper, type it into the corresponding box. For example, providing after-sale customer management for retail insurance agents? Or, a debt auction business for startups looking to raise seed funding? Type it in.Note: You may have 2+ ideas in a box. To add a new line inside of a cell type Alt-Enter for Excel on PC, Option-Command-Enter for Excel on Mac, Ctrl-Enter for Google Docs on MacTry to come up with at least 6 solid ideas. Then, create another tab in your spreadsheet and list all of your ideas there. In addition to writing down the ideas themselves, you should state the goal, audience(s), and model(s) for each one. These will change over time, but it is good to start grounded with something you can work-back towards.Step 4 - Evaluate ideas and narrow it down (3 hours)The next step is to evaluate your list of 6+ ideas against a set of criteria that will help you narrow down to the most promising three. For example:Heat in this space: E.g., Some answers on QuoraYour experience and connections: Do you have experience in this industry or with similar businesses? Are you well connected with friends or family that operate in this space? Any advantages, or disadvantages?Alignment with goals: How well does this align to your original goal? Are the upfront capital costs compatible with the level of investment you want to make in this business?Market opportunity: How big is this market and how unique or differentiated is your approach? Consider competition here, but don’t be discouraged by the presence of competition. It is validation that the space is interesting. Also, there are plenty of companies have come along and disrupted markets that others had written off as already solved, like:Google ... after Altavista, Metacrawler, Lycos, etc.Facebook ... after Friendster, MySpaceUber ... after Yellow cab, black car services, etc.Gmail ... after AOL, Yahoo!, Hotmail, etc.iPhone ... after Blackberry, Palm, Windows MobileFlipboard, Wavii, Zite, Pulse, Prismatic, etc. ... after Yahoo!, AOL, MSN, CNNYou probably don’t have time to really deep-dive on 10 ideas, so getting this narrowed down is both science and art. What does your gut tell you, what would be fun, where are you most comfortable and confident?OPTIONAL STEP: To add more science try quantifying some of these criteria.To do this, add a column to the Ideas tab, one for each criterion. Then, for each new column score your ideas from 1-5, with 5 being the best. So, for “Alignment with my goal”, a 5 means it aligns perfectly, and a 1 means it doesn’t align at all (e.g., your goal is to create a fun hobby business, but the idea is to sell offshore development services to technology companies in the US).Don’t worry if you aren’t sure whether something is a 3 or a 4, just go with your gut or do 5 minutes of online research. Keep moving forward, don't get stuck here bogged down in the weeds.When you’re finished, add up the scores and sort your list by the sum of these scores. In theory, the higher the score, the more interesting the idea should be to you.When you’re done evaluating your ideas run them by a couple of trusted friends, and narrow it down to the three that seem most promising. If you do the optional scoring step, don’t feel like you must pick the three that scored highest.Note - we could have used these criteria earlier in step 2 to narrow down the list of audiences and business/pricing models, but that would have limited the creative process too far upstream (i.e., before the brainstorming process), so I suggest waiting.Step 5 - Deep dive on those 3 ideas (20-30 hours over a week or two)Congratulations, you have come up with 3 solid ideas! Now it’s time to step out of your ivory tower and start getting street-level information and feedback. There are three basic steps for doing this (i.e., 5_a, _b, and _c) that are general enough to apply to most types of ideas.A quick aside: at this point people ask, "If I share my idea with a lot of people, won't someone steal it?" The answer is possibly, but unlikely. As previously mentioned, there are a lot of startup ideas but few people with the time, energy, or know-how to implement them. The benefits of getting good feedback early on outweigh the risk that someone will steal it. So, don't tell people that won't benefit you, and avoid telling direct competitors that are in a position to do it themselves, or to block you from doing it, but generally don't worry. Related questions / blog posts:Will a VC or Angel steal my idea?How can I be sure people won't steal my idea during a pitch?Will anyone steal my startup idea?Why you shouldn’t keep your startup idea secret5_a. Get smart(er) (6-8 hours)You will be able to evaluate and refine your ideas 10x faster by engaging in discussions with real potential customers, users, and partners. But, if you go into these unprepared you’ll wind up asking the wrong questions, sounding out of place, and wasting your opportunity and their time.So, before you invest in surveys, coffee shop chats, or informational meetings, you need to get up to speed on the basics of the industry you are targeting. If you gave yourself a 5 in the “Experience and connections” category in Step 4, you can skip this. If not, invest 2-3 hours per idea.Note - throughout this process you should take detailed notes. Create a new tab for each of your ideas, or an entirely new document; doesn’t really matter as long as you can write stuff down. Track who you've spoken with, emailed, feedback, etc. Trust me, you will be glad that you wrote this all down.This will probably take a couple of days. At minimum I would:Call up or email savvy friends and family to get their thoughts (LinkedIn is a great tool for this).Give them the 10,000 foot view of your idea and ask for their opinion. (Take good notes on or right after the call; do not trust your memory for this.)Ask them what they think is the biggest problem with it, otherwise they might just say nice things.If they’re in your industry then ask if they know of other companies in your space, what they think is broken, etc.Ask them who they would speak with if they had your idea. Ask if you can get informational interviews with those people.Talk to potential investors if possibleThey don’t have to be the people that will actually invest in your business, but at this step ideally you have a personal relationship with them. Position your conversation as looking for advice to make a decision, not their money.Anyone you know that does angel investing, VC, M&A, etc., will have a trained perspective.Do lots of online research. For example:Find out who competes in this space, and add them to your spreadsheet.Read their websites, watch their videos, and search for them together, e.g., “Windows AND Android AND iPhone”. These search queries surface articles and blog posts that analyze the broader industry, offering helpful perspective and discovery of competitors you missed. E.g., “Windows, Android and iPhone versus Blackberry”.Browse on Wikipedia to learn industry vocabulary and organization.Search Quora for questions about the industry or these competitors.Determine external dependenciesYou may need data. Is it available free or paid, or will you have to mine it yourself, etc.?Do you need any particular physical materials, machinery, etc. that are hard to come by?Will you require any permits or government approvals?Will you need to hire any specialists people that are particularly difficult to find and recruit?Expensive equipment?Will you need to raise a significant amount of outside funding just to get started b/c there are high capital costs?Etc.Now you are smart enough to have the intelligent conversations with people in your prospective industries, and you probably have also improved and refined your ideas. Woohoo, you’re getting closer to “the one”.At this point a lot of people would pick something and invest time in “creating” their business. I.e., set up a corporation, pick a name, secure a domain, design a logo, print business cards, figure out their title, etc. While these things feel like progress towards a “real company”, they are an unnecessary distraction at this point. It is much wiser to spend that energy on validation of your idea, like testing with real customers, meeting competitors, mocking up prototypes, etc.5_b. Talk to potential customers, competitors, and industry partners you don’t know personally (5-10 hours)Before you pour your heart and soul into a new venture, you should validate it outside of your friends and family circle. Is this solving a real issue for potential users or customers? Would they be willing to pay for it...or do businesses even have budget for what you’re offering? Again, the mechanics of this depend on the type of business idea that you have (e.g., starting a sandwich shop vs. office supply delivery vs. peer-to-peer insurance), but here are some general approaches that I would recommend.Run an online surveyQuick way to get a relatively large sample of answers from your target customers or audience.There are probably others, but Google Surveys is drop-dead simple to use and it allows you to easily limit responses to your target (e.g., people that buy life insurance).It’ll cost you a couple hundred bucks per survey. A cheap alternative is to post the concept on a discussion forum or Quora to get feedback.Talk with your potential customers/audienceIf you’re targeting consumers, figure out where they spend time and go there to ask them questions (e.g., certain neighborhoods or coffee shops, concerts, sporting events, conventions, etc.). If you end up in a coffee shop, print a sign for the back of your laptop that says “Your feedback on my idea for a free latte”!If you’re targeting B2C businesses, approach them as a customer, and ask them some questions. Buy something if they sell retail.If you’re targeting B2B businesses, email them or go to conferences that they attend, etc. Try to get an informational interview based on the premise that you’re working to improve the industry and do something valuable for them, so you need their expertise and advice. People like it when others ask for their ‘expertise’.Talk with suppliersThis is relatively easy, since you are a potential buyer and they will want your business.In a previous step you identified the external dependencies you’ll want to take, i.e., what you should buy vs. build, and some possible vendors. Get meetings with them.You need to verify your assumptions, and while a lot of the details will be available on their website, information about pricing, access restrictions, etc., is often not, so you’ll want to email or call them to get details.Try to speak to more than 1 provider for each item so you can compare prices and look for differences or similarities, which will tell you a lot about the industry.OPTIONAL - Start selling before you have anything to sellSome people call this doing a “smokescreen test”, and the mechanics of it really depend on the business idea. In many cases, it actually won’t be practical to do this until you are working on your final idea.B2C: If you’re targeting consumers you can do this via the Google or Facebook ad platforms.B2B: If businesses, then send a bunch of emails to potential customers (you can find them online) with a proposed offer and price...vary the price and offer details and keep track of how people respond (hopefully some do). see if you can get on the phone with one or two of them. Learn what questions they ask, what they push back on, if the price seems reasonable. If someone wants what you’re selling, then you may have your first customer if you can deliver something quickly (you won’t be the first to sell something before you own it...remember Bill Gates and IBM (company))5_c. Write abbreviated business plans (7-10 hours)We’ve spent a lot of time working on the individual components of each idea, and now it is time to step back and see the big picture. Bring your thinking and research together into a brief business plan for each idea that still appears to be worth pursuing. If it is obvious from the previous steps that that an idea isn’t going to work, drop it.Here’s a suggested outline. Try to limit it to be 2-3 pages, and no more than 3 hours per idea:Page 1One-line description of your idea:[Company] will <do, make, or provide> for <target audience or customer> so that <the value/outcome you bring>.Example: Lewis Industries will develop customer management software for automotive dealerships so that they can increase loyalty post-sale and sell more services and upgrades to consumers that buy vehicles.Description of your products and services: 150 word description of the problems you are addressing and the scenarios you will focus on first.Page 2How and when you monetize: Will you start as a free service for everyone, and hope to monetize later through premium offerings (freemium) or advertising (ad-supported)? Or, will you start charging immediately, or never? You won’t know for sure, but give your best guess.Distribution model: How will potential customers or users discover you? What marketing and/or partner channels do you plan to use?External dependencies: For what core things will you rely on others to provide, e.g., A database of all vehicle makes and models, and option packages since 1970? You should have this list from previous steps, and don’t worry about generic things (e.g., office space).Page 3Estimated cost to reach your Minimum Viable Product (MVP): Just try to get in the ballpark here. The main reason to figure this out during the ideation stage is that it will impact how you approach starting the business, which may or may not align with your goals. I.e., if you’re planning to build a Zipcar for trucks and need to raise $2 million for the vehicles, then you probably can’t do it as a lifestyle business off the side of your desk.What are the major external dependencies and how much will they cost (e.g., $20,000 for the automotive database)How much development and design do you need to do for this idea, any large capital costs (e.g., a fleet of trucks)?Here are some places to learn how to estimate these costs: Estimating startup costs for a new businesses (StartupNation), How to estimate the cost of starting a business from scratch (United States SBA), Estimate startup costs (Entrepreneur)Summary of idea’s strengths and weaknesses (1-2 sentences for each)Research: What did you learn from your survey, calls, emails and online research that supports or challenges this idea? E.g., Positive if 67% of people surveyed say they will pay $10 for this, less so if 4 of the 5 companies you spoke with have no interest in what you’re proposing.Industry/macro trends: Will you have a tailwind or a headwind doing this? List out the specifics (e.g., My largest customer, retirees, is estimate to grow at 10% per year for the next 20 years.)Your knowledge and connections: You'll have a good sense for this, but write it down anyways. E.g., I have spent 4 years working on software for this industry, and x, y, and z from college are potential buyers.Risks: Are you taking dependencies where the solution isn’t yet clear? How competitive is the market, and what advantages do competitors have...or, is competition not a deterrent for x reason?You could easily increase the scope of this business plan by an order of magnitude, and there are a dozen templates for this (Writing a Business Plan) or approaches to analyzing your ideas (e.g., SWOT analysis). The important thing is that you’re being honest and self-critical, because ultimately you are the one taking the risk.Step 6 - Pick the best idea and get startedIf after all of this digging you are still feeling really good about one of these ideas, then go for it...this is where the real work begins. You’re going to need to think about financing, hiring, networking, and business operations in addition to the fun part of actually building your product or service.That is for another post! In the meantime, here are some resources to help you on your way:First I'd sit back and read...Startups are roller-coasters that often end in failure...make sure that you know what you're getting yourself into! Check out Mashable’s post on Why 90% of Startups Fail, David Lee's on Why I Never Started My Own Company, and Dave McClure's slides and video about “Why not to do a startup”.Now, if you still want to do this, read Paul Graham 's essay on How to start a startup (he also has an interesting view on startup ideas)Next, grab a drink and read Quora's take on what first timers often miss - What first time entrepreneurs are blind toThen, Jimmy Wales' answer to how to contact him about a startup idea...it applies broadly to how you should contact a potential advisor or investor about their startup.Lastly, go up-vote something Ashton Kutcher wrote on Quora and ask Mark Zuckerberg a question that he won't answer...Congrats! You're half-way to a great startup (scene story for your friends). :-)Startup advice and storiesQuora questions - What is the hardest part about staring a company, Common mistakes made when starting a tech company, Top five things to remember whens starting a companyJames Altucher, TechCrunch - Should you start a company?Jason Goldberg, Betashop - 13 things you must do every week as a startup CEOSeth Sternberg, Meebo co-founder (acquired by Google since this article) - From nothing to something. How to get there.Ben Horowitz vs Fred Wilson - Ben posts (case for fat startup), Fred rebuts (fat not healthy), Ben rebuts (revenge of fat guy)Neil Patel, Geekwire - Wish I would have known before starting my own businessDane Carlson - 20 things not to do before starting a business (I agree with most of this, but not #1 if you can afford it)Scott Weiss, TechCrunch - The path to starting a startupJames Altucher, TechCrunch - What you can learn from Woody AllenErick Schonfeld (2006), 5 ways to start a company (without quitting your day job)ChecklistsRyan Roberts, Startup Lawyer - If I launched a startup (great cheat sheet)Quora - How do you start a companyForbes - 38 things to do when starting a business (non-tech)Fiverr (marketplace) - Startup checklist (non-tech, and website is a little kitschy with all the dashes, stars, and arrows in the text)Finance and LegalQuora - What questions do entrepreneurs want to ask venture investors most but are afraid to askUser-10887637379381104900 - So you want to raise seed capitalFred Wilson, AVC - Financing options for startups, Financing options: convertible debt (likely way you will raise your first round of angel/seed money)Ryan Roberts, Startup Lawyer - How convertile debt works, What type of entity should I form, What does a series A term sheet look likeMartin Kleppmann - Valuation caps on convertible notes explained with graphsOrrick - Startup toolkitBrad Feld, Foundry Group (venture capital firm) - Term sheet series wrap upHiringBabak Nivi, Venture Hacks - What does an employee offer letter look like, Questions recruits might ask Part I, Part IIRobert Scoble, Quora - How to avoid hiring the wrong people for your startupElad Gil, Elad blog - Hiring for cultural fitBlogs by entrepreneurs:Jason Goldberg - BetashopDanielle Morrill - Danielle Morrill’s blogMarco Arment - Marco.orgBen Milne - Ben Milne’s blogKate Kendall - Kate Kendall’s blogGuy Kawasaki - How to change the worldSeth Godin - Seth Godin’s blogSriram Krishnan - Sriram Krishnan’s blogPenelope Trunk - Penelope Trunk’s blogScott Adams - Dilbert blogNeil Patel - Quick SproutEric Ries - Startup Lessons LearnedSteve Blank - Steve Blank’s blogDharmesh Shah - OnStartupsQuora - Other startup founder blogsBlogs by VCs:Brad Feld (Foundry Group) - FeldThoughtsFred Wilson (Union Square Ventures) - AVCDave McClure (500 Startups) - Master of 500 hatsPaul Graham (Y Combinator +) - Paul Graham EssaysDavid Lee (SV Angel) - dasleeUser-10887637379381104900 (Andreessen Horowitz) - Chris Dixon’s blogJeff Bussgang (Flybridge Capital Partners) - Seeing Both SidesBen Horowitz (Andreessen Horowitz) - Ben’s blogJosh Kopelman (First Round Capital) - Redeye VCMike Hirshland (Resolute.VC, formerly Polaris Ventures) - VCMike’s BlogDavid Cowan (Bessemer Venture Partners) - Who has time for thisJalak Jobanputra (FuturePerfect Ventures) - The barefoot VCHoward Morgan (First Round Capital) - Way too ealryGreg Gottesman (Madrona Venture Partners) - Stark Raving VCDavid Skok (Matrix Partners) - For entrepreneursMark Suster (GRP Partners) - Both Sides of the TableOther blogsJared O'Toole and Matt Wilson - Under 30 CEOAnita Campbell - Small Business TrendsAndrew Chen - Andrew Chen’s blogCarson McComas, Work Happy blog for entrepreneursYoung Entrepreneur BlogHarvard Business Review Blog NetworkBusiness PunditQuora entrepreneurs to follow (there are a lot of ‘must follow’ lists of entrepreneurs on Quora, of which many aren’t very active. These people are)Wikipedia, Jimmy WalesCraigslist, Craig NewmarkBlippy and Adbrite, Philip KaplanVontu & Pipewise, Michael WolfeQuora & Facebook, Adam D'AngeloFriendster, Jonathan AbramsInstagram, Kevin SystromFoursquare, Dennis CrowleyPath, Dave Morin500 Startups, Dave McClureFacebook, Dustin MoskovitzMahalo, LAUNCH, & Weblogs, Jason CalacanisPayPal, David SacksEchoSign, Jason M. LemkinWavii, Adrian AounOther people’s listsRyan Spoon, Polaris Ventures - list of Quora threads for startupsOther resources:SBA (U.S. Small Business Administration)StartupNation (Source for Small Business Advice)Notes: I tried to use mostly plain-speak when writing this. There are a lot of opinions on vocabulary and the definition of business models, business plans, etc., so if you’re hung up on those details write your thoughts in the comments, but keep in mind that the nuances are less important than the spirit of applying some rigor to picking an idea.

20 Financial Rules for Your 20sTIPS: If you have bad credit and struggling to cope financially i would recommend you reach out to George Gibbs , He is a computer guru & programming expert who i have used his services and also referred a lot of family members to as well. He is effective and 100% Legit.In my early 20s, I made a ton of financial mistakes.From maxing out credit cards, taking unnecessary student loans, to delaying my savings, I got off to a rocky start.I sometimes wonder how I even have anything to my name.Now into my 30’s, what I wouldn’t give to go back to my 20-year-old self and try to talk to sense into him.But since I know myself rather well, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have listened. Ha!You don’t have to get off to a rocky start, though.“When you’re in your twenties you’re really forging for your future. Things take shape later on.”These 20 rules for finances in your 20s should help you get things in order before you head into your 30s:1. Avoid Credit Card DebtOne of the best things you can do for your finances in the long term is to avoid credit card debt. Make it a point to have the money in your account before you charge something. High-interest credit card debt can ruin your finances over time, leeching away your wealth.I, unfortunately, learned this lesson the hard way. My dad, who struggled with credit card debt for most of his life, actually encouraged me to open a credit card when I was still in college.#bigmistakeBefore I knew it, I had maxed out one credit card and was opening several more. It was a vicious cycle that could have ruined me had I not figured out when I did. Even still, I had over $20,000 of debt before I did and it took me several years before I became debt free.2. Only Borrow What You Need for an EducationI had a full-tuition scholarship (because I joined the National Guard) and a cushy job in the mall at GNC. With all of my resources, there was no reason for me to take out the maximum in student loans. But I did anyway.While you might need to borrow to fund your education, don’t take more than you need to make it work. The smaller your debts, the better.Then, when you’re done with school and looking to repay your loans, make sure you understand what you’re getting into. Too many people are getting caught up in student loan consolidation scams, and just wasting money that could have been spent on their student loan debt. Remember, once you graduate you have to pay back the loans.3. Be Careful about Borrowing for Anything ElseWhether it’s a house or a car, be careful about borrowing. The rule about only getting what you need applies for all your loans. Yes, you will probably need to borrow if you want to pay for a house. But you don’t need to go overboard; modest homes and modest cars paid for with solid down payments, are your best choice.4. Pay Attention to Your CreditJust because you shouldn’t rack up credit card debt doesn’t mean that you should ignore credit cards and other forms of credit. Building a good credit history can help you in a number of ways.Good credit is about more than getting the best interest rate on a loan (something that can save you thousands of dollars over your lifetime). Your credit is used to determine insurance rates and security deposits. A version of your credit report might also be used as part of your background check for a job.A previous 20-year-old intern of mine thought his credit was good but found out the hard way that since he didn’t have any credit history, his credit score was actually a 621. Ouch!After realizing this he was able to implement a few strategies and raise his credit score dramatically to the tune of 110 points in a short amount of time.If you want to make the most of your finances, you need to establish good credit habits. The fastest way to do this is to get a credit card and use it once or twice a month for items you can pay off in full, immediately after you use it. Try to never carry a balance over to the next month.5. Pay All Your Bills On TimeAs a fledgling adult, you are now responsible for many of your own costs. It’s vital that you pay all your bills on time. You don’t want to miss payments for utilities, your phone plan, or other items.Missed payments can have a number of consequences that can be far-reaching, including messing up your credit score for years. That’s right, I said YEARS.6. Open a Checking Account on Your OwnAt some point in your 20s, you should open a checking account on your own. This means that you ditch the old joint account with your parents, and start managing your own finances. Look for a free checking account (many banks and credit unions offer student accounts that come with benefits), so you don’t have to worry about fees.7. Open a Savings AccountWhile you’re at it, open a savings account. Look for a high-yield account that offers you the chance to earn a return. Then, set up a regular schedule for adding money to your checking account. Even if it’s only a few dollars a week, the important thing is to get in the habit of saving.8. Open a Retirement AccountThe sooner you start saving for retirement, the better off you’ll be. Why? Because you don’t want to still be eating ramen noodles in retirement. That’s why.You can end up with thousands more in your nest egg if you start investing in your 20s, rather than waiting until you are in your 30s.As soon as you start earning income, open a retirement account. If you can’t get a retirement account through your job (perhaps it’s part-time), open an IRA. Anyone with earned income can contribute to an IRA.9. Learn about InvestingNow is a great time to learn about investing. Find out how you can use the money to improve your returns. Get the basics of how to invest in low-cost funds, as well as how you can use dividend stocks to your advantage.When you understand the basics of investing, you are better able to build wealth over time. Learn how you can use a taxable investment account in addition to your tax-advantaged retirement account to boost your wealth.10. Purchase Life InsuranceProbably the last thing on your mind in your 20s is life insurance. Ewwww! That’s something that only old people need to talk about.But the truth is, you can get a much better rate on life insurance while you are young and (probably) healthy. If you plan to start a family sometime in the next decade or so, getting life insurance now can be a good way to lay the foundation for financial protection for your family. It’s possible to find inexpensive term life insurance that provides adequate coverage for 20 to 40 years, depending on the length of term you choose.And just because you take out a 30-year term policy today doesn’t mean you have to continue to pay on it. Since life insurance is a unilateral contract, you can stop it at any time. But remember, since most policies are super cheap (around $15 per month for $250,000 of coverage), it would be silly to ever stop paying on the policy.11. Consider Working with a Financial PlannerI know what you’re thinking…“What?! A financial planner?? I am only in my 20’s! Plus, I don’t have nearly the assets required to hire a financial planner.”Until recently, I would have agreed with you. Most people in their 20’s don’t have the assets to justify the fees traditional financial planners require.However, a new company in the financial planning marketplace, Facet Wealth, is seeking to shake things up by providing this helpful resource to younger individuals without millions of dollars but who still need help in planning their financial future.Our RatingServiceDedicated CFPInitial Deposit$0Cost$40-$400/MonthOPEN AN ACCOUNT12. Develop a Marketable SkillIt’s not necessary to go to college if you want a good job. However, you do need a marketable skill. Consider which skills you can develop that might be in demand. There are plenty of certifications that can provide you with a good job — and you don’t have to go to school for four years.Make yourself marketable, and you’ll be more likely to find a job, even in a down economy.13. Consider a Side HustleEven the most marketable of us run the risk of being jobless if economic conditions are especially difficult. A side hustle can help you diversify your income. Consider starting up a small side business that can help you cultivate an alternative income stream so that you don’t have to rely too heavily on a single source of income.A side hustle I failed at was real estate. I could have given up, but that led to me starting my blog, which has been a great side hustle. Don’t give up after one attempt.14. Give to OthersWell-rounded finances include efforts to help others. Whether you give money to your church, donate to charity, or volunteer, you can give of your time, money, and effort. Efforts to give to others generally result in better financial management, and can even expose you to new opportunities.15. Start Building a NetworkDeveloping people skills is an important part of marketing yourself for future career and financial opportunities. Take advantage of internships, campus organizations, community organizations, and other opportunities to meet people. Build relationships now, and you might be surprised at how helpful they can be later.16. Establish Your PrioritiesThink about what you value, and what is important to you. Now is a great time to establish your spending priorities. Consider how you want to use your money, and what you want your money to accomplish on your behalf. Then, instead of wasting money on the things that don’t matter to you, you can use your money to purchase things and experiences that are important.17. Create a Spending Plan or BudgetPut together a plan for your money. Base your spending plan or budget on your priorities. Understand your cash flow so that you know how much money you have coming in each month, and what expenses need to be paid as well. You don’t need to account for every dollar (although that can help), but you do need a plan that helps you stay on track, and that allows you to meet your goals.18. Talk Finances with Your Significant OtherChances are that you will meet your spouse while you are in your 20s. When things start getting serious, you need to talk finances. Whether you are planning to move in together, or whether you want to get married, you need to talk about your money habits, share the realities of your situation, and make plans for the future.If you are sharing your life with someone, you also need to figure out how you will manage your finances together (even if you keep separate accounts).19. Get Used to Saving Up for Big PurchasesNow is a great time to develop the habit of saving up for major purchases. Rather than buying things on credit, practice saving up for things like computers, vacations, and even your wedding. While you can benefit by buying things with an airline or airmiles rewards credit card, make sure that you have the money saved up in advance so that you can pay off your card and avoid carrying a balance.20. Learn to CookI would never suggest that you eschew eating out altogether. After all, I enjoy eating out. However, eating out all the time can lead to health problems, and it can drain your finances. Learn how to plan meals, and how to cook.You’ll be healthier, and you’ll save money over time. Good health is one of the best money-savers (plus, you get to enjoy your money!), and learning to plan and cook healthy meals can go a long way toward maintaining a good quality of life.BONUS: Learn to Say NoKnow how to say no. This means that you might have to say no to a purchase you want (or at least put it off). Sometimes it means saying no to loved ones as you attempt to make time for yourself and your job. Sometimes, it even means saying no to a job that isn’t working for you. Learning how to say no — and knowing when to use this word — can help you use your financial resources more effectively.

Sabeen Ali of AngelHack's Quest to Impact The WorldSabeen Ali has spoken at TEDx conferences on both sides of the world. Today she is the CEO of AngelHack, a global community of 50,000 programmers who do events within 52 major cities around the world.But how did she get to where she is today?Thanks to two of her phenomenal employees, Matt Wright and Kelsey Ruiz, I had the time to chat with Sabeen for an hour to gather all the insights of what it took for her to get where she is today. Most of what had molded her into the trailblazer she is today started with her childhood.Childhood:Sabeen is the youngest of three children in her family. When she was four years old, her father passed away. He was a doctor. Sabeen’s mother had never worked a day in her life and barely spoke a word of English. Unsure of what to do and heartbroken from such a traumatic tragedy, her mother decided to leave her home in Chicago, packed up her bags, then flew back to Pakistan.While she was in Pakistan, Sabeen’s mother knew that she needed to figure out something better for her kids, so she took her family and flew out to California, where her former husband’s family was.As a child, Sabeen went from daycare to daycare while her mother tried to learn english by absorbing her surroundings while working two jobs to support the family. Her mother’s first job was as an electronic assembler in an assembly line, a job where much english wasn’t required. Then, she worked at Fry’s electronics, which is like a more niche type of Best Buy. Eventually, she put herself through beauty school, started working at Supercuts with all sorts of odd jobs in between.In the late 80’s, she was able to open up her own hair salon. Looking back, Sabeen recently found out that her mother was able to earn a profit from the sale of the business. After that, her mother focused her efforts in the loan mortgage industry. Once that happened, her family was able to finally afford to buy a house and car. This was when Sabeen was entering high school.Up until this point, being a single mother of four, Sabeen’s mother had to hack life to get ahead. She did everything from taking her family out to Denny’s on a birthday so they could get free meals. Her children had to share rooms and sleep on the floor.Her mom reminds me quite a bit about my mother, who is also a single mother. She would hack life by asking for free food at a Brazilian BBQ place and getting it, or sneaking into the back entrance of a movie theater to watch three movies for free. I tried it out a few times as well back when I was 21. I went to the Pacific Theaters at the Grove with my best friend. She was all dressed up and I was wearing a Versace suit. We told the cashier we were too poor to watch a movie, then proceeded to ask for free tickets. To our surprise, He gave them to us. My ex didn’t want to do it, but another time when we were at the theater, I told her to ask for free snacks at the concession stand. We got them. As embarrassing as it may sound, I may have also done this a few times when I was broke by asking my girl friends to ask guys for free drinks at bars, then having them bring them to me.Being cheap or hacking life?You decide.Sabeen had an underlying passion for basketball her entire life. As a child, she practiced relentlessly, as she wanted to join the basketball team; however she was told that she was too short to be a guard and too tall to be a point guard. This was one of the few moments in Sabeen’s life that left her burned a little.One day, Sabeen’s mother had brought home a used basketball backboard and hoop that was given to her from a client who was moving away. Thinking of how awesome the hoop was, Sabeen knew that she had to put this up on the garage at their home. So the three happy children galloped around the neighborhood, then knocked at their neighbor’s door. They asked for tools to help set up their new center of entertainment.While asking for the tools, the neighbors asked, “Don’t you have any adults in your life?”The three children responded, “No, we don’t.”It wasn’t until recently when Sabeen reflected upon that moment that she understood exactly what her neighbors meant with that question. That it is normal for other children to have their parents do things for them. But this was Sabeen, the youngest of three children who lived with a single mother. They had no one to rely on because their mother was busy working all the time to provide for the family. So they were just going to run around and get things done.Being able to see what hardships her mother had to go through to raise three children on her own while providing them with a world of opportunity, Sabeen came to recognize her mother as her hero. Her mother was the first entrepreneur she had ever seen. Her mother may have been the key determining factor who helped mold her into the successful entrepreneur she is today.Education and Work:Sabeen came from very humble beginnings, similar to my my own. We both hacked our way into the tech industry. Sabeen’s first job was at Safeway bagging groceries. My first job was working at Knott’s Berry Farm picking up trash and cleaning out toilets.Eventually, Sabeen started working at Kaiser Permanente. She did employee relations and negotiating between Kaiser employees and the Labor Union. That involved a lot of facilitating and risk mitigation. Then, all of a sudden, she had a change of heart. She saw Michael Moore’s documentary that came out about healthcare in America and she realized that she couldn’t work in that industry anymore.Sabeen said, “Ugh, I can’t do it. I can’t be part of this commercialized health care system.”So she left.Then she attended the University of San Francisco, where she studied for a Master’s Degree in Organizational Development with an emphasis on change management. At the same time, she got an amazing job in Mergers and Acquisitions at Yahoo.This was back around the time when the whole economy was falling apart. Back in 2008, when the real estate and stock markets crashed and the whole world was in panic.At that time Microsoft was bidding to buy Yahoo. It was all over the news. Everyone at Yahoo was bracing themselves to be bought. It was quite a bizarre time and Sabeen was right in the middle of it, working in M&A.Eventually, Sabeen left to finish up her Master’s degree and have her first child.Entrepreneurship:Prior to founding AngelHack, Sabeen started her first business called Team Building ROI.Team Building ROI would partner up with high-tech corporations in the Bay area, such as Google, Samsung, Cisco, Apple and the rest. They would work with specific departments or teams and run experiential team building activities. Sabeen would design these activities based upon what their needs assessments were revealing.Some companies would call Sabeen and say, “Hey, we have this huge project we are about to roll out. Our team needs to let off some steam and there are like 5 more people joining our team of 8. We need to work together and get through it.”Sabeen would run activities and debrief them. These would range from a scavenger hunt to a 50 foot high rope course.Other companies would say, “Hey, we’re having some problems. We’re having communication issues, and this and this person are not getting along on the team.”Sabeen would put together activities to face those problems and facilitate them.Team Building ROI did quite well, but Sabeen graduated from the business one day when she met her next company's co-founder. At the time, this guy was networking like crazy. Sabeen heard that someone wanted to do team building with developers. That was how they ended up meeting for coffee.Sabeen started the conversation, saying “I think you had an idea for a dating app or something.”He responded, “I just want to meet developers and I’m in Florida. They’re so hard to come by here.”The lightbulbs went off in Sabeen’s head. She thought of how easy it would be to build events like this with her background in team building and event planning.Sabeen told him, “Let’s organize an event. I can do all the team building and do the logistics of the event. All you have to do is get people to pay for it.”Sabeen put together the logistics, while he went out to get sponsorships for the event. One by one, the sponsors trickled in.Success:This led to the inception of AngelHack. In October 2011, the planning phases began. Two months later, the first AngelHack Hackathon went live. AngelHack did team building activities between business oriented people and developers. By the end of the experience, everyone was teamed up and working on apps.Now, AngelHack focuses it’s work in three key areas:Competitions: Connecting business people with programmers.Education: Programs to help people code and learn communication skills.Change Management: White labeling Hackathons for companies throughout the world.Connecting:In the beginning of AngelHack, there were only a few Hackathons. On a Sunday, AngelHack would invite a seed investor to come out to take part in the event. They would then fund the team of their choice. It was the only event that anyone could go to where you could form your business and get funded within 48 hours.Now, Sabeen holds Hackathons in 52 cities around the world. AngelHack was able to build a network this big by delivering results and keeping their word. But nowadays, their philosophy is a little bit different. They do 50 events all over the world and pick one winning team from each event. Then they incubate the winning team and fly them to the Silicon Valley for AngelHack’s Annual Global Demo Day where they each compete for seed investments.Education:When I first met with Matt Wright of AngelHack at the Starbucks off of Wilshire and Santa Monica in Beverly Hills, he touched base on a new platform that is just being released. Sabeen dug into more details about this in our phone conversation.What the platform is is a hybrid, 10-week front-end coding course. This program teaches people how to not just prepare their coding skills, but at the same time help them with their interview skills. This program is called The Whole Developer. Since we have so many developers in our community, we wanted to start educating them and teaching them top skills, which include:Communication skillsProblem solvingNegotiatingTeam buildingand many more.AngelHack will start their efforts with The Whole Developer out in May, then move out to Boston and Los Angeles.White Labeling:Hackathons are becoming a household name and every single company has been coming out of the woodworks wanting to do Hackathons; however, before this year, Hackathons didn’t even have mainstream interest.This caused us to start white labeling our events for other companies. These companies include but are not limited to, Hearst Corporation, Conde Nast, Hasbro, HP, Cisco, etc. AngelHack is currently working with doing an additional 10 Hackathons with RBC, the largest bank in Canada and planning another 12 Hackathons with MasterCard.There are a lot of similarities between the change management philosophies and what is done with corporations and Hackathons. A lot of these old corporations, someone within the organization decides they want to do a Hackathon. Then some C-Level executive has to agree to the idea. Then the whole organization need to hop on board.One great example of this is with Hasbro. Hasbro’s headquarters are in Pawtucket. They have never opened their doors to the public. Through the whole process, Sabeen’s team had to practice change management to get them to change policies, mindsets and communicate what was happening, because Hasbro wanted to change their motto. Since then, Hasbro has been doing regular Hackathons where they are able to do R&D from outside their organization. They use their Hackathons to funnel ideas. Surprisingly, they bought 8 ideas from the AngelHack Hackathons, something that has never been done before.Most of the old school companies, their technologies are way behind and are covered with red tape. Cisco is a networking company. They’ve been trying to pivot to become a software company. AngelHack does a Hackathon for them with an emphasis to integrate their hardware with their software; however if you don’t manage that initiative as a change initiative, companies like this won’t survive.Sure, Hackathons are fun, people play and there is a lot of event planning. But at the same time, it is a change and people have to embrace it. Companies like Cisco have to learn that if they want to survive, they have to learn how to embrace software as well as hardware.I personally have worked in the automotive industry for close to a decade. I see so many problems with software every day. The system that a major Japanese brand uses to track where each car goes is still built on MSDOS. Every single employee who tracks where vehicles are shipped are using a black box to track inventory that is worth tens of thousands of dollars.Sabeen has worked with other major automotive brands and understands just how far behind the automotive companies are. She recently went to buy a car and just saw how much paperwork was being wasted to all the flaws in the system. She states “It’s definitely a broken system that needs to be changed.”Sabeen states that in order to change something though, you have to do four things.Show people that a change needs to be made.Get someone to have your back and support change.Get everyone else to get behind it.Do what needs to get done.Trials and tribulations:With Hackathons, people take a ton of pressure, then a lot more pressure is added to people as you take them to perform under pressure. Because of this type of environment, people come up with all sorts of workarounds and tricks. That is what hacking truly is. Growing up in this type of environment where her family had to go out to make things work, Sabeen became quite familiar with this. So when Sabeen first saw the Hackathon culture, she knew that she was all about this.Today, AngelHack has developed an extremely solid presence in the tech community, even though it is led by a female minority with a team of mostly women. All the odds were against Sabeen and her team, yet they have created a dent in a male dominated industry. In fact, 80% of the programmers within the AngelHack communities are men.Building a company as big as AngelHack, there were many ups and downs. In the process of building up AngelHack, Sabeen has always felt like she was building the company with one hand tied behind her back. That was due to the indifferences she had with her cofounder. They had a pretty big falling out with each other to the point of lawsuits and he left with a lot of money. It was a pretty adverse situation for the company to be in, but now, the company is back in place and there is nothing holding them back. Now, AngelHack is experiencing tremendous growth.Competition:Sabeen has been traveling the world to meet with her Ambassadors in each of her respective cities. Each time she enters a new tech ecosystem, it’s like entering a whole new world. But it’s quite hilarious, that every single ecosystem she enters, no matter where it is… Whether it be Mexico, Singapore, or even Buenos Aires, they all say, “Next to Silicon Valley, it’s us.” Sabeen has heard this in every single city she has gone in and everyone believes they are the next big tech ecosystem in the world.But then again, there is always quiet before the storm.Because of the huge demand of the Hackathons that Sabeen has put on, competition has arisen from all sorts of places. For the last 6 months, a new competitor was coming out of the woodworks every other week. The people who started these companies went to an AngelHack Hackathon, thought “oh this is easy”, so they went off and tried to do their own thing.Now AngelHack is doing what they have to in order to keep up with the demand. AngelHack is growing at such a rapid pace, they are currently looking for strategic partners to help them grow because of the amount of interest they are getting every day is just outgrowing them. AngelHack is doing everything in their power to keep up and scale properly.But in the interim in between, Sabeen was uneasy of what was going on. She emailed her advisor, Mark Cuban and said, “Dude, we have competition. New companies are popping up every 2 weeks. How do we handle this? Should we go confront these people? What should we do?”Mark Cuban responded with advice that resonated with her and said, “Competition is good. It keeps you on your edge. The thing you have to do is to ensure that your relationships with your clients are solid. Not only does competition keep you on your edge, but it shows that there is proof of concept for your product.”The minute Sabeen saw Mark’s email, she emailed him back and said that she needed this pressure if she is going to keep going. Mark agreed and said that he is the same way. Since then, the vision of Sabeen’s dream with AngelHack has been crystal clear. Everyone wants to jump at the first opportunity they have, so if they see her being weak or lazy, or even if she fails, they will jump in to take the market.Now, six months later, more than half of these competitors are non-existent. I recently spoke at Cal Poly Pomona’s HackPoly event back in February as the keynote speaker. After I spoke, teams gathered together to work on their projects, but the wifi continually went out on the college campus. I saw first hand how difficult and messy it was to put on a Hackathon, especially since there are so many technical boundaries that challenge the infrastructure of the system.Sabeen feels that it was as if there was a sense of naïveté, where these founders thought that all they had to do was order some pizza and Red Bull and let people program overnight and charge people for it. People spends their weekends doing an overnighter working on projects, then on Monday, they had to be back at work again. If sponsors had put in money to support events like this, they would be very unhappy. Now, these competitors are starting to learn just how difficult putting on a Hackathon truly is.Daily life:Sabeen spends most of her time raising her two children and traveling the world for AngelHack. With what rare free time she has, she spends it gardening with her kids. Sabeen just came back from Iran and Dubai recently, then she will be on her way to Barcelona then Tel Aviv.Work life balance:In order to create a work life balance, Sabeen never leaves home for more than 2 weeks at a time. Otherwise, her husband and kids will just go crazy. Then she will spend 3 weeks at home. When at home, Sabeen is mom. The work side of her brain shuts off completely. When out in the field, all she thinks about is work and the family side of her brain shuts off.One of the best things in Sabeen’s life is her husband. He really supports anything she wants to do and takes charge in raising the family. She trusts him so much that when she is away, she doesn’t even have to worry about her children.Having a team that is dispersed throughout the world makes it simple to handle the everyday business tasks. AngelHack has team members in Singapore, the Philippines, Europe, Dubai, many in India, then on both coasts here in the United States. No matter where Sabeen is working, she is always connected to somebody who is working. Plus, after doing this for 3 and a half years, she has just learned to manage it.Sabeen has thought about having a third child, but has read many articles lately that state 3 is the worst number of children to have. I mentioned that things can get pretty bad when they outnumber you. Sabeen says that it changes the whole course of life, from what car you have to who sits with mom and dad when there are only four chairs. Plus, if they were ever to ride a roller coaster and there is a third person, there is always going to be that one child that is left out and sits alone.She just hasn’t been able to break that barrier yet and doesn’t want to do it until she can find an exit with AngelHack. Then she will have as many kids as she wants, but for now, AngelHack is her baby.Tips to success:Many of us, especially women feel a sense of “Self Oppression.” It’s not a real word, but a word made up by Sabeen. Self oppression is when you make up reasons to hold yourself back from what you want to do.Recently, Sabeen was asked to speak at a TEDx Talk in Iran. Two weeks after being invited to speak, she went back to the organizer and canceled her acceptance. There was no good reason for it, but she was just nervous and tired, as many of us are with the major decisions of life. We have families and additional priorities other than work that take up our days.She made up a lame excuse of how she had prior commitments and couldn’t make it. But inside her heart, something wasn’t sitting right with her. She couldn’t understand why she passed up such an amazing opportunity and knew she was going to regret it. She went to get feedback from a friend who said, “You’re crazy for backing out of that. You have something to say, you just need to go out there and do it. Toughen up, because in a few years, you’re not going to get these same kinds of opportunities when you’re reenergized.”Sabeen knew he was right, so she contacted the organizer and told him that she would participate. The organizer stated it was okay and people do these things all the time.Sabeen feels that women in particular, they hold themselves back quite a bit. Especially with the Middle Eastern culture. It is so much easier to say that it isn’t okay or my family won’t allow me to do it, or I’d rather just be a stay at home mom, even when there is an underlying desire to go out there and do more. But what holds these people back is fear.The best advice Sabeen has for all of us is to not let fear hold us back. Everybody has it. She told me that when I started writing, I knew everyone fails, everyone is scared and unsure of themselves. But we first need to start talking about it, then we need to figure out small ways to overcome it.Regardless of who we are or where we are from, it is good for the entire family structure to support our wives, our sisters and our daughters to go out there and make a little more out of ourselves. If nothing else, it provides extra income for the family. At the end of the day, having someone who is fulfilled is an overall better situation for the entire family structure, so go out there and go for it.There are millions of women around the world experiencing the exact same thing. Sabeen always coaches her team and tells them that the only way they’re going to move up in the corporate ladder is to bring up somebody underneath them.Sabeen puts her priority and responsibility in bringing up other women underneath her and advises the women she works with to do the same. She handpicks women to train and puts all her effort into them. At times, she even jokes with her team and says that she is always in the elevator back down and that they are doing great, but it is their responsibility to send that elevator back down to another female who may be a little unsure of herself, that may need encouragement or to be filled with positive encouragement.Personally, I have this underlying sense of fear the day before I speak or go on a vacation or do anything major.I asked Sabeen how to overcome this.She says to take things one day at a time. If taking things one day at a time is too much, take things one hour at a time. You’re never going to have enough time. You’re never going to have the perfect day, You’re never going to have the perfect opportunity. You have to make your own perfect opportunities.It’s like a basketball game. Sabeen follows the Warriors. They have small players. When another team comes in and puts up big players, you know you can’t just clear out your bench or take out your star player. Instead, you surround your star player with bigger players. You can’t yell at him for not being big. Instead, you have to try to surround him with people that will extenuate his skills to box out other big players, so he can do his own thing.If you have things going on, you need to look around and see who’s willing to support and help you out. When the time is right, you repay them back and you create that relationship where others will have your back. That’s the kind of structure Sabeen has with not only her family, but her team as well. You have to give to them, build their trust, and in turn, then you need it, they will be there to help you out.How you can get involved:AngelHack is currently looking for programmers who want to improve their skill set to join their courses. They are also looking strategic partnerships to help handle the growth of the company. Feel free to contact them here to see how you can get involved.For more on Sabeen Ali, Founder and CEO of AngelHack, follow her on Twitter and Facebook or connect with her on LinkedIn.For more on AngelHack follow them on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram or visit: AngelHack.Read more at my blog: Sabeen Ali of AngelHack's Quest to Impact The World