Month: September 2025

Startup funding is one of the first — and most significant — financial decisions most business owners make. There are many options for acquiring it, from pitching to investors and applying to accelerators or incubators to crowdfunding campaigns and loans. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages, but in general the process requires a solid business plan and alignment with investor criteria to be successful.

Most startups require outside capital to purchase equipment, rent office space, and hire team members. They also need it to fuel growth until they can become profitable on their own. This is why it’s so important for founders to understand all the options for obtaining startup funding.

Depending on the stage of your startup, you might need to raise several rounds of capital: seed, Series A, Series B, and maybe even Series C. Each round of investment will require a new set of milestones, and will involve varying degrees of dilution for your company.

At the seed stage, you will be required to provide a clear and well-articulated business plan to investors in order to convince them that your startup is worth their risk. You will likely have no revenue, and will be able to prove that you have a large market opportunity and that your team is nimble enough to capitalize on it. Alternatively, you can try to self-fund your business with a combination of personal savings and revenue from early customers, or use a crowdfunding platform like Kickstarter to validate your product and build a customer base without any equity dilution.

Political campaigns are the efforts of individuals and organizations seeking to elect a candidate for public office. These efforts can take place at all levels of government, including the 435 members of Congress; 100 senators; tens of thousands of state legislators; and local judges, city councilmembers, and mayors. Campaigns may be highly competitive, as they are often fought by candidates with slim margins of victory and can have significant impact on the balance of power and policy outcomes.

Successful campaigns typically have a strong emphasis on voter contact and engagement programs. They must also develop messages that resonate with voters, which requires a great deal of collaboration and flexibility. Whether a politician is trying to highlight a problem, show they are a champion of change, or appeal to voters’ self-interest, it is critical that their messaging be consistent and well executed across all campaign tools and channels.

The jack-of-all-trades nature of most campaign roles means that people with limited experience can still make a meaningful contribution to the success of a political campaign. The broad professional skills that can be acquired through working on a campaign are also highly relevant to more substantive policy positions in government, think tanks, or private firms, where subject matter expertise is required.

Depending on their experience and career stage, it’s common for prospective staffers to work on multiple campaigns. For example, a young college graduate with substantial previous campaign experience can jump from a junior role on a bottom-ballot local or state legislative race to a mid-level or senior position on a top-tier national Senate or House race within a few election cycles (6 years). The ability to move quickly up the ranks is often one of the biggest benefits that a job in politics can offer.