With all the trends that can come and go in the marketplace, one asset has no expiration date: brand advocates.

Gaining consumer buy-in requires shifting your marketing game to the next level. Thankfully, expanding your business with a powerful customer base already in the fold can make your efforts more engaging and profitable. The “slow and steady” approach to growth will help you maintain brand consistency and keep your brand advocates engaged.

In this article, TX Zhuo explains several marketing strategies to help improve your efforts to ensure consumer buy-in.

As king of the hill in its market, it’s natural for Uber to attract its fair share of detractors trying to knock the company down a peg. The biggest problem is that Uber is making itself an easy target.

In light of all its recent controversy, Uber went from the “awesome startup that could” to a term synonymous with bad PR. Consumers tend to be forgiving, but how can Uber right its ship?

In this article, TX Zhuo provides several solutions to get Uber back in the public’s good graces.

While painting a perfect picture is needed to become a renowned artist, that’s not the case for gaining VC support. In fact, a founder who describes a flawless company can throw up a major red flag to an investor.

Self-awareness is one of the most important leadership qualities — leaders must know their strengths and weaknesses to avoid mistakes. Transparency allows investors and partners to plan ahead to avoid potential problems down the road.

In this article, TX Zhuo discusses how important it is for entrepreneurs to share their strengths and weaknesses when talking to investors.

It’s not like you’re just in it for the money, but cash flow is vital for any business to survive. In fact, a whopping 82 percent of businesses go under because of inadequate cash management.

So, maybe it should be a little more about the money. Odds are you didn’t become an entrepreneur to deal with cash collection, but a weak system for collecting payments can leave your business crippled with debt, even when your accrual accounting system is showing profit.

In this article, TX Zhuo maps out several strategies to ensure your startup is getting the money that it rightfully earned.

Everyone loves free stuff, so freemium can be a great way to attract new adopters of your software.

However, if not implemented effectively, freemium can cause problems like flat sales or enabling freeloaders. But by using this strategy correctly, you can attract new customers who will remain loyal to your company for years to come.

In this Tech Cocktail article, TX Zhuo discusses the pros and cons of using freemium to produce new and loyal consumers and how to determine whether this strategy will work for your company.

A big fish easily stands out in a little pond. But when you’re a small fish in a big pond, it can be difficult to get VCs to notice you.

To receive funding from VCs, your enterprise company needs to differentiate its product from others. There are certain steps you can take to show investors that you’re the real deal and better than the rest.

In this Techli article, TX Zhuo discusses several vital things your business needs to attract a VC deal.

Ventureburn

When you’re out saving the world, it sometimes helps to imagine that you’re a superhero. The startup world is bright and exciting — full of “Pow!” and “Wham!” — but you can’t do everything on your own.

In this bright and crazy comic-strip world, your investors are part of your dream team, popping up at just the right moment and kicking butt on your behalf.

Finding the right venture capital fund to support your startup is like holding auditions for a loyal sidekick. You need to find a balance between brains and brawn, size and skill. You need investors who offer what your startup lacks and understand how to help you succeed.

Here are five questions you should ask as you put together your dream team:

1. What’s the VC firm’s average cheque size?

This is important to help you determine if the firm can lead your round, co-invest, or if it’s not going to be a fit at all. It’s also important to pay attention to the cheque size that the firm is writing you, relative to the rest of the investments. This seems like a no-brainer, but if you’re receiving a cheque from the venture firm that’s larger than its usual size, you can expect the venture fund to be more involved and vice versa.

Some firms will have this information on their website, along with other details to help you make your choice. Public databases like CrunchBase and AngelList can also tell you plenty about VCs, their habits, and how they’ve invested in the past.

2. What kind of support can it offer?

Look at the firm’s background to gain some insight into its areas of expertise. Will the firm’s expertise help supplement your startup’s shortcomings? For instance, if you need help in the tech department, look for a VC firm that has experience scaling tech teams.

You can find a lot of this information online, but talking to VC’s portfolio companies can also be incredibly illuminating. These companies will have firsthand experience and can tell you what type of support you can expect.

3. Which of its partners would you be working with?

Your experience working with a venture capital fund will vary greatly depending on which partner is assigned to your business. If you hit it off with that partner and he or she understands what you’re trying to do, you’re more likely to have a good working relationship with the firm as a whole.

As a first step, explore blog posts and social media posts written by different partners to uncover their different styles, tastes, and areas of expertise. LinkedIn is another tool for helping you understand your potential partner’s network.

4. What is its working style?

If you know you prefer a hands-on investor — one who is willing to check in with you on a weekly, or even daily, basis — don’t waste your time looking at VC firms with an approach to monitoring and motivating their investments.

The firm’s working style should be an important deciding factor when choosing your dream team. One of our portfolio companies was overwhelmed with interest from investors during its seed round. We weren’t very well known at the time, but when we encouraged the company to speak to our existing portfolio companies about our working style, the founders realised we would be a much better fit for them than other better-known VC firms.

5. Will it help you secure follow-up funding?

Whichever venture capital fund you choose and whatever it may be offering during this round of funding, it’s unlikely to support you forever. Choose a firm that has credibility among later-stage investors so your partnership will help you gain additional funding down the road.

To get an idea of the credibility the firm can give you for future rounds, check out the VC firm’s current co-investors and later-stage investors who have subsequently funded their deals.

By asking plenty of questions and doing a bit of detective work up front, it’s possible to build a team of investors who will not only offer monetary support, but also motivation and future opportunities for your startup. These are superpowers your dream team shouldn’t be without.

Many moments in life are defined as game-changing: an interception in a football game, the debut of a new technology, or a new leader taking the helm. The rise of enterprise-focused startups may be one of them.

While enterprise startups aren’t as captivating as consumer-facing businesses, enterprise opportunities are powerful. They enable startups to reach profitability more quickly, they provide a platform to create groundbreaking solutions on a large scale, and they can transform the way an entire industry does business.

In this Tech Cocktail article, TX Zhuo shares five enterprise startups to watch in 2015 and explains what makes them stand out from the crowd.