Today’s guest post comes from Michelle Kaffko. She's been running Organic Headshots since 2005, taking corporate headshots, entrepreneur headshots, and executive portraits for thousands of Chicago area professionals. 

You’ve heard it all before. “Just be yourself.” “If It’s not broken, don’t fix it.” “Everything happens for a reason.” If you haven’t thrown up yet, give it a second -- it’ll come. We’re just as sick of hearing silly, counterintuitive advice as you are. But given the fast-pace of business, it can be hard to distinguish useful advice from harmful ‘help.’ Fortunately, we’ve got Victor Abundis, Co-founder and COO of Interpreter Tap, and Garry Cooper, CEO and Co-founder of Rheaply, to help us weed out a number of terrible tips.

Movies, television, and myths -- these are three things that have shaped our definition of what happens in Silicon Valley and venture capital. But if you think investors really sign million dollar checks over a cup of coffee, then you’d better grab one yourself and get comfortable. Troy Henikoff, the Managing Director of MATH Venture Partners, an early to growth-stage fund managed by a seasoned team of hands-on investors and operators, explains how the great game really works.

Social media, GPS, smartphones, IoT. These are all the biggest tech trends that have come about in the last 10 or 20 years. With all of these offerings and products at the touch of a fingertip, it might seem like we’ve reached the apex of innovation; however, augmented reality, which uses technology to transform the way we view our environment, is poised to become the next big thing in tech and business -- here’s why.

Megan Wholey, Vice President of Brand Marketing at Edelman and 1871 mentor, shares her advice on how you can turn your brand into a key business driver -- especially if you’re scaling on a lean budget.

They can smell blood from up to a quarter of a mile away and it's hard not to tremble when they gawk at you and flash their seven rows of 45 teeth. They are the Sharks (cue Jaws music here), and they're tenacious, self-made millionaires and billionaires that don't have time for lousy ideas. But while the sharks are scary, the treasure is often worth the trip; that's why we asked Dan Stelmach, a recent Shark Tank guest and Co-Founder of ChangEd, to share some tips on how entrepreneurs can dive -- and thrive -- in the tank.

You’ve spent the last 10 years killin’ it in your field, and now you’re ready to pay it forward and mentor the next generation of lean, mean entrepreneur machines. But even with all of your experience, it’s not quite a simple as doing a brain dump while holding a founder in a headlock. Here are 6 tips that will help you become Yoda for business leaders and founders.

We're thrilled to share with you a guest blog post from Joshua York, a student who attends Trinity Christian College, about the lessons that he learned as a student entrepreneur at this year's Campus 1871 event. 

As a startup, it's easy to get caught up in the massive amounts of day-to-day work -- but that doesn't mean that entrepreneurs can forget about the customer experience. Scott Nowicki, Enterprise Sales Manager at Quiq, a platform that makes it simple for consumers to connect with companies, shares a number of messaging tips and consumer-driven technologies that are guaranteed to improve the customer experience.

Darren Mckeeman, Co-Founder of KinkBnB, a subscription based rental marketplace for adult play-spaces, shares his thoughts on the barriers and opportunities in the SexTech industry. KinkBnB is an 1871 member company.