IDEAS. EXECUTION. GETTING THINGS DONE.

Top 5 TED talks for Startups

Posted on Thursday, April 12th 2012. Written by Michal Ugor

I am London based entrepreneur & writer on this website, you can follow my updates at @fortunepick

We’ve collated our all time top 5 TED talks to provide you with an essential ‘playlist’ for any entrepreneur looking to make some serious impact with their startup. These talks have been taken over a five year range and provide a wealth of timeless advice that we think you’ll appreciate. It’s perhaps worth mentioning that this selection helped us to create Fortunepick, and will hopefully help you in your venture as well!

1. Inspirational Leadership – Simon Sinek, 2010

This is really good ‘get up and do it’ pep talk that discusses the core of success. Simon does a fantastic job of highlighting the pattern of success through a variety of inspirational examples to lead you to a very life changing philosophy. We’ve never looked back.

2. Attention Grabbing Ideas - Seth Godin,2007

The godfather of marketing talks about idea development and its success in an ever changing market. What we really like about this talk is that it encourages you to push out of the ‘safe zone’ that many of us reside in – it’s time to be remarkable!

3. Pitching to venture capitalists – David S. Rose, 2008

A timeless talk on how to successfully pitch to a venture capitalist (VC) from an expert on the business pitch! David is in a great position as being both a capital raiser and investor of millions; he really knows everything you need to know to successfully pitch to a VC.

4. Science of Motivation – Dan Pink, 2009

How to motivate an action is something that we’re all faced with on a daily basis, but do we ever truly understand? Dan’s talk addresses and shifts away from the traditional rewards system we’ve come take as status quo - this talk could provide some serious light at the end of the tunnel!

5. Life as a Bootstrapped Entrepreneur – Richard Branson, 2007

We couldn’t leave out one of the world’s most famous entrepreneurs in our selection now could we?! This talk is great because it’s just a great inspirational look at Richard Branson’s life as an entrepreneur and how he dealt with the high and lows that all us start-ups share. Think of this as one of your recommended daily doses of inspiration.

These videos shouldn’t be just watched once; their value comes in revisiting and sharing them through the many trials and triumphs that you’ll face. Even today, we still revisit videos from five years ago to get us through those challenging days. We hope they serve you well!