Zach Ferres

Advisor, Board Member & Investor at Coplex

Zach Ferres is a serial entrepreneur, speaker and technology executive passionate about developing entrepreneurial communities around the world. He built and sold his first tech company at 24 and was the CEO of Coplex for eight years, where he supported the creation of over 200 startup companies.

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More From Zach Ferres

Thought Leaders

5 Strategies from Ancient Chinese Warfare to Help Us Thrive in Changing Times

The strategies are surprisingly relevant to the current business climate.

Business Operations & Logistics

How to Position Your Startup to Weather the Storm

While the global health crisis has sparked an economic recession, innovative entrepreneurs can find ways to leverage the situation to move their businesses forward.

Building a Business

3 Tips to Maximize Your Startup Ecosystem

With work and a collaborative attitude, you can make connections that will last a lifetime.

Tech

3 Ways to Prepare Your Startup for a 5G World

If you want to reap the full benefits, start readying now.

Building a Business

How to Acquire the First 20 Customers for Your Startup

Don't worry about what your future holds or whether you'll be able to sustain your early success. Get your first customers on board, treat them well and use that success to fund your next steps.

Tech

Make the Leap From Traditional Business Leader to Tech Entrepreneur in 5 (Easy-ish) Steps

The next wave of entrepreneurship is going to bring a whole new playbook for running companies. Are you ready?

Business Accounting

Want Your Seed-Stage Startup to Be Fundable? Check These 4 Boxes.

To help your startup succeed, you'll probably need outside funds. Use this checklist to make your concept fund-able.

Building a Business

5 Winning Strategies for Building a Tech Business Beyond the Bay Area

Tech startups have finally cracked the code to succeeding outside San Francisco. Will they make it last?

Business Accounting

The Recession Is Coming: How to Set Up Your Company for Survival

Right now, the VC market feels as effervescent as a bottle of Moët. Here's what to do if and when the fizz goes flat.

Business Funding

Why Tech Startups Can’t Seem to Stop Flushing Cash Down the Toilet

Companies with more money than sense might survive for a time, but only those with a good business model and good business-building habits will succeed.

Business Accounting

3 Ways to Play the VC Game if You’re Not a White Guy

The current VC model is skewed to favor the style of male-run companies. Here's how women and minorities can get a seat at the table.

Building a Business

Scalability Secrets From One of America’s Fastest-Growing Software Startups

Gil Dudkiewicz of StartApp weighs in on how he scaled his company up to $37.2 million revenue in just a few years.

Business Ideas

‘The Jetsons’ World Is Becoming Reality. Innovators, Start Your Engines.

A flying car, worth more than $1 million, went on display in April. Delivery is expected by 2020.

Business Funding

The Secret to Accessing Startup Funding? Treat It the Same Way You Do Sales.

By doing this, you'll shorten your path to checks, alleviate stress related to disorganization and sharpen your company's system-building skills.

Thought Leaders

Coaching: The Best-Kept Secret to Growing as an Entrepreneur

A good coach can turn raw talent into refined expertise and refined talent into renowned success. But how do we bridge "the coaching gap"?

Business Funding

VCs Are Starving — Starving! — for Solid Investments: 5 Ways to Take Advantage

Believe it or not, it's a founder's market right now.

Thought Leaders

5 Things Entrepreneurs Can Learn From OSU Coach Urban Meyer

Are you ready to up your leadership game? Take a page from this winning coach's playbook.

Thought Leaders

The Power of Pancakes: Branding Starts With Tribes, Not Beta Tests

If you are building a brand, be sure to think about how you can piece together your tribe, then start today.

Building a Business

Ready to Kill Your Company’s Open-Floor Plan? Drop the Machete.

This contributor's company showed that you don't have to make an open-concept workspace an either-or decision.

Business Funding

How to Prevent Your Software Startup From Running out of Gas

Finish your first iteration quickly, knowing that the most successful apps are a series of experiments -- and iterations.

Building a Business

Opportunity Doesn’t Expire: A Guide to Ageless Entrepreneurship

With 20-something co-founders becoming billionaires, you'll likely surmise that entrepreneurship is only a young person's game. But you'll be wrong.

Thought Leaders

Straight Talk: What a Lifelong Love of Poker Taught Me About Business

Poker is a high-wire act that any CEO could recognize. You're managing risk at all times, and you're making decisions based on insufficient information.

Building a Business

The Startup Studio Effect: How Hollywood’s Movie Model Applies to the Startup World

It's not that startup studios are better than accelerators; it's simply that accelerators leave a lot of opportunities on the table.

Building a Business

Eric Ries on 4 Common Misconceptions About Lean Startup

If you believe lean startup methods lead to "cheap" products and companies, or that lean startup companies don't think big, think again.

Building a Business

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Venture Capital (But Were Afraid to Ask)

VC sounds appealing, but is it for you? Here's what you need to know to navigate a "typical'" series of fundraising rounds.

Building a Business

4 Tactics to Help Your Company Avoid the Top Startup Killer

Startups fail for a lot of reasons: a lack of money (duh), poor marketing, a pivot gone awry, legal challenges. But another, different reason tops the list year after year.