good morning. coming up. ceo on how kick starter became the platform. what you need to do to attract those coveted millennial customers and the inspiring story of an immigrant who works as an engineer by day and fashion entrepreneur at night. those stories and more coming up next.

hi, everyone. i'm jj. welcome to your business. the show dedicated to helping your going business. it all started with one guy who wanted to find funding for a concert. years later crowd funding flat form kick starter has helped fund everything. we caught up with co-founder and crow at crick starter ed quarters in brooklyn to get his tips on how to grow a success. business.

the creator of starter, my partner, our chairman wanted to throw a concert. had this idea, what if instead of fronting the money i put the idea of the concert online and they can buy ticket and no one is charge unless it sells out, but the internet was very different. we met about four years later in new york. we met charles addler a couple years after that and the site launch instead 2009. just continues to be the dominant space. closing in on $3 billion having moved through the system. having been pledged to projects on kick starter. that's more than all our competitors combined. >> we are calling you disrupter. >> disrupter to me feels aggressive. films, game, the art world, product design, these are all

very different, but for the most part we are collaborators. we don't want a world where all funding for art and creative things comes through our platform. we believe in a diversity of sources. we have no desire to disrupt anyone. we also feel the dissatisfaction of this can be better. that is your responsibility to always see what it could be and to push for that and advocate for that. feeling the frustration of it's not quite right. >> when you tell people that you have this incredibly fast growing company since you started and you talked to other venture backed companies, gots investors from silicone valley do you think they're crazy when you say we have to desire to be acquired. we have no desire to go public. >> i think they this it's cute. we feel for our purpose and being bound to a community and

serving creators, serving artist peek people, serving people who care about those things, that would be hard to do when you're expected to make as much money as possible or if you're owned by a larger company whose values are very different. our feeling this is not some gra nola hippy thing. we think this is the future of business. we think this is the future of society. if you look at people in their 20s and younger, you see these are the places they want to shop. the places they want to work. organizations that do this. in our current climate, we're kind of we're doe outliers. >> transparency is something we here a lot of companies talk about. >> i had worked in other companies before and have been an employee much longer than i've been a boss. i know what it's like to be on the ore side of that. we're all on this junior together. there's only one way to move

forward. always being very open and direct with people just serves you in the long run. that's how you get the most out of people. that's how you know you're all aligned and on the same page. >> what is the future. >> it's about to rethink of artist and people and the community and creative to try to make their lives better. very early on in that journey. way more work to do than is already done. as long as where she the privilege to exist, that's what we focus on. >> yancy disrupted the world and now another entrepreneur is doing the same. n nbc's morgan ru morgan ratford it's exploding by millennials. >> they call it costco for

millennials and it's changing the way we shop. >> 36 months ago, you were in your garage. >> that's right. regular nondescript two car garage. >> started three years ago, boxed suicide basicalbox ed is basically a warehouse in your pocket. designed for millennials who don't have time or transportation to shop for good deals. >> you mentioned this company is perfect for people like me. millennial, new yorker, don't have a car or the time to go shopping. what about people in the more rural areas. >> that's been one of the biggest things that's caught us by surprise. what we found is there's literally tens of millions of americans out there without a warehouse club within an hour drive of them. >> you can order bulk good directly from cell phone to door. >> why boxed, why not walmart.com, cost koe. >> we can effectively share shipping price over nine items. we can friday preside add great price to consumers.

>> don't charge a membership fee. generally things ship for free and you don't have to spend three hours in a store. it becomes pretty even over time. >> opened four warehouses akosz the country each order is boxed and shipped to customers like hamilton. a father of three in boston massachusetts. trying to get tall kids into the car, going to the store and going around the big shopping cart, you find the femme you want and click buy and five minutes later have an order. >> not just who they serve that sets the company apart. >> we want to tell you we would love to pay for your wedding so you have it. >> boxed pays up to $20,000 for their employees weddings. >> i was totally surprised. came out of nowhere. they explained they wanted to pay for my wedding. >> marcel has spent almost a year in the company's warehouse, picking, prepping, doing orders.

>> helping us breathe a little bit in terms of looking towards the future. >> boxed also pays the full college division for the children of any employee no matter where they go. >> you have twin daughters. >> they're freshman in college. >> i understand their college session being paid for by boxed. >> such a weight off of your shoulders when you know that's taken care of. >> was it a relief. >> we just felt more confident in what the future was going to bring. >> i've been talking to your employees and they've been telling me about this program of perks that you're paying for employees kids to go to college. why. why are you doing that. >> when i was very young, we were very poor. seeing that and knowing what folks are going through and having the chance to fix that, i had to do something about it. >> what about competitors who say offering incentives like this really cuts your bottom

line. >> i personally fund it. now that i'm in a position to help these folks pay, i'm going to do it. >> morgan radford, new jersey. >> if you're looking to reemp pl reach millennials with your marketing, you might have to change things. millennial marketing strategist who will share tips with us. so good to see you. >> thank you so much for having me. >> i read through your tips. they definite hit millennials, but really everything is changing. these are good to reach a lot of people. not just millennials. >> absolutely. i've been in the millennial space for ten years. just because i target millennials and baby boomers i love the content we share and the content we're about to jump into. youinitely want to learn to appeal and target this market.

>> often older people want what the millennials want too. i want to know what's knew and cool. first you're talking aboutdy bunking stereotypes. >> stereotypes about millennials the reality is millennials have been titled lazy, entitled, nar cystic, the reality is we are 80 million people strong in america alone. it's not fair to bracket 80 million of us in three negative stereotypes. of course you're going to have your section of couch potatoes. there are so many millennial hustlers in this generation. so entrepreneurhall and passional and want to succeed. >> i think the way you focus on it is interesting because you focus how information is delivered and because whether you are stereo typical millennial or a hustler that you're talking about, how the information gets to them is the same.

>> absolutely. social media could be best friend and worst enemy today. millennials happen to be spending the most time on social media. when it comes to marketing tactics. so much of those tactics remain in the social media space. >> embrace social media. think digital first. think mobile. >> yes. absolutely. this is the biggest disappointment because you might have the most beautiful website with great services or great product, but if your website is not mobile optimized you will lose out on consumer spending. the reality is we have the attention span of a goldfish today. we log on to your website on mobile device or it doesn't load or mobile optimized or too i can't figure it out on mobile phone we're going to bounce out within a matter of seconds. 72% of people demand mobile

optimized website. that's a high statistic. get mobile opt moized now. >> influencers. influence marketing is becoming more and more important. you can pay influencers. do you suggest doing something sliek that or doing the hard work one by one to go try and get influencers to like your product or both. >> so the beautiful thing is that you contact agencies who have built an influencer network. we tap influencers all the time for clients. the reality is 2017 is the year of influencer boom. influencers can be your best friend. i call them your modern damageal publicist. we as influencers are helping you spread the word. amplify messaging, educate consumers on what products and services are available. it is so important to start building that influencer database. do that using social media.

do that using twitter and facebook group. have them become your brand ambassador. a part of your business. reward them or incentivize them in some way and create content and share it on their behalf which is going to bring more eye balls and hopefully more roi within your investment. >> we can't talk much about it now, but i want to do a whole segment on influencers and how to utilize it and make it work for you. there's so many out there. some things work. some things don't work. let's get into the next one. ugc. user generated content. that fits with the influencer idea. >> yes, ugc also known as user generated content. first of all, user generated content is content created by the consumer. this could be a yelp review, comment, post, article, picture on behalf of a business, brand,

product. ugc is your best friend. millennials are 80% more influenced by what their peers are sharing than by branded content alone. statistics show us because we have the ability to utilize facebook and instagram ads. if you insert ugc into ads instead of branded content, as an ad, you will see higher return on investment thachlt is the power of user generated continue ten. that comes hand in hand with influencer strategy. your influencer that you're passing to spread awareness on behalf of your business are creating user generated content for your business. the smart thing is to repurpose that user generated content through your own business channels or on your website so you are furthering a grating more eye balls, building community and all about the community and about brand

awareness. that's what social media does for you. that's the roi there. building your brand aawareness. building that community. that influencer strategy is all going to return back to you in result of sale. >> unfortunately we have to stop right there. great information. chelsea, so god od to see you. >> thank you so much. move over millennials. here come s jenn z. small business trend shares find great ways to get you clicking around website and into your store. gen z discovers what that want online through social media. produce snapchat, pintress, rather than facebook to get their attention. cyber security ranks high to have strong security in place to

protect financial information or risk losing their business. three, don't take diversity for granted. moreiverse than any other generation. advertising should reflect a range of customers. four, throw music into the experience. a silent store just won't draw their attention. >> five, strategize your online and in store layout and product placement. gen z focuses on visually pleasing eye level displays and make sure prices are easy to see at a glance. >> black history month. partners have chosen to honor 28 african-american innovators friend set terrors and pirend s pioneers. general motors engineer by day and fashion designer by night.

day job isn't just a revenue source. sit the biggest inspiration for his clothing line. >> we're in this generation of individuals who is don't just focus on one thing and being great at a lot of things. i'm 26. originally from nigeria. calibration specialist for general motors and i'm also a fashion designer. i knew probably since six years old i was going to be an engineer. i loved cars. i think the day i really decided i wanted to go into fashion is i actually went to this fashion show. it was african-american inspired pieces. some type of emotion was attached to african-american design. there's a lot of memories in it. there's a lot of culture, but i

kind of felt like what if we can create pieces that are more universally appealing. outside of me wearing this african piece, right. to a special occasion. i want to be wearing this many my studio. to the grocery store. my first ever paycheck went into a sewing machine. i didn't know what was going on. without the engineering report, i would not be able to accomplish the fashion brand that i have. a lot of the lines you see come from different experiences from weird concepts like fluid mechanics to abstract lineses to equati equations. visual guides really are simply just really a balance between my engineering background and

african culture heritage. i wanted it to be a lifestyle. an idea of what we stand for. what i stand for. the idea of beingliling well and different school sets. yes, i'm a fashion designer. i'm an engineer. i'm a painter. i want to be an architect. i want to be an astronaut. to be black now, you have to be fearless really. you don't have to be a preacher, but you can have a body of work that inspires others to follow the path that you're on. >> it is time now to answer one of your business questions. let's get our panel in here to help us how out. venture capitalist is the founder of dorigo advisers. author of the book the 10% peer

review report. contribute to ink magazine. good to see you. >> great to be here gl what's the best climate or age in a company to look at buying a building and if we're going to buy, what should we look for? >> could you get past the hat? >> we just had a ken bone moment. >> which is so great, but wacky, right. c wacky, is that what his business was called. >> a good question. many companies ney ies need rea in order to operate business. at what point should you think about being a real estate holding company. do you want to be in that business as well as the business you're in. how do you decides. >> i think the first question is how fundamental is this to your

business. owning real estate and managing real estate is a different business than a lot of other businesses. requires expertise. if it's critical to what you do, built out and spent a lot of money doing and losing it would be a lit on your business, it's strategic. i would consider doing it. what's my roi. these are the other things i could be doing with marketing or hiring other people. >> i agree with everything you're saying. most small businesses i would say the majority will lease their commercial property. you know, it's risky enough to have a small business. if you're sinking your cash into real estate you're really doubling your risk. >> the point is how important is it to your company. i just spoke to some people who have four profit schools in south africa. it would hold for here as well. for them, going schools and

being in those places was incredibly important. for them, they need to raise a whole bunch of money to buy those properties. >> if it's that important for your business, you have to look at if you're in good financial standing to hold property. you have to have a long-term plan for that property. you have to know you're going to be there, 10, 20 years maybe. and also be in the market where you can get a good deal on real estate and that's also important. >> that means finding someone to help you internally or external. if i was running a business, i would be a afraid to buy real estate. i'm not a real estate person. i would call somebody who is and get them to help me. >> let's all take a lesson from the longer burger basket company. the basket company some years ago built their own office property in the shape of a basket, and, of course, sales are not as good as they used to be. no one wants to buy a propt

shaped like a basket. this guy should not build his -- >> build one like a hat. >> exactly. exactly. great, thanks. both of you. >> still to come, the steps you need to take to have your business go global. and why you should never, ever, ever let your customers down. will your business be ready when growth presents itself? american express open cards can help you take on a new job, or fill a big order or expand your office and take on whatever comes next. find out how american express cards and services

can help prepare you for growth at open.com. as a software service company, what would be the right globalization strategy. >> the right globalization strategy is to have a strategy. don't worry about tasks, make sure you have an overall strategy as to where you want to globalize. meaning this, choose the countries you think has the biggest markets for you. choose the countries you think the culture is the best. choose those countries you feel there is a good market niche for your product and you can beat the competition. once you figure out which countries, my advice wou be to start out slow. build on that. getting to know the culture better. hiring agent in that area. partnering with local firms and

businesses in that country as well. go slow, but make your strategy overall for growing around the world. we now have top tips you need to know to help your growing business. introduce panel and get advice. melinda is the founder and president of quintessence group. marketing and consultant firm. also hosts the mall business chat. longest live chat on twitter for business owners. jay gold is head of golds group. operates four businesses in chicago. maybe soon in new york. also a blogger. starting next week for forbes.com. >> great to be here. >> i hope you open in new york so you can be here on the set next time. >> sure. >> see how that goes. >> melinda, your top tip. >> never let a customer down. really comes down to it. particularly professional business services. sometimes it's hard. sometimes clients demanding.

sometimes you work on people who don't know what they're doing. it doesn't matter. you have to do what you need to do for the client if it's not in your scope of work. if you go the extra mile, your customer will go the extra mile to keep you. let's talk about the idea if you spend so much time going the extra mile for client who is need so much and take so much time and don't contribute that much of revenue, how do you deal with that. >> here's the thing. if you signed the contract that you would do that scope of work, you own it. >> uh-huh. >> now you can renegotiate the next time. if you're working on an active piece of business. you got to do what you got to do. >> jay, moving on to you. >> i would say lower your expectations and raise your standards. every great company has probably 50-100 things that will define whether it's a great company. how your store looks, website, answering the phone. for instance if you owned a store, you could put a manager in there and not give them the standard of your company. it's 6:00.

some customer shows up, they can lock the door and are scream through with the closed pointing at watch. or you can say the standard of this company is we don't lock the door until 6:05. a hundred things like that. whether delivery vans get washed once a week. make a standard. don't just leave it up to the employee to figure out what the standard of your company should be. >> basically you're saying don't expect people to meet your high standards unless you can you tell -- c tell. >> right: they'll be in charge of what the standards of your company are. don't be surprised if they come dressed inappropriately for whatever job. you shouldn't have had that option. here's how we dress when we come to work. set the standards because it's that's what the customer is going to see. >> right. maybe it's that's semantics, but the idea of sort of putting.

>> same idea for sure. >> putting it down in writing. everybody knows what's is supposed to happen. you can't read my mind. you can't know when i say the shop closes at six i actually mean for you to close at 6:05. you have to spell it out for everyone on the same page. fantastic advice. thank you both so much. this week your business selfie comes from leon of maplewood new jersey. creator of black history arcade sticker app. available on ier tunes. these are inspirational. particularly interesting for this month. now pick up your cell phone and take a selfie of your and your business. send it to us at your business msnbc.com. tweet it to msnbc your business. please include your name, location, business, and use the hashtag. thank you for joining us today.

we would love to hear from you. if you have any questions or want to get in touch. send us an e-mail at your business, msnbc.com. we read every e-mail that comes to us. go to our website. we posted all of the segments from today's show plus a whole lot for for you there. don't forget to connect with us on media and social platforms as well. we look forward to seeing you next time. until then, remember, we make your business our business. will your business be ready when growth presents itself? american express open cards can help you take on a new job, or fill a big order or expand your office

and take on whatever comes next. find out how american express cards and services can help prepare you for growth at open.com. alexi on the right, boris on the left. they were friends. they were kind of rivals but they were friends. they were certainly colleagues. they were co-leaders of one of the biggest opposition efforts that putin ever faced in russia. alexei on the right, boris on the left side. boris again on the left side, the more ruddy complexion, alexei on the right. alexei and boris ran a political organization together, they led rallies together. right up until the night of february 27, 2015 when boris got murdered. boris was shot in the back on the street just outside the kremlin. you can see his body in the foreground of that shot. right upnt