Startup competitions can be important. Don’t overlook the increasing number of startup contests that schools, businesses, and communities have set up to provide venues for young entrepreneurs.

Talk to people. Find out their underlying assumptions, how they think, and what they believe. Do this enough, and you’ll be able to offer the best insight toward what direction your product should go.

Before anything else, I ask why, how, or what. Read between the lines: A customer or employee might make a simple statement, but what is behind that statement? I experiment and ask, "What would happen if..." If it doesn't work, have the resilience to bounce back, ask more questions and try again.

Trying again is key; I probably fail more than I succeed, but I learn from what didn't work and tweak it

The entrepreneurs who make it are the ones who are able to adapt to the most unexpected, difficult and seemingly impossible changes that occur every day.

If you know how to shift in an instant and adjust your services, your thinking, and your team to keep up with technology, the market and more, you will always succeed.

Knowing how to keep going when we are in an unpredictable world, and working with other humans who can change in an instant based on the circumstances in their lives is the best skill to have.

Knowing yourself. The more time I've spent getting away from work to learn and grow, to be silent in meditation, or to have fun, the clearer the pathways have been for me to hear when my gut says yes or no to something.

At the end of the day, it’s about moving forward, making mistakes and correcting them quickly. The fear and inaction is what prohibits speedy progress and iterations that get you closer to your goals.

If you’re in this fearful and anxious state, you’ll almost always be able to come up with a reason to not do the thing you might need to do the most.

No matter how much you feel that you may know about leadership, business or anything else, the world is always changing, and there's always new research and ideas. To stay ahead, you have to constantly feed your mind.

To stay ahead, you have to constantly feed your mind. Reach out to mentors, ask for help, read books, listen to podcasts and always be ready to put the things you learn into action, even if it goes against something you thought you were doing right. Stay hungry and keep learning!

To have a clear head and maintain an even temper, I do 90-minute endurance runs two to three times per week. It's the best way that I blow off steam and keep stress at a manageable level.

My "secret weapon" is being the customer of my own businesses. This helps us stay ahead.

Not enough people realize the importance of treating your staff as invaluable.Treat your employees like they make you everything you are, because in reality, they do. An organization is judged by its weakest individuals, not its strongest. Respect and love your team.

Challenge yourself. Richard Branson says his biggest motivation is to keep challenging himself. He treats life like one long university education, where he can learn more every day. You can too!

Do work you care about. There’s no doubt that running a business take a lot of time. Steve Jobs noted that the only way to be satisfied in your life is to do work that you truly believe in.

Take the risk. We never know the outcome of our efforts unless we actually do it. Jeff Bezos said it helped to know that he wouldn’t regret failure, but he would regret not trying.

Whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you’re right.

Believe in yourself. Believe that you can succeed, and you’ll find ways through different obstacles. If you don’t, you’ll just find excuses.

Have a vision. The founder and CEO of Tumblr, David Karp, notes that an entrepreneur is someone who has a vision for something and a desire to create it. Keep your vision clear at all times.

Find good people. Who you’re with is who you become. Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, noted that the fastest way to change yourself is to hang out with people who are already the way you want to be.

Face your fears. Overcoming fear isn’t easy, but it must be done. Arianna Huffington once said that she found fearlessness was like a muscle -- the more she exercised it, the stronger it became.

Take action. The world is full of great ideas, but success only comes through action. Walt Disney once said that the easiest way to get started is to quit talking and start doing. That’s true for your success as well.

Do the time. No one succeeds immediately, and everyone was once a beginner. As Steve Jobs wisely noted, “if you look closely, most overnight successes took a long time.” Don’t be afraid to invest time in your company.

Manage energy, not time.Your energy limits what you can do with your time, so manage it wisely.

Build a great team. No one succeeds in business alone, and those who try will lose to a great team every time. Build your own great team to bolster your success.

Hire character. As you build your team, hire for character and values. You can always train someone on skills, but you can’t make someone’s values fit your company after the fact.

Plan for raising capital. Richard Harroch, a venture capitalist, has this advice for upcoming entrepreneurs: “It’s almost always harder to raise capital than you thought it would be, and it always takes longer. So plan for that.”

Know your goals.  Ryan Allis, co-founder of iContact, pointed out that having the end in mind every day ensures you’re working toward it. Set goals and remind yourself of them each day.

Learn from mistakes. Many entrepreneurs point to mistakes as being their best teacher. When you learn from your mistakes, you move closer to success -- even though you initially failed.

Know your customer. Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s, cited knowing your customer as one of his three keys to success. Know those you serve better than anyone else, and you’ll be able to deliver the solutions they need.

Learn from complaints. Bill Gates once said that your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning. Let unhappy customers teach you where the holes in your service are.

Ask for customers’ input. Assuming what customers want or need will never lead to success. You must ask them directly, and then carefully listen to what they say.

Spend wisely. When you spend money on your business, be careful to spend it wisely. It’s easy to spend too much on foolish things and run out of capital too soon.

Understand your industry. Tony Hsieh, the founder of Zappos, once said, “Don’t play games you don’t understand, even if you see lots of other people making money from them.” Truly understanding your industry is key to having success.

Deliver more than expected. Google's Larry Page encourages entrepreneurs to deliver more than customers expect. It’s a great way to get noticed in your industry and build a loyal following of advocates.

Make it so by thinking! to launch a business while in your teens is a challenge that takes a “mind over matter” approach. Youth is a great benefit, in some ways; in other ways, it’s a challenge.

A great advantage you have as a youthful leader is that you haven’t learned yet the meaning of ‘impossible’. So you propose things that have never been done and you don’t give up when they initially don’t work the way you thought they would.

Some great breakthroughs have been made by young people who just didn’t know, or didn’t care, that “you can’t do that”. That doesn’t mean, however, that you should ignore any previous attempts at what you’re trying — it’s always helpful to examine past successes and failures.

Behave yourself on the internet.This may seem like a disconnect, but just think about it: You want to present a professional and reliable image to potential investors, partners, and employees of your startup company.

Stick With It. Start-ups don't die, they commit suicide. In other words, 90 percent of start-ups fail because the founders get bored, discouraged, or something else, and they move on to other things, not because of some catastrophe. No matter how dark it is today, things will always better tomorrow.

Simplify Your Mission.I would encourage other entrepreneurs to spend a lot of time boiling down what their business is, what it does, and what it represents. If you nail down a 60- to 90-second synopsis, that will pay a lot of dividends throughout the life of your business.

We knew we only had one shot at this, so there was nothing throughout our start-up that we didn't purposely over-deliver on -- from the way we pitched our distributors and investors to the way we rolled out in the market. If you always over-deliver, it is going to draw attention and you will likely be successful.

Do More With Less. That is something we've definitely exemplified. When you have limited resources, you constantly have to be really creative about the way you can make things work.

Don't Go at It Alone. Surround yourself with an awesome team because you're going to need them to overcome all the obstacles that come with starting a company. Lots of people have great ideas that they try to tackle by themselves, but I think it's almost impossible to do everything by yourself.

Be Nimble. The landscape no longer changes every two, three, four years like it did in 2002. If you're not quick on your toes, you will miss opportunities.

I did go through this period where girls would be mean and I had a lot of guy friends. But I've found as an adult the importance of having female and male friends.

The devil has put a penalty on all things we enjoy in life. Either we suffer in health or we suffer in soul or we get fat.