Five Years Before Facebook's Ipo Mark Zuckerberg Said I M Here to Build Something for the Long Term Anything Else is a Distraction Fast Company Magazine 2008-2024 Form

Payoff.com is a social finance platform enabling communities to fulfill their individual and collective dreams. We launched public beta in January 2011 and have collected 1,000+ dreams, of which over 90% are related to money. Payoff helps people fund their dreams and signNow their goals, like saving for a house or vacation, adopting a child, paying off credit cards, and starting a business, in addition to connecting them with other people working towards the same things. The current product enables users to share their dreams, set up goals, link and track financial accounts, earn badges, and receive cash Sur-Prizes for progress. We provide tools from top-quality partners, as well as educational content to help move users to action and success. Ultimately, we provide a more intuitive way for users to understand how they are spending their life -- it’s not about the dollars, but it’s about the positive use of money, time, talent, and charity. We aim to own dreams and achievement on the web.  Payoff will create meaningful social connections and dialogue through dreams, goals, implicit communities based on personal transactions (the “real-life check-in”), and our partners.  In addition, our relevance and recommendation engine is guided by a Science Advisory Board, with leaders from Cal-Tech, USC, and Northwestern. We recognize that achievement and financial behavior, like most decisions, is driven by emotions, not budgets and lists, and we are signNowing people in this emotional space. One user told us, “I feel more encouragement from these badges than I think you will ever know.  I'm not the most emotional person but I have been so poor for most of my adult life trying to get through school that the day  [the] "STASH" badge was awarded to me I cried!” Payoff is founded by Scott Saunders (Walz Group, Inc 500) and Eden Warner (pre-revenue to profitability CFO at Fandango), along with folks from Yahoo! and SpotRunner. You can view a video about us at and contact us at scott@payoff.com. Also, check out what folks are saying: AOL WalletPop: http://www.walletpop.com/2011/01...Business Insider: http://www.businessinsider.com/p...U.S. News Money: http://money.usnews.com/money/bl...

Bring in 20 completely random people (not friends/relatives that might be inclined to agree with one another) off the street and feed them. In exchange for the free food, ask them to fill out an anonymous survey rating each thing they ate. That will give you ‘some’ idea as to whether your food is awesomely tasty, horribly tasteless or somewhere in between.People return to restaurants over and over again, in part, because the enjoy eating the food. It’s not to fill their stomach. That they can do at home. Is your food worth people going out of their way to visit you?It’s an important question. If the result of your data is “the food is mediocre,” you’ve got some work and some tough decisions ahead of you. Identify your winners and losers. Eliminate the losers or figure out how to fix them. You may have to bring in some new blood (new chef). These kinds of decisions can be extremely difficult and stressful, particularly so for small companies, but you need to do whatever it takes for your business to survive.I live in LA where I can literally visit ten Mexican restaurants in ten minutes. The competition is fierce. If your market is like this, you really need to up your game to offer something that your competition is not.This may come in the form of offering unique menu items the others are not serving (mole, crab enchiladas, shrimp tacos, menudo, etc.), offering commonly served items at a price which creates a better value than the others, having a Taco Tuesday night (or something similar) when traffic is slowest, offering free chips and salsa (or other low-cost items), free drink refills, elaborate salsa/condiment bar, homemade or blue corn tortillas, special promotions (buy-one/get-one) and so forth.Be creative and offer what the others cannot/will not offer. That is what will give you a competitive advantage in the marketplace, making it more likely that people will come to you over your competitors.Good luck.

Startups 101: How to Create a Business PlanThe first thing you need to do is create an executive summary and a mission statement.  After that, you need to study your market, compare yourself to your competition, create a share structure, outline financials, and fill out the rest of the pertinent data like the other people suggest.Below is an example of the last executive summary and mission statement that I created for a company I was planning to launch earlier this year.Since I own the company, wrote this from scratch, and decided that I will not be launching this product, I decided to share. (Yes, it is heavily focused on marketing, but that's my primary expertise, if I'm even somewhat good at it... Who in the world knows...)I worked with a Product CEO and operated as the COO at this company and recruited a highly talented team, however the Product CEO decided to part ways so we scrapped the business.Also, you may not want to make a public benefit company unless you already have investors you can turn to for sure who don't care what kind of business you own. If you are seeking to raise money from venture capital, then it is highly unlikely that they will invest into your model. 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARYCompany Name | Tagline | An American Public Benefit Company Founded in February of 2013, (“SE”) features contemporary women’s fashions specializing in comfort, fit and sexiness, established by a diverse group of individuals, led by the C.E.O. Ms. Lee.  SE holds idealistic aspirations of giving back to the underprivileged, creates American Jobs and gives back to the community, while keeping the clientele engaged through social interactions  SE provides:  • A Philanthropic Vision.  • Patriotism.  • Quality Clothing.  • Best Styles for women of the 21st Century.  • Quality Content. • An Interactive Community.  SE’s innovative design and marketing team constructs visionary product campaigns and strategies, designed to push SE to the forefront of the industry. Derived from the fictional character, Sophia Serrano, from the film Open Your Eyes, SE’s inspiration is characterized by Sophia’s radiant qualities of being: positive, down-to earth, original, mysterious, sexy, and guileless in a perfect world.  Sophia is the “ideal” woman because not only is she divine in nature, she is able to cope through the greatest obstacles that obstruct her from her path. Simultaneously, Sophia is so unique, she makes a man follow her into the afterlife of his dreams. Not only did she (tagline) in the real world, she left him in need of her in the afterlife.  SE wants other fashion brands and the world to know that everyone in this world matters, no matter your race, ethnicity, financial background or country of origin.  SE empowers people to make a difference by:   • Helping the Underprivileged Children of America. • Creating American Jobs.  • Providing a more Eco-Friendly environment.  All of SE’s products are made in the United States, providing more opportunities to influence economic growth.  SE ensures no usable fabric goes to waste by collecting all the scraps of fabrics and donating the items to (charity), with the sole intent to create exclusive items, blankets, or articles of clothing for the less fortunate. In addition, SE donates 10% of all sales to (charity) , to help feed, clothe, and provide shelter for the less fortunate.SE plans to take a creative approach to branding and marketing the company.  Not only will SE use traditional methods of marketing, such as mailing clothes to celebrities, look books to bloggers and editors, buying editorial spots, sponsoring events, and advertising online, SE will take grass root efforts to the next level in attracting hits to the website, along with social media to keep the clientele engaged. Sending celebrities, fashion editors and bloggers free gifts never guarantees the promotion of an item, so SE has decided to implement a revenue sharing program with its clothing. Each individual influencer will have a personalized URL to direct their clients to SE’s website. Each purchase made within thirty days by the referral of an “influencer” will generate an earnings check of $25 to the referrer. Checks will be cut once the accumulated balance signNowes $300, or can be exchanged to store credit. SE will seek out make up artists, photographers, stylists, and other professionals within the fashion industry to provide an opportunity to earn an extra source of income through its revenue sharing program. SE will also provide clothing to stylists, to have featured in editorial along with video content. SE’s grassroots efforts will take place in the form of carefully selected event sponsorships. Through event sponsorships, models will be showcased wearing the SE product through a trade booth. SE will take pictures of celebrities who try on the products and feature blog posts through social media efforts of the celebrities, while distributing the highly sought out images to fashion bloggers. SE will then pass out $10 SE Clothing Branded Gift Cards to people who fit the role of the target consumer of the brand at the event. Initially, 50,000 gift cards will be made for distribution within the first year, of which we expect at least 25,000 to visit the website URL.  SE will implement a referral based program, where if a friend is referred to purchase an item through the SE website through their email or social media link within 30 days, the customer will have the choice to have one of the following occur: • $25 will be credited to the referrer’s account for Future Purchases. • $25 will be donated to the referrer’s Charity of Choice. The referee will also receive $10 credited off their first purchase. Studies indicate that 1 out of every 3 customers will refer their friends to a site that they trust and enjoy.  SE will partner with publishers and affiliates such as Google Affiliate, Commission Junction, Avantlink, Affiliate Window, Webgains, Pepperjam, Integrate, Etc. to allow professionals to earn a profit by referring their clientele to purchase items from SE.  In order to create better organic SEO (Search Engine Optimization) results to guide more online traffic to the website, SE will carry lines of both popular name brand and up-and-coming American Made products by other designers, such as Nasty Gal, Diesel, Ralph Lauren, Armani, Etc. In order to acquire the product necessary, SE will create a strategic partnership with its manufacturer to sell their excess inventory.  Once new customers visit the SE site, they will be given an opportunity to register on the site to claim their $10 credit. Through registration, information such as the customer’s name, email address, phone number, address, and social media profiles will be gathered.  Once the customer registers, they will be able to access the site. A welcome email will be sent to the customer within one day, welcoming them to the site. Within 5-7 business days, a letter stating SE’s appreciation of the customer with an outline of the brand’s philanthropic vision will be physically mailed to the customer on company letterhead and hand signed by the C.E.O., Ms. Lee. The customer will then be emailed, informing them that their gift card will expire in 30 days, 3 weeks, 15 days, 7 days, 3 days, 2 days, and a final offer email. This cycle will repeat for another 30 days for a total of 60 days, which will trigger a sense of urgency within purchasing an item within the allotted timeframe.  SE will engage with customers by providing the first few sentences of educational content through email, while providing links to the blogging section of the website to read the full article, along with social media efforts on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, DeviantART, Tumblr, Google+, Polyvore, Wanelo, Quora, Lyst, Etc. to build trust with the clientele, and keep them engaged with the brand. SE will track user activity through analytic services provided by Kissmetrics to measure which campaigns work best, to better understand our audience. SE will influence increases in transaction sizes by donating one item to charity for every $300 spent in a single transaction. Not only would revenues increase, the philanthropic vision would accelerate to creating a bigger influence to society, which in turn will create a better image for the brand. SE will have a section on the site where users can upload images of their new purchases, how they pair their outfits, provide feedback to others, and like other consumer’s styles, creating an engaged society of buyers who become advocates and prosumers of the brand.  SE will begin sales on the retail website, then slowly trickle into many online boutique stores, physical boutique stores, then into major department stores. Since bulk purchases from vendors decrease manufacturing costs, the business model is extremely scalable. As SE becomes a more established brand, price increases will be implemented in 10% increments per season, increasing profit margins while manufacturing costs decrease. SE will create separate databases for consumers who have at least purchased one item and another database for loyal consumers. In regard to the database of consumers who have purchased, collateral material providing a promo code for a promotional discount will physically be mailed to the clients two weeks prior to an anniversary or holiday sale, to provide exclusive access to the promotion. SE will randomly select users from the loyal consumer database to provide a free gift with purchase, expedited or free shipping, and various other promotional tools to reward brand loyalty.  Once SE establishes a loyal client base, verticals will be integrated one product at a time in minimal quantities, initially to test the market to see how well the product does. Verticals will range from products such as cosmetics, shoes, handbags, hats, stockings, scarves, jewelry, and other womenswear based products. Led by C.E.O. Ms. Lee, SE has hand selected a managerial team of 8 creative unique individuals to grasp a portion of the $500+ billion dollar market by creating quality content, negotiating with vendors, managing finances, and laying out the long term growth of the company, all while creating beautiful product.  10 years from now, in the year 2023, SE plans to be acquired by LVMH, PPR, Richemont, Valentino Fashion Group, The Aeffe Group, Puig, Diesel, Phillips-Van Huesen, Hermes, Liz Claiborne, Inditex, The Arcadia Group, or Aurora Fashion for a strike price of $300 million. SE is currently seeking seed financing in the amount of $275,000 to be used to cover manufacturing, marketing, legal and operational expenses to establish the brand. MISSION STATEMENTUnited together, SE’s commitments to society are as follows:#1. To Mother Earth:We vow to make sure that no usable fabric is wasted. All usable scrap material will be recycled into specialty items, blankets or created into articles of clothing for the less fortunate.#2. To Our Nation:We vow to Shop American. We vow to only manufacture our product in America. We are creating American jobs and doing our part in rebuilding the American economy.#3. To Our World:We vow to take a stance against child labor. We take a stance against the Chinese sweatshops with hazardous work conditions.#4. To The Less Fortunate:We vow to provide food, clothing, and shelter for children who are unable to take care of themselves, especially the ones right here at home.#5. To Our Customers:We vow to make sure you feel beautiful and (tagline). We vow to create the sexiest, most reliable products made from the best material we can find. We will provide the best fit possible. We will listen to your opinions and make decisions based off of your feedback. Your voice will be heard. #6. To Our Design PartnersWe vow to provide our client base accessibility to your designs to increase your exposure in the market place. Whether you are a small designer who is just beginning or an established brand, there is a place here for you to showcase your items, as long as the product is manufactured here in America.#7. To Our Employees: We vow to bring the jobs back home and provide fair wages. We vow to provide a fun and friendly stress-free work environment.#8. To Our Shareholders:We vow to provide you a seat on our board. We vow to listen to your expertise. We vow to provide returns in a timely manner. We vow to fulfill your philanthropic vision.Oh, it might be in your best interest to include a mind map as well.The first five pages should include the following information:BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT PLAN MARCH 2013 ****** CONFIDENTIALITY & DISCLOSURE NOTICE ****** IMPORTANT: This document is for information purposes only and sent at your request and is covered by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act 18 U.S.C. 2510‐2521. This is neither a solicitation of investment nor an offer to sell and/or buy securities. This communication may contain non‐public, private, confidential or legally privileged information and documents intended for the sole use of the designated recipient(s). The unlawful interception, use or disclosure of such information is strictly prohibited under the applicable laws of the U.S.A. and the State of Nevada. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon this information by persons/entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this document and / or a transmission of this document in error, delete any electronic copies of this document and / or return this document to (Name, Address) CONFIDENTIALITY & DISCLOSURE NOTICE IMPORTANT: This document is for information purposes only and sent at your request and is covered by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act 18 U.S.C. 2510-2521. This is neither a solicitation of investment nor an offer to sell and/or buy securities. This communication may contain non-public, private, confidential or legally privileged information and documents intended for the sole use of the designated recipient(s). The unlawful interception, use or disclosure of such information is strictly prohibited under the applicable laws of the U.S.A. and the State of California. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon this information by persons/entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this document and / or a transmission of this document in error, delete any electronic copies of this document and / or return this document to (Name, Address) CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT The undersigned reader acknowledges that the information provided within this Business Development Plan (“BDP”) is confidential; therefore, reader agrees not to disclose it without the express written permission of SE. It is acknowledged by reader that information to be furnished in this BDP is in all respects confidential in nature, other than information which is in the public domain through other means and that any disclosure or use of same by reader, may cause serious harm or damage to SE and other sources identified herein. The information, estimates and projections contained herein have been prepared by SE in good faith and on a basis believed to be reasonable; such estimates and projections involve signNow elements of subjective judgment and analysis. No representation or warranty, expressed or implied, can be made as to the accuracy or completeness of such information, and nothing contained in this BDP is, or shall be relied upon as, a promise or representation as to the past or the future. This BDP is submitted in connection with the evaluation of a potential transaction and may not be reproduced or used, in whole or in part, for any other purpose.  Upon request, this document is to be immediately returned SE,.  ___________________ Signature  ___________________ Name (typed or printed)  ___________________ Date This is a Business Development Plan. It does not imply an offering of securitiesFORWARD LOOKING STATEMENT This document may contain certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including, but not limited to, statements as to future operating results and plans that involve risks and uncertainties. We use words such as “expects”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “estimates”, the negative of these terms and similar expressions to identify forward looking statements. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by those projected in the forward-looking statements for any reason. References herein to “the Company,” “we,” “our,” “us” and similar words or phrases are references to SE, and/or its subsidiaries, unless the context otherwise requires.  CONTACT INFORMATION Inquiries may be directed to the appropriate party below:Leonard Kim COO SEAddress:Phone: Fax: Email:The Table of contents should include the following information that no one, aside from analysts read:TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY1.1 OBJECTIVES1.2 MISSION1.3 KEYS TO SUCCESS 2.0 COMPANY SUMMARY2.1 CAPITALIZATION SUMMARY2.2 COMPANY LOCATIONS AND FACILITIES.3.0 PRODUCTS AND SERVICES3.1 THE SE TECHNOLOGY3.2 COMPETITIVE COMPARISON3.3 MARKETING MATERIAL3.4 TECHNOLOGY FULFILLMENT3.5 FUTURE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES4.0 MARKET ANALYSIS SUMMARY 4.1 MARKET SEGMENTATION 4.2 TARGET MARKET SEGMENT STRATEGY4.2.1 MARKET NEEDS4.2.2 MARKET TRENDS 4.2.3 MARKET GROWTH4.3 SERVICE BUSINESS ANALYSIS 4.3.1 BUSINESS PARTICIPANTS 4.3.2 DISTRIBUTING A PRODUCT 4.3.3 MAIN COMPETITORS 5.0 WEB PLAN SUMMARY5.1 WEBSITE MARKETING STRATEGY5.2 DEVELOPMENT REQUIREMENTS6.0 STRATEGY AND IMPLEMENTATION SUMMARY6.1 SWOT ANALYSIS 6.1.1 STRENGTHS6.1.2 WEAKNESSES 6.1.3 OPPORTUNITIES6.1.4 THREATS6.2 STRATEGY PYRAMID 6.3 VALUE PROPOSITION6.4 COMPETITIVE EDGE 6.5 MARKETING STRATEGY SUMMARY6.5.1 POSITIONING STATEMENT 6.5.2 PRICING STRATEGY6.6 SALES STRATEGY 6.6.1 SALES FORECAST 6.7 MILESTONES7.0 MANAGEMENT SUMMARY 7.1 ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE 7.2 MANAGEMENT TEAM 7.3 MANAGEMENT TEAM GAPS 7.4 PERSONNEL PLAN 8.0 FINANCIAL PLAN8.1 START-UP FUNDING 8.2 KEY FINANCIAL INDICATORS8.3 BREAK-EVEN ANALYSIS 8.4 PROJECTED PROFIT AND LOSS 8.5 PROJECTED CASH FLOW 8.6 PROJECTED BALANCE SHEET 8.7 BUSINESS RATIOS 8.8 THE INVESTMENT OFFERING8.9 VALUATION8.10 USE OF FUNDS9.0 APPENDICESTABLE: SALES FORECAST TABLE: PROFIT AND LOSS TABLE: PROFIT AND LOSS TABLE: CASH FLOWTABLE: CASH FLOWTABLE: BALANCE SHEETIf you're using a business plan to try to attain a loan for a small business... I took a different business plan for a nightlife company, brought a cofounder with a 680 credit score, and went to Long Beach SBDC and they helped me get approved for a loan from a credit union for $30,000 two years ago. The whole process took less than a week, since we already had our business plan finished prior to showing up. We ended up not taking the loan because our programmer ran off with the money we had paid him prior without delivering our technology.There are Small Business Development Centers, sponsored by the Small Business Association, all across the United States that will help you make a business plan for free, read it, and even shop it out for business loans.If you're using a business plan to attain financing from an Angel Investor or VC, then all that matters is your executive summary and your slideshow. I mean, you still need the other data filled in, but these are the only two areas of which they put their main focus on. However, a lot of investors use two financial analysts to carefully go over every detail within a business plan prior to investing their own cash. So, the fine details are pretty important regardless of what anyone else says. Also, if you need to know how to split equity with your startup, read more here: How much equity do you give early employees when the company is bootstrapped?Read more at my blog: Startups 101: How to Create a Business Plan

Our in-house UX designer holds the Airbnb sign-up form up as an example of excellent UX design.These are his main reasons, which are all aspects that are easily transferrable (and that we always use on our forms!):Social media access - giving people the option to sign up with Google or Facebook allows them to choose an option that suits them (people love to feel in control - it’s the autonomy bias). They are also aware that signing up through social media may be a much speedier process which is always an attraction and, even better for you, it often allows you access to certain parts of their profile and details so can be an excellent source of invaluable data.Progressive disclosure - Instead of displaying the whole form on the first page, Airbnb uses progressive disclosure, only opening up the full form once the user clicks on “Sign up with Email” which keeps things clean, simple and doesn’t intimidate the user as they are being slowly introduced into the sign-up process.Column layout - There is just one column with each field listed one underneath the other. Again, this keeps it really clean and simple with ample space to fill out the fields.Icons used inside the fields - The icons bring a nice design element to it and also just add that extra ease of comprehension - you see the mail icon and you know that’s where your email address goes. The easier to understand quickly, the more likely it is that people will convert (this is because of Cognitive Ease).Password strength validation - This is always a reassuring tool to provide your customers. Security online (or lack thereof) can be a big factor in putting people off following through with a sign-up or purchase and so lending them this helping hand to show them how strong their password is will give a sense of safety and satisfaction.Overall field validation - When a field has been successfully completed, it is highlighted with a green outline to validate this clearly. It’s a nice way of giving the customer a sense of completion and closure for each step and letting them see their progress - this type of positive reinforcement can be useful in encouraging people to see through the sign-up process until the end.Clear indication of errors - Equally, it’s important to clearly notify customers when there is an issue with one of their completed fields. There’s nothing more frustrating than spending time filling out a form only for it to refuse to submit but with no clear identification of where the error is. Make it quick, obvious and easy for them to see and rectify any errors to ensure frustration doesn’t lead to a swift exit.At Convertize, we’ve compiled our neuromarketing and optimisation expertise into a list of 250 tactics - you can check them out here!

I was raised with a lot of privilege. I’m not trying to deny it. But you know what the massive side dish is that comes with privilege? Delusion. You always expect more food to magically appear on your plate, without so much as leaving the table.One of the most common, yet most dangerous illusions my generation secretly indulges in is the idea of becoming a billionaire.Go ahead. Feel it. Deep down. It’s there.“I’ll become a billionaire.”As if it was just a matter of when. If you just felt a slight tingle, I have a few questions for you. Questions for future billionaires.1. What’s your good reason for wanting to make a billion?I like David Blaine’s idea that success is giving as much as you get.He says what makes Bill Gates so great is that he’s figured out how to give the money he’s amassed to worthy causes better than most institutions can. Polio’s almost eradicated. Next, he’s going after Guinea worm disease.If the only place you want to direct the money is into your own pocket, you’ll never think broad enough to signNow a billion.“To make a billion dollars, help a billion people.” – Peter Diamandis2. What’s your real reason for wanting to make a billion?Now that we’ve got the noble cause out of the way, why do you really need the money? What happiness can a billion buy you that 100 million can’t? That 10 million can’t? That one million can’t?It’s just another arbitrary number. What’s not arbitrary is the psychological hole you’re hoping it’ll fill. Where’s the hole?Are you insecure? Lonely? Do you lack self-worth? Self-love? Who do you want to prove wrong? Yourself? The world?It’s okay. Just like the idea of becoming a billionaire itself, when you dig deep enough, you’ll realize it’s there. We all have it. But know it’s there.“There’s always a good reason and there’s always a real reason.” – James Altucher3. How are you going to make your billion?Seriously. Do the math. The real, serious math. We’re not talking about revenue here. We’re talking about profit. Profit you can pocket.What does a billionaires bank account even look like? Is there ever a billion on there? I have no idea. And neither do you.Only 3% of billionaires made their money from running private companies. Can you take a company from zero to IPO? How big is your total market? Is there even a billion in there?“If past history was all there was to the game, the richest people would be librarians.”– Warren Buffett4. Who’s going to make your billion for you?That’s right. Not with you. For you. You have to be aware that in the end, that’s what’s happening. Everyone you hire along your journey will partly be responsible for making your billion. And you will hire people. You have to.These people will work with you. But they’ll make money for you. Tell me: Why should they? Tell them. You better have a compelling reason. A good offer.What are you going to give back? What are you going to do for them?“Help young people. Help small guys. Because small guys will be big.” – Jack Ma5. When do you expect your billion?If the answer is anything less than 20 years from now, you can stop right here. Warren Buffett became a millionaire just before turning 30. He first was a billionaire at 56. That’s 26 years, starting from millionaire status.Are you a millionaire yet? No? Whoops. That’s just the first part. But even that’s ridiculously hard.And don’t you dare tell me about Mark Zuckerberg. You’re not Mark Zuckerberg. Mark Zuckerberg isn’t reading this. Neither would you be, if you were already seriously working on your billion.“I’m here to build something for the long-term. Anything else is a distraction.” – Mark Zuckerberg6. What are you willing to give up for your billion?If being a billionaire is your number one goal, think about number two. You will not get number two. Or three. Or four. The bigger the goal, the bigger the sacrifice.0.0000272% of all humans are billionaires. They gave up not one, but all the things that make the other 99.99% of people what they are - the other 99.99% of the people.Whatever you think you can also have, next to being a billionaire, you most likely can’t. We’re not talking about giving up watching football here.Are you willing to be a bad father for your billion? An absent mother? Are you willing to lose your girlfriend? Or all your friends? Would you give up family? Sleep? Food for a week?Most importantly: Are you willing to give up being understood by every single person you know?“I was set free, because my greatest fear had already been realized, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.” – J.K. RowlingPrivilege is a sweet syrup. There’s lots to gain from savoring it. Delusion is the bitter taste it leaves in your mouth when you get used to it.So here’s one last piece of bark to chew on. As of 2017, there are 2,043 billionaires in the world.How many of them do you think started with dreaming about being a billionaire?Sources[1] Fear{less} with Tim Ferriss[2] 2015 Gates Annual Letter[3] American Billionaires And Their Private Company Fortunes[4] The Age When 17 Self-Made Billionaires Earned Their First Million[Image] Warren Buffett is 'one-quarter Coca-Cola'PS: I write more articles like this one each week and send them out in Nik’s Newsletter. If you liked this one, give it a try.

Here are some amazing and completely free resources online that you can use to teach yourself data science.Besides this page, I would highly recommend the Official Quora Data Science FAQ as your comprehensive guide to data science! It includes resources similar to this one, as well as advice on preparing for data science interviews. Additionally, follow the Quora Data Science topic if you haven't already to get updates on new questions and answers!Step 1. Fulfill your prerequisitesBefore you begin, you need Multivariable Calculus, Linear Algebra, and Python. If your math background is up to multivariable calculus and linear algebra, you'll have enough background to understand almost all of the probability / statistics / machine learning for the job.Multivariate Calculus: What are the best resources for mastering multivariable calculus?Numerical Linear Algebra / Computational Linear Algebra / Matrix Algebra: Linear Algebra, Introduction to Linear Models and Matrix Algebra. Avoid linear algebra classes that are too theoretical, you need a linear algebra class that works with real matrices.Multivariate calculus is useful for some parts of machine learning and a lot of probability. Linear / Matrix algebra is absolutely necessary for a lot of concepts in machine learning.You also need some programming background to begin, preferably in Python. Most other things on this guide can be learned on the job (like random forests, pandas, A/B testing), but you can't get away without knowing how to program!Python is the most important language for a data scientist to learn. To learn to code, more about Python, and why Python is so important, check outHow do I learn to code?How do I learn Python?Why is Python a language of choice for data scientists?Is Python the most important programming language to learn for aspiring data scientists and data miners?R is the second most important language for a data scientist to learn. I’m saying this as someone with a statistics background and who went through undergrad mainly only using R. While R is powerful for dedicated statistical tasks, Python is more versatile as it will connect you more to production-level work.If you're currently in school, take statistics and computer science classes. Check out What classes should I take if I want to become a data scientist?Step 2. Plug Yourself Into the CommunityCheck out Meetup to find some that interest you! Attend an interesting talk, learn about data science live, and meet data scientists and other aspirational data scientists. Start reading data science blogs and following influential data scientists:What are the best, insightful blogs about data, including how businesses are using data?What is your source of machine learning and data science news? Why?What are some best data science accounts to follow on Twitter, Facebook, G+, and LinkedIn?What are the best Twitter accounts about data?Step 3. Setup and Learn to use your toolsPythonInstall Python, iPython, and related libraries (guide)How do I learn Python?RInstall R and RStudio (It's good to know both Python and R)Learn R with swirlSublime TextInstall Sublime TextWhat's the best way to learn to use Sublime Text?SQLHow do I learn SQL? What are some good online resources, like websites, blogs, or videos? (You can practice it using the sqlite package in Python)Step 4. Learn Probability and StatisticsBe sure to go through a course that involves heavy application in R or Python. Knowing probability and statistics will only really be helpful if you can implement what you learn.Python Application: Think Stats (free pdf) (Python focus)R Applications: An Introduction to Statistical Learning (free pdf)(MOOC) (R focus)Print out a copy of Probability CheatsheetStep 5. Complete Harvard's Data Science CourseAs of Fall 2015, the course is currently in its third year and strives to be as applicable and helpful as possible for students who are interested in becoming data scientists. An example of how is this happening is the introduction of Spark and SQL starting this year.I'd recommend doing the labs and lectures from 2015 and the homeworks from 2013 (2015 homeworks are not available to the public, and the 2014 homeworks are written under a different instructor than the original instructors).This course is developed in part by a fellow Quora user, Professor Joe Blitzstein. Here are all of the materials!Intro to the classWhat is it like to design a data science class? In particular, what was it like to design Harvard's new data science class, taught by professors Joe Blitzstein and Hanspeter Pfister?What is it like to take CS 109/Statistics 121 (Data Science) at Harvard?Course MaterialsClass main page: CS109 Data ScienceLectures, Slides, and Labs: Class MaterialAssignmentsIntro to Python, Numpy, Matplotlib (Homework 0) (Solutions)Poll Aggregation, Web Scraping, Plotting, Model Evaluation, and Forecasting (Homework 1) (Solutions)Data Prediction, Manipulation, and Evaluation (Homework 2) (Solutions)Predictive Modeling, Model Calibration, Sentiment Analysis (Homework 3) (Solutions)Recommendation Engines, Using Mapreduce (Homework 4) (Solutions)Network Visualization and Analysis (Homework 5) (Solutions)Labs(these are the 2013 labs. For the 2015 labs, check out Class Material)Lab 2: Web ScrapingLab 3: EDA, Pandas, MatplotlibLab 4: Scikit-Learn, Regression, PCALab 5: Bias, Variance, Cross-ValidationLab 6: Bayes, Linear Regression, and Metropolis SamplingLab 7: Gibbs SamplingLab 8: MapReduceLab 9: NetworksLab 10: Support Vector MachinesStep 6. Do all of Kaggle's Getting Started and Playground CompetitionsI would NOT recommend doing any of the prize-money competitions. They usually have datasets that are too large, complicated, or annoying, and are not good for learning. The competitions are available at Competitions | KaggleStart by learning scikit-learn, playing around, reading through tutorials and forums on the competitions that you’re doing. Next, play around some more and check out the tutorials for Titanic: Machine Learning from Disaster for a binary classification task (with categorical variables, missing values, etc.)Afterwards, try some multi-class classification with Forest Cover Type Prediction. Now, try a regression task House Prices: Advanced Regression Techniques. Try out some natural language processing with Quora Question Pairs | Kaggle. Finally, try out any of the other knowledge-based competitions that interest you!Step 7. Learn Some Data Science ElectivesData science is an incredibly large and interdisciplinary field, and different jobs will require different skillsets. Here are some of the more common ones:Product Metrics will teach you about what companies track, what metrics they find important, and how companies measure their success: The 27 Metrics in Pinterest’s Internal Growth DashboardMachine Learning How do I learn machine learning? This is an extremely rich area with massive amounts of potential, and likely the “sexiest” area of data science today. Andrew Ng's Machine Learning course on Coursera is one of the most popular MOOCs, and a great way to start! Andrew Ng's Machine Learning MOOCA/B Testing is incredibly important to help inform product decisions for consumer applications. Learn more about A/B testing here: How do I learn about A/B testing?Visualization - I would recommend picking up ggplot2 in R to make simple yet beautiful graphics and just browsing DataIsBeautiful • /r/dataisbeautiful and FlowingData for ideas and inspiration.User Behavior - This set of blogs posts looks useful and interesting - This Explains Everything " User BehaviorFeature Engineering - Check out What are some best practices in Feature Engineering? and this great example: http://nbviewer.ipython.org/gith...Big Data Technologies - These are tools and frameworks developed specifically to deal with massive amounts of data. How do I learn big data technologies?Optimization will help you with understanding statistics and machine learning: Convex Optimization - Boyd and VandenbergheNatural Language Processing - This is the practice of turning text data into numerical data whilst still preserving the "meaning". Learning this will let you analyze new, exciting forms of data. How do I learn Natural Language Processing (NLP)?Time Series Analysis - How do I learn about time series analysis?Step 8. Do a Capstone Product / Side ProjectUse your new data science and software engineering skills to build something that will make other people say wow! This can be a website, new way of looking at a dataset, cool visualization, or anything!What are some good toy problems (can be done over a weekend by a single coder) in data science? I'm studying machine learning and statistics, and looking for something socially relevant using publicly available datasets/APIs.How can I start building a recommendation engine? Where can I find an interesting data set? What tools/technologies/algorithms are best to build the engine with? How do I check the effectiveness of recommendations?What are some ideas for a quick weekend Python project? I am looking to gain some experience.What is a good measure of the influence of a Twitter user?Where can I find large datasets open to the public?What are some good algorithms for a prioritized inbox?What are some good data science projects?Create public github repositories, make a blog, and post your work, side projects, Kaggle solutions, insights, and thoughts! This helps you gain visibility, build a portfolio for your resume, and connect with other people working on the same tasks.Step 9. Get a Data Science Internship or JobHow do I prepare for a data scientist interview?How should I prepare for statistics questions for a data science interviewWhat kind of A/B testing questions should I expect in a data scientist interview and how should I prepare for such questions?What companies have data science internships for undergraduates?What are some tips to choose whether I want to apply for a Data Science or Software Engineering internship?When is the best time to apply for data science summer internships?Check out The Official Quora Data Science FAQ for more discussion on internships, jobs, and data science interview processes! The data science FAQ also links to more specific versions of this question, like How do I become a data scientist without a PhD? or the counterpart, How do I become a data scientist as a PhD student?Step 10. Share your Wisdom Back with the Data Science CommunityIf you’ve made it this far, congratulations on becoming a data scientist! I’d encourage you to share your knowledge and what you’ve learned back with the data science community. Data Science as a nascent field depends on knowledge-sharing!Think like a Data ScientistIn addition to the concrete steps I listed above to develop the skill set of a data scientist, I include seven challenges below so you can learn to think like a data scientist and develop the right attitude to become one.(1) Satiate your curiosity through dataAs a data scientist you write your own questions and answers. Data scientists are naturally curious about the data that they're looking at, and are creative with ways to approach and solve whatever problem needs to be solved.Much of data science is not the analysis itself, but discovering an interesting question and figuring out how to answer it.Here are two great examples:Hilary: the most poisoned baby name in US historyA Look at Fire Response DataChallenge: Think of a problem or topic you're interested in and answer it with data!(2) Read news with a skeptical eyeMuch of the contribution of a data scientist (and why it's really hard to replace a data scientist with a machine), is that a data scientist will tell you what's important and what's spurious. This persistent skepticism is healthy in all sciences, and is especially necessarily in a fast-paced environment where it's too easy to let a spurious result be misinterpreted.You can adopt this mindset yourself by reading news with a critical eye. Many news articles have inherently flawed main premises. Try these two articles. Sample answers are available in the comments.Easier: You Love Your iPhone. Literally.Harder: Who predicted Russia’s military intervention?Challenge: Do this every day when you encounter a news article. Comment on the article and point out the flaws.(3) See data as a tool to improve consumer productsVisit a consumer internet product (probably that you know doesn't do extensive A/B testing already), and then think about their main funnel. Do they have a checkout funnel? Do they have a signup funnel? Do they have a virility mechanism? Do they have an engagement funnel?Go through the funnel multiple times and hypothesize about different ways it could do better to increase a core metric (conversion rate, shares, signups, etc.). Design an experiment to verify if your suggested change can actually change the core metric.Challenge: Share it with the feedback email for the consumer internet site!(4) Think like a BayesianTo think like a Bayesian, avoid the Base rate fallacy. This means to form new beliefs you must incorporate both newly observed information AND prior information formed through intuition and experience.Checking your dashboard, user engagement numbers are signNowly down today. Which of the following is most likely?1. Users are suddenly less engaged2. Feature of site broke3. Logging feature brokeEven though explanation #1 completely explains the drop, #2 and #3 should be more likely because they have a much higher prior probability.You're in senior management at Tesla, and five of Tesla's Model S's have caught fire in the last five months. Which is more likely?1. Manufacturing quality has decreased and Teslas should now be deemed unsafe.2. Safety has not changed and fires in Tesla Model S's are still much rarer than their counterparts in gasoline cars.While #1 is an easy explanation (and great for media coverage), your prior should be strong on #2 because of your regular quality testing. However, you should still be seeking information that can update your beliefs on #1 versus #2 (and still find ways to improve safety). Question for thought: what information should you seek?Challenge: Identify the last time you committed the Base Rate Fallacy. Avoid committing the fallacy from now on.(5) Know the limitations of your tools“Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.” - Miles KingtonKnowledge is knowing how to perform a ordinary linear regression, wisdom is realizing how rare it applies cleanly in practice.Knowledge is knowing five different variations of K-means clustering, wisdom is realizing how rarely actual data can be cleanly clustered, and how poorly K-means clustering can work with too many features.Knowledge is knowing a vast range of sophisticated techniques, but wisdom is being able to choose the one that will provide the most amount of impact for the company in a reasonable amount of time.You may develop a vast range of tools while you go through your Coursera or EdX courses, but your toolbox is not useful until you know which tools to use.Challenge: Apply several tools to a real dataset and discover the tradeoffs and limitations of each tools. Which tools worked best, and can you figure out why?(6) Teach a complicated conceptHow does Richard Feynman distinguish which concepts he understands and which concepts he doesn't?Feynman was a truly great teacher. He prided himself on being able to devise ways to explain even the most profound ideas to beginning students. Once, I said to him, "Dick, explain to me, so that I can understand it, why spin one-half particles obey Fermi-Dirac statistics." Sizing up his audience perfectly, Feynman said, "I'll prepare a freshman lecture on it." But he came back a few days later to say, "I couldn't do it. I couldn't reduce it to the freshman level. That means we don't really understand it." - David L. Goodstein, Feynman's Lost Lecture: The Motion of Planets Around the SunWhat distinguished Richard Feynman was his ability to distill complex concepts into comprehendible ideas. Similarly, what distinguishes top data scientists is their ability to cogently share their ideas and explain their analyses.Check out https://www.quora.com/Edwin-Chen... for examples of cogently-explained technical concepts.Challenge: Teach a technical concept to a friend or on a public forum, like Quora or YouTube.(7) Convince others about what's importantPerhaps even more important than a data scientist's ability to explain their analysis is their ability to communicate the value and potential impact of the actionable insights.Certain tasks of data science will be commoditized as data science tools become better and better. New tools will make obsolete certain tasks such as writing dashboards, unnecessary data wrangling, and even specific kinds of predictive modeling.However, the need for a data scientist to extract out and communicate what's important will never be made obsolete. With increasing amounts of data and potential insights, companies will always need data scientists (or people in data science-like roles), to triage all that can be done and prioritize tasks based on impact.The data scientist's role in the company is the serve as the ambassador between the data and the company. The success of a data scientist is measured by how well he/she can tell a story and make an impact. Every other skill is amplified by this ability.Challenge: Tell a story with statistics. Communicate the important findings in a dataset. Make a convincing presentation that your audience cares about.Good luck and best wishes on your journey to becoming a data scientist! For more resources check out Quora’s official Quora Data Science FAQ

Not more than a month to learn, not less than a lifetime to master..The web keeps changing, so no typical university curriculum is actually going to help you learn it well. Web development is one of the fastest changing fields, and hence you should train yourself to self-learn.Begin with learning HTML, move on to CSS and then JavaScript. Initially you can refer to some high school text books, quickly move on to W3Schools Online Web Tutorials and start trying them. Then start trying to make basic web pages from scratch. Never download templates and edit them. Make your own personal website to try, put up your pics and all the wierd fonts and background colors you will feel ashamed of an year later :)Now forget W3schools for references and start using Mozilla Developer Network for learning advanced techniques as well as better fundamentals, especially in JavaScript.Once you are good with basics of JavaScript, move on to learning, pro JavaScript from this book by John Resig Pro JavaScript Techniques: John Resig: 9781590597279: Amazon.com: BooksAfter you have a strong hold on JavaScript you will actually feel empowered enough to write good web applications and apply different design patterns. Follow Smashing Magazine - For Professional Web Designers and Developers for all the latest updates. Keep a good track of what companies like Google are up to in building the next-gen web applications.Now feel free to explore all the horizons of web development and be ready to learn and adapt to the latest technologies. Lastly I would say, it's an endless learning process when it comes to web development, and you will always be humbled to remain a student..

Positivity is choosing to see the bright side of life. It is recognizing that struggle and pain are not all that’s there, even if they’re all we can see in a certain moment. It is seeing the good in people, even when we have to search (really, really hard) for it. And it is about trusting ourselves. I guess it all comes down to this: even with pain, sorrow, and evil, there is always good, and that, friends, is what we should focus our energy on.On the contrary, negativity is about finding fault and worry in people and situations. It’s about focusing on the one thing that went wrong when a zillion others went right. And it’s about belittling people without attempting to see who they are. But what if our lives aren’t perfect? Should we pretend like our struggles don’t exist? No way ! I used to think that if I shared my hardships, people would think I was being negative. Then I realized that holding in all the bad stuff made me feel even worse. Instead of feeling free and optimistic, I felt trapped.REPEAT AFTER ME: BEING POSITIVE IS NOT ABOUT PROJECTING A PERFECT LIFE.Rather, it’s about choosing to see the good in life, believing in the power of encouragement, and having hope that things will get better (even when they really, really suck).Now to the good stuff. No matter where you’re at with choosing positivity, here are some tips for adding some optimism to your life, even when the world craps all over you.1. Listen to music that gives off the same mood you want to be in. Consider both the tone and type of music and also whether it brings back positive memories from the past. Music is indescribably powerful and using its voodoo magic to brighten up my day has always helped me immensely.2. Eat healthy. Recently, I’ve been eating healthier food packed with nutrients and veggies. I can’t think of anything else to describe my recent mood besides blissful. It is honestly almost odd. I just feel really great each and every day.3. Make a sunshine file or box. Often times, when people send me kind messages or letters, I save them as a screenshot, either in a file on my computer or in a box in my house. these messages are dear to me during times when I’m struggling or feel like I don’t matter to the world (we’ve all been there, right?).4. Surround yourself with positive influences. Find people who believe in you and your dreams. Seek out others who make your spirit feel full and lifted. The other people who bring you down? Decide for yourself if they really have a place in your life. If they don’t, have the courage to move on. For the record, anyone who makes you feel like crap about yourself does not have a place in your life.5. Practice positivity. By this, I’m talking about actively weaving positive activities into your life to little by little,change your mindset. Just the way a photographer eventually starts seeing the world in pictures, there are things we can all do to eventually see the world in a positive light.6. Set goals. Having goals to work towards can make us more positive. When we feel stagnant and unconfident, it’s a lot easier to see the bad parts of life. Start small, and remind yourself of all the great things you can accomplish.7. Challenge negative thoughts with positive ones. Negative thoughts are the very foundation of negativity and they can seem hard to avoid or erase. But negativity is all about mindset and mindset is all about creating habits. Whenever you think something negative, try to search for the bright side of the situation. Eventually it will feel like second nature.8. Smile. Simple enough, right? There are actually studies that have proven that just cheesin’ it up can make you happier and more optimistic.9. Get a pet. I know this tip isn’t for everyone, but getting a dog recently has done wonders for my sense of purpose and happiness. It is amazing what taking care of another being can do for ourselves.10. Share your issues. Letting your struggles bottle up inside is just a breakdown waiting to happen. If we share our hardships, we can receive encouragement from others that will help us re-focus on our strength, courage, and perseverance. This can be in a variety of ways, from calling a friend to writing a heart-felt blog post.11. Make your home a positive place to be. I mean, who feels inspired by hospital colored walls and a dirty kitchen? Try adding quotes that inspire you or little pick-me-up messages around your house. Coming home to a house that welcomes me with inspiration is like walking into the arms of a friend who squeezes you tight and reminds you how special you truly are.12. Ask yourself – does this really matter? Usually when I find myself being negative, it’s over trivial things that won’t stand a chance in my long-term memory. So why do I let them get to me in the moment? Beats me! When my problems are trivial, I do my best to remind myself that they’re not important. And then I move on.13. Encourage others. Studies have proven that a lot of our happiness comes from making other people happy (but did you really need a study to tell you that?). If we build positive relationships and motivate other people, we feel good about ourselves, which builds confidence and leads to a positive perspective. Not to mention, it makes other people feel like the unique, special beings they are. Talk about a win-win!Thanks for reading.If you like this answer, don't forget to upvote.Happy Reading!!

This is an excellent question. I’ll attempt to answer it in two parts.First, we can answer the question “How do you prove the existence of any God or Jesus to an atheist” by looking at atheists who have become Christians. Their stories demonstrate exactly how you prove this.The stories we can choose from are legion. We can begin with two of the most famous in recent years: C.S. Lewis and Lee Strobel.C.S. Lewis may seem a bit too Christian to many atheist ears, as he became most famous for his Christian writings. Yet he was a firm atheist in his early adulthood, having abandoned the faith on his childhood. Fortunately, Lewis wrote prolifically, giving us excellent examples of his thinking.He frequently wrote to Arthur Greeves, his long-time friend, about every topic under the sun. Concerning his atheism, he wrote: “I believe in no religion. There is absolutely no proof for any of them, and from a philosophical standpoint Christianity is not even the best."Lewis hung his atheism on a few key points. Among them was the problem of pain; he could not see how evil could exist in a world with a loving God. Another was the problem of design; if God had made this world, surely it would look better than the mess it actually is.So how did the atheist Lewis become convinced that God existed?There were several factors.For one, there were the arguments against the existence of God, including the ones listed above. Lewis had a sharp mind, and was friends with many others who had sharp minds. Through much conversation and thought, each of these objections were resolved. Lewis wrote several books on these topics as a Christian, which prove to be fascinating reading, whatever your personal beliefs may be.His book Miracles argues logically and cogently for the existence of the supernatural, including the existence of God. It demonstrates precisely how a keen, logical mind can become convinced of the existence of God. For those trained in formal logic and philosophy, it is a delight to experience.Additionally, his book Mere Christianity presents his arguments for the existence of God in the format a more general audience can receive. It includes not only reasons to believe in God, but also reasons to accept the absurd-sounding claims of Jesus. This may be the book most specifically targeted to answer this page’s question.Yet in addition to his logical reasons to believe in Christianity, Lewis also felt the personal presence of God invading his life. It was the last thing he wanted, and the thing he fought most furiously against, but it was also the one thing he could not avoid. He wrote:You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.  Lewis details this experience vividly in his book Surprised by Joy (Amazon.com: Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life eBook: C. S. Lewis: Kindle Store). David Downing wrote a book chronicling Lewis’ journey from atheism to Christianity in detail, which can be previewed here.This experience for Lewis was not merely one of a personal encounter with God. It was also the discovery that in God dwelt the joy Lewis had been chasing his entire life.So how do you convince an atheist of the existence of God? For C.S. Lewis, it included logical arguments, long discussions, the personal presence of God, and finding in Jesus the joy he had always sought.Second, we can turn to Lee Strobel. He was an avowed atheist who worked at the Chicago Tribune as its legal editor. He possessed a sharp mind, excellent education from Yale Law School, and above all, a fierce determination to accept nothing but the proven facts of a matter. It served him well as a journalist covering legal investigations, and he rose quickly in his career at the Chicago Tribune.His began his investigation of Christianity not because of a church or an evangelist, but rather because of his wife. He writes:Leslie stunned me in the autumn of 1979 by announcing that she had become a Christian. I rolled my eyes and braced for the worst, feeling like a victim of a bait-and-switch scam. I had married one Leslie--the fun Leslie, the carefree Leslie, the risk-taking Leslie--and now I feared she was going to turn into some sort of sexually repressed prude who would trade our upwardly mobile lifestyle for all-night prayer vigils and volunteer work in grimy soup kitchens.Instead I was pleasantly surprised--even fascinated--by the fundamental changes in her character, her integrity, and her personal confidence. Eventually I wanted to get to the bottom of what was prompting these subtle but signNow shifts in my wife’s attitudes, so I launched an all-out investigation into the facts surrounding the case for Christianity.For Strobel, the only thing that mattered was the truth. He sought out the top experts in each individual field he explored. He would not accept partial answers, pleading from silence, or the injunction to “just have faith.” He needed facts.He explains:For nearly two years, I explored the minutia of the historical data on whether Easter was myth or reality. I didn't merely accept the New Testament at face value; I was determined only to consider facts that were well-supported historically. As my investigation unfolded, my atheism began to buckle.Strobel is also a prolific author, and documents his investigation in minute detail in his books, beginning with The Case for Christ. I would also recommend a follow-up book, The Case for the Real Jesus.He also provides a brief summary of his investigation here:Was Jesus really executed? The evidence is so strong that even atheist historian Gerd Lüdemann said his death by crucifixion is “indisputable.”Is the resurrection a legend? Not a chance. A. N. Sherwin-White of Oxford said it took more than two generations of time in the ancient world for legend to develop and wipe out a solid core of historical truth. Yet we have a report of the resurrection – that Jesus appeared to named individuals and groups of eyewitnesses – which has been dated to within months of Jesus’ death.Was Jesus’ tomb empty? Scholar William Lane Craig points out that its location was known to Christians and non-Christians alike. So if it hadn’t been empty, it would have been highly unlikely for a movement founded on the resurrection to have exploded into existence in the same city where Jesus had been publicly executed just a few weeks before.Besides, even Jesus’ opponents implicitly admitted the tomb was vacant by claiming that his body had been stolen. But nobody had a motive for taking the body, especially the disciples. And we have seven ancient sources that report they were willing to endure lives of deprivation and suffering as a result of their proclamation Jesus had risen. It’s unlikely they would have done that if they knew they were propagating a lie.Did anyone see Jesus alive again? We have nine ancient sources, inside and outside the New Testament, that confirm the apostles’ conviction that they encountered the resurrected Christ. Repeatedly, these sources stood strong when I tried to discredit them.Could these encounters have been hallucinations? No way, experts told me. Hallucinations occur in individual brains, like dreams, yet Jesus appeared to groups of people on three different occasions – including 500 at once!Was this some other sort of vision, perhaps prompted by the apostles’ grief over their leader’s execution? This wouldn’t explain the dramatic conversion of Saul, an opponent of Christians, or James, the once-skeptical half-brother of Jesus. Neither was primed for a vision, yet each saw the risen Jesus and later died as a leader of the church. Besides, if these were visions, the body would still have been in the tomb.Was the resurrection simply the recasting of ancient mythology, akin to the fanciful tales of Osiris or Mithras? If you want to see a historian laugh out loud, bring up that kind of pop-culture nonsense.One by one, my objections evaporated. I read books by skeptics, but their counter-arguments crumbled under the weight of the historical data. No wonder atheists so often come up short in scholarly debates over the resurrection.In the end, after I had thoroughly investigated the matter, I signNowed an unexpected conclusion: it would actually take more faith to maintain my atheism than to become a follower of Jesus.And that’s why I’m now celebrating my 34th Easter as a Christian. Not because of wishful thinking, the fear of death, or the need for a psychological crutch ­– but because of the facts.(The article providing this summary can be found here.)So how do you convince an atheist like Lee Strobel of any God or Jesus? You awaken his interest with a series of positive life changes his wife experienced after becoming a Christian. You then explore the historical facts in detail, seeking out the best experts in their respective fields, and leave nothing to chance. You explore the facts, and follow where they lead you. Lee Strobel followed them from atheism to Christianity.For the second part of my answer, I’d like to address an issue brought up by many of the previous responses to this question.Many have brought up theories of the universe’s origin, seemingly to prevent and discredit the notion that God could be responsible for the creation of the universe. These theories include the notion that the universe is a simulation, the hypothesis that a multiverse may exist, and the well-tread objection that simply because we don’t know where the universe comes from does not mean that it must come from God.These are valid points. Yet none of them succeed in the attempt to banish God from the pool of live options for the origin of the universe.I submit instead that the very existence of the universe as we experience it absolutely requires the existence of a being like God in order to explain itself.The case is a rather simple one to make. I will refer to it as the impossibility of bsignNowing infinity.It can be structured logically as follows:1. We live in a temporal, finite universe.2. A finite number can never become infinite.3. Therefore, the universe cannot be infinite.Premise 1 is obvious. We experience time in a limited, moment-by-moment manner.Premise 2 is likewise obvious. You can never add to a finite number such that it eventually becomes infinite. It may become seemingly infinite from a certain vantage point, but it will never become actually infinite. It can always be added to, subtracted from, or divided in half. Infinity cannot be added to, subtracted from, or divided in half.The conclusion therefore follows. Whatever this universe may be -- a computer simulation, a bubble on a sea of cosmic energy, one in a series of multiple universes, or any other conception -- it nonetheless is mathematically certain that it all must be finite. That means that it has a definite point of creation. It cannot simply be turtles all the way down.The universe we live in cannot be infinite. If it was, there would already have been an infinite amount of time for everything to happen. That does not match with our experience, nor with anything we have observed about our universe.If, then, the universe is finite, it cannot always have existed. If it cannot always have existed, then something had to cause it to exist. The universe cannot have caused itself to exist, because it is a logical impossibility for a thing that does not exist to accomplish anything, let alone for it to cause itself to exist.Whatever this cause may be, we can infer a few things about it already:1. This cause must exist outside of the cause-effect chain.2. This cause must exist outside of time, as it created time.3. This cause must be powerful enough to create an entire universe/multiverse.4. It must have a will, such that it determined to create what did not previously exist.Point 1 is simple to write, yet hard to understand. We experience everything in cause-effect chains. This is, of course, further evidence of the temporal, finite nature of the universe.Yet this very finitude requires that there be one ultimate Cause beyond the bounds of the cause-effect chain. Aristotle referred to this entity as the Unmoved Mover, which serves as a fitting description.Many will jump the gun here, and ask “If God created the universe, what created God?” It is a fair question that must be asked.We have already uncovered part of the answer. If our universe/multiverse/universe-simulation is finite, it is certain that something other than the universe/multiverse/universe-simulation must have caused it to exist.In other words, something must always have existed. Either the universe has always existed, or whatever created the universe must always have existed. There is no other logical alternative.We have already established that the universe cannot always have existed. This therefore requires that whatever caused it to exist must have always existed, itself. How this is possible is not dealt with in this argument. For now, it is enough to know that it is logically required, and therefore certain that it does exist. Like the seeming contradiction of light behaving as both a wave and a particle, we can accept that it is true, even if we cannot fully explain it, simply because the evidence demands that we do.As Point 2 states, this entity that has always existed must be beyond the confines of time. This, again, is a matter of logical necessity, as it is responsible for creating time.As Point 3 states, this entity must be powerful enough to create the universe. This is also a matter of logical necessity, as we know that the universe certainly came into existence at a point a finite number of years ago. Whatever caused it to come into existence must obviously be powerful enough to do such a thing.As Point 4 states, this being can be inferred to have a will, from the simple fact that it determined to create the universe apart from any pre-existing effect. If this being has a will, it must therefore have a mind.All of these determinations can be inferred simply from observing the current state of the universe in which we find ourselves. They are not logical possibilities; they are logically required for our universe to exist as it does.They lead us to the logical necessity of an entity that is infinite, beyond the bounds of time, powerful, and volitional, possessing a mind.This is what we refer to as God.This, then, is how you convince me of the existence of any God or Jesus: the scientific observation of the universe filtered through simple logic requires that God does exist.Now this argument does not establish Jesus, per se. This is where the historical inquiry of a former atheist like Lee Strobel comes into play.It is worth noting, as I close, that the God of the Bible reveals Himself by the name Yahweh. In Hebrew, this name means “I am,” or more precisely, “I exist.” From the beginning, God has been describing Himself as the only Being who simply exists.