If you give away with someone your resources, time, and expertise, it usually does just as much for you, as it is for the person with whom you share it. This is also evident in the competitive and often savage business world, particularly in the world of startups.

Here's the issue. Nobody ever tells you how to make the most of the benefits of sharing. Perhaps it's because it's like a pity -- sharing goes beyond caring. It's actually quite clever.

The rewards are indirect which is why they're difficult to measure. However, after more than 20 years of being an entrepreneur , and building an additional career from sharing my knowledge acquired through my experiences I'm able to tell that over time, all the indirect benefits will add up.

It's all about knowing how to use them to the maximum.

Most Entrepreneurs Are on an Island

This past week, my company was hosting a small group of entrepreneurial student at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Three of us gave a presentation during the event, and when each speaker had answered questions from students the advisor of the group was able to add one additional question "Why did you locate in Durham?"

Since I had to leave last and had time to come up with the shortest answer. I'll cut it down further here.

Durham, N.C. and its frequently hyphenated neighbors, Raleigh, is not an enclave for startups like Silicon Valley. Or New York. And, if you're lucky -- I'm not saying this lightly or New York. Or even Austin. Although it's often referred to as the center of the Research Triangle along with Chapel Hill but when I first started my first startup as a sole-founder in the year 1993 it was a startup desert. A void. A non-existent entity.

Like many others I moved to Raleigh-Durham to attend the school in the city (go Wolfpack!). I started my first business here and it turned out to be a success. Therefore, I decided to return to the area to start another one. the initial one I'd created on my own. After a few years of the rollercoaster of success and failure I was determined to ensure that I didn't have be a part of the battle again.

While I was there I was trying to make sure that I helped the most entrepreneurs I could stay off an island of entrepreneurs.

The absence organization, training, good network, and support for entrepreneurs are all massive ugly, expensive issues. Take a look at the wasted VC dollars for example. This was a challenge worth tackling, so I set out to solve it by creating a company known as ExitEvent (which I left in 2013) in addition to solving other issues like teaching computers to create stories using data (Automated Insights, which was quit in the year 2015).

Both of these journeys were easy for me, in fact and it was not just because the market was more focused on serving startups thanks to the big exits like Red Hat, iContact and Bronto and additionally because ExitEvent allowed me to break the code of sharing.

It's a coupon I'm going to double down on by joining Teaching Startup, another startup to assist startups to start. Tycoonstory gives the opportunity to share the challenges of being an entrepreneur and offers a regularly updated resource on entrepreneurship.

There Are Always Two Types of Founders

Of course there are millions of kinds of founders, and this is one of the principals of sharing that I've developed into Teaching Startup. Each founder is unique and it's rare to find two founders who attempt to accomplish the same thing or even within the same industry.

So what's the harm in sharing your knowledge? In at the conclusion of the day, you perform better with the "trade secrets" than I could, then you are entitled to succeed.

However, not every entrepreneur believes in this.

Certain, one kind of businessman is thrilled to observe an increase in tides lifting boats. Actually, I explained to my UNC students that whatever the Durham region was lacking in resources was more than compensated for with the effort. "How can I help?" is our motto for our startup ecosystem.

However, this doesn't apply to all the time. There's a different kind of person one: the lonewolf (go Wolfpack! ).

There are several reasons that entrepreneurs aren't to share, but almost every one of them is rooted in a lack of.

3 REASONS FOUNDERS DON'T SHARE THEIR KNOWLEDGE

1. The lack of time. (I get it.)
2. Untrust. (It could occur.)
3. An inability to provide the shit. (Rare however, I can understand.)

The thing I cannot condone is the one that I observe the most often: a low level of trust.

While I was working on my rising tide speaking and writing, as well as ExitEvent and teaching Startup The most frequent reason for entrepreneurs not sharing their knowledge was that they didn't believe they had any knowledge that was important. For more details to visit Share your startup story

It's all too typical in our field. The startup ecosystem tends concentrate upon the Stanford or Harvard graduates (or dropping out, as long as they are accepted) and the billion-dollar CEO, and those with multi-billion dollars VC. They develop their credentials at Google, Amazon, Tesla and Apple.

In all seriousness, I can name more than a dozen people today and say how their "genius" move was already designed for them, because they had the proper connections. However, innovation, execution and ingenuity aren't going to care about the you studied at. The beauty of entrepreneurship is It's a matter of anyone doing it. Anyone is welcome. If you're taking the invitation seriously, then you've got some knowledge to share, which can help gain more knowledge.

The next time someone talks to you about their accomplishments or struggles in their business idea, ask them "How can I help?" The validation of someone else's merits of your ideas is enough to make you make you want to pay it forward.