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1. | Should Entrepreneurs Hire Entrepreneurs?
In his book, Gerber discusses that an entrepreneur encompasses three roles, which are: the technician, the manager, and the visionary. As a technician, the entrepreneur is able to perform the core tasks that the business performs such as baking a cake or coding software, etc.. As a manager, ...
[Added: 01 Mar 2006 Hits: 121 Words: 308]
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2. | Pre-Money vs. Post-Money Valuation
When a company decides that it must raise capital, a key question that must be answered is how much the company is worth. For example, if the business needs $500,000 to get started and/or grow, how much of the equity in that ...
[Added: 03 Dec 2005 Hits: 74 Words: 333]
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3. | Answering "Why You, Why Now" - A Critical Component of a Winning Business Plan
Business plans continue to be an essential element of the capital-raising process. They must convince investors to take notice - investors that are shrewder today due to the ups-and-downs they have experienced over the past few years.
Adding to the financing challenge is ...
[Added: 03 Dec 2005 Hits: 73 Words: 317]
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4. | Finding a Venture Capital Firm
Many ventures are faced with the challenging task of raising venture capital. The first part of this process is finding the right venture capital firm (VC). While this may seem simple, it isn't. There are thousands of venture capital firms in the United States alone, ...
[Added: 23 Nov 2005 Hits: 98 Words: 467]
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5. | Describing Intellectual Property in Your Business Plan
Most companies that are worthy of raising venture capital have proprietary Intellectual Property (IP). In fact, the quality of the IP and the management team are often the two most important aspects of a venture capitalist's investment decision. ...
[Added: 23 Nov 2005 Hits: 112 Words: 649]
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6. | The Marketing Plan and the Four P's
The Marketing Plan section of the business plan demonstrates how a company will penetrate the market with its products and services. The Marketing Plan should include "the four P's" – Product, Promotions, Price, and Place.
Products and/or Services
The first "P" stands for Product, but includes all ...
[Added: 07 Nov 2005 Hits: 69 Words: 546]
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7. | Developing Realistic Financial Assumptions in Your Business Plan
Many investors skip straight to the financial section of the business plan. It is critical that the assumptions and projections in this section be realistic. Plans that show penetration, operating margin and revenues per employee figures that are poorly reasoned, ...
[Added: 07 Nov 2005 Hits: 93 Words: 315]
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8. | Venture Capital Negotiating Issues
When companies enter into negotiations with venture capital firms, there are several issues which need to be defined and agreed upon. This article describes the key issues.
Valuation. Valuation is the most prominent negotiating issues. Valuation is the price of the company in which the ...
[Added: 25 Oct 2005 Hits: 35 Words: 506]
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9. | Documenting the Exit Strategy in Your Business Plan
All investors greatly desire and are motivated by a clear picture of a company's exit strategy, or the timing and method through which they can "cash in" on their investment. This picture best comes into focus ...
[Added: 25 Oct 2005 Hits: 46 Words: 321]
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10. | Issuing Warrants to Investors
When raising capital for a business venture, warrants are a common form of equity that is given to investors. A warrant is like an option - it gives the holder the right to buy a security ...
[Added: 12 Oct 2005 Hits: 39 Words: 329]
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11. | Alternative Venture Finance: Federal Grants and Loans
While most companies seeking venture capital initially think about angel investors and venture capitalists, a large alternative source of financing is federal grants and loans. The two largest federal grant programs are run by the Small Business Administration (SBA), and by Small Business Investment Companies (SBICs).
An SBA loan, ...
[Added: 12 Oct 2005 Hits: 53 Words: 333]
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12. | How to Size an Emerging Market in Your Business Plan
In developing their business plans, companies of all sizes face the challenge of determining the size of their markets. To begin, companies must present the size of their "relevant market" in their plans. The relevant market ...
[Added: 12 Oct 2005 Hits: 50 Words: 663]
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13. | Documenting Partnerships in Your Business Plan
Forging partnerships to improve market penetration has become commonplace, particularly for "new economy" businesses. And, most companies proudly mention their many partnerships in their business plans.
The fact is that, regardless of whom the partnership is with, partnerships by themselves are meaningless. What are meaningful are the terms ...
[Added: 26 Sep 2005 Hits: 34 Words: 312]
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14. | How to Use Graphs and Charts in Your Business Plan
Many people ask how many graphs or charts they should have in their business plans. As with most other business planning questions, the answer is "it depends." This article discusses the key factors influencing the number of graphs and charts to include in ...
[Added: 26 Sep 2005 Hits: 41 Words: 558]
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15. | The Term Sheet's Role in Raising Venture Capital
Entrepreneurs and companies who are seeking venture capital often negotiate with one or more venture capital firms on a number of important issues. These issues include the amount of capital to be raised, the investment terms, etc. The document which summarizes these terms is known as ...
[Added: 25 Aug 2005 Hits: 37 Words: 347]
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16. | Raising Capital for Your Business - How Long Does it Take?
Most companies vastly underestimate the time commitment necessary to successfully complete a financing. In actuality, a company seeking financing needs to budget between 500 to 1000 work-hours to the capital-raising process, spread out over a 6-9 month time period.
The key processes in the capital-raising ...
[Added: 25 Aug 2005 Hits: 46 Words: 435]
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17. | Two Types of Business Plan Executive Summaries
Companies seeking capital often ask how long the Executive Summary of their business plan should be. The answer depends upon the use of the summary, mainly determining if 1) it precedes the full business plan, or 2) it ...
[Added: 25 Aug 2005 Hits: 47 Words: 395]
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18. | In Business Planning, Competition is Good
When developing the competition section of your business plan, companies must define competition correctly, select the appropriate competitors to analyze, and explain its competitive advantages.
To start, companies must align their definition of competition with investors. Investors define competition as any service ...
[Added: 19 Aug 2005 Hits: 86 Words: 405]
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19. | Analyzing Customers in Your Business Plan
The Customer Analysis section of the business plan assesses the customer segments that the company serves. In it, the company must 1) identify its target customers, 2) convey the needs of these customers, and 3) show how its products and services satisfy these needs.
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[Added: 12 Aug 2005 Hits: 32 Words: 435]
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20. | The Ideal Length of Your Business Plan
How long should a business plan be? A business plan needs to be whatever length is required to excite the investor, prove that management truly understands the market, and detail the execution strategy. From surveys of investor needs, Growthink has found that 15 to ...
[Added: 03 Aug 2005 Hits: 38 Words: 448]
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21. | The Management Team Section of the Business Plan - Don't Just Include Resumes
Even the best new concept or existing plan will fail if executed poorly. The Management Team section of the business plan must prove to the investor why the key company personnel are "eminently qualified" to execute on the business model.
The ...
[Added: 01 Aug 2005 Hits: 70 Words: 357]
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22. | Angel Investors: Who They Are & When Are They Appropriate
Angel investors are individuals who invest in emerging business ventures. Angels typically provide both capital and know-how to companies who are in either their start-up or expansion phases. To reflect the increased risk of investing ...
[Added: 06 Jul 2005 Hits: 39 Words: 225]
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