Topics
Money
Books
401 Questions That Every Entrepreneur Should Ask
This book looks at the nitty-gritty of starting a business, in a Q&A format, and asks questions like "How will you stay on top of cash flow?" and "Do you have someone to take your place in case of an emergency?" Questions cover such issues as business organizational structure, locating your business, dealing with customers, risk management, time management, and use of technology.
James L. Silvester.
Career Press.
256.
Paperback.
Cost: $17.99
Harvard Business Review on Entrepreneurship
This series collects articles from the Harvard Business Review on a specific subject -- in this case entrepreneurship. It focuses on financing and raising capital, as might be expected, but also includes material on writing a business plan and commercializing technology.
Amar Bhide, William A. Sahlman, et al..
Harvard Business School Press.
217.
Paperback.
Cost: $19.95
My Start-Up Life: What a (Very) Young CEO Learned on His Journey Through Silicon Valley
Author Ben Casnocha had started two companies by the time he was 19. This is his unique story of what he learned on the way in terms of entrepreneurship, customer feedback, mentors, networking, bootstrapping, and a variety of others things related to starting a business. It's a great case history and offers some valuable insights.
Ben Casnocha.
Jossey-Bass.
208.
Hardcover.
Cost: $24.95
Optimizing Corporate Portfolio Management: Aligning Investment Proposals with Organizational Strategy
If where an organization allocates its resources determines its strategy, why is it that so few companies actively manage the resource allocation process? "Optimizing Corporate Portfolio Management: Aligning Investment Proposals with Organizational Strategy" goes beyond platitudes about why you should use corporate portfolio management (CPM) by offering a practical methodology to bring this powerful discipline to your organization.
Anand Sanwal .
Wiley .
224 pages .
Hardcover.
Cost: $65.00
Small Business for Dummies
Part of the popular "For Dummies" series, this title focuses on entrepreneur and small business basics such as determining whether a small business is for you, getting your finances in order, writing a businss plan, seeking financing. It also looks a small busines management issues such as insurance, accounting, marketing, and taxes. In particular, it offers a lot of useful tips and checklists.
Eric Tyson and Jim Schell.
Wiley Publishing Inc..
410.
Paperback.
Cost: $21.99
The Entrepreneur's Guide to Business Law
This guide looks at the many legal issues associated with entrepreneurship and small business ownership. It reviews such issues as selecting and working with an attorney, incorporation and business structure, raising money, human resources, intellectual property, e-commerce sales, and going public or selling your business.
Constance E. Bagley and Craig E. Dauchy.
Thomson South-Western West.
730.
Paperback.
Cost: $47.95
The McGraw-Hill Guide to Starting Your Own Business
This book is billed as a "step-by-step blueprint for the first-time entrepreneur and includes advice and tips on identifying business opportunities and creating a new business, preparing a business plan, finding sources of funding, and entrepreneurial "do's and don'ts.
Stephen C. Harper.
McGraw-Hill.
254.
Paperback.
Cost: $14.95
Writing a Convincing Business Plan
This book focuses on the elements of a good business plan, one of the cornerstones of an entrepreneurial business. It looks at the major elements of a business plan, including market analysis and sales forecast, marketing plan, operational plan, organization plan, and financial plan, as well as at the supporting documents that will be necessary for a business plan presentation package.
Arthur R. DeThomas and Lin Grensing-Pophal.
Barron's Educational Series.
262.
Paperback.
Cost: $16.95
Publications
CFO
CFO magazine aims to provide corporate chief financial officers (CFOs) with solid reporting on financial news and trends, analyses of the accomplishments of finance executives facing complex problems, original research into critical economic issues, exposure to innovative thinkers who will challenge their assumptions.
Phone: 212-459-3004
Web: http://www.cfo.com/
Entrepreneur Magazine
Entrepreneur Magazine covers the whole range of issues that might be encountered by an entrepreneur or small business owner. A typical issue might include articles on networking, starting an e-business, financing your business, identifying insurance needs, hiring strategies, technology, and more. Its website also offers a variety of small business checklists to download.
Web: www.entrepreneur.com
Inc.
Inc. magazine bills itself as "the daily resource for entrepreneurs." It offers articles on marketing, financing, business growth, technology, business development, and frequent case studies of successful entrepreneurs. The Inc.com website also offers a variety of other downloadable resources.
Web: www.inc.com
Success Magazine
Success magazine is a business service magazine offering articles addressing the personal and business needs of small and medium-size business owners, CEOs, and entrepreneurs. It offers success stories, advice, and step-by-step guides to such things as online marketing, setting up a new office, and taking advantage of small business tax breaks.
Web: www.successmagazine.com
Web Sites
10 Critical Cash Flow Rules
Cash flow problems can kill businesses that might otherwise survive. According to a U.S. Bank study, 82 percent of business failures are due to poor cash management. To prevent this from happening to your business, here are my 10 cash flow rules to remember.
10 Ways to Improve Profitability
No matter how much you generate in sales, the most important key is generating bottom-line profit. Profit is what provides opportunities for future growth and expansion. Here are 10 ways to cut costs and improve your bottom line.
100 Sites Entrepreneurs Should Visit
These days, it seems that almost everyone has a blog, so it's often hard to separate what's really worth reading from what isn't. Luckily, we've done the work for you and narrowed it down to 100 highly informative sites. Take a look at what they have to say and see how they can help you grow your business.
5 Tips for College Entrepreneurs: Let Your Business Purchases Earn Their Keep
One of the biggest mistakes you can make as a bootstrapping entrepreneur is not making a distinction between "need" and "want". When you run your own business and there's no one to lord the budget over your head, it’s too easy to mix up the two categories - just like it's easy to mix up personal and business funds. If you can make the distinction between "need" and "want", it becomes much easier to bootstrap your business by "earning up" to the next purchase.
5 Ways to Boost Profits
No matter how many sales you make, your business will struggle if you don't watch your margins.
6 Ways to Maximize Responses to Emails and Increase Profits
There's almost no marketer I know who is doing enough to follow-up on their customers and interested prospects. I think it stems from not wanting to "annoy" their list. Well, let me share with you six of the best follow-up methods I use to consistently pull in more profits.
7 Ways to Smash the Glass Ceiling
"Go big or stay home," says Faryl Robin Morse, founder of Farylrobin Footwear. "If I had listened to the naysayers, I would never have gotten off the ground. Five years later, I'm running a multimillion-dollar company."
8 Top Tips for Young Entrepreneurs
Online start-up businesses run by young adults are an increasingly common phenomenon. A commonly overlooked demographic, however, are the real youth - those under 18 years of age. With online businesspeople facing very low barriers to market entry, many tech-savvy kids are getting in on the act and taking advantage of the opportunities that abound.
8 Ways to Start your Business with No Money
Do you dream of starting your own business, but lack the funds? Do you have an idea that if you were given the chance you know it would work? If you're like most aspiring entrepreneurs you are never short of ideas, but finding the money to finance your idea, well that's a different story.
Applying the 80/20 Principle to Your College Business
Vilfredo Pareto was a known economist in the 1800s who observed that 20% of the Italian populace owned 80% of the country's wealth. From that, it came to be known that 20% of a source was responsible for 80% of the result. This 80/20 concept, dubbed as Pareto's Principle, is applicable to most other areas of expertise and can be used in your business and in your life.
Bank of America Launches 'Bank the Way You Live(TM)' Online Banking Microsite
Bank of America today announced the launch of its new Bank the Way you Live online banking microsite, http://bankofamerica.com/anywhere, where in one place, customers with on-the- go lifestyles can learn how to break free of conventional banking and find the freedom and control to manage their personal finances online or via mobile or smart phone, courtesy of the number one online bank.
Banking 2.0: New Capital Connections For Entrepreneurs
Credit-market carnage makes it all the more important for small businesses to understand the full range of potential sources for capital. A growing alternative to traditional sources: person-to-person lending Web sites.
Bootstrapping your college startup
A lot of people have been conditioned to think that they need a substantial amount of money to start a business. One of the most popular ways to get this is to secure a loan, which can either come from your parents, a bank, or other institutions. I've always been wary of using other people's money and falling into a huge debt way before even getting Customer #1. Fortunately, there are other ways of doing things, and there's one that I particularly like called "bootstrapping".
Borrower beware
Business owners less likely to get loans when careless mistakes appear on applications & business plans.
BreadStreet.com
This site offers forms and resources for Regulation D private investment filings and access to an investor database.
Business Credit For Beginners
The Small Business Administration and Dun & Bradstreet (NYSE:DNB) are teaming up to promote the importance of credit for small-business owners.
Business Startup Checklist
You've decided to start a business. This is both an exciting and demanding time. The checklist below is meant to help new business owners by providing a list of the most common startup steps. Depending on your particular industry, additional steps may be required for your business.
Cash Management Basics
Cash is your business's lifeblood. Managed well, your company remains healthy and strong. Managed poorly, your company goes into cardiac arrest.
If you haven't considered cash management an important issue, then you're probably undermining your business's short-term stability and its long-term survival. But how can you manage business cash better?
Deadly Legal Mistakes
When raising early-stage investment capital, avoid these errors that could lead to the death of your company.
Deciding Who to Ask for Money
If your face was on the ten o'clock news, how many people would look up and say, "I know that person!"? The list is probably longer than you'd think--and includes more prospective investors than you'd imagine.
Don't Quit Your Day Job
You can't count on bankers or angels to get your venture off the ground. So maybe you should shoehorn it around a 9-to-5 career.
Easy Money
Aaron Patzer is taking on Quicken by merging personal finance with Web 2.0. Can he get twentysomethings to be smart with their cash?
Establishing Credit For Your Business
There comes a time in the life of every business when it needs to borrow money to expand, buy new equipment or just stay competitive in the marketplace. At the same time, the owners of the business don't want to put up their own money for business expenses, so it's time to establish a business line of credit.
Financing A Small Business: Equity Or Debt?
To raise money for your new business, you must decide whether you want to borrow money or sell ownership interests to equity investors. Often, you may not have many options--the person with money to lend or invest will obviously have a lot to say about it. But you should understand the pros and cons of choosing one over the other.
Fostering ties for venture capitalists
People who sign in to the newest social network won't be looking for dates or posting a list of their favorite movies. They will be searching for companies to invest in and listing their interests in areas like clean energy or enterprise software.
Funding for Female Entrepreneurs
Start up funds are available through a growing variety of sources to assist women who are opening a business, or expanding on an existing service or product sales.
Funding Growth in an Age of Austerity
You know you can't outgrow your competitors unless you out-innovate them. But in an era of rampant R&D belt-tightening, how can you squeeze more innovation out of every dollar you invest?
FundingPost.com
The mission of the FundingPost.com website is to introduce entrepreneurs to interested venture capitalists and angel investors, and claims close to 400 matches per year. It also sponsors an annual competition through which it will "pitch" the hottest emerging companies to venture capitalists across the U.S.
Garnering Angels
Sure, you may have ventured for VC, but raising angel capital takes a different kind of skill.
Go 4 Funding
Go 4 Funding is a platform for bringing entrepreneurs, business owners, and investors closer together. Business owners and entrepreneurs post their funding needs, and investors can browse for opportunities. The website also contains articles on a variety of business-related topics.
Go Big Network
The Go Big Network is a website for the entrepreneurial community which allows members to communicate with other entrepreneurs and to post requests for business funding.
How Much Credit Do Customers Deserve?
Microsoft recently announced that it plans to extend credit to customers by as much as 60%, to $1.25 billion, this year. Should you extend your customers the same courtesy?
How to Create an Income Statement
As a part of the business plan's financial section or as a routine quarterly report, the income statement is a crucial part of your business success.
How to Finance Your Business
Congress created the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in 1953 to help America's entrepreneurs form successful small enterprises. Today, SBA offices in every state offer financing, training and advocacy for small firms. The Agency also works with thousands of lending, educational and training institutions nationwide. Here are some of the better loan programs the SBA offers to help finance your business.
How To Find Investors and Funding For Your Business Idea
At some point in all of our lives we are going to need outside investment to turn our ideas into an actual business. However, funding is not easy to find, and as our parents keep telling us: "Money doesn't grow on trees".
So how do we find investors or sources of money to fund our business ideas and ventures?
How to Get Services for a Fraction of the Price
If you need someone to create a press release for you or put up your website, this article explains how you can find a reliable person to do this for you at a fraction of what you might otherwise pay.
How to Make the Kitchen Table Pitch
You may have heard of the "elevator pitch" for raising money from venture capital investors. But have you heard of the "kitchen table pitch"? I use this term to describe how entrepreneurs approach their relatives and friends for startup capital.
Is it possible to start a college business with zero capital?
I don't know about you, but whenever I see a sign that says, "FREE ______!!!" I immediately raise my eyebrow and take a good look at the fine print - there's almost always a catch. The same thought crosses my mind when I read ads in big bold letters, promising business opportunities with zero capital. Let me explain.
Keep It Simple
Find your focus: Fine-tune your business with our ideas for simplifying and streamlining your operations.
Launch For Less
Learn how to pinch your pennies during startup and build a successful business.
Learn how to deliver a masterful Elevator Pitch
You can picture it - you step onto an elevator and standing right there is your dream financier. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Your pulse quickens. Your body temperature rises. You know this is your shot.
Lending Money to Friends
So, you're the big-shot (or medium-shot) college entrepreneur. Your friends notice your success and suddenly... they want to borrow money from you. What do you do?
Look for Lenders that Benefit from Your Success
I have another way for you to get money for your business without borrowing or taking on difficult money partners.
We already talked about getting customers to prepay, but for now, I want to discuss another killer method.
Negotiating Tips for Startups
Many of us do this in everyday life without even thinking about it. Whether it's buying a car, house or negotiating a software contract, effective negotiation is a very good way to improve and protect your bottom line. Negotiating effectively can make or break a startup company that is strapped for cash.
New Ways to Pay
Want to close more sales without doing more work? Give customers more ways to pay with alternative billing methods.
New York Angels
The New York Angels is a group of investors who provide early-stage capital in the range of $250,000 to $750,000. Its members also mentor and coach the entrepreneurs in whom they invest. The website offers information about the group and an online registration process for those interested in applying for funds.
Peer-to-Peer Lending and Entrepreneurship
The growth of peer-to-peer lending, and the participation by entrepreneurs as borrowers, is an observable fact. And the reason why entrepreneurs go to peer-to-peer lenders makes a lot of sense.
Raise all the Money You Need without Borrowing a Dime
I've worked with over 600 different technologies and more than 300 entrepreneurs. Almost all of them who are trying to breathe life into a new business think they have a money problem.
The funny thing is that as I look back on my own ventures and realize that, if anything, my problems stemmed from too much money rather than too little.
Right By Radiohead
The difference between what Radiohead and Apple are doing is that where Radiohead is earning customer loyalty, Apple is spending it.
ROI Basics
Once you understand the basics of the ROI Methodology, the natural chain of impact really begins to make sense.
Send Me an Angel
Angel funding is becoming easier to attain, even if you're an established business.
Shattering the "Passive Income" Myth
Passive Revenue. The words jumped off the website page and hit me like a thunderbolt! I thought I even heard angels singing. It was the golden idol; the Holy Grail. My heart skipped a beat and went ka-ching!
Show Me the Moneymen
A buzzy Web site brings scrutiny to the previously secretive world of VC investing.
Small Biz Tax Planning May Be Complex
Many small business owners meeting with their accountants this month and next may find that year-end tax planning and projections for 2008 are a little more complicated than usual because of the uneasy economy.
Small Business Administration
The Small Business Administration (SBA) was created to to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business concerns. Its website offers a variety of tools, resources, and planning guides for entrepreneurs and small businesses. SBA also offers lender information, loans, and other financial services to small business.
Speaking From Experience
Women navigating the VC process reveal their errors and offer advice for procuring investment dollars.
Startup Business Financing : The Money People
"Dream financiers" - you know who they are - bankers, venture capitalists, those extraordinary high net-worth individuals called "angel investors" who can make your startup business financing happen. Knowing who they are is one thing, but getting to them is another thing all together.
Startups: 'More Bootstrappy This Time'
There are a few hurdles between Landy Ung and her dream of growing her startup into a household name. One is the fact that her only outside funding comes from her mom's fried chicken restaurant, another is that her only full-time programmer is her boyfriend, who has a day job.
Strategies: Some taxing questions
"Internet Tax Ban Extended."
That was the good news for entrepreneurs this week, as Congress passed a seven-year moratorium on Internet taxes. After all, the Internet has been an amazing platform for the creation of small businesses - but anything, including taxes, that might limit the number of people with Web access could hinder small-business growth.
Street Smarts: Proof That Good Entrepreneurs Can Make Bad Investors
It always bothers me when I hear a news broadcast that begins, "In business today..." and proceeds to report on developments in the investment world. In fact, business and investing are by no means the same. Business, to me, involves bringing various resources together to create value. Investing is about using money to make more money by attempting to predict the future value of whatever you happen to invest in. The two endeavors call for very different skills. So it's little wonder that good investors often make bad businesspeople, and good businesspeople are often bad investors.
The Art of Bootstrapping
Someone once told me that the probability of an entrepreneur getting venture capital is the same as getting struck by lightning while standing at the bottom of a swimming pool on a sunny day. This may be too optimistic.
The Right Way to Manage Unprofitable Customers
Some of your customers aren't paying their bills. Others are so high-maintenance that the cost of serving them is eroding your profits. What to do? For many companies, the answer is simple: Show them the door.
Time Bomb
Late-paying customers can put your business in jeopardy. Get organized--and get paid on time.
Time to Go Public
Why aren't more women entrepreneurs cashing in on the benefits of going public?
Tips for Preventing Tax Audits
A tax audit is an experience every sane businessperson strives to avoid. Unfortunately, there's no way to guarantee that the IRS won't pay you an unwelcome visit; the government's exact formula for choosing who is audited remains a well-guarded secret.
Top Ten Myths of Entrepreneurship
Many entrepreneurs believe a bunch of myths about entrepreneurship, so here are ten of the most common and the realities that bust them.
VC's New Math: Does Less = More?
Mr. Thiel, the former CEO of online-payment company PayPal, is making waves in Silicon Valley with an investment strategy that differs significantly from the traditional approach.
Venture Capital Loves Virtual
An army of startups developing tools to enhance our virtual lives attracted $345 million in venture investment in the first half of the year.
Video: V.C. Funding 101
Venture capital is the lifeblood of a start-up company. Paul Holland of Foundation Capital runs through the gauntlet of steps a prospective company typically goes through to get funded, and explains what capital investors are looking for.
What Is Private Equity?
The term "private equity" encompasses a range of techniques used to finance commercial ventures in ways that do not involve the use of publicly tradable assets such as corporate stock or bonds.
What Is Venture Capital?
Betsy Flanagan of Startup Studio interviews venture capitalist David Hornik of August Capital and the creator of VentureBlog.
Why Investors Won't Believe Your Projections
Entrepreneurs frequently complain that business angels and venture capitalists don't take the sales growth projections in their business plans seriously. Rather that discounting those projections by 5, 10, 25, or even 50 percent, investors just ignore them.
Would You Give This Kid $500,000?
Just 19, Jared Kim had no problem finding money for his tiny internet startup. With more venture capital available than ever, even grade-schoolers can get a piece of the action.
Young Entrepreneurs Face Higher Hurdles
Young entrepreneurs are again taking the startup plunge. And why not? It took only 21 months for two twentysomethings to launch and sell YouTube for $1.65 billion.
Zopa
Zopa is the world's first social finance company. Learn a little more about what we're trying to do.
Whitepapers
Budget Your Way to Profits
Every successful business owner understands that a business needs to stand on two legs: the cash flow management leg and the profit management leg. These two legs are equally important to the business. There must always be a strategic balance between these two processes. Ignore one of them and you will risk losing your business.
Do You Have the Money?
It can often take just as long to find the money to fund your business as it does to start the business itself. Unless you have family, friends, or contacts with money, strong professional credentials and contacts, or have tremendous determination, your best shot is to sell yourself into business.
Social Networking Sites: Friendster or Foe?
You're sitting across the conference table from the prospect of a lifetime. Snagging her business would be a major coup for your start-up. You're eager to show her that even though you're fresh out of school, you know your stuff.
