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NDA’s and how they don’t work « Non-Disclosure Agreements (“NDA’s”) are appropriate for certain types of employees and strategic partners, not potential investors like Venture Capital. Why do you need an Non-Disclosure Agreement (“NDA”)? Or, perhaps, more importantly why won’t they work for you? The primary purpose of an NDA is to protect the disclosing company’s valuable trade secrets and ideas, arguably a company’s most valuable resource. A recent discussion with Jay Rein reminded me that people in transitional business bring different perspectives when it comes to certain business tools and methods. Jay is mentoring a duo of young genius entrepreneurs and the use of NDA’s around Venture Capital became a topic. One of the entrepreneurs has a father who happens to be a lawyer possessed of significant repute when it comes to mergers and acquisitions.

Bob Twitchell, our Accelerator Resident Technologist, and the holder of fifty valid patents himself, will tell you: But, they still won’t do it. Let’s be part of the Solution. Untitled. How to Find an Angel Investor. Perfect Your Pitch. If you want to secure venture capital, avoid these 8 mistakes. As a venture capitalist, I'm constantly on the receiving end of pitches from entrepreneurs looking for capital. While there are plenty of different mistakes you can make, these are the ones I see over and over. Not knowing your audience: I invest in early-stage software and internet companies in the U.S. I'm always amazed when someone reaches out to me to invest in a telecom company, a retail products company or a biotech firm.

Do your research and make sure the venture capitalists you target invest in what your company does.Asking the venture capitalist to sign a nondisclosure agreement, or NDA: This is a stupid idea perpetuated by lawyers. Brad Feld has been an early-stage investor and entrepreneur for more than 20 years. He is a co-founder of Foundry Group, an early-stage VC firm. Like this article? The No-Bull-Shiitake Investor Wishlist : The World. ImpactPitch1102FundingPost.pdf (application/pdf Object) SR BP - Research articles - Gamasutra - Features - Writing a Business Plan for Independent Game Ventures. With the average cost for producing a computer game topping $2M per title (that's twice as much as it cost just two years ago on average), how does an independent producer get the money to create that killer game concept? (i) Production costs may be growing exponentially but so are gaming industry revenues. Unit sales of video game and computer entertainment are worth an estimated $5.3 billion in 1997.

(ii) Sales are up almost 60% for the first quarter of 1997 over the same period last year thanks to strong Sega, Nintendo 64 and Playstation sales. (iii) With sales of interactive entertainment software expected to explode to $8 billion by 2000, this seems like an ideal time to attract a finance partner to an independent gaming project. (iv) The unfortunate reality is that even though the industry taps a huge consumer market, most independent gaming projects don't get past the concept phase because they can't get the money they need to start production.

Hit The Books Nail The Executive Summary. SR BP - Research articles - Elements of a Strong Business Plan | General Catalyst Partners. Napkin Think Force yourself to summarize your idea on the back of a cocktail napkin. Don’t submit your plan until you have this level of clarity. Team Who will occupy the leadership roles in your company, why are they the best players for the task at hand, and how will they go about building an agile, customer-focused culture? If you believe that an advisory board or governing board will help you grow your dream team, we may be able to help you find the right people. Pain What problem are you trying to solve? Solution Why is your solution superior to competitors, who are the key competitors, what differentiator will propel your solution to break through and achieve broad adoption? Customer Acquisition Too many early stage businesses fail to fully explain their methods and costs of acquiring customers.

Business Model Show us the near and long-term value of a customer, how you earn revenue, and your growth projections over at least a three-year period. Capital Efficiency Financials Final Answer? Words.