How to Speak the Language of Venture Capital Skip Advertisement This ad will close in 15 seconds... Young Entrepreneurs Today's Most Read 9 Proven Ways to Get People to Take You Seriously 4 Intangibles That Drive CEOs What It Takes to Go From Dead Broke to 6 Figures in 6 Months The Mentality of a Successful Career 4 Big Challenges That Startups Face These Siblings Are Cooking Up America's First Meatless Butcher Shop Kim Lachance Shandrow 3 min read News and Articles About Young Entrepreneurs Failure 6 Stories of Super Successes Who Overcame Failure They're perfect examples of why failure should never stop you from following your vision. Jayson DeMers Podcasts Top 25 Business Podcasts for Entrepreneurs Podcasts are as easy to use as old-school radio but as specialized as blogs. Murray Newlands Entrepreneurship Programs Saxbys and Drexel Team Up to Promote Entrepreneurship Saxby's founder Nick Bayer talks about the one-of-a-kind program and why he wishes there was one for himself years ago. Carly Okyle Presented by Young Entrepreneurs Laura Entis Fear
The Four Main Things that Investors Look for in a Startup I obviously don’t speak for all investors. But in my experience as an entrepreneur and now spending my time amongst investors I can generalize that almost all VC investments in early stage technology & Internet investments come down to just four key factors. And they’re easy to remember because they all begin with an M: management, market, money and above all else momentum. This post was prompted by an email exchange I had with a young entrepreneur. It’s a conversation that creeps up from time-to-time. So I wrote to the entrepreneur and said, “Congrats. I do understand. I understand. Not everybody agrees that entrepreneurs should take investor meetings outside of “funding season” when they’re raising capital. But if you identify investors with whom you’d like to work here’s my advice: 1. Imagine the “typical” deal – somebody comes into a VC’s office, they’ve never met, they’re highly referred by a friend and they’re pitching a product demo and a PPT. 2. 3. 4. BUT WAIT?
Five big things to watch out for in 2012 We’re mere weeks from the dawn of a new year, and yes, it is definitely the time to be thinking about what kind of amazing new things are going to happen in tech over the next 365 days. Digital design agency Fjord got out its crystal ball and let us have an early preview of its annual rundown of what it sees as the breakout themes in tech next year. What they see is that a lot of what’s to come is going to be a continuation of trends or ideas that have started to gather steam in 2011. Fjord is headquartered in London (it’s the team behind BBC iPlayer’s mobile app and Flickr’s Windows Phone 7 app, to name a few). We’ve cherry-picked the list a bit to bring you a quick rundown of a few of next year’s next big things to watch out for, courtesy of Fjord, and what they mean for startups and entrepreneurs: Consumer apps capitalize on the corporate market Many companies have been dealing for years now with employees wanting to bring their own smartphones and tablets to work. Banking 2.0
Consejos para hacer un 'elevator pitch' | Hay un gurú en mi sopa | Blogs Por definición, el 'elevator pitch' es la presentación de tu negocio o empresa a un potencial inversor en breves minutos . La idea surge a partir de un escenario hipotético: cómo vender tu proyecto a un posible inversor si te lo encuentras en un ascensor. Debes ser directo, concreto, trasmitir pasión y lograr hacerlo en menos de 3 minutos . Vivimos en una sociedad inmediata. Los 'elevator pitch' no son solo importantes para poder captar inversión. Por ese motivo resulta extremadamente importante tener un discurso de 'elevator pitch' bien estructurado y aprendido para poder captar la atención de tu interlocutor en unos pocos minutos. Éstos son algunos consejos para poder estructurar un buen 'elevator pitch': ― Ensáyalo . ― Responde a las preguntas más obvias de entrada. 1) Quién eres y qué experiencia tienes; 2) Qué haces; 3) Qué necesitas para tener éxito; 4) Qué mercado y qué posibles salidas hay, tanto para ti como para un potencial inversor. ― El objetivo. ― Cifras. ― Sé muy breve.
Notes on the acquisition process Ten years ago, startup financing was an insider’s game. Since then, the topic has been widely discussed on blogs, to the great benefit of entrepreneurs. Comparatively little, however, has been written about the important transaction at the other end many startups’ life, acquisitions. – There is an old saying that startups are bought not sold. – Don’t use a banker unless your company is late stage and you are selling based on a multiple of profits or revenues. – Research the potential acquirer before the first meeting. – Develop relationships with key people – corp dev, management, product and business unit leads. – Don’t try to be cute. – What you tell employees is particularly tricky. – Understand the process and what each milestone along the way means. – Strike while the iron is hot. – There are two schools of thought on price negotiation: anchor early or wait until you’ve gotten strong interest. – Certain terms beyond price can be deal killers.
6 Steps to the Perfect Pitch - Pitching your business Learn to succeed with investors--from a guy who failed. Shortly after my college graduation, a few friends and I started a new media company. Within a few weeks we fleshed out the concept, wrote a business plan and set out to seek financing. With a little hustle, I managed to get us a meeting with a well-known investment firm to discuss the opportunity. Even though our business had yet to bring in a single dollar, and none of us had ever been the CEO of coffee shop let alone a multi-million dollar enterprise, we were all confident that we had a sure thing on our hands. We'd be rich. I remember thinking, "How hard could it be?" There was one small problem with our plan. Nothing that I read online could have prepared me for what was to come. At the beginning of the meeting one of the investors asked me to hand him a one-page executive summary review. Less than four slides into my 32-slide presentation, the second investor interrupted me and said, "OK. "Really? Less is always more.
5 Steps to a Successful Start-up | Inc. 5000 We're always on the lookout for entrepreneurs who get it--the leaders who are modeling what it takes to launch a successful start-up. We found a great example recently in David Klein, CEO of CommonBond, a start-up aiming to help M.B.A. students with education funding. David and his co-founders, Michael Taormina and Jessup Shean, are M.B.A. students at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and are part of Wharton's Venture Initiation Program, a highly selective start-up incubator that helps Wharton entrepreneurs. CommonBond is filling a void in the student lending space by raising capital from individual investors (sometimes referred to as "crowdfunding") and providing loans to M.B.A. students, who have lower loan default rates than the broader student loan population. In addition, CommonBond has promised to fund a year's education of a student in the developing world for each M.B.A. degree. 1. 2. So many entrepreneurs think they need to invent the Next Big Thing. 3. 4. 5.
7 Frugal Startup Tips from Millionaire Entrepreneurs You don't win in business by wasting money. Even the most successful entrepreneurs pinched pennies in the early days--and many still do. Here, several multimillionaires share their best cost-cutting tips when you're trying to get your startup off the ground. 1. Related: Three Things to Know About Business Credit Cards 2. 3. Related: Five Tips for Saving Money on Shipping 4. Related: How Small Shops Economize by Sharing Space 5. 6. Related: 10 Free Online Resources for Business Tech 7. Gwen Moran is a freelance writer and co-author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Business Plans (Alpha, 2010).
MILESTONE-BASED THINKING - a Roadmap for Setting Goals and Achieving Success The traditional Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) used by many companies is activity- or task-driven. With variations across methodologies, the traditional life cycle typically consists of the distinct phases shown in the following list: Definition; Analysis; Design; Construction; Test; Transition and Migration; Production. The term "phase" implies that each set of tasks must be completed before the next phase can begin. Typically, different teams handle each phase in the life cycle, and each phase must be heavily documented to allow for a different team to pick up the next phase. As a result, decisions freeze early and flexibility is minimized. While this model provides a useful way to categorize the types of tasks that occur throughout the development life cycle, it does not recognize or leverage the characteristics of component-based enterprise development.