999 Posts Found

Is it better to choose the horse or the jockey?

Content: Article | Source: The Economist | Subject: Entrepreneurship

When the time comes to negotiate a round of funding, entrepreneurs often find themselves at a disadvantage. Much of it has to do with language. There is an array of terms and issues that investors and lawyers work with regularly and understand, but that entrepreneurs deal with only once in a while. It would take many posts to cover all of them, but here is … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Jay Parkhill | Source: FoundRead | Subject: Entrepreneurship

This article by an anonymous writer using the byline “Uncle Saul” lists the vast number business books failings, specifically from the point of view of entrepreneurs.

Editor’s Note: Entrepreneur or not, this is an interesting, and sadly true, read.

Content: Article | Source: socalTECH | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Miscellaneous

Todd Vernon, the CEO of Lijit , gives his thoughts on angel financing, including the types of angel investors, the size of investments, valuation, investment mechanism and liquidity. [Hat tip to Ask the VC]

Content: Article | Author: Todd Vernon | Source: false precision blog | Subject: Entrepreneurship

Search funds allow an aspiring entrepreneur to raise money to fund them while they look for a company to buy. Four experienced entrepreneurs offer firsthand view of search funds. [Video 1hr:14]

Content: Multimedia Content | Source: Stanford University | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Finance

In the wake of World War II, Georges Doriot helped found the world’s first public venture capital firm, American Research and Development. Doriot (1899—1987) was also a professor at Harvard Business School for 40 years. This book excerpt from Creative Capital: Georges Doriot and the Birth of Venture Capital (HBS Press) describes how ARD first came to “marry” investors and innovators.

Content: Article | Author: Spencer E. Ante | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) Working Knowledge | Subjects: History, Venture Capital

Sophisticated VCs are used to having angel investors as early investors in your company. Your life will be made easier if you treat the angel investment as a real investment and document it legally as such.

Content: Article | Author: Brad Feld | Source: Feld Thoughts | Subject: Entrepreneurship

Accounting techniques like budgeting, sales projections and financial reporting are supposed to help prevent business failures by giving managers realistic plans to guide their actions and feedback on their progress. At least that’s the theory. But when Gavin Cassar, a Wharton accounting professor, tested this idea, he found something troubling: Some accounting tools not only fail to help businesspeople, but may actually lead them astray. … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Gavin Cassar | Source: Knowledge@Wharton | Subjects: Accounting, Entrepreneurship, Organizational Behavior

Here are seven tips on how to launch a successful Internet outfit without leaving your desk.

Content: Article | Author: Tony Wright | Source: BusinessWeek | Subject: Entrepreneurship

The vast majority of small businesses stay small – and not by choice. Only the most savvy and persistent – a tiny one tenth of one percent – break through to annual sales above $250 million. In The Breakthrough Company, Keith McFarland pinpoints how everyday companies become extraordinary, showing that luck is a negligible factor. Rather, breakthrough success turns out to be associated with a … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Author: Keith McFarland | Subjects: Best Practices, Entrepreneurship, Management

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.

Content: Multimedia Content | Author: Paul Holland | Source: BNET | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital

Furqan Nazeeri’s Blog On Startups, Venture Capital & Everything In Between. This link takes you directly to a page listing popular posts to help you get a quick overview. Topics include: Raising Capital, On Startups, and Industry Commentary. [Hat Tip to Brad Feld]

Content: Online Resource | Author: Furqan Nazeeri | Subject: Entrepreneurship

Dave Naffziger offers food for thought about startup stock options and when/whether they should be exercises. There are also links to related useful posts (like the difference between ISO and NSO option) and some useful information has been posted in the comments section. [Hat Tip to Ask The VC]

Content: Article | Author: Dave Naffziger | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Finance

“Compensation in startups is one of the tougher topics to manage, in large part because there is very little information on the topic…until recently, that is. The best source of compensation info for startups that I have come across is an annual survey conducted by J. Robert Scott, Ernst & Young and WilmerHale. Professor Noam Wasserman at HBS does the analysis for this … [ Read more ]

Content: Online Resource | Source: CompStudy.com | Subjects: Career, Entrepreneurship, Human Resources

Mark Davis, a member of DFJ Gotham, has written a series of posts on his blog designed to “create the entrepreneur’s manual for raising venture capital.”

Content: Online Resource | Author: Mark Peter Davis | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital

What are your customers thinking? Wouldn’t it be great to identify what they want in a product or service? Business owners understand the value of market research for uncovering customer needs and desires, yet the cost is often prohibitive for companies on a small budget, where research is considered too expensive and time-consuming.

According to author Lloyd Corder, a seasoned marketing research strategist, you can conduct … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Author: Lloyd Corder | Subjects: Market Research, Small Business

Some industries are just better for starting new firms than others. This, of course, means that you need to understand the characteristics of industries that make some of them better for starting firms than others if you want to increase your chances of success. In Finding Fertile Ground, Scott Shane says research has shown that four different dimensions matter: knowledge conditions, demand conditions, industry life … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Subject: Entrepreneurship

An excerpt from the book, Finding Fertile Ground: Identifying Extraordinary Opportunities for New Ventures, by Scott A. Shane.

Content: Related Content | Source: Knowledge@Wharton | Subject: Entrepreneurship

Successful entrepreneurs frequently are not experts in any one thing, but they are capable of being the chief, chef and bottle washer all in one.

Content: Quotation | Author: Charles F. Goetz | Source: Knowledge@Emory | Subject: Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurialism is a way of living life, not a way of managing life. The real entrepreneur has a certain spirit, an elan and an approach to issues that is just different. And that is the key. In a system that demands sameness, the entrepreneur is willing to be different. Only by being different can things be made better. That is the philosophy at the heart … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: 800-CEO-READ (8CR) | Subject: Entrepreneurship