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The Resource Center has all the info you'll need From content to user feedback, the resource center has the information you need for every level of the entrepreneurial process.
Everything a computer person needs to learn for her business, she can get from her mentors--when they become members of her advisory board. First they provide expertise in sales, marketing, management and money matters. Then, morphing into a board of directors, they keep her on budget, on time and focused on her exit strategy. But perhaps their best lesson is that learning should be passed along to others.
Entrepreneurs must identify ways to exit a business at the onset, which enables efforts to be directed to a goal, writes the builder of two companies. The author, now a venture capitalist, outlines four steps for doing so.
On-the-job training helped a former retailer with a passion for metals learn enough to start her own company. Family support, mentoring and ambitious networking help her niche business deal with the giants of the aerospace industry. Now she's focusing on becoming a big enough player to provide opportunities for others.
A media entrepreneur advises joining and utilizing peer-to-peer groups that are selective to build the human capital that enables the building of companies.
With the market for early-stage capital beginning to bounce back, I'm once again fielding calls from entrepreneurs wanting to know how much of their company to give away to investors to raise the money they need to launch their businesses or take them to the next level.
Unfortunately, there's no easy answer to this question. An established business with sales, profits and cash flow may sell for five to 10 times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. But it's a lot harder to put a price tag on an early-stage venture that consists of a business plan, a web site and the founder's hopes and dreams. As a result, negotiations between start-ups and prospective investors often turn into angry arm-wrestling matches that end with both sides walking away empty-handed.
Caroline Mak and her boyfriend Antonio Ramos loved the taste of ginger, but didn't like the sugary-sweet taste of ginger ales and ginger beers on the market. They weren't spicy enough, nor were they adequately tangy.
Startup CEOs wear many hats. None, perhaps, is more important than that of "company pitchman."
Approximately 80% of all U.S. firms with employees have less than $1 million in sales, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
Baseball legend "Shoeless" Joe Jackson said "If you build it, he will come" -- a quote made famous by the Kevin Cosner movie Field of Dreams. A lot of companies take this approach when it comes to public relations.
How should a government promote entrepreneurship? This column argues that providing support programs for targeted sectors or companies is akin to "picking winners ex ante." A far better approach is to encourage competition in the financial sector that facilitates experimentation in the real economy. Governments should forget about picking winners and focus on picking the right system.
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