Up and Running

MAY 3, 2012

After all, entrepreneurs can do many good things, not least to create wealth and employment, pay taxes and help the balance of trade through exports. We’re all failing this generation of entrepreneurs by not being tough on them. I work with entrepreneurs and have a pretty good window into their world. Surely we can do better?

Entrepreneur 82

Entrepreneur Technical Review Silicon Valley Lean 82

Steve Blank

APRIL 8, 2010

He and his co-founder were both PhD’s in applied math who believe they can make some serious inroads on next generation search. Why a business plan is different than a business model. Instead of writing a full-fledged business plan, they had focused on building and testing a business model.

Business Model 333

Business Model Business Plan Customer Cap Table 333

Up and Running

DECEMBER 26, 2018

Are you ready to start your business this year? Sometimes it can help to hear from small business founders who were able to breathe life into their business idea and make it go. These four founders shared their success stories with our LivePlan team over the past year. Allison Reitz, founder of Good Elephant.

Small Business 112

Small Business Founder Metrics Forecast 112

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 14, 2011

a group of entrepreneurs from TiE Chennai gathered at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) Research Park campus, and we spent the next four hours discussing strategy and tactics of early-stage entrepreneurship. On Saturday, April 9, 2011, I arrived in Chennai at 3 a.m. after a 24-hour journey from California. At 11 a.m.,

India 126

India Technical Review Entrepreneur Silicon Valley 126

Up and Running

NOVEMBER 20, 2018

This article is part of our Business Startup Guide —a curated list of our articles that will get you up and running in no time! Starting up a business requires a lot of different steps. True, your business aspirations may be on a more modest scale than these world-famous brands. But where to begin?

Sweat Equity 93

Sweat Equity Startup Lean Italy 93

YoungUpstarts

JULY 27, 2020

by Michael Sipe, author of “ The AVADA Principle ” and founder of 10x Catalyst Groups. As the coronavirus pandemic continues, small businesses have reopened across the nation but certainty and optimism are a long way from being restored. We are in the early stages of a depression that’s going to go on quite a while.

Merger 205

Merger Forecast Early Stage Small Business 205

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

Eric Ries in Times Square For any model to be useful it has to predict what happens in the real world – including the web. I realized the Customer Development model needs to be clearer in what exactly a startup is supposed to do, regardless of the business model. “What is the “Business Model” of your startup?&#

Customer Development 228

Customer Development Web Developer Customer 228

Steve Blank

MARCH 5, 2012

One of the confusing things to entrepreneurs, investors and educators is the relationship between customer development and business model design and business planning and execution. When does a new venture focus on customer development and business models ? Here’s an attempt to put this all in context.

Search 327

Search Business Model Customer Development Agile 327

Up and Running

MARCH 11, 2015

This is the home of Jason Cohen, software startup founder, bootstrapper, investor, and mentor. Jason does an excellent job explaining the math behind more complex subscription forecasting, but also touches on topics like marketing and company culture. As co-founder of Y Combinator and co-founder of the Viaweb which sold to Yahoo!

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Technical Review Silicon Valley Cofounder 60

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 17, 2014

Yet you might be surprised how easily business owners are stumped by questions like these. That’s why we asked nine members from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) what metrics all founders should be aware of — always. After all, a sustainable business model requires repeat customers! Cash on Hand.

Metrics 146

Metrics Burn Rate Entrepreneur Forecast 146

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2013

Many entrepreneurs actually refuse to do financial projections beyond the first year, insisting that no one can predict the future. They need to realize that investors ask for projections, not merely as predictions, but more as commitments from the founder and his team. This forecast is really their commitment.

Forecast 238

Forecast Business Plan Burn Rate .Net 238

Up and Running

MAY 28, 2015

We recently had Tim Berry, Palo Alto Software founder and business planning expert, present our Bplans audience with his latest advice on lean business planning. That’s the sales forecast, the spending forecast and the cash flow. That’s a lean business plan. It is not a document.

Lean 60

Lean Business Plan Video Software Review 60

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2016

Entrepreneurs who are looking to attract investors need to develop and pitch a plan -- preferably written -- that answers every potential investor question about your startup before it is asked. How does your business model make money? Quantify founder investments, both cash and sweat-equity.

Sweat Equity 120

Sweat Equity Advisory Board Liquidity Event Startup 120

Gust

JANUARY 4, 2012

Many thanks to David Rose , Ilana Grossman , Justin Stanwix , and the whole Gust team for making the Gust Blog such a valuable platform and resource for entrepreneurs and angel investors. Financial, technical and operational plans and forecasts of all kinds (trade secret).

Intellectual Property 143

Intellectual Property IP Startup United States 143

YoungUpstarts

MAY 26, 2017

by Edmund Buckley , co-founder & CEO of CampusSafe. Your pitch deck is the most important assets your business will have, arguably more than the business plan itself. Use a Bottom-Up Model. A common mistake is using a top-down model to forecast financials. Slide 3: Introduce your business model.

Cofounder 185

Cofounder Silicon Valley Forecast Business Plan 185

Up and Running

NOVEMBER 10, 2015

At Palo Alto Software, I am surrounded by entrepreneurs. Our LivePlan customers are entrepreneurs, our founder and staff have run and sold companies, the Bplans readers are aspiring entrepreneurs (or actual entrepreneurs), and as I sell my own handmade jewelry, I like to think I have a very small claim to the title.

Curation 60

Curation Lean Software Review Finder 60

genylabs.typepad.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Small Business Labs. Tracking and Forecasting the Trends Impacting the Future of Small Business. Welcome to Small Business Labs. Small Business Labs, from Emergent Research , covers the key social, technology and business trends impacting small business. Defining Small Business Innovation.

Equity 40

Equity Technical Review San Jose Stock 40

ReadWriteStart

AUGUST 30, 2022

Every aspiring entrepreneur who wants to launch their business and get funding needs to know how to package and present a company to a potential audience and investors. To get funding and successfully launch your business, you need to know what it takes to create an attractive presentation for potential investors.

Software Review 183

Software Review Technical Review Cofounder United States 183

The Next Web

FEBRUARY 7, 2014

Ilya Pozin is the founder of Open Me and Ciplex. Most entrepreneurs think it can’t happen to them, but in fact recent research from Harvard Business School lecturer Shikhar Ghosh finds approximately 75 percent of all startups go under. Yet these financial systems are actually set up to disadvantage entrepreneurs.

Forecast 136

Forecast Startup Metrics Agile 136

NZ Entrepreneur

OCTOBER 10, 2019

Early stage business investors such as angel investors or venture capital companies are generally only interested in companies with great potential for success and a high return on investment. Be aware that if pitching to these types of investors that your business model needs to be scalable and needs to address a promising market size.

Business Plan 51

Business Plan Forecast Venture Capital Angel Investor 51

VC Cafe

NOVEMBER 2, 2019

Forecasting is sometimes done by dragging the mouse based on many assumptions, because it’s hard to predict the future. One question that keeps coming up when speaking with early stage entrepreneurs when it comes to funding, is what metrics the company needs to hit to raise seed/series A/B etc: What’s a good conversion rate?

B2C 141

B2C Technical Review Startup Retention 141

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 30, 2008

So what does CTO mean, besides just "technical founder who really cant manage anyone?" Ive forecasted the issues you have spoken of without entertaining the thoughts of solutions like you have. However, they insisted on using a platform that totally contradicted their business model. This is more than just an "I think so."

CTO 168

CTO Fractional CTO CTO Hire Technical Review 168

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

The company has just missed its quarterly revenue forecast. As you rightly pointed out, though most of us as entrepreneurs are aware of these concepts, we don't dig deep, drill down and present the numbers / issues / solutions to the board and / or investors. Good board members want to know two things: Why that happened?

Metrics 55

Metrics Design Entrepreneur Startup 55

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

To give you a better idea of what entrepreneurs in this industry are thinking about during each phase of the startup process, I interviewed SaaS entrepreneurs from all over the world, including our own COO Noah Parsons. The one-page pitch format is also more suitable for SaaS businesses that are constantly testing new ideas.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

Tim Keane

JANUARY 12, 2010

Please see later version of this post on May 16, 2010 Entrepreneurs are often not experts in the area of term-sheet negotiations and all of the surrounding issues.   Investors sometimes “present” the terms they’d like and expect the entrepreneurs to react. Term-sheets and Valuations: Thinking about Negotiations.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 5, 2009

When the project winds up getting cancelled for failing to meet its ROI justification, it’s natural for the entrepreneur to feel like it was the CFO – and their innovation-sucking spreadsheet – that is the real cause. Just because entrepreneurs tend to forget about these models doesn’t mean their investors do.

San Francisco 102

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Startup 102

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 2, 2018

Founders who avoid the use of the term “profit” had better have deep pockets of their own. Without profit, there is no longevity to any business, so I’m always surprised when sincere young entrepreneurs avoid using the term, as if “profit” is a bad word. A lone entrepreneur rarely have this range of talents.

Intellectual Property 48

Intellectual Property Initial Public Offering Merger Acquisition 48

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 9, 2012

Many entrepreneurs actually refuse to do financial projections beyond the first year, insisting that no one can predict the future. They need to realize that investors ask for projections, not merely as predictions, but more as commitments from the founder and his team. This forecast is really their commitment.

Forecast 238

Forecast Burn Rate .Net Business Model 238

Up and Running

MARCH 2, 2015

A street view in Bali, Indonesia, where the founders of Indosole were inspired to start their social enterprise. Social enterprises are an innovative way for entrepreneurs to build their own business and make a change in society, too. Getting a social business off the ground has never been easier. Photo via: Iryna Rasko.

Indonesia 60

Indonesia Cofounder Forecast Government 60

Up and Running

JULY 26, 2013

In a recent webinar, serial entrepreneur Caroline Cummings answered some commonly-asked questions on how to pitch and get funding. A: Just focus on the market need, your business model, your team, what you’ve accomplished to date that is relevant to the investment, and your funding needs.

Elevator Pitch 79

Elevator Pitch Angel Investor Term Sheet Business Model 79

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 22, 2011

Many entrepreneurs actually refuse to do financial projections beyond the first year, insisting that no one can predict the future. They need to realize that investors ask for projections, not merely as predictions, but more as commitments from the founder and his team. This forecast is really their commitment.

Forecast 230

Forecast Burn Rate Startup .Net 230

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 29, 2011

Most entrepreneurs think that risk is just an “occupational hazard” that can be minimized or eliminated by a smart businessman. Implement a new business model. Software as a service (SaaS) has now pretty much replaced the old licensing model, but offering it was a strategic risk for SalesForce.com.

Founder 245

Founder Forecast Startup Viral 245

VC Cafe

MARCH 4, 2024

credit rating forecast dropped in November, and since then the S&P 500 index has jumped by 15%. With NVIDIA’s Israel-1 AI supercomputer, a broad range of innovative companies in Israel will create AI that can transform the productivity and business models of enterprises around the world.”

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Cofounder Venture Capital 78

Seeing Both Sides

AUGUST 3, 2012

Facebook and Google would be obvious choices for this, but so much has been written about each of them and they represent such special business models, I worried that it would be both hard for entrepreneurs to relate and hard for me to develop new insights. In 2012, analysts forecast the company will achieve nearly $1.5

Distribution 49

Distribution Lean Massachusetts Cofounder 49

The Next Web

AUGUST 19, 2013

Mikita Mikado is a software engineer and entrepreneur from Belarus, now based in San Francisco. He is the co-­founder and CEO of Quote Roller and PandaDoc. His passions are business process automation, surfing, and his new baby girl Maya. ?. Sales are the bloodstream for most businesses, and tech startups are no exception.

Belarus 137

Belarus Viral Channel Startup 137

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 3, 2015

The challenge of innovating inside a big company was the focus of discussion with the two latest guests on Entrepreneurs are Everywhere , my radio show on SiriusXM Channel 111. David Binetti , a serial entrepreneur who owns Dinadesa, which helps organizations innovate faster. (And Andrew Breen. If you can’t hear the clip, click here.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Cofounder San Francisco Business Model 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 25, 2010

Many entrepreneurs actually refuse to do financial projections beyond the first year, insisting that no one can predict the future. They need to realize that investors ask for projections, not merely as predictions, but more as commitments from the founder and his team. This forecast is really their commitment.

Forecast 151

Forecast Startup Burn Rate .Net 151