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Summary notes, as always, provide below. He was a life-long entrepreneur and the first business he created out of college (actually, he founded it while he was at Caltech) was a company that manufactured high quality audio speakers. Too many entrepreneurs focus on dilution. It was a pleasure to write them myself.
Few investors these days have the time or patience to read a full business plan, so a better way to catch their eye is with a tightly written and well formatted two-page executive summary. I see too many executive summaries that are simply heavy-duty customer pitches, or lightweight visions of the future.
Know your market and competition, or don’t spend a dime on anything else. In 1994, (I know a long time ago), I invested over a million dollars into a company whose entrepreneurs had a vision that I bought into for many reasons, not the least of which was that I had industry experience and understood the need.
Most sophisticated investors ignore them, focusing their attention on an entrepreneur's pitch and presentation materials, financial forecast and executive summary. As noted in Entrepreneurs Shouldn't Pitch Their Ideas To Venture Capitalists , most sophisticated investors place their bets on people rather than opportunities.
Often I see executive summaries from entrepreneurs who have never managed any form of business, or even managed employees in their past life, and who don’t know the first thing about business formation and managing for growth. I used to tell them to find a partner with knowledge in business creation and management.
Modern investors love to first read a two-page summary of your business plan, formatted like a glossy marketing collateral sheet, with text well laid out in columns and sidebars, and a couple of relevant graphics. You may have already found several articles, web pages, or books about writing the perfect executive summary.
Modern investors love to first read a two-page summary of your business plan, formatted like a glossy marketing collateral sheet, with text well laid out in columns and sidebars, and a couple of relevant graphics. You may have already found several articles, web pages, or books about writing the perfect executive summary.
Know your market and competition, or don’t spend a dime on anything else. I have stated previously that I love absolutes – statements with no wiggle room for gray-area responses. Surprisingly, many entrepreneurs immediately respond. There is no competition.” Oh, how I wish I had taken my own advice.
Paige is a gifted communicator and my summary does not do him justice. He offers a number of worthwhile tips and tricks that I was not able to capture in the textual summary, so the 14-minute audio file is well worth your time. What follows is a summary which paraphrases Paige’s responses. Click here to listen to the Audio File.
Most technical entrepreneurs I know demand the discipline of a product specification or plan, and then assume that their great product will drive a great business. Serious investors, on the other hand, look for a professional business plan or summary first, and hardly ever look at the product plan.
Each week he brought in passionate and successful entrepreneurs to speak to his students and give advice about the different facets of creating a startup. From that point forward, the team felt a responsibility to not only win the competition but to do so by carrying out the entrepreneurial desire instilled in them by John Greathouse.
Being very visible in the startup community, I still get an amazing number of badly written emails, rambling executive summaries, and business plans with one paragraph per chapter. In the competitive realm of business, you only get one chance to make a great first impression. You can’t afford that competitive disadvantage.
As an entrepreneur I never really knew what to make of VC return data. In short, the VC industry is very sharp-elbowed amongst some very competitive people who are used to winning and most deals don’t have enough space to share investment rounds so people were naturally pretty quick to judge A16Z. Do they win competitive deals?
For true entrepreneurs, risk is viewed as a positive, with its implied challenge to overcome the unknown and hitting the big return. One way to learn is to understand better how successful entrepreneurs approach risk, and look at actual strategies they use for success. This is the origin of the “first movers” competitive advantage.
He is regarded by many as the number-one authority on virtual staffing and personal outsourcing, and is himself a successful entrepreneur based in the Philippines. I was impressed with his summary of the top ten outsourcing mistakes made by entrepreneurs, followed by real guidance on how they can and should be avoided.
Watch the 30-minute interview to hear why but summary notes below. We talked about how business school historically hasn’t positioned entrepreneurs well for success. I wrote about that before in a post about “ whether MBAs are necessary for entrepreneurs. ” Who else does Clayton pray for?
I’ve written about the topic of convertible debt at length before specifically about how angels & entrepreneurs should think about pricing. Clearly this is is a trend and a topic that is interesting entrepreneurs. In fact, in some ways can be worse for the entrepreneur. a priced/valued preferred stock financing)?
Due to competitive markets we ended up with a pretty good term sheet until we needed to raise money in April 2001 and then we got completely screwed. And for some strange reason entrepreneurs didn’t share this information. I’ve started from day one trying to build total transparency into my process with entrepreneurs.
Other writers, like Guy Kawasaki, have irreverently called some of these “entrepreneur lies,” but I prefer to think of them as innocent over-enthusiasm or over-confidence that can kill your deal. It always amazes me how an entrepreneur can define his market opportunity so broadly, then assess his competition so narrowly in the next breath.
Being very visible in the startup community, I still get an amazing number of badly written emails, rambling executive summaries, and business plans with one paragraph per chapter. In the competitive realm of business, you only get one chance to make a great first impression. You can’t afford that competitive disadvantage.
Most technical entrepreneurs I know demand the discipline of a product specification or plan, and then assume that their great product will drive a great business. Serious investors, on the other hand, look for a professional business plan or summary first, and hardly ever look at the product plan. Marty Zwilling.
The starting point of product IS marketing, which is what a lot of young entrepreneurs that never studied business don’t realize. Link has a summary of his argument plus a great video). So they’ll have to look for other competitive advantages for distribution. Everything we were taught pre-Internet is still relevant.
He is the CEO of Hunch , company that I believe is solving a very big problem that I have been telling entrepreneurs needs to be solved for the past 2 years. I think you’ll really enjoy this video , but as always I have summary notes for those with less time. If you haven’t checked that out you really should. West Coast”).
Modern investors love to first read a two-page summary of your business plan, formatted like a glossy marketing collateral sheet, with text well laid out in columns and sidebars, and a couple of relevant graphics. You may have already found several articles, web pages, or books about writing the perfect executive summary.
It’s a jungle fight for survival out there for aspiring entrepreneurs of all ages and demographics. Every startup needs a sustainable competitive advantage. With no competitive advantage, startups with new ideas gaining traction are never feared, and are usually eaten for lunch as sleeping giants wake up. Marty Zwilling.
Unfocused entrepreneurs boast that their new technology will generate multiple disruptive products for consumers as well as enterprises around the world. Investors hear this as trying to do too many things with limited resources, meaning the startup will not shine at anything, and will not survive the competition. Marty Zwilling.
Many new entrepreneurs are so excited by their latest idea that they can’t resist contacting every investor they know, assuming the investor will be equally excited and want to contribute immediately. As a new entrepreneur approaching an investor, you only get one chance for a great first impression. Marty Zwilling.
The popular view of a real entrepreneur is someone with a big vision, and a stubborn determination to charge straight ahead through any obstacle and make it happen. His new book on this subject, “ The Lean Startup ,” lays out how today's entrepreneurs use continuous innovation to create radically successful businesses.
As an advisor to new hardware entrepreneurs, I often hear the myth that a business plan is no longer required to find an investor, if your idea is good enough. What you don’t realize is these famous investors only deal with entrepreneurs who sold their last company for a $100M dollars or more. and trademarks.
I was saying that I was happy it was all out in the open because I felt at least everybody could now understand the issues & opportunities from the perspectives of angels, entrepreneurs and VCs. Jody didn’t exactly have an easy time fund raising because he’s not one of the prototypical Silicon Valley funded entrepreneurs.
Know your market and competition, or don’t spend a dime on anything else. In this case, the competition was not from a company but from a new technology. When I listen to a pitch from an enthusiastic entrepreneur or read the summary of a business plan, one of the first questions I ask is about the strength of the competition.
Many entrepreneurs still don’t understand that building a business culture today of doing good, like helping people (society) and planet (sustainability), is also a key to maximizing profit. Companies can use this strategy to improve their profitability and competitive advantage. Doing good opens the door to a broader customer base.
He is regarded by many as the number-one authority on virtual staffing and personal outsourcing, and is himself a successful entrepreneur based in the Philippines. I was impressed with his summary of the top ten outsourcing mistakes made by entrepreneurs, followed by real guidance on how they can and should be avoided.
I wrote the summary notes in this blog post. I talked about this in the TWiVC video but I didn’t do a good enough job of writing it up in the summary notes in the post. And when you finish the demo you can bring in the other important components such as competition, team, customer acquisition strategy, etc. Mobile app?
The solution is to establish and maintain a culture and processes that don’t view change as a discrete event to be spotted and managed, but as an ongoing opportunity to improve competitiveness. In summary, change will happen. business change rate comfort zone entrepreneur startup' Marty Zwilling.
Bloom is a widely known expert on managing business growth, and he starts by summarizing the three key weapons of current customers, which include an instant summary of choices, prices, and features. As an entrepreneur and startup, you should love this environment and cater to it. buying moments customer entrepreneur Robert H.
By definition, all of you entrepreneurs are leaders, by taking the initiative to start a new company. Most investors will readily admit that they invest in entrepreneur leadership, more so than innovative ideas, but they often find it difficult to separate aspiring leaders from those that are clearly extraordinary.
Or read the quick, informative summary below the image! Here’s a summary of our interview. o Put a timeframe/money – competition in the picture. On Entrepreneurship: What makes a great entrepreneur? Matt is one of the most transparent, focused & honest startup guys you’ll meet. combination of factors –.
The VC market has right-sized (returned back to mid 90′s levels & less competition). Public-company tech investors creates competition in late-stage financings and these investors can afford to be less price sensitive if they choose. Summary: Cheap, mobile, social, global, always-on, one-click-purchase =.
Many questioned whether it could survive under the fail whale, inevitable competition from Facebook, founder fighting, fights with 3rd-party developers let alone become a revolutionary business that could make money. He simply is inspirational as an entrepreneur, an inventor and as somebody who wants to make a difference in the world.
He is regarded by many as the number-one authority on virtual staffing and personal outsourcing, and is himself a successful entrepreneur based in the Philippines. I was impressed with his summary of the top ten outsourcing mistakes made by entrepreneurs, followed by real guidance on how they can and should be avoided.
What follows is a summary which paraphrases Clark’s responses. Do you see crowd-ranked lists as ultimately competitive or complimentary to traditional and curated search? How would you describe your relationship with your investors and what can young entrepreneurs learn from your philosophy? “I free weekly Infochachkie articles!
” I mention journalists here because they perpetuate the myth that focusing on profits is ALWAYS the right answer and then I hear many entrepreneurs (and certainly many “normals”) repeating the same mantra. Exec Summary: Most companies (98+%) in the world (even tech startups) should be very profit focused.
Being very visible in the startup community, I still get an amazing number of badly written emails, rambling executive summaries, and business plans with one paragraph per chapter. In the competitive realm of business, you only get one chance to make a great first impression. You can’t afford that competitive disadvantage.
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