Business Plan Blog

DECEMBER 12, 2013

Angel Investors vs. Angel Groups. What is an angel investor? It is a high net-worth individual who invests his or her own money directly into promising startup businesses in return for mostly equity share of the company. About 225,000 people have made an angel investment in the last two years.

Angel Groups 40

Angel Groups Angel Investor Software Review Accredited Investor 40

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. It’s all about making your business life easier, doing what works best, getting the best results by tracking what works and always improving.

Lean 60

Lean Business Plan Video Software Review 60

Up and Running

MAY 21, 2020

For example, in a retail store, the list might include writing an initial business plan, choosing a location, fix-up and fixtures, signage, initial stock, staffing, and marketing your launch. And look as well for articles on business loans , angel investors , and friends and family funding. . Still there?

Lean 186

Lean Business Plan Software Review Angel Investor 186

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 17, 2020

Many companies seek angel investors, venture capital and even family and friends’ money when they’re planning to start a company. Realistically, how much should a new business owner plan to have on hand before opening his or her doors? Financial intelligence is important to anyone starting a company.

Finance 217

Finance Forecast Balance Sheet Angel Investor 217

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 2, 2023

Angel investors and venture capitalists are looking for startups with real products and a proven business model, ready to scale. Yet I still get too many business plans that clearly are looking for money to do research and development (R&D) on a new and unproven technology.

Angel Investor 256

Angel Investor Early Stage Incubator Government 256

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 20, 2016

Thus the top priority of every entrepreneur who wants funding should be to build and highlight their “dream team” of co-founders, executives and advisers, to attract the biggest and best investors. Solo entrepreneurs rarely find an investor. Business credentials and functional coverage. Focus on prior results, not titles.

Sweat Equity 152

Sweat Equity Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Software Review 152

Up and Running

OCTOBER 28, 2022

Securing investment dollars is often the number one priority for entrepreneurs when starting a business. Many will seek outside support—angel investors, personal investors, venture capitalists, and peer-to-peer lenders generally top the list. Few people have deep enough pockets to fund a business beyond launch.

Cost 138

Cost Startup Early Stage Vesting 138

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 16, 2018

The market is changing so fast these days, and if you are not planning a solution today for tomorrow’s customers, you may be setting yourself up for failure and don’t even realize it. There are always new competitors who are planning their arrival tomorrow.

Customer 144

Customer Advisory Board Technical Review Angel Investor 144

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 1, 2020

In very few specific cases, depending on the nature of the business, the business model might demand a considerable gestation period or extensive research and development. For these businesses, it is imperative to get funding from the start without which the company cannot be set up. Equity investors.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2021

Angel investors and venture capitalists are looking for startups with real products and a proven business model, ready to scale. Yet I still get too many business plans that clearly are looking for money to do research and development (R&D) on a new and unproven technology.

Early Stage 412

Early Stage Angel Investor Incubator Government 412

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 16, 2010

Mike Wolf is a mentor of mine, and a role model for many technology entrepreneurs and investors in the Phoenix, Arizona, area. He is a 26-year software veteran who has survived both startups and big companies. At Capex, the company was in a post startup phase, but growing rapidly in the independent system software marketplace.

Angel Investor 211

Angel Investor Arizona Entrepreneur Phoenix 211

Gust

APRIL 27, 2014

Software Development Process via Wikipedia. Even when your startup is a one-man show and lots of fun, a “business” needs some discipline and controls to keep it from being defined as a hobby by investors, and assure some financial return. Develop your business plan. Funding process. Manage human resources.

Startup 187

Startup Institutional Investors Angel Investor Bootstrapping 187

Gust

JUNE 19, 2012

Tim Berry , Founder, Palo Alto Software. The 10 Best Sources of Cash to Start Your Business. Money to build the business is the number one challenge for most startups. Don’t believe the urban myth that you can sketch your idea on a napkin, and professional investors will throw money at you. June 19th, 2012. I like that.

Startup 180

Startup Forecast Angel Investor Software 180

Up and Running

DECEMBER 18, 2013

They have a stringent screening process with many requirements for approval—an experienced management team, a sizeable market, a business plan complete with financial projections, and satisfaction of their due diligence process—but the payoff is in the potential of hundreds of thousands of dollars of funding.

Kenya 119

Kenya Angel Investor Technical Review Software Review 119

Up and Running

AUGUST 30, 2021

Angel investors, venture capital firms, accelerators, and (maybe) the newer equity crowdfunding will look to see if you have previous experience in startups. Go lean with your planning. Finally, in startup culture, few care about your 40-page business plan they made you create in business school.

Entrepreneur 132

Entrepreneur Lean Colorado Engineer 132

Up and Running

APRIL 27, 2020

When you’re just starting out, this can help minimize overhead such as office rent and software, as well as one-off starting purchases such as laptops, printers, etc. We have plenty of free business planning resources available to help get you started, or if you’re looking for something a bit more robust you can always check out LivePlan.

Software Review 113

Software Review Lean Forecast Business Plan 113

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 29, 2022

Just be sure that you have a backup plan if your business idea fails to gain traction. This could be something simple like being prepared to seek out short-term employment or reexamining your business structure and trying again. Prepare a business plan. Recommended Reading: How to Write a Business Plan in 7 Steps.

Forecast 154

Forecast Software Review Bootstrapping Finance 154

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

It’s interesting that the question is pitch deck’s being obsolete versus business plans being obsolete. So very few investors want Business Plans any more. If you are outside internet software we are not going to invest. So I was an Angel investor from 1994 to 1996. we are not going to invest.

Technical Review 288

Technical Review Venture Capital Silicon Valley Software Review 288

crowdSPRING Blog

FEBRUARY 14, 2019

Here’s an 11 step complete guide on how to start a business. Write a business plan. Decide your legal business structure. Purchase business insurance. Create a sales plan. Find partners or investors. Write a business plan. The plan does not need to be lengthy at first.

Angel Investor 85

Angel Investor Small Business Business Plan Intellectual Property 85

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

And keep in mind, as you read that, that venture capital demands everything that angel investors do, and more. Here are my 10 tips (oh, and by the way, I did raise venture capital for Palo Alto Software at one point, and I’ve been a consultant to venture capital for 35 years). Are you still with me? Not any more.

Software Review 124

Software Review Due Diligence Venture Capital Elevator Pitch 124

Up and Running

JULY 23, 2014

The exit strategy isn’t about you, it’s about your investors. Startups looking for angel investors or venture capital (VC) absolutely need an exit strategy because investors require it. The company brings in money and the investors get money out. The exit is what gives them a return.

Exit Strategy 131

Exit Strategy Software Review Angel Investor Startup 131

Gust

FEBRUARY 22, 2014

When people would ask a similar question back then about the difficulty of software development, my usual response was “anyone can write a TAP program over a weekend that will work with 80% of the paging systems in the world…but getting it to work on the other 20% will take you a year.” despite having lots of competitors.

Belarus 107

Belarus Kazakhstan Portugal Accredited Investor 107

Up and Running

OCTOBER 30, 2017

If you’re selling enterprise software, this may require a significantly larger investment than a coffee shop. If you will be seeking outside financing, a business plan is a necessity. In fact, the business plan does not have to be a formal document at all if you don’t need to present your plan to outsiders.

Venture Capital 166

Venture Capital Business Plan Limited Liability Company Finance 166

Up and Running

MAY 12, 2015

Getting feedback on your pitch is a great idea; the more people evaluate your pitch before your investors see it, the more chances you have to catch any errors in reasoning, assumptions that are unclear to your audience, or things that just simply don’t make sense or flow well. See Also 5 Sure-fire Ways to Bomb Your Investor Pitch.

Angel Investor 60

Angel Investor Software Review Technical Cofounder Due Diligence 60

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 6, 2012

Students will even receive a minor in entrepreneurship as they develop their own business plans. Dysonics secured $750,000 in funding from angel investors to develop products that will reproduce three-dimensional, immersive sound in headphones. Harvard Innovation Lab. Innovation Depot.

Incubator 202

Incubator New York City Boston Intellectual Property 202

Gust

NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Startups and investors discover each other, and the community wins because the event becomes visible evidence of new business and new jobs locally. And new angel investors are trained and oriented. In most of the events that I’ve participated in, that the appearance of a business plan contest is to some extent illusion.

Software Review 79

Software Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Angel Investor 79

David Teten

AUGUST 15, 2013

For example, Qualcomm Ventures hosts an international business plan competition called QPrize , which targets mobile technology startups. Microsoft BizSpark is a global program that helps software startups by giving them access to a range of Microsoft software at free or discounted prices.

Startup 114

Startup Technical Support Venture Capital Balance Sheet 114

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

First advice – don’t respond to a VC website that says “submit your business plan here&# – if it’s read at all it will be read by an intern and likely be filtered before it reaches a decision maker. If you are thinking about angel investors please read this piece I did on Angel Funding Advice.

Venture Capital 282

Venture Capital Term Sheet Valuation Stock Options 282

Up and Running

JANUARY 24, 2013

If you missed the webinar on “ How to Write a Winning Business Plan ,” you can still watch it below. You get to see how quick and easy it is to create both a dynamic business pitch and a business plan that supports your brilliant business idea. 13 active plans = + 19.90 / month.

Business Plan 72

Business Plan Angel Investor Affiliate Forecast 72

Up and Running

MAY 10, 2016

Many experts recommend introducing your business plan with definitions of the problem that your business solves and the solution your business offers. What else you add depends of course on the specific, short-term objective of your business plan. See Also: What Is a Business Plan?

Business Plan 60

Business Plan Georgia Angel Investor Software 60

Up and Running

AUGUST 15, 2017

This means the proper execution of your idea or plan is of paramount importance. A lot of entrepreneurs spend their valuable time and resources devising the perfect business plan. Create a solid business plan, learn as much as you can, and find mentors to support you. Get a mentor. “A

Software Review 96

Software Review Social Media Search Cloud 96

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

Since the term “cloud computing” was coined in 1996—at least as we have come to understand its meaning—the software as a service industry has exploded. Step 1: Start with a lean plan. Instead of sitting down to write a 40-page business plan, start with a one-page pitch. How to Write a Business Plan in Under an Hour.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

Growthink Blog

OCTOBER 7, 2010

Additional investors included Edgestone Capital Ventures and Extreme Venture Partners, as well as angel investors Peter Thiel, Seymour Schulich, Roger Martin and Joe Sigelman. Rypple makes HR software that helps companies run better. Rypple ( [link] ) raised $7 million in a financing round led by Bridgescale Partners.

Azure 74

Azure Venture Capital Software Review Syndicate 74

Austin Startup

SEPTEMBER 29, 2018

Advertising was one of those extensions that we visioned in the first business plan for Bazaarvoice. Now at Bazaarvoice we have acquired Longboard Media, which in a way concludes our original vision in our first business plan. These benchmarking reports are easily available from investment banks such as Morgan Stanley.

Bootstrapping 52

Bootstrapping IPO Business Model Software Review 52

Up and Running

JANUARY 8, 2019

The basic idea of a sample business plan makes perfect sense. If you haven’t done a business plan before, a sample plan gives you an instant idea of what you should include, how to structure it, and even what to write. Here’s how to get the most of any sample business plan.

Business Plan 118

Business Plan Lean Oregon Matching 118

Tim Keane

DECEMBER 14, 2009

By Tim Keane, Angel Investor, Golden Angels Investors, LLC.   He is a partner in a pretty much exclusively software seed stage fund, Y Combinator that you can read more about.    Interestingly, the consulting business remained and is a mainstay even today.  Starting Startups.

Burn Rate 60

Burn Rate Angel Groups Seed Stage Startup 60

crowdSPRING Blog

JANUARY 25, 2010

Our hurdle was to develop our own network of investors and we did this the old-fashioned way: one degree of separation at a time. For instance, the pool of software developers is not as deep here as it is in Silicon Valley, and finding the right people, with the right skill-set can be daunting.

Chicago 81

Chicago Silicon Valley Bootstrapping Entrepreneur 81