Gust

APRIL 27, 2014

I’m continually amazed at the number of entrepreneurs who go for months into a new business without really keeping a formal record of money spent or assets acquired. Use a simple accounting tool like QuickBooks, get away from co-mingled funds, and you have the first business process you need. Develop your business plan.

Startup 187

Startup Institutional Investors Angel Investor Bootstrapping 187

Gust

JUNE 19, 2012

10 Things I Look for When Reading a Business Plan. It’s the end of May as I write this so I’ve just finished my annual April-May business plan marathon reading more than 100 business plans for my angel investment group and four different business plan contests. Power Pitches.

Startup 180

Startup Forecast Angel Investor Software 180

Gust

NOVEMBER 8, 2023

Even in this age of videos and text messages, the quickest way to kill your startup dream with investors, business partners, or even customers, is embarrassingly poor writing. In the competitive realm of business, you only get one chance to make a great first impression.

Startup 91

Startup Video Community Business Plan 91

Gust

JULY 15, 2012

Besides laying out the benefits, your advisory board invitation letter also might include: Your business plan executive summary. It’s reasonable to do your recruiting informally, but a professional touch is to put together a formal agreement to seal the deal. The Advisory Board’s objectives and focus.

Advisory Board 178

Advisory Board Technical Review Startup Software Review 178

Gust

SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

One excellent way to do this (with a good bit of help from the experts), is to create a draft business plan using LivePlan from Palo Alto Software. Gust is used by over 1,000 angel investment groups, accelerators, business plan competitions and support programs to manage their applications.

Angel Groups 159

Angel Groups Elevator Pitch Software Review Deal Flow 159

Gust

SEPTEMBER 11, 2012

Plan should be fluid and flexible. Plans should be reviewed and revised. Sticking with the plan thinking explains in part why some business experts question the value of the business plan.

Technical Review 121

Technical Review Algorithm Business Plan Technology 121

Gust

AUGUST 12, 2012

Why is it that most of the business plans I see are really product plans? I define a product plan as a detailed description of your product or service, with a bit of business thrown in at the end. A business plan is a detailed description of your business, with a bit of product description thrown in near the front.

Product 150

Product Business Plan Differentiation Business Model 150

Gust

NOVEMBER 11, 2011

In most of the events that I’ve participated in, that the appearance of a business plan contest is to some extent illusion. It’s not just a one-time pitch or plan contest. They’ve heard multiple pitches, poured over business plans, talked to customers, and looked at the legal work.

Software Review 79

Software Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Angel Investor 79

Gust

JANUARY 4, 2012

(It’s often possible to “ design around ” a patent to operate a business that achieves similar results in different ways.) Most investors will assume that if the business plan is solid and a large market opportunity exists, there will be vigorous competition from other players. Creating product mock-ups , wireframes, etc.

Intellectual Property 143

Intellectual Property IP Startup United States 143

Gust

JUNE 17, 2012

Your funding strategy is a key part of every business plan, so don’t hesitate to check out the real alternatives. All funding decisions represent complex tradeoffs between near-term and long-term costs, ownership, control, and time and effort.

Technical Review 164

Technical Review Bootstrapping Venture Capital Incubator 164

Gust

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

Investors will expect marketing to show up in your pitch, and if they like your pitch they’ll want your business plan and marketing better be there too. Industry Experts business pitch business plan marketing plan marketing strategy social media' The fundamentals still apply. .

Social Media 142

Social Media Media Curation Angel Investor 142

Gust

FEBRUARY 22, 2014

Gust is used as the exclusive internal platform by 85% of the world’s organized angel investors, by over 1,000 venture capital funds and angel networks, 200 accelerators and business plan competitions, and a host of national and transnational organizations, from the StartupAmerica Partnership and the US State Department’s Global Entrepreneurship (..)

Belarus 107

Belarus Kazakhstan Portugal Accredited Investor 107

Gust

AUGUST 7, 2012

I really like Martin Zwilling’s post here yesterday, 10 things that make a business plan fundable. That made me think about this list, the opposite, things that make a plan not fundable. These are my 10 things that make business plans not fundable, in my assumed order of importance. Empty broad claims.

Business Plan 172

Business Plan Sweat Equity Salary Founder 172

Gust

DECEMBER 16, 2012

They must amplify your “elevator pitch” to investors, as well as key points from the business plan and the financial model. Prepare an investment-grade business plan. Every entrepreneur needs a professional business plan for their own use, whether they intend to seek investor funding or not.

Angel Investor 179

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch Angel Groups 179

Gust

JANUARY 13, 2013

Build a business plan early on. There is nothing like writing and pitching a business plan that makes you realize what you don’t know. Most schools have business plan competitions, and even give out seed money to winners. Most universities also bring in outside advisors to mentor budding entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneur 180

Entrepreneur Seed Money Social Network Business Plan 180

Gust

MAY 11, 2014

Putting your grant application intent and status in your business plan will greatly enhance your potential to get Angel funding for the interim. Pursue grants and investors in parallel. To the investors, it means less dilution and lower overall risk. Research related tax credits and incentives.

Seed Money 164

Seed Money SBIR Dilution Government 164

Gust

AUGUST 19, 2012

Remember the goal is an overview presentation that will pique investor interest enough to ask for the business plan and a follow-on meeting, not close the deal on the spot. Every startup needs both a business plan and an investor presentation, completed before you formally approach any investors.

Elevator Pitch 146

Elevator Pitch Exit Strategy Burn Rate Merger 146

Gust

DECEMBER 6, 2012

Those names and faces and backgrounds that turn up in pitches and business plans might be deep and important relationships, somebody with options or equity who is going to be helping for the long term; or meaningless fluff, somebody who agreed once to have his or her name appear, but really does nothing. . Everybody’s busy.

Startup 165

Startup Equity Capitalization Table Naming 165

Gust

DECEMBER 21, 2013

If you already have a startup, why do you believe it will take two to five months to write a business plan? But the bigger question is that, perhaps because of language issues, your question seems contradictory. That would typically be done before you start the company. original post can be found on Quora @ [link] *.

Private Equity 139

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Finance 139

Gust

MARCH 9, 2014

It’s not uncommon for me to see a startup business plan “mission” to be the “premier brand” for their product, yet their marketing budget in the financials is trivial. This combination will almost certainly get your plan tossed by potential investors, who understand all too well the need and cost for marketing in today’s environment.

Marketing 146

Marketing SEM Viral Social Media 146

Gust

JULY 12, 2012

Topics of conversation included how to identify fundable companies, trends in funding, business plans, and pitching to investors. On Thursday, I spoke to entrepreneur groups at both the National Digital Research Center and the DIT Hothouse.

Community 121

Community Estonia Ireland Finland 121

Gust

OCTOBER 7, 2012

Don’t talk directly to potential investors until you have the business plan and other basics complete. Most startups need funding before shipping, and investors expect to see your website to validate your business plan. Prime the investor world. With stealth mode, you can’t learn early enough to pivot gracefully.

Stealth 131

Stealth Entrepreneur Incubator Engineer 131

Gust

JULY 19, 2014

I’d suggest that you browse through the Gust investor search engine for investment groups (and accelerators, incubators, business plan competitions, et al) that are relevant to your startup (by location, industry, type of organization, etc.),

Angel Groups 142

Angel Groups New York Deal Flow Incubator 142

Gust

AUGUST 29, 2012

Somebody asked me in email what investors look for in the marketing portion of a business plan and/or business pitch. What works? What’s credible? What are investors looking for? . Caveat: generalizations are dangerous. I see three essentials: . The market-defining story.

Marketing 119

Marketing Social Media Sales Cycle Angel Investor 119

Gust

JANUARY 11, 2014

You might also want to take advantage of the data vault to upload your full business plan if you have one, supplemental slides, case studies, references, press coverage about the company, etc. original post can be found on Quora @ [link] *. Gust News algorithm Gust page rank startups'

Search 122

Search Algorithm Video Business Plan 122

Gust

OCTOBER 12, 2014

I’m a strong believer that investors invest in people, before they invest in a business plan, or an idea. But I continue to learn that there are a host of other factors, maybe not even related to you or your business, that could keep you from getting the funding that you need. Image via Flickr by Jeff Belmonte.

Silicon Valley 182

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Massachusetts California 182

Gust

MAY 4, 2014

Most entrepreneurs have spent months, and hours of hard work, preparing the necessary business plans, executive presentations, and financial models to impress investors. All of the common first impression mistakes are avoidable, and elements of the right approach are easily learned.

Entrepreneur 172

Entrepreneur Angel Investor Affiliate .Net 172

Gust

JULY 20, 2014

As an entrepreneur, when you are late with a committed business plan or meeting with an investor, you lose integrity. Here are five specific recommendations that will help team members, investors, vendors, and customers to see a high level of entrepreneurial integrity in you at all times: Meet your commitments.

Entrepreneur 166

Entrepreneur Leadership Business Plan Customer 166

Gust

AUGUST 3, 2014

Good at starting a business and selling. Every entrepreneur reads everything they can find on running a business, maps out all the steps in their head, or explicitly on paper (business plan). They love talking about their business and their product, and dream of having millions of customers.

Entrepreneur 165

Entrepreneur Algorithm Business Plan Design 165

Gust

JANUARY 19, 2014

I’ve done business plan judging at local universities, and learned more than I contributed. Just start a business. There is no better way to learn about being entrepreneurial than starting a business. Work is highly valuable in any environment of universities and professional organizations.

Entrepreneur 172

Entrepreneur Silicon Valley Social Network Restful 172

Gust

NOVEMBER 17, 2013

Most investors tell me that they look at the people first, the business plan second, and only then at the idea. If you expect to succeed in the thrill-a-minute, roller coaster ride of a startup, let me assure you it takes more than a good idea, a rich uncle, and luck. In fact, the idea is often the least important part of the equation.

Flash 194

Flash Entrepreneur Business Plan Startup 194

Gust

JANUARY 12, 2014

Build your business plan and day-to-day operations around real results that are quantifiable and measurable. For a more complete discussion of this phenomenon, see the book entitled “ Fake Work: Why People Are Working Harder than Ever but Accomplishing Less ”, by Brent Petersen and Gaylan Neilson.

Entrepreneur 171

Entrepreneur Hiring Employee Operations 171

Gust

JANUARY 5, 2014

Many of the Internet business plans I see these days say the service is free, and revenue will come later from a huge user base. If you lose money on every sale, it’s hard to make it up in volume. On the other hand, if your price is over the moon, even the best product features probably won’t sell it.

Business Model 171

Business Model Sales Customer Distribution 171

Gust

DECEMBER 7, 2014

Entrepreneurs who plan to complete a business plan the first month, find an investor the second, and roll out a product the third month are just kidding themselves. Count on several months of effort and costly assistance to court investors, with less than a 10% success rate.

Bootstrapping 191

Bootstrapping Entrepreneur Startup Burn Rate 191

Gust

NOVEMBER 2, 2014

No one contemplates including a business plan, investor presentation, or even the equivalent of an executive summary. Proposal content is too short to be meaningful. In all cases, to keep non-professionals attention, the content of the offer online, or pitch presented, is very limited.

Non-disclosure Agreement 160

Non-disclosure Agreement Intellectual Property Accredited Investor Equity 160

Gust

NOVEMBER 10, 2013

I still get business plans, looking for an investor, that say all too clearly that the primary “use of funds” will be to do research and development (R&D) on some promising new technology, like superconductivity or cancer cures. Image via eesiflo.com.

Developer 148

Developer Warrant Angel Investor Early Stage 148

Gust

JULY 18, 2012

Have a business plan and a management team capable of delivering the product to market. To be eligible to launch on the DEMO stage, and for the Gust-DEMO Scholarship, your product must: Solve a commercial problem. Make an impact or change the marketplace into which it is introduced, or create a new market.

Silicon Valley 142

Silicon Valley Differentiation Lead Investor Distribution 142