Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 7, 2022

Here is where projections of cost, pricing, volumes and cash flow are critical. If your financial model projects a negative cash flow in this period of $400,000, you should buffer this amount by 25 percent, and ask for $500,000. Be prepared to explain your business model.

Preferred Stock 304

Preferred Stock Exit Strategy Equity Angel Investor 304

Up and Running

AUGUST 28, 2018

Financial summary: Explain your business model, startup costs, revenues, and liabilities to the company. Now is the time to lay out what you’ll do to attract patients and set up a viable business model with healthy financials. Your funding ask and exit strategy, if applicable. Be specific. Operations.

Business Plan 72

Business Plan Technical Review Exit Strategy Oregon 72

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2021

Would you be comfortable buying a house from a builder, or building one yourself, with no plan on timeframes, costs, and features? In fact, the process of organizing and documenting these elements is the best way to make sure you understand the answers yourself. I hope not.

Silicon Valley 342

Silicon Valley Exit Strategy Business Plan Restful 342

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 28, 2015

If the elements of your business aren't expertly developed and aligned, even the best dream will be in jeopardy. Such failures ignore the essential business elements investors look for before committing to a startup. In the real world, marketing initiatives that go viral cost big money and effort for their innovation and execution.

Exit Strategy 120

Exit Strategy Technical Review Distribution Viral 120

NZ Entrepreneur

NOVEMBER 14, 2019

One of the main (and early) steps is to make a considered decision about what IP means to your business and what IP tools will be used to support your business model. Not doing so can cause big problems later for your business. It is estimated that trade secret theft cost the US economy $300 billion in 2012.

Intellectual Property 45

Intellectual Property IP Software Review New Zealand 45

Up and Running

MAY 15, 2018

Innovative products and business models are the foundations of a promising startup. Funding is crucial for improving technology, hiring the right people, and launching a comprehensive marketing strategy to get a foothold in the market. Creating a scalable business model. Sure, it should be unique.

SBA 84

SBA Angel Investor Technical Review Startup 84

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 7, 2020

Entrepreneurs need to document a process of responding to a market need, sizing opportunity, assigning a specific business model, and planning for marketing, sales, and customer satisfaction. Solo entrepreneurs, with a team of helpers, will be assumed to be a hobby rather than a business. Solution development and delivery.

Entrepreneur 328

Entrepreneur Exit Strategy Metrics Operations 328

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

It should answer every question an investor or associate might ask, including current valuation, funding needed, and exit strategy. Finalize your financial model. Like the business plan, a financial model is required as much for your own use as to impress angel investors. Free trials don’t count.

Intellectual Property 249

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Technical Review Elevator Pitch 249

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 4, 2020

Here is where projections of cost, pricing, volumes and cash flow are critical. If your financial model projects a negative cash flow in this period of $400,000, you should buffer this amount by 25 percent, and ask for $500,000. Be prepared to explain your business model.

Startup 337

Startup Preferred Stock Exit Strategy Equity 337

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.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

It should answer every question an investor or associate might ask, including current valuation, funding needed, and exit strategy. Finalize your financial model. Like the business plan, a financial model is required as much for your own use as to impress angel investors. Free trials don’t count.

Angel Investor 224

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Technical Review Elevator Pitch 224

Up and Running

OCTOBER 3, 2018

Financial Summary: Explain your business model, startup costs, revenues, and liabilities to the company. The solution: PARE shoulders the cost of renovations for young people who do not have the time, knowledge, or money to do it themselves. Your funding ask and exit strategy, if applicable. Be specific.

El Paso 61

El Paso Business Plan Technical Review Forecast 61

Up and Running

NOVEMBER 12, 2018

Defining the problem you’re trying to solve is an important part of your business plan because it’s the first place where you’ll demonstrate that idea is viable—that you can actually make money with your business model and idea. Share of the Market (SOM) : Your SOM is who you will reach in your first few years of business.

Business Plan 63

Business Plan Curation Balance Sheet Intellectual Property 63

Up and Running

MAY 1, 2014

If your business model (i.e., “how If you are raising money to start or grow your business, you need to include the details of what you need in the executive summary. Deciding on your price can feel more like an art than a science, but there are some basic rules that you should follow: Your pricing should cover your costs.

Business Plan 163

Business Plan Forecast Balance Sheet Distribution 163

Up and Running

JULY 2, 2014

Picking the right attorney in your startup is as important as picking the right business partner. You can’t underestimate the importance of selecting an attorney who “gets” your business model, your market opportunity, and most importantly, your fundraising and exit strategy. How much time do they have for you?

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Angel Investor Due Diligence Dilution 118

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2012

The approach I recommend is to build the investor presentation first, by iterating on the bullets with your team, and then fleshing out the points into a full-blown text-based business plan document. Explain in analogies your mother could understand, and quantify the “cost-of-pain” in dollars or time. Business model.

Elevator Pitch 247

Elevator Pitch Exit Strategy Burn Rate Merger 247

Duct Tape Marketing

APRIL 18, 2024

As a former business exit advisor, she crafts exit strategies, adding up to five figures to clients’ net profit monthly so they can focus on growth. But that comes at a cost. With her expertise, she’s boosted hundreds of agencies to millions in revenue, attracting premium clients willing to pay 50-600% fees.

Framework 63

Framework Sales Cycle Sales Hiring 63

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 8, 2016

Without profit there is no business. By profit, I simply mean offering a product or service to customers for a price that exceeds the total costs associated with the solution, thus providing some basis for recovering sunk costs and generating a return for stakeholders. Validate your business model on real customers.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Exit Strategy 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 28, 2016

Entrepreneurs need to document a process of responding to a market need, sizing opportunity, assigning a specific business model, and planning for marketing, sales, and customer satisfaction. Solo entrepreneurs, with a team of helpers, will be assumed to be a hobby rather than a business. Solution development and delivery.

Exit Strategy 155

Exit Strategy Metrics Operations Cost 155

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2012

Explain in terms your mother could understand, and quantify the “cost-of-pain” in dollars or time. Explain the business model. Many people seem to use the social network advertising model for revenue, but forget it assumes at least 100M users and $50M investment. Exit strategy.

Business Plan 283

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 283

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2018

This implies high odds of a scalable business, simply needing an investment to lead to success. Business model showing costs, pricing, and margins. Equally important is a projected use of these funds in scaling the business, including time frames for future investment requirements.

Product 145

Product Intellectual Property Liquidity Event Exit Strategy 145

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 10, 2011

The approach I recommend is to build the investor presentation first, by iterating on the bullets with your team, and then fleshing out the points into a full-blown text-based business plan document. Explain in analogies your mother could understand, and quantify the “cost-of-pain” in dollars or time. Business model.

Elevator Pitch 234

Elevator Pitch Exit Strategy Burn Rate Merger 234

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2015

How the solution and business model work to fund the business. Every customer understands that your solution has to generate more revenue than cost, but you should not put that data in a customer pitch. Investors will impatiently expect a winning business model, customer segment definitions and volume projections.

Product 120

Product Intellectual Property Liquidity Event Burn Rate 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2011

Explain in terms your mother could understand, and quantify the “cost-of-pain” in dollars or time. Explain the business model. Many people seem to use the social network advertising model for revenue, but forget it assumes at least 100M users and $50M investment. Exit strategy.

Business Plan 290

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 290

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 19, 2010

An alternative approach, which I prefer, is to build the investor presentation first, by iterating on the bullets with your team, and then fleshing out the points into a full-blown text-based business plan document. Explain in analogies your mother could understand, and quantify the “cost-of-pain” in dollars or time. Business model.

Elevator Pitch 235

Elevator Pitch Exit Strategy Burn Rate Merger 235

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2016

How does your business model make money? Good causes such as feeding the world’s hungry may help your marketing but may not sustain a business. The business model has to clearly define who is your customer, market penetration expected, how much customers pay versus total costs and the investment required to sustain cash flow.

Sweat Equity 120

Sweat Equity Advisory Board Liquidity Event Startup 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 24, 2015

Entrepreneurs need to document a process of responding to a market need, sizing opportunity, assigning a specific business model, and planning for marketing, sales, and customer satisfaction. Solo entrepreneurs, with a team of helpers, will be assumed to be a hobby rather than a business. Solution development and delivery.

Exit Strategy 120

Exit Strategy Metrics Operations Cost 120

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 5, 2016

Every startup I know has pivoted at least once, so learning from your mistakes should be a positive experience, rather than a painful error that will cost you credibility. Even the best investors will dramatically increase your workload, with daily communication, agreement expectations, and business overhead.

Bootstrapping 120

Bootstrapping Entrepreneur Startup Exit Strategy 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2015

Would you be comfortable buying a house from a builder, or building one yourself, with no plan on timeframes, costs, and features? In fact, the process of organizing and documenting these elements is the best way to make sure you understand the answers yourself. I hope not.

Business Plan 120

Business Plan Silicon Valley Startup Exit Strategy 120

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 24, 2012

It should answer every question an investor or associate might ask, including current valuation, funding needed, and exit strategy. Finalize your financial model. Like the business plan, a financial model is required as much for your own use as to impress Angel investors. Free trials don’t count.

Angel Investor 260

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch Angel Groups 260

Gust

AUGUST 19, 2012

The approach I recommend is to build the investor presentation first, by iterating on the bullets with your team, and then fleshing out the points into a full-blown text-based business plan document. Explain in analogies your mother could understand, and quantify the “cost-of-pain” in dollars or time. Business model.

Elevator Pitch 146

Elevator Pitch Exit Strategy Burn Rate Merger 146

Hearpreneur

MAY 15, 2020

My struggles lead to all kinds of problems including getting cited by OSHA and TCEQ, skyrocketing insurance costs & lost business opportunities. With both of these in mind, I began to plan my exit strategy by saving money, as well as starting my blog and a couple of other side hustles. Photo Credit: Kendra J.

Entrepreneur 127

Entrepreneur LLC Los Angeles San Francisco 127

Up and Running

MARCH 11, 2015

That moves into the customer acquisition strategy. This includes again another acronym I’m going to share, CAC, the cost to acquire a customer, the customer acquisition cost. You want to make sure that you understand, does it cost $10 to get a customer? I don’t know what it’s going to cost.

Technical Review 60

Technical Review Software Review Due Diligence Exit Strategy 60

Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak

FEBRUARY 11, 2011

In this post, I want to lay out the details involved in how I first realized the opportunity, the formation of the business idea, the search for my supplier, the establishment and growth of the business, problems encountered and lessons learned, as well as the exit strategy that resulted in the $250,000 sale of the business.

SEO 86

SEO PPC America Design 86

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2010

Explain in terms your mother could understand, and quantify the “cost-of-pain” in dollars or time. Explain the business model. Many people seem to use the social network advertising model for revenue, but forget it requires at least 100M users and $50M investment. Exit strategy.

Business Plan 186

Business Plan Exit Strategy Sweat Equity Intellectual Property 186

Gust

AUGUST 5, 2012

Explain in terms your mother could understand, and quantify the “cost-of-pain” in dollars or time. Explain the business model. Many people seem to use the social network advertising model for revenue, but forget it assumes at least 100M users and $50M investment. Exit strategy.

Business Plan 182

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 182

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 7, 2015

Here is where projections of cost, pricing, volumes and cash flow are critical. If your financial model projects a negative cash flow in this period of $400,000, you should buffer this amount by 25 percent, and ask for $500,000. Be prepared to explain your business model.

Preferred Stock 120

Preferred Stock Exit Strategy Equity Angel Investor 120