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

Angel investors will perk up if you have a prototype or a few real customers, while venture capitalists will likely choose to wait until you have achieved several million in revenue or customer count. Here is where projections of cost, pricing, volumes and cash flow are critical. Be prepared to explain your business model.

Startup 337

Startup Preferred Stock Exit Strategy Equity 337

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

Duct Tape Marketing

APRIL 18, 2024

With her expertise, she’s boosted hundreds of agencies to millions in revenue, attracting premium clients willing to pay 50-600% fees. 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.

Framework 64

Framework Sales Cycle Sales Hiring 64

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

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2012

Explain in terms your mother could understand, and quantify the “cost-of-pain” in dollars or time. Clearly define the customer, channel, and revenue model associated with this solution. Explain the business model. In this section, you need to be passionate about revenue, profit, and volume growth.

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. Potential investors love to see gross margins in the fifty percent range or greater, with recurring revenue through subscriptions, follow-on sales, or services.

Product 145

Product Intellectual Property Liquidity Event Exit Strategy 145

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 13, 2011

Explain in terms your mother could understand, and quantify the “cost-of-pain” in dollars or time. Clearly define the customer, channel, and revenue model associated with this solution. Explain the business model. In this section, you need to be passionate about revenue, profit, and volume growth.

Business Plan 290

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 290

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

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

JUNE 26, 2020

Thus I offer the following outline for how to organize and present your business plan, with specific examples: Start with outlining the customer problem, and your solution. For example, “We just patented a new battery technology that will cut your smartphone charge time and cost in half.” Use non-fuzzy terms to quantify customer value.

Business Plan 423

Business Plan Product Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch 423

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 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

Gust

AUGUST 5, 2012

Explain in terms your mother could understand, and quantify the “cost-of-pain” in dollars or time. Clearly define the customer, channel, and revenue model associated with this solution. Explain the business model. In this section, you need to be passionate about revenue, profit, and volume growth.

Business Plan 182

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 182

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

APRIL 22, 2010

Explain in terms your mother could understand, and quantify the “cost-of-pain” in dollars or time. Clearly define the customer, channel, and revenue model associated with this solution. Explain the business model. In this section, you need to be passionate about revenue, profit, and volume growth.

Business Plan 186

Business Plan Exit Strategy Sweat Equity Intellectual Property 186

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

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

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

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 7, 2015

Angel investors will perk up if you have a prototype or a few real customers, while venture capitalists will likely choose to wait until you have achieved several million in revenue or customer count. Here is where projections of cost, pricing, volumes and cash flow are critical. Be prepared to explain your business model.

Preferred Stock 120

Preferred Stock Exit Strategy Equity Angel Investor 120

www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Pricing Strategy. Financing A Small Business. Business Taxes. Selling A Business. Exit Strategies. Strategy and Planning. Like a venture capitalist reviewing business plans, he now weighs the potential of every company Arizona Bay works with. Office and Operations. Legal Issues. Industries.

Arizona 40

Arizona Equity Iowa Venture Capital 40

Gust

DECEMBER 16, 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 179

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch Angel Groups 179

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2013

The single most important ingredient of success is not the idea, but having a team in place that has impeccable integrity, can iterate the product quickly, pivot the business model as necessary, and keep costs down in the process. Exit strategy. No exit strategy means no return to investors.

Cram Down 269

Cram Down Angel Investor Intellectual Property Venture Capital 269

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

Up and Running

NOVEMBER 12, 2018

The subscription box industry is growing rapidly thanks to a steady revenue model and tapping into people’s love for surprises. But with so many people trying to get their share of the growth, many subscription box businesses fold within a year or two. Team : Who are your coworkers and what’s their business experience?

Business Plan 63

Business Plan Curation Balance Sheet Intellectual Property 63

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. Validated pricing and a sufficient revenue stream. A near-term customer value proposition.

Exit Strategy 120

Exit Strategy Technical Review Distribution Viral 120

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

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.

El Paso 61

El Paso Business Plan Technical Review Forecast 61

Up and Running

APRIL 28, 2015

Your business model has to truly be similar to the company you are referencing. If you aren’t solving some problem in the world, you are going to have a long uphill climb with your business. Slide 5: Revenue model. Exit strategy. “We’re the Netflix for Video Games”. Slide 2: The problem.

Forecast 60

Forecast Hockey Stick Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 60

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Technographics vendors such as Builtwith , Datanyze , HG Data , Stackshare, and Stacklist help CEOs identify the right tech platform on which to build their business; they’re also helpful for investors to due diligence a company’s tech stack choices. Capital has built a free online tool for founders to calculate their cost of capital.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Up and Running

MAY 22, 2018

Every successful small business goes through four stages during its entire existence: Existence : expanding from pilot production to broad-scale production. Survival : generating enough cash flow to stay in business. Success : business model works and is stable, but there is still untapped potential. Create an MVP.

Exit Strategy 90

Exit Strategy Angel Investor Search Elevator Pitch 90

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? Now you’re going to move into your revenue model.

Technical Review 60

Technical Review Software Review Due Diligence Exit Strategy 60

Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak

MARCH 25, 2011

In the case of business, I want to ensure that there is a profitable exit strategy. I spent quite a bit of time studying eBay, both as a business model and as a means to capture new customers because of how much buying traffic is there. Thus began my love affair with banner advertising.

Affiliate 112

Affiliate Internet Software Review Advertising 112

Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak

JUNE 19, 2010

Because I have no employees, there’s a profit margin of about 70%, so it’s a really fantastic business model and gives me the freedom to travel and come back from my travel with more money than I left with. Adding Ad Revenue. Last tax year it was a quarter million dollars, and this tax year I just passed half a million dollars.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Software Review Prospectus Audience 76

Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak

JANUARY 21, 2011

I believe in maxing out tax advantageous vehicles like the 401(k) and Roth IRA, and dollar cost investing over time in no to low load mutual funds, including index funds. It was an unplanned, but profitable exit strategy for us. Overall take away: Starting a side gig doesn’t have to cost you your arm. Same as above.

Internet 80

Internet Technical Review Stock Due Diligence 80