see also: Trend: Fastest Growing Industries in the USA
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Table of Contents:
GloboTrends guide for Entrepreneurs
We present our entrepreneurs with a guide for launching early-stage technology companies. We focus on how to deal with Venture Capitalists, How to give a great pitch, Building revenue and customers, Building your Management Team, Setting Valuation, Preparing your Finances, Meeting with Investors, Negotiating Term Sheets, Exit Strategies, and more...
The first key to any new innovation or new business model is to get inspired. We ask all member of this wiki to kindly share with our community any business model that you find inspiring, or may be helpful to others in the idea-generation phase of business...
what is your service concept? What is your unique competitive advantage? Is it sustainable?
see our guide to creating a compelling business plan
in this guide we, discuss various technologies that are changing, and have the potential to offer new opportunities, and to threaten disruption to other existing business models.
International strategy For international business expansion, key strategy issues may involve "which international expansion method will work best for my company?", and "which international markets should I be investing in today for profits tomorrow?". The strategy component of competing internationally is very interesting. Some of the key issues are:
How does a local company compete against large multinational
How can foreigners compete in emerging markets against entrenched local companies (with subsidies, government protection, etc).
See our discussion on: raising money - ideas for the entrepreneur
Strategy is the key to long term competitive advantage. Getting the right global business strategy is not an easy process, nor is it a static one. It is a process that requires constant attention to global trends, and changes in the competitive landscape. Some of the key issues are pricing, as well as branding, and how to properly position your product so that you have a compelling value proposition in relation to your competitors.
Finance: For entrepreneurs looking to raise money, see our section on How to deal with VC's. In our Finance section, we have built a collection of information that should be useful such as how to value a firm and issues such as hedging currency risk, managing interest rates, and selecting the best FDI investments. We also have an entire section dedicated to International Finance markets. In addition we offer suggestons on how to set your pricing strategy. Managerial Finance decisions include the capital budgeting decision (which projects should I invest in?), the capital structure decision (how much debt should I take on), and the net working capital decision (how much cash do I need to finance ongoing Operations). Another key issue is how much to invest in customers (credit management), and in employees (Human Resources).
Here is a list of very practical advice for startups, and how to save money. Its an outside link, but is full of very useful tips. Please read them before wasting your money on things you dont need: link here
Uploading content
Trends to watch
Types of websites
Making money on the internet
Programming Languages
Content
Getting noticed - building your community
more...
BLD Solutions www.bldsolutions.com Nigel Brooks 602-291-4595 nigelabrooks@etailia.com
Dahne & Associates www.dahne.com Scott Dahne 480-502-2595 scott@dahne.com
Mercom Capital www.mercomcapital.com Wendy Appleyard 480-905-8850 wendy@mercomcapital.com
Myriad Capital www.myriadcapitalpartners.com George Stroh 602-284-2890 gstroh@myriadcapitalpartners.com
Nest Ventures www.nestventures.com Glenn Williamson 602-778-9400 glenn@nestventures.com
Odyssey Partners www.theodysseypartners.com Terry Weber 480-921-1307 tpatterson@theodysseypartners.com
Tim Gay & Associates www.tgapc.com Brendan Kennedy 602-264-0522 bkennedy@tgapc.com
We define a social entrepreneur as someone that seeks to startup a company to do good (in the community, or around the world).
see: http://www.springwise.com/
How to Start a Startup. Build something users love, and spend less than you make.
Hiring is Obsolete. The market is a lot more discerning than any employer.
How to Make Wealth. To get rich you need to get yourself in a situation with two things, measurement and leverage.
Why to Not Not Start a Startup. All the reasons you aren't doing it, and why most (but not all) should be ignored.
A Student's Guide to Startups. Starting a startup could well become as popular as grad school.
Ideas for Startups. The initial idea is not a blueprint, but a question.
Why Smart People Have Bad Ideas. A hacker who has learned what to make, and not just how to make, is extraordinarily powerful.
The 18 Mistakes that Kill Startups. If you avoid every cause of failure, you succeed.
The Hardest Lessons for Startups to Learn Some things about startups are kind of counterintuitive.
How to Fund a Startup. Venture funding works like gears.
The Hacker's Guide to Investors. Hackers don't know how little they know about this strange world.
How to Present to Investors. Explain what you're doing and why users will want it.
The Equity Equation. You should always feel richer after trading equity.
The Venture Capital Squeeze. Why not let the founders have that first million, or at least half million?
The Other Road Ahead. You may not believe it, but I promise you, Microsoft is scared of you.
What Business Can Learn from Open Source. There may be more pain in your own company, but it won't hurt as much.
What the Bubble Got Right. Even a small increase in the rate at which good ideas win would be a momentous change.
A Unified Theory of VC Suckage. If you're not one of the very top funds, you're condemned to be the bad guys.
By Others
What Carly Will be Missing. VCs are sitting on a boatload of uninvested cash that they simply must spend.
The New Boom. Today companies are starting small and lean and staying that way.
For Start-Ups, Web Success on the Cheap. Many of the current crop of Internet start-ups have gone from zero to 60 on a shoestring.
ArsDigita: From Start-Up to Bust-Up. Within a few weeks of Allen's arrival, I found people telling me that I had no power at all.
Journey to the Center of Google. Larry and Sergey plainly hold all the cards at Google.
A Couple of Yahoos. Really, we'd do anything to keep from working on our theses.
The Cult of the NDA. Cases where trade secrets and/or patents are both protectable and essential are rare.
Fixing Venture Capital. VCs do not have goals that are aligned with the goals of the company founders.
Why VC Will Get Uglier. Much of the $200 billion that was raised between 1999 and 2001 has yet to be invested.
For entrepreneurs, paranoia might be wise. How much do you reveal about your business plan, and to whom?
The Long Tail. Unlimited selection is revealing truths about what consumers want.
It's a Great Time to Be an Entrepreneur. More people can and will be entrepreneurs than ever before.
Net start-ups face odd problem: more VC cash than they need. Many Internet entrepreneurs don't need the cash, because they're building products cheaply.
An Engineer's View of Venture Capital. Answering to their investors contributes to a sheep mentality.
Breaking the Rules with Open Source. Open source is just a more efficient, effective software business model.
Ten Rules for Web Startups. Great products almost always come from someone scratching their own itch.
Valuation. I think it is much better to think of a venture capital deal as a loan plus an option.
Who Will Google Buy Next? Google's past conquests have all been smallish Internet companies that are doing cool stuff.
Buy It Now. Companies purchase their ideas one startup at a time.
How to Negotiate a Term Sheet with a VC. Pick your battles.
Start-Ups Are Telling Venture Capitalists: 'We Don't Need You'. Some entrepreneurs believe the balance of power in Silicon Valley is shifting.
A Lesson on Elementary Worldly Wisdom. How does a guy in Bentonville, Arkansas with no money blow right by Sears, Roebuck?
If You Want to be Rich, First Stop Being So Frightened. Fear of failing in the eyes of the world is the single biggest impediment.
Books
Dale Carnegie: How to Win Friends and Influence People
Edward Tufte: The Visual Display of Quantitative Information
Paul Graham: Hackers and Painters
Jessica Livingston: Founders at Work
Individuals
Resources and Tools
del.icio.us: Business, Startup, Web 2.0
is someone with big ideas, and a strong belief that they can make it happen. An entrepreneur is a risk taker, someone that is willing to lay it all on the line for the opportunity of big returns. If this sounds at all like you, then you have come to the right place. In this site, we are going to look back in history at some of the more successful (and some of the unsuccessful) entrepreneurs, in order to learn what they did well (and not so well). This site is a learning resource, please use it, and as a wiki, please feel free to add to it.
Entrepreneurship is about taking risk. The behavior of the entrepreneur reflects a kind of person willing to put his or her career and financial security on the line and take risks in the name of an idea, spending much time as well as capital on an uncertain venture.
What are the cultural links between risk aversion and entrepreneurship? Are some cultures more likely to produce more risk takers (and hence entrepreneurs)? Join our discussion on the important link between culture and entrepreneurship.
There are really two types of entrepreneurs:
1. Those that start up a business in a niche, making a living on their own, and satisfying the needs of a small group of clients that a bigger chain can not, or does not want to (yet). These entrepreneurs accept the rules of the game the way they are, and seek to exploit opportunities as the see them. This group of entrepreneurs should NOT seek Venture capital funding, and instead should look to self-fund, or look for a rich uncle (or a bank loan).
2. Those that launch a business with grande aspirations, that seek to "go national", or "go global". These entrepreneurs will find stiff competition from existing firms, and will succeed only if they find a way to change the rules of the game. They seek to create their own opportunities and to disrupt others business plans. These are the ones that often get venture capital funding.
Make sure you know which category your business fall into before you go seeking funding.
John G. Burch (Business Horizons, September 1986) lists traits typical of entrepreneurs:
Put another way, a successful entrepreneur should have as many of these traits as possible:
1. Vision
2. Passion
3. Purpose
4. Adaptability
5. Leadership Skills
6. Networking Savvy
7. Determination
8. Positive attitude
External Links