Showing posts with label venture capital. Show all posts
Showing posts with label venture capital. Show all posts

Angel Financing for Entrepreneurs: Early-Stage Funding for Long-Term Success Review

Angel Financing for Entrepreneurs: Early-Stage Funding for Long-Term Success
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Angel Financing for Entrepreneurs: Early-Stage Funding for Long-Term Success ReviewI did, so I bought five books. I will review them from worst to best.
"Finding an Angel Investor In a Day," by The Planning Shop (2007), told me nothing I didn't know, and I didn't know anything about business plans or angel investors. The title is ludicrous and the advice is obvious, e.g., "Your business plan should be concise, compelling, and irresistible to investors." 1 star.
"The ABC's of Writing Winning Business Plans," by Garrett Sutton (2005), walks you through writing business plans for a lawn mowing business and buying a pizza restaurant. If your business is more complicated, this is not the book for you. 1 star.
"The Ernst & Young Business Plan Guide," by Brian Ford, Jay Boorstein, and Patrick Pruitt (2007), is a good book but hardly inspiring or insightful. If you follow this book your business plan will be competent but won't grab investors. 3 stars.
"Angel Financing for Entrepreneurs," by Susan Preston (2007). This book doesn't explain how to write a business plan, but it explains how to make a 10-minute PowerPoint presentation to investors -- a presentation that will grab investors. For example, one question is "How is your product or technology scalable?" I also learned some of the financials that angel investors look for, such as what IRR is expected. This book helped and inspired me to write an excellent presentation, that became the basis for my business plan. 5 stars.
"Raising Venture Capital for the Serious Entrepreneur," by Dermot Berkery (2008). This is a textbook for a business school course about venture capital. This book is full of insights. Every few pages new ideas would compel me to go to my computer and add stuff or rewrite my business plan, for example, Berkery emphasizes the need for clear milestones. Preston mentioned milestones but didn't make it clear why they are so important. The financials that were briefly presented in Preston's book are thoroughly presented in Berkery's book, for example, what gross margin investors look for (80% or more) and why they need such extremely profitable products or services. Plus you learn the jargon or key phrases of venture capitalists, e.g., "a large but well signaled market," the importance of "market power" and an effective "route to customers." I feel that my business plan now speaks to investors in their language, with the numbers they are looking for. 5 stars.Angel Financing for Entrepreneurs: Early-Stage Funding for Long-Term Success Overview

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If You Build It Will They Come: Three Steps to Test and Validate Any Market Opportunity Review

If You Build It Will They Come: Three Steps to Test and Validate Any Market Opportunity
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If You Build It Will They Come: Three Steps to Test and Validate Any Market Opportunity ReviewMy colleague and friend Rob Adams has written this great book about how to evaluate opportunities. All the books about the philosophy of entrepreneurship are great, but we need more hands-on advice. I see folks who want to be entrepreneurs every day, and often they don't know where to start. I urge them to become as much an expert on the industry as possible, above all else "find a need and fill it." Then talk to potential customers, get inside their heads and inside their lives, listen to them! So Rob was preaching to the choir when I got into his book. Virtually any entrepreneur -- including and perhaps especially non-profit and social entrepreneurs -- will advance their chance of success by studying Rob's patterns of thoughts and actions as described in this book. The table of contents tells you what you need to know to understand how this book can help you.If You Build It Will They Come: Three Steps to Test and Validate Any Market Opportunity Overview

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The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything Review

The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything
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The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything ReviewThe book makes a big promise with its sub-title, "The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything." I wondered if such a book could live up to it. "Starting anything" refers to a business, not a career, school, or hobby.
Obviously, it's impossible to create a comprehensive book of business best practices because every business has its own variables. What works great for one may kill another. However, the book doesn't take that approach. Rather, it tells how it is starting a business and the rough road of dealing with VCs (venture capitalists). If you expect a positive spin on stuff that's hard to do. Read a fairy tale instead.
Rather than abrasiveness and a "do this, don't do this" attitude, Kawasaki uses humor to explain the process. Anyone who has a small business including those around for a few years will benefit. When ready to take action, use this book as the manual that doesn't come with starting a business. Thinking about it isn't going to make a business successful.
Every chapter begins with the GIST of it, an overview of what's to come. Each ends with FAQ, frequently AVOIDED questions, to review the chapter's content and drill it in deeper for better understanding and implementation.
Get simple, but important hints on everyday business practices such as how to give a strong presentation. How many times have you sat through a presentation where each slide has over 20 words in size 12 point and the presenter practically reads the words adding little to what is on the slide? Kawasaki smartly covers the 10-20-30 rule. 10 slides, 20 minutes, and size 30 font. Making changes to the small practices can lead to reaching the next milestone.
This book can be likened to a quick reference guide for starting a business and useful strategies: has just what is needed without heavy-duty or dry language. It is, however, larger than most quick guides, but a fast and easy read into the world of startups and dealing with VCs. If a VC isn't involved, the book provides valuable tools and ideas to help with any business. However, technology start ups seeking VCs will benefit most.
Stuck on a business plan? Learn what is needed and not needed. Don't waste valuable time and use the book to do what's necessary without going overboard.
If long hours and challenges aren't in the plans, then read a romanticized business book instead. The Art of the Start shows how it really is and it's hard, but it can be a little easier with this book as a guide.
Get a taste of the book by reading its manifesto (http://www.changethis.com/1.ArtOfTheStart), a free PDF download. The 34 page document should give you a clear idea of whether or not the book is for you as it includes the same components found in the book. As a bonus, the manifesto includes Great Ideas for Starting Things, covered in the first chapter. If the material and the table of contents sound enticing, get it.The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything Overview

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