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Entrepreneur Quote of the Week: AOL’s Steve Case
2008-03-07 13:25:46
“I’m not sure I knew what an entrepreneur was when I was ten, but I knew that starting little businesses and trying to sell greeting cards or newspapers door-to-door or just vending machine kind of thing is… there’s just something very intriguing to me about that.” -Steve Case, co-founder and former CEO of AOL   According to a 2006 study, approximately 2/3 of entrepreneurs claim it was their “innate drive” that inspired them to start their own business. In other words, they were born an entrepreneur. Of the remaining entrepreneurs surveyed, 21% credited work experience as their motivation for taking the leap, and 16% said they were inspired by the success of others around them. Forty-two percent of these entrepreneurs also said the
Read more: Entrepreneur , Quote

How to Find Investors Online: Follow Their Blogs
2008-03-06 10:08:35
Entrepreneur.com has published an interesting article reporting that entrepreneurs are connecting with venture capitalists on VCs’ blogs – and some start-ups are attracting funding through these new online relationships. For example, Paul Edmondson contacted Will Price of Hummer Winblad via his blog, and this communication resulted in a $2 million investment in his online publishing company, HubPages. Here’s another sign of the importance of blogging in the venture capital world. When looking for a new analyst, early stage VC and prolific blogger Fred Wilson specifically requested “no phone calls, no resumes, no emails” – candidates should only provide a link to their web presence. Social media is having – and will continue to have – a significant impact on the shape
Read more: Investors , Blogs

The 6 Untold Reasons Why Businesses Fail
2008-03-06 08:47:25
There have been many articles written on the subject of why businesses fail, and most of them point to the same reasons, such as: -Inadequate funding -Bad location -Lack of a well thought-out business plan -Poor execution -Bad management -Expanding too quickly -Insufficient marketing or promotion -Inability to adapt to a changing marketplace -Failure to keep overhead costs low -Underestimating competitors These reasons are widespread and no doubt cause many businesses to fail. However, the reason for a company’s failure is not always something so obvious. Here are 6 lesser-known reasons why a business might fail. Why do these reasons remain untold? Simple. Most of the time, the business owner doesn’t realize that these reasons are what caused their failure, and
Read more: Untold , Reasons

Angel Outlook for 2008
2008-03-05 12:27:15
The Angel Capital Association last week released the results of its survey regarding prospects for the startup and angel investment marketplace in 2008. Key results from the survey include: Nearly half of angel groups expect deal flow to improve in both quantity and quality in 2008 A majority of angel investors expect investment activity to either continue at the same level or increase somewhat in 2008 versus 2007, in spite of the prognostications for an overall slowdown of the U.S. economy. 81 percent of organized angel groups planned to invest in between three and nine companies in 2008, with 12 percent of these groups forecasting that they will invest in ten or more companies. The issues of investment exits through acquisitions or public offerings is more mixed for 2008 – with
Read more: Outlook

3/4/08 Recap: What Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Eight Year Olds
2008-03-04 19:40:23
Interesting news and perspectives from around the web: Justin Nowak of YoungGoGetter.com explains the business lessons he’s learned from his eight year old son: An Ability To Forget Bad Things Determination Creativity Loyalty Seth Godin warns us not to trust our own instincts too much. Everybody is different when it comes to persuasion. PureVC discusses the role of trust and promises in causing the recent turmoil in the economy: When Things Have No Worth. Pequot Ventures, a leading NYC venture capital firm, today announced that it is spinning off from Pequot Capital, to form FirstMark Capital in June 2008. read more
Read more: Recap , Entrepreneurs , Eight

Who's the Tiger Woods of Your Industry?
2008-03-04 11:55:40
Tiger Woods is arguably the most skilled golfer to ever live. However, his physical abilities alone are not what make him great. Nike -- one of the companies that sponsor Woods -- once sent Tiger five brand new drivers. The company asked Tiger to test out the drivers and give his feedback. After practicing with each of the clubs, Woods told Nike that he liked “the heaviest one.” The news came as a shock to Nike. Why? Because all of the clubs weighed exactly the same. Or so Nike thought. After re-examining each of the clubs, Nike employees were surprised to learn that one of the clubs outweighed the others by just a couple grams -- or approximately the weight of two dollar bills. (Source: Esquire) Nike had a team of engineers and the best equipment in the world. Wh


3/3/08 Recap: Hollywood Teams Up With Silicon Valley
2008-03-03 19:07:32
The NYTimes broke the news that Silicon Valley has teamed up with Hollywood to launch a digital media fund. More specifically, Accel Partners and Venrock have joined the William Morris Agency -- and AT&T -- to invest in digital media start-up companies in Southern California. The fund will be capitalized with tens of millions of dollars and investments may be as small as $250,000. The focus will be on online technology including social networking, advertising and mobile games. We’re thrilled to see Southern California venture capital investment continue to grow. Other interesting stories from around the web: Scott Shane of SmallBusinessTrends.com analyzed how the presidential candidates would help entrepreneurs. Hillary would give tax credits to small businesses th
Read more: Recap

3/2/08 Recap: Opportunity Costs, "Free" Business Models, Angel Outlook for 2008 -- and More
2008-03-02 13:32:28
This past week saw several interesting blog entries, articles, and reports from the world of entrepreneurship, management, and venture capital. John Tierney of the NY Times wrote an excellent article on opportunity costs and decision making, regarding research on the risks associated with keeping too many options on the table. An interesting observation from Professor Dan Ariely of MIT: “Closing a door on an option is experienced as a loss, and people are willing to pay a price to avoid the emotion of loss.” Chris Anderson wrote a fascinating article, The Rise of the “Free” Business Model. “Once a marketing gimmick, free has emerged as a full-fledged economy,” he writes, citing the success of Radiohead and Google as prime recent examples. Read the article
Read more: Outlook , Recap , Opportunity , Costs

7 Entrepreneurs Whose Perseverance Will Inspire You
2008-02-29 14:10:29
Everyone knows that perseverance is important. You’ve probably heard the quote “If at first you don’t succeed, try again” or seen the commercial that talks about falling down 7 times and standing up 8. The lesson, of course, is that few people achieve anything great without first overcoming a few obstacles. Preaching about the importance of perseverance is easy. Actually experiencing failure and continuing on undeterred; now that’s tough. But the 7 stories below prove that it can be done. These famous entrepreneurs exemplified perseverance. Maybe one of them will inspire you to overcome whatever obstacle is currently standing in your way. Milton Hershey Milton Hershey had a long path to the top of the chocolate industry. Hershey dropped out of school in the 4th
Read more: Entrepreneurs , Perseverance , Inspire

The U.S. Hispanic Market: Untapped Opportunity for Los Angeles Business
2008-02-26 16:29:49
The U.S. Hispanic market, combined with the number of successful small businesses in Los Angeles , means that regardless of the fluctuations of the stock exchanges, opportunities continue to germinate on our doorstep. Companies that create products and services for the U.S. Hispanic Consumers will continue to enjoy impressive growth, increasing revenues and expanding markets. Our optimism on the potential of U.S. Hispanic consumers to be promising partners to enterprises astute enough to provide a range of solutions—from credit cards to Internet connectivity—which embrace the needs and aspirations of U.S. Hispanics, is based on three powerful trends which have transformed 44.3 million U.S. Hispanics from a group long ignored by the majority of American businesses into an empowered a
Read more: Opportunity , Business , Market

The Secrets to Their Success? 25 Quotes From Famous Entrepreneurs
2008-03-12 10:58:05
There is no simple formula for creating a successful business. Luckily, there is an easy way to improve your chances. And that’s by listening to the wisdom of those who have done it already. With that in mind, here are 25 quotes from famous entrepreneurs… INSPIRATION 1) "If you can dream it, you can do it." -Walt Disney, founder of The Walt Disney Company 2) "Business opportunities are like buses, there's always another one coming." -Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Enterprises 3) “Capital isn't that important in business. Experience isn't that important. You can get both of these things. What is important is ideas.” -Harvey Firestone, founder of Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. 4) “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living som
Read more: Secrets , Success , Quotes , Famous , Entrepreneurs

Feasibility Study Lessons from Bette Milder
2008-03-12 00:10:38
As the nation's leading strategic business plan development firm, we speak every week to many entrepreneurs and managers of emerging and middle market businesses seeking our assistance in strategizing, drafting, and packaging business plans. Sometimes, the client has a very clear idea of their business vision, their key value propositions to their core target customers, an understanding of the competitive landscape in which they exist, and their mission critical milestones. More often, however, folks come to Growthink with a great idea, a contagious enthusiasm, and a gut, intuitive "feel" that there is a real opportunity in the marketplace for their business vision. At Growthink we naturally share this enthusiasm, passion and excitement, and are fundamentally eager to di
Read more: Study , Lessons , Bette

7 Ways To Be More Attractive To Lenders
2008-03-13 13:23:12
It's always said that access to funds is the life blood of any company. Going out and securing outside financing to help grow a business is an important step in the life of an emerging organization. Keep in mind, the process of commercial borrowing is best done in preparation for needing the capital, rather than when the request is made in a dire situation. Here are some necessary tips to keep in mind when preparing to seek a loan. 1. Bookkeeping – Install accounting software so you can produce up to the moment financial reports including Balance Statement and Profit Loss Statement. These reports will give the Lender a snapshot of the current financial condition of the company. It also assures that you know enough about accounting to understand the internal cash flows. 2. Cust
Read more: Lenders

Growthink Clients in the News: Click Forensics, DCIP
2008-03-16 16:15:52
Two Growthink clients -- Click Forensics and DCIP -- have been making headlines lately. Click Forensics On Wednesday, Click Forensics announced it had raised $10 Million in Series B funding. Click Forensics had previously raised $5 Million in a Series A round. The round for the Austin company was led by Sierra Ventures of Menlo Park, Calif., and included existing investors Austin Ventures and Shasta Ventures of Menlo Park, Calif. The funds will be used to expand marketing and development efforts for the Austin, Texas-based click fraud detection company. Growthink assisted Click Forensics company management with the refinement and packaging of the company business plan and financial projections model. Read more about the Click Forensics financing here. DCIP Last week, several th
Read more: Clients

The 25 Most Successful Musician-Entrepreneurs
2008-03-19 13:24:25
Many musicians are happy just creating music and enjoying the lifestyle that being a famous musician provides. However, a lot of pop, rap & rock stars have interests beyond music, including a passion for entrepreneurship. Here is a list of the 25 most impressive musician entrepreneurs. While it’s tough to compare people in different fields, here are some of the factors that weighed heavily for these rankings: Success. Diversity. When it comes to musicians, there are certain ventures that are more popular than others (as evidenced by the number of clothing lines you’ll see below). Bonus points for anyone willing to try something unique. The artist’s DIY attitude. In other words: How personally involved are they in these entrepreneurial
Read more: Musician , Entrepreneurs

Landing Page Optimization, Business Planning and Google's Success
2008-03-18 08:30:30
Over the past few weeks, I've spent a lot of time studying a field called Landing Page Optimization . It's a fascinating field that deals with improving landing pages, which are the pages of your website that visitors come to either organically or through paid marketing initiatives. The goal of Landing Page Optimization is to maximize conversions (e.g., sales, newsletter signups, etc.) of these visitors. One of the guiding principles of landing page optimization is that landing pages need to be simple. If there is too much information on the page, the reader gets confused and either clicks the back button or closes the browser. This principle is the same as a guiding principle of business plan development; mainly that the plan, and particularly the executive summary, needs to prese
Read more: Business , Google , Success

The 9 Secrets of Pre-IPO Investing: How To Successfully Invest in Early Stage Companies
2008-03-25 10:50:31
We just released a white paper titled "The 9 Secrets of Pre-IPO Investing ." It provides tips and advice for those looking to make early stage investments in private companies. We're releasing the report in the midst of strong "angel" investing activity in the United States. According to the University of New Hampshire's Center for Venture Research, in 2006, there were approximately 234,000 active individual angel investors and approximately 49,500 private companies which received funding from individual investors. Early stage angel investment can produce stratospheric returns on investment. Our report cites the famous example of Google's first private investor, Andy Bechtolsheim, who wrote a $100,000 check to Google in 1998 when it was an early stage private compa
Read more: Stage , Companies

Growthink Client in the News: DCIP
2008-03-16 16:15:52
Last week, several theater chains and studios announced they were nearing an estimated $1.1 billion financing deal to upgrade cinemas to digital technology. This investment is expected to boost attendance and save Hollywood billions of dollars in various annual print and delivery costs. "We're hopeful that in the second quarter we will get it all arranged," said Travis Reid, chief executive of Digital Cinema Implementation Partners (DCIP). DCIP is a joint venture between Regal Entertainment Group, Cinemark Holdings Inc and AMC Entertainment Inc. Growthink assisted in the development of the strategic business plan for the joint venture. Read more about DCIP and digital cinema technology here and here. read more
Read more: Client

Baseball and the Science of Effective Business Building
2008-04-02 11:17:34
Over the last thirty years, baseball statistician Bill James has revolutionized the way that players, managers and fans think about statistics in baseball. By carefully analyzing statistics, James has dispelled numerous myths and has shifted the Boston Red Sox management’s decision-making process from one based on intuition and “gut” to a rigorously fact-based approach. What has been the result? After decades of loss and heartbreak, the Red Sox have won two World Series Championships in the past 5 years. Bill James’ analyses have dispelled many myths and have helped both the Red Sox and much of the industry focus on proven measures of performance. For example, James was a leading force in emphasizing the significance of on-base percentage over a player’s batting average. O
Read more: Science , Business , Building

20 Reasons Why You Need a Business Plan
2008-04-09 10:24:01
1. To prove that you’re serious about your business. A formal business plan is necessary to show all interested parties -- employees, investors, partners and yourself -- that you are committed to building the business. 2. To establish business milestones. The business plan should clearly lay out the long-term milestones that are most important to the success of your business. To paraphrase Guy Kawasaki, a milestone is something significant enough to come home and tell your spouse about (without boring him or her to death). Would you tell your spouse that you tweaked the company brochure? Probably not. But you'd certainly share the news that you launched your new website or reached $1M in annual revenues. 3. To better understand your competition. Creating the business plan forces you t
Read more: Reasons , Business , Business Plan

Ideas That Spread, Win
2008-04-09 09:15:35
Seth Godin’s Purple Cow has a relatively simple premise that new products need to be truly remarkable in order to succeed. His book is packed with great examples and insights. In this video, Godin starts off by explaining the failure of the sliced bread machine and explaining that ideas that spread, win. Worth watching: read more
Read more: Spread

How to Write a Business Plan for Raising Venture Capital
2008-04-16 12:14:26
Are you looking to raise venture capital? You need a good idea – and an excellent business plan. Business planning and raising venture capital go hand-in-hand. A business plan is required for attracting venture capital. And the desire to raise capital (whether from an individual “angel” investor or a venture capital firm) is often the key motivator in the business planning process. But how exactly will your business plan persuade investors to sign a check? This article provides advice on how to position each section of the business plan for an investor audience. These tips draw on Growthink’s decade of experience consulting to start-ups in the business planning and capital raising process. Executive Summary Goal of the executive summary: Stimulate and motivate the
Read more: Write , Raising , Venture , Business Plan

13 Costly Feasibility Study Mistakes ...And How To Avoid Them
2008-04-23 16:09:27
To make your new venture succeed -- whether you are creating a new product, constructing a hotel, or developing a community center -- you must convince investors and/or management to fund your initiatives. Feasibility studies play a critical role in this early planning and fundraising process. A feasibility study is a detailed investigation and research analysis of a proposed venture or development project. The purpose of a feasibility study is to determine whether it is technically and financially feasible to move forward with a new project. An effective feasibility study demonstrates the following: That your ideas are sound That there is a need for your venture That your execution plan is practical To help you navigate through the feasibility study development process, w
Read more: Study , Avoid

Video: How to Write an Executive Summary
2008-04-30 11:51:26
Watch the first installation of our new Business Plan Video series. This video, "How to Write an Executive Summary ," provides advice on how to create a compelling executive summary for your business plan.     Watch More Business Plan Videos Visit Growthink's Business Plan Help Center read more


New Business Plan Video Section on Growthink.com
2008-04-30 11:44:44
We are proud to announce the launch of the Growthink Business Plan Video section within our Business Plan Help Center. These videos walk you through each section of the business plan, providing expert tips and advice on how to construct your business plan to better stimulate, engage, and impress your audience. Watch our new Business Plan Videos Visit the Business Plan Help Center read more
Read more: Section

Martin Conroy's Billion Dollar Story
2008-04-30 11:28:46
On a beautiful late spring afternoon, twenty-five years ago, two young men graduated from the same college. They were very much alike, these two young men. Both had been better than average students, both were personable and both - as young college graduates are - were filled with ambitious dreams for the future. Recently, these men returned to their college for their 25th reunion. They were still very much alike. Both were happily married. Both had three children. And both, it turned out, had gone to work for the same Midwestern manufacturing company after graduation, and were still there. But there was a difference. One of the men was manager of a small department of that company. The other was its president. What Made The Difference? Have you ever wondered, as I have, what makes th
Read more: Martin , Dollar , Billion Dollar

The Importance of Educational Marketing
2008-05-07 10:36:37
There are many companies that can thrive following the tried and true methods of traditional marketing initiatives. If you are one of those companies, it makes sense to place yourself in the most familiar arenas, where potential customers expect to see you. That is, if your intention is to compete with Coca-Cola for mindshare, it is probably in your best interest to utilize bold advertisements in print and television media. But many other companies are learning that traditional approaches are no longer sufficient to convey their message and effectively convert the casual shopper into a paying customer or even better, a brand evangelist. It used to be that you could distinguish your company through lowest prices or a sparkling slogan. Now, however, these old silver bullets will barely l
Read more: Educational , Marketing

Writing the Company Analysis Section of Your Business Plan
2008-05-07 10:16:56
This video teaches you how to create an effective company analysis section that will educate investors about your company’s history, past accomplishments, and unique qualifications.    
Read more: Analysis , Section , Business

We Just Made $94 Billion Dollars... Now What?
2008-05-13 16:38:04
Q: We just made $94 billion dollars this year. What should we do next? A: Create a new business plan. It's never too late to update your business plan. Car manufacturer Nissan (NASDAQ: NSANY) demonstrated that fact this morning when they announced a new five-year business plan. With a projected mix of market expansion, cutting-edge technologies, and growing product lines, Nissa


Business Plan Video: How to Write the Industry Analysis Section
2008-05-13 16:21:45
This video teaches you how to create a convincing Industry Analysis section for your business plan that demonstrates a real need for your new product or service.      
Read more: Business , Write , Section , Business Plan

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