photo credit: teresawer
There has been a recent wave of websites and TV shows about people starting their own business and following that path from bright idea and individual entrepreneur to small business start-up and then potentially to multinational, depending on the product or service. But what kind of audience are they broadcasting to? Well, it turns out a lot of us Brits want to start up our own small business. According to Business Link, over 10 million of us would like to start up our own business at some point.
So the encouragement is there and let’s face it, a lot of us like to be the boss. However, the whole process is easier said than done. The people who took part in the survey were asked what the main obstacle to starting up their own company was. Many cited financial concerns, be it the current UK financial climate or perhaps their own overdrafts, mortgages and debts. How would they cope if they started, but couldn’t generate enough initial funding to keep it going? After all, they’ve got the idea, the business plan, the desire, and maybe even a few colleagues. But how do they find the right people? Continue reading ‘Finding Investors For Your Start Up Business Ideas’
photo credit: A. www.viajar24h.com
You’ll almost certainly need to raise money to start up your company, unless you already have sufficient capital yourself. The typical costs of starting up are in obtaining premises, manufacturing your product if you have one, buying materials, stock or equipment, marketing and fees for external consultancy such as legal help, accountancy etc. Then when you’re off the ground, you’ll need working capital to keep you afloat in the gaps between paying your own invoices and receiving payment from customer invoices.
Again, your business plan is essential at this stage of setting up your business. In it you will already have scoped out what your money needs are and how you plan to raise the capital, and you’ll be using it to persuade potential investors and lenders of the benefits of funding your company. Your financial calculations in your business plan therefore need to be thorough and accurate and presented with confidence.
Everyone expects that they’ll be able to stick to their plans and only need to borrow the absolute minimum, but more often than not something unexpected crops up to throw a spanner in the works. Continue reading ‘How Do I Obtain Capital To Invest In My Business Start Up’
photo credit: sergeant killjoy
Do you treat your patents as a fence or a tollbooth? If you wish for your start-up technology company to obtain investment from or acquisition by a bigger player, you had better understand the difference.
Most start-up technology company entrepreneurs and CEO’s understand that patents can be key to establishing the value of a new business idea. Typically, entrepreneurs and CEO’s such as yourself will engage patent attorneys to build an IP portfolio that protects the start-up’s technology and products to the fullest extent possible. The motivation for this effort and expense is, of course, to to protect your start-up’s idea from use by others. As management of a start-up you may be seeking to build an ongoing business around the patented technology, but often the goal of building a solid patent portfolio is to make your business an attractive target for investment or acquisition by a larger company. Continue reading ‘Start-ups – If Your Goal is Investment Or Acquisition by a Big Company You Are Patenting Wrong’
photo credit: A. www.viajar24h.comThe number one issue on the plate for nearly everyone is the economic meltdown that occurred in 2008 and is carrying through to 2009. Although we here bad news in the media, most don’t describe the really ugly things occurring.
The Banks
2008 was a bad year for banks. Given what you hear on the news, most of us would think things were calming down. They are not. If anything, they are worse. For instance, are you area that regional banks are failing at a rate of more than one a week? How about the fact the federal government cranked $165 billion dollars into the 8 biggest American banks, but they still lost $418 billion in value? The latest estimates place the total capitalization of all banks in the US at 1.8 trillion dollars. That’s not bad until you realize the latest estimate of bad debt in the industry is 3.6 trillion dollars. Continue reading ‘The Economic Meltdown You Are Not Hearing About’
photo credit: David Boyle in DC
How one writes a business plan in recessionary economy works differently. One needs to approach the business plan from a different perspective. And one must make special efforts to avoid errors that in a good economy one would conveniently get away with.
Fortunately, one can do several simple things to write a better, more realistic business plan in a recession:
Recession Business Planning Idea #1: De-grandiose-ize the Plan
In a frothy economy, one can find it easy to get over-excited about an opportunity or venture. And, in a sense, that’s may be good. Excitement, optimism and confidence can be contagious. Continue reading ‘How to Write a Good Business Plan During a Bad Recession’
photo credit: jking89
Unless you happen to be planning to establish a charitable, non-profit organization of some type, the main reason why you may be interested in starting a business is to make a living or build wealth from the endeavor. For many people, the desire to “be your own boss” and escape from the shackles of traditional employment is part of the motivation, but the bottom line usually comes down to wanting some form of business financial success so that you are not living from paycheck to paycheck.
One of the most important things that you will do in your quest to enjoy business related financial success is to have a clear, detailed, and realistic business plan that will lay out a map for your progress in your new business. A well-done business plan will include financial projections, working capital management objectives, cash flows analysis, industry and competition analysis, a profile to target customers or a specific audience, and an outline of organizational and asset management ideas. Continue reading ‘Business Financial Success Comes With Proper Planning’
