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- No surprises! Good advice for all of us.
- Take this test to predict your success:
- To directors and advisors: “Noses in; fingers OUT!”
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- Fight for balance on your board!
- Your need for a board grows with complexity.
- Your board should protect you!
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Category Archives: Ignition! Starting up
Big corporations are just slow to act.
By David Steakley This week, David Steakley returns for another bite at the corporate apple, with just the right amount of tart comments that will keep this document legal for now. Read on! – DB How do you judge a … Continue reading
Do you have that entrepreneurial DNA?
My immediate family members were entrepreneurs from as far back as I can trace. Dad was a jeweler, then a furniture store owner. Mom wrote books and articles from her college days until she could no longer see the keyboard. … Continue reading
Posted in Ignition! Starting up
3 Comments
The Berkus Method: Valuing an Early Stage Investment.
The Berkus Method was updated in November, 2016, and is available here… For those of us who’ve invested in early stage companies, especially technology startups, we have confronted a universal problem. There are many ways to project the value of … Continue reading
Posted in Ignition! Starting up, Raising money
17 Comments
Address the five risks to increase your valuation.
In the creation of a new enterprise, there are five principal risks to be addressed by the entrepreneur. Professional investors will probe these five risk areas and make the decision to invest based upon comfort with each. So it is … Continue reading
Consider all resources before seeking investment.
I cannot tell you how many times I have seen executive summaries of business plans in which the entrepreneur seeks $5,000,000 to build the business. First, few startups can use that much money today with all of the virtual services … Continue reading
Posted in Ignition! Starting up, Raising money
3 Comments
Watch out for the gray areas in non-competes.
What if you are the seller of a previous business or shares amounting to more than an insignificant percentage of a previous business? Certainly the buyer’s asset purchase documents included a non-compete clause, usually valid for two years from … Continue reading
Fail fast!
Professional investors want to live by this rule. With the first round of funding, there should be milestones to be achieved. If they are not achieved within the expected time, the reasons must be analyzed and acted upon to avoid … Continue reading
Entrepreneurs: Do it your way.
Yes, this is a takeoff from Frank Sinatra’s song, where he did it his way and got away with it. You’re building a company from your vision and a passion, and lots of people are going to tell you that … Continue reading
The Fifty Percent Startup Rule
Fifty percent of all businesses formed fail within the first two years. There are many variations of this number since there are a number of ways to measure failure. But the number is a startling reminder that creating a business … Continue reading
Posted in Ignition! Starting up
1 Comment
Good hearts finish first.
People argue over whether an entrepreneur with a sense of fairness, a desire for collegiality, a want to share the profits can succeed in the long run within a business world full of lions and tigers that eat timid entrepreneurs … Continue reading
Posted in Ignition! Starting up
9 Comments