-
Search this blog
Archives
-
Recent Posts
Categories
Category Archives: Ignition! Starting up
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
The thrill of the adventure!
There is nothing quite as thrilling in business as igniting a startup and watching it blossom. Especially when starting a company with personal savings or money from relatives and friends, early signs of success are intoxicating. Each new customer, each … Continue reading
Posted in Ignition! Starting up
5 Comments
Find your rock in Ensenada. An encore.
This week, for the first time, we republish an earlier post. With readership up three-fold since that posting in April, 2011, and with many great reader comments then, it is only natural to send you to the original post with … Continue reading
Find your rock in Ensenada.
Every entrepreneur has that moment of truth – the one that marks the decision to take the path to entrepreneurship or the path to job security with a larger employer. And down the road a bit, most of us face … Continue reading
Posted in Ignition! Starting up
10 Comments
Outside directors are a price of investment.
Once a company founder has tapped the funds available from his or her resources and from friends and family, if the company needs more cash for growth, the most obvious next step is to look for money from angel … Continue reading
Posted in Growth!, Ignition! Starting up, Raising money
Leave a comment
Equity is the currency of early stage businesses.
Equity is the currency of early stage businesses. The truth of this statement may be obvious, but the execution of a good incentive program using equity is often mismanaged, damaging the corporate capitalization structure and even affecting the outcome … Continue reading
Everything changes from concept to release! (And another story…)
You can take “everything changes” as a rule, not an exception. You’ll recognize the truism, “No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy” first stated by German Field Marshall von Moltke in the 19th century. This variant of … Continue reading
Raise cash from trusted, close resources first.
This insight follows closely the conclusions from the previous declaration, that professional investors negotiate tough terms, from provisions of control over asset acquisition, eventual sale of the company, future investments, forced co-sale when others attempt to sell their shares and … Continue reading
Posted in Ignition! Starting up, Raising money
9 Comments
Your budget and forecast light your goal.
Let’s spend a few moments defining a sometimes confusing set of terms. A budget should be created each year as a result of a series of negotiations between departmental managers and their superiors through to the CEO, all in … Continue reading
Posted in Growth!, Ignition! Starting up
Leave a comment
