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Nathan Beckord Articles

Written by: Nathan Beckord

5 Reasons Why You Need To Build A Financial Model For Your Startup - Click To Read Article
To be successful, entrepreneurs and startup founders need to have a good handle on their business. The best way to do this is to build a financial model, which will give greater insight into your company. It will also make your startup more attractive to venture capital investors, lenders, or angel investors.

3 Key Factors For Raising Capital - Click To Read Article
Raising venture capital is hard. Statistics show that only 2 to 5% of startups successfully get their business plans funded by VCs. One of the main reasons startups are not able to raise capital is because they approach investors before they are really ready-- i.e., before they are "venture worthy." This article discusses three key factors that will help improve your chances of getting funded.

Positioning Your Company For The Next Big Boom - Social Media, Business Plan, Network Strategies - Click To Read Article
Economic slowdowns are an ideal time to work on the fundamentals of your business-- including your business plan, your social media strategy, and your personal network-- in order to prepare your company for the next boom. Here are several tips to help you lay the foundation now so you will be poised for growth when the market recovers.

Early Stage Startup Finance: What You Need Is Dumb Money - Click To Read Article
Many startups seeking angel capital aren't actually far enough along from a development perspective to be attractive to early stage investors. In essence, there is an entrepreneurial myth that angels invest in concepts or ideas. This is rarely the case- angels typically want to see some level of progress being made with the business before getting seriously interested. So what does a cash-strapped entrepreneur do to get off the ground? They raise what is called a "friends and family" round. This article discusses the attributes of this type of seed stage investing, and provides some tips for putting together a viable deal.

Business Plan Outline for Startups: A Simple, Time-Tested Format For Strategic Planning and Raising Capital - Click To Read Article
Business plans are more than just a written document-- they are a way of capturing and honing your business strategy, eliminating risks, and understanding the market and competition. This is an example of a business plan outline used at VentureArchetypes. This format has been used by startups raising venture capital, angel capital, and bank loans. It is a simple and adaptable business plan outline that covers the key areas.

Startup Valuation: 3 Tips For Putting A Price On Your Company - Click To Read Article
When raising angel or venture capital, startup founders are often concerned with questions about the valuation of their company. Putting a value on an early stage company-- especially one with very little or no revenue and negative cash flow-- is difficult to do, since most traditional valuation methods do not work well for startups. In this article, we discuss how startup companies are valued by investors and how you should set a valuation range when dealing with seed, angel, or VC investors.

Four Types of Highly Effective Business Plans - Click To Read Article
Business plans are not just for start-ups raising capital. Writing a business plan-- or more accurately, the process of strategic planning, using the business plan as a framework-- has many applications for both early stage companies just starting out, as well as for mature firms who are seeking to grow, improve, or diversify their businesses. In this article, we talk about four powerful types of business plans: the Feasibility Plan, Operating Plan, Expansion Plan, and Joint Venture Plan, and we delve into the key characteristics and uses of each.

7 Reasons Your Startup Will Fail (And Lessons Learned From Those Who Succeed) - Click To Read Article
Whether a startup succeeds or fails is often the result of internal traits found in a company's culture. In this article, we have identified the most common elements or "predictors" of failure, as well as the contrasting traits found in startups who succeed. Topics include: Culture of Urgency vs. Culture of Slow, Aiming for Perfection, Paranoia, 'Build It And They Will Come', Planning vs. Action, and Genetic Makeup of Team.

Is Your Start-up Company Truly Ready for Business Development? - Click To Read Article
Business development-- defined as strategic partnerships, sales channel and reseller relationships, and other joint marketing and sales efforts-- can be an excellent way for start-ups and other small companies to grow their business faster and more efficiently. However, along with the benefits of doing a business development deal come many changes and trade-offs. In this article, we look at two key criteria for business development success: we argue that start-ups must be both 'operationally' and 'organizationally' capable of executing on a deal for the partnership to be a success.

Startup Business Development Strategies – How To Avoid Unproductive Deals - Click To Read Article
Startup business development includes strategic marketing partnerships, sales channel development, and distribution agreements, generally with larger firms in the space. It can be a highly effective way for startups to grow rapidly; indeed, a business development deal can become a "company maker" for a young start-up. However, building a successful deal takes a significant amount of time and effort. Further, the process is often fraught with risks, such as management distraction and intellectual property theft. To be effective, and to mitigate risks, startups should put each contemplated business development deal through a rigorous screening process before embarking on the negotiation path. We call this "finding the WIIFT-- what's in it for them" and in this article, we discuss how to go about it.





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