Start-up Myths Exploded

Posted in Uncategorized
By David Kaplan -
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Do economic cycles of boom and bust affect the number of start-ups? Most analysts have linked entrepreneurial activity to economic growth as though it was a given … and conversely, believed that when recession struck, start-up activity slowed substantially.  A recent study by the Ewing Marion Kaufman Foundation concludes that both theories are pure bunk.  […]

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We have no Competition

Posted in Business Plan Tips, Entrepreneurship, strategy
By David Kaplan -
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Entrepreneurs sometimes think it is great idea to claim that they have no competition.  They suppose that investors will be impressed with the originality of their business idea and its potential to make money where there are no pesky competitors to take market share.  Don’t ever write that in a business plan.  Nothing could be […]

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Chinese Math

Posted in Business Plan Tips, Marketing
By David Kaplan -
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At the peak of Silicon Valley ‘s bubble, back in January of 2000, Guy Kawasaki wrote an irreverent article for Forbes Magazine about the poor quality of business plans that inexperienced entrepreneurs were submitting to venture capitalists back in those days.  The article notes a number of common mistakes, most articulated in Guy’s signature tongue-in-cheek style, but […]

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The Venture Quest

Posted in Venture Capital
By David Kaplan -
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Many start-ups literally spend years chasing venture capital funding. Now, sometimes that perseverance makes sense, but often it does not. Still, once an entrepreneur has decided that her enterprise is suited to VC investment it can be difficult if not impossible to change her mind.

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Look at Your Venture as an Investor Would

Posted in Business Plan Tips, Entrepreneurship
By David Kaplan -
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When you buy candy, you think of it as something sweet. When you sell candy you think of it as a product. A similar dynamic is at play when entrepreneurs write business plans, except that all too often it works backwards. The seller (entrepreneur) sees the sweet upside and the potential investor views the risk […]

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