In two of my online classes I have the students play the role of angels deciding if they want to invest in a (fictitious) company. In the simulation the students are all angels, members of the same angel group, and a the deal before them is being championed by several of their peers from the [...]
Remember your executive summary and/or elevator pitch and/or slide deck is one of dozens or hundreds a potential funder will look at. EVERYTHING you write/say needs to help differentiate you from the other exec sums being looked at. Remember, when seeking funding your competitors are not the other companies selling stuff like you – they [...]
In my course that teaches the “flavors of capital” we of course start with Friends and Family. This is by far the largest source of funding for startups. Below are links to a video that walks you through a quick, inside view of how this flavor of capital operates, what incentives are at work, and [...]
Crowdfunding – the art of getting a little money from each of a LOT of people – is a rapidly growing trend. It is changing what is possible for raw startups. Here is a brief video describing this new flavor of capital that I put together for one of my courses. Love your input if [...]
I just had a pleasant meeting with the good people from Open Square… Open Square is zero net energy mixed-use urban community of businesses in the heart of Holyoke‘s Innovation District. Open Square allows you to green your business practices in beautifully designed, attractively priced commercial office and retail space, weddings and corporate events, photo [...]
Several of you kindly requested to view the syllabus for the new online course I am teaching this summer: Intro to entrepreneurship for non-business majors (BDIC 397E). The course is a bit different from most. There is no textbook to buy ! Content is provided through short video lectures and links to excellent online resources. [...]
There are many videos & web resources with tips on how to specifically design your pitch, slide-by-slide, to attract investors. Here are some I have found helpful: ). Then there are folks like Presentation Zen who think about the big picture of presentations in general. And for my summer courses I created something in between, [...]
Funders are overwhelmed with applications. So overwhelmed they often allocate only 15-30 seconds to the initial review of each applicant… and based on that brief review they disqualify 50-75% of them! Those of you who have followed my blog and twitter feed see my own examples of this – simple mistakes people make that get [...]
If you are planning on entering a business plan competition, nothing beats getting a preview of what it will be like. This video captures the 2010 UC Davis Business Plan competition finals round in its entirety. See people pitch, see how judges respond. From the YouTube page you can also find videos of past years’ [...]
When I attended my first entrepreneurship education event, my question was the same as most of the students I have now… "What is the step-by-step process for raising money?" Of course there is no one exact answer, but I hate it when people cop out like that! So I have found a high-level pattern that [...]
