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financing

Creative Financing Can be Sweet

May 28, 2010 by Barbara Weltman with 470 views

Despite improvements in the economy, SMBs still find it challenging to raise capital. A recent Capital One survey found that about 70% of small businesses were able to access the credit or financing they needed during the first quarter of this year. But not all companies have obtained the funding they need. The SBA has again run out of... [read more]

The "Trickle Down" Economic Recovery

April 27, 2010 by Steve King with 361 views

The economy continues to improve and economists are becoming more optimistic about near term economic growth and job creation.  Data from several sources is showing that smaller small businesses are starting to see the effects of the recovery.  The April Discover Small Business Watch, a survey of firms with fewer than 5... [read more]

1 Billion Pageviews: A Big Time Web Service

April 21, 2010 by Fred Wilson with 125 views

Yesterday our portfolio company Tumblr announced that they had quietly done a round of financing with the existing investors. And they also announced that the Tumblr service is serving over 1bn pageviews per month. I thought it might be useful to put 1bn pageviews in perspective. I went into comScore and looked at how many web... [read more]

11 elements of a great business plan pitch

May 8, 2009 by David Ronick with 356 views

Your business plan pitch deck should cover the following topics. In some cases, you can change the order around, and /or use more than one slide for each element, but make sure to cover them all. 1. Strong team. (You’ve got the right people for the challenge.)2. Attractive market. (The market has the right size, growth and trends.)3.... [read more]

Bootstrapping the Munchhausen way

February 11, 2008 by TanyaAthannassova with 132 views

Looking at the opportunities that startup companies have all around the world makes me feel envious. Very envious. Starting our own company in Bulgaria back in 1995, only some six years after the fall of communism there, was quite an experience. I would love to make you actually “feel” the reality we had to deal with then but I am... [read more]

Silicon Flatirons Roundtables

November 28, 2007 by Brad Feld with 79 views

I sponsor a roundtable series titled The Silicon Flatirons Roundtable on Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Public Policy.  It is hosted four times a year by The Silicon Flatirons Program at CU Boulder and is modeled after the Union Square Ventures Sessions.   We pick a topic and then get 30 or so smart and diverse... [read more]

Business Owner's Toolkit

November 1, 2007 by Bud Bilanich with 69 views

I was reading Fortune Small Business magazine the other day, and I came across a mention of the Business Owner’s Toolkit website (www.toolkit.com).  I’ve mentioned this site before, but I’m bringing it up again here because I think it’s a site that every small business owner and/or entrepreneur should have bookmarked. For example,... [read more]

A step-by-step guide to starting up

October 17, 2007 by Matt Rogers with 50 views

Ok, so you’ve got an idea, you’ve got a limited budget and you want to start your own company. To keep control of costs you’ve decided to off-shore the development. Now what do you do? How do you go from idea to launched system? In this post I’ll detail your first steps towards launch. By the end of it you’ll know how to build a mock-up... [read more]

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