How planning is done today Most entrepreneurs and managers, when modeling their business operations using a spreadsheet, start with expected revenue by month. Then they calculate cost of sales, and then project their expenses, to find the bottom-line profit or loss each projected month. One way to think for tomorrow There is a rarely used twist […]
Dave Berkus
Please don’t overestimate your audience’s knowledge
Ask the important question first When making a presentation to a new audience, the smart thing to do, if there is an opportunity, is to ask your audience by show of hands, if they have some knowledge of your industry or space. And if you are making a one-to-one presentation, don’t start without a conversation about […]
Raising money? Find your champion.
Increasing your chances of success If you seek funds from an organized investment group such as an angel fund, venture capital entity, or even an investment club, the first thing you want to do is to find one person to buy into your vision, become excited by your enthusiasm and be willing to become the […]
Have You Heard the Rule of the Thirds?
It starts with sharing the opportunity and upside Think of startups and early stage businesses whose entrepreneurs you know. How many of them, particularly in technology, were able to start a company, supply all the funding, and share no management tasks or equity with others, and still grow the company to any significant size, worthy of […]
Financing with grants, not equity or debt
First, an example of grant-based financing I was chairman of a company that, for twelve years never took a dollar of outside investment. The company was funded entirely by grants from the National Institute of Health, amounting to millions of non-dilutive dollars in all. The company created a product that could be […]
Use Creative Fundraising Instead of Equity or Debt
First, my story as an example Let me tell you the story of how I raised $100,000 to fill a gap needed to purchase a new home for my young family years ago. I had located a beautiful home that would be a stretch to finance and had arranged for a first mortgage from the […]
Remember These 3 Essential Things for Your Business Plan
Here’s some insider advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, from professional investors. Each of us has a list of things we look for early on when identifying whether we want to go to the next step in analyzing a plan. Come to think of it, these are good for challenging any business plan. Size of your total […]
Don’t Innovate From Want–Do It From Need
Most innovations come from responding to a customer’s needs, or finding a niche where products need improvement or extension. It is rare to innovate using a blank sheet of paper in a room with bare walls and no other contributors. A thought exercise Imagine the room in which several graduate business school student groups have […]
Is It Your Brilliant Plan or Your Execution?
“Everybody’s got a plan – until they are punched in the face” – boxer Mike Tyson Mike Tyson: brilliant business savant My experience personally reviewing over three hundred executive summaries each year, all sent to me unsolicited, seems to bear out the truth in Tyson’s statement. Anyone can build a good – or great – […]
Create a Great Product – the 3-Step Dance Method
Can you create a product in a vacuum? Creating a new product in a relative vacuum is an exercise in complete trust that you know what’s best for the customer, perhaps even without interaction with such a customer. It’s probably happened, but not often enough to trust this method as a formula for success. The […]
