I was glad to be asked about common mistakes with financial projections. I read about 100 business plans a year for angel investment and business plan competitions. Most show unrealistic profitability. More people doing business plans should realize that most startups are unprofitable at the beginning; and that high growth correlates with losses, not profits. […]
New Conversational Commerce App Increases Online Sales
Is “conversational commerce” the next big improvement in online shopping? I hope so. I’m closely following the success of the new Octane AI conversational commerce app. It was announced this week along with convincing data on significant sales increases it generated by actual users. It works with Shopify, the shopping cart platform used by half a million […]
Infographic: Branding for Small Business and Startups
My thanks to customlabels.net for this useful infographic on brand identity for small business. Earlier in my career I consulted for Apple Computer. I watched how zealously they guarded all the details of the big brand identity. It’s refreshing to see in this infographic some useful tips for minding branding for small business and startups.
10 Business Plan Myths That Hurt Your Business
The need for good business planning is as strong as ever, and the potential benefits are as important as ever. Every business owner ought to have a business plan. But the best strategies for business planning are different than they used to be. And these 10 pervasive business plan myths get in the way, much […]
5 Secrets of Creating a Great Business Team
My favorite five secrets of a great business team? This list came to me first as an answer to the question how do you build a great business team on Quora. These five points aren’t something from the business school curriculum. They come from the experience of actually doing it, recruiting a team and growing a business […]
Business Plan Events and Why They Matter
(Note: I posted this earlier this week on the SBA Industry Word blog. It’s reposted here for your convenience.) What do you think of when you hear the phrase “business plan?” Does that bring to mind a formal document that starts with a summary and includes modules describing your business’s products, market, strategy, team, and essential […]
Top 10 Pitch Fails
I was asked recently for a list of things that annoy me in angel investment pitches from startups. I’ve done this before, so there will be some duplication here. But here is my top 10 pitch fails list. Profits. Talk of profits, overestimated profits, the failure to understand that investors make money on growth, not […]
Infographic: Online Marketing 2018
My thanks to Bristol Strategy for this infographic. It strikes me as a good summary of the fundamental concepts, much like an online marketing primer for 2018.
22 Good Reasons to Write a Business Plan
Question: What are some of the main arguments for writing a business plan? Here are 20 good reasons to write a business plan. Please note, however, that a business plan is not necessarily a traditional formal business plan. It ought to be a LEAN BUSINESS PLAN that gets reviewed and revised often. It ought not to be […]
What are the Normal Steps for Angel Investment?
Question: What are the normal steps for angel investment? What’s involved in submitting a business plan? I decided to answer this question here because I see it so often in email and in question and answer sites on the web, especially Quora, which is where I first saw it and answered it. Yes you do need […]
