Competition & differentiation – Startup Briefs post #14
Few folks come to me having done extensive competitive analysis about their idea/product. What ensues goes something like this: “What do you know about the competition?” I ask. “Oh, what I do is different?” the young entrepreneur...
Stock options, post #13, “Startup Briefs”
Too many entrepreneurs don’t understand stock options: how they work, when to issue them, and to whom. Let’s demystify stock options. What you need to understand at first is that stock options are an alternative to regular stock...
Intellectual property, post #12 of “Startup Briefs”
It drives me crazy that entrepreneurs don’t know the difference between patents, copyrights, trade secrets, and trademarks/service marks. How could you be so uneducated? More startup legal issues; this time intellectual property....
Legal issues, post #11 of “Startup Briefs”
One of the first thing that inexperienced entrepreneurs want to do is actually start the company, which means form the legal entity. I counsel them to wait until they need to do this. At the beginning you need to do this if you...
Networking: what, how, who, and where? Post #10 of “Startup Briefs”
Networking: what, how, who, and where? post #10 of “Startup Briefs” Most people have no idea how to network or why it’s important. But for entrepreneurs, establishing a strong network is not a nice-to-have but a must-have. This...
Value proposition, post #9 of “Startup Briefs”
As the school year gets underway, and I prep for practical, outside the classroom entrepreneurial education, I am reminded of the importance of value proposition. Sometimes that term gets bandied about as part of...
Funding: wrap up and conclusions, post #8 of “Startup Briefs”
Remember that funding being like painting a room. The fact is, painting is the last step – after sanding, repairing holes, sanding again, primer, etc. This analogy is applicable to funding for first-time entrepreneurs because you...
Funding: structure, post #7 of “Startup Briefs”
Raising money for a startup is hard. It takes a long time. It is distracting, meaning that you might not advance your business since you will be spending so much time fundraising. And, finally, you may not be successful, in which...
3×3: Experts on funding
Last week, the University of Pittsburgh’s student accelerator, Blast Furnace (run by my colleague Greg Coticchia) teams heard from three experts on funding early stage companies. The Blast Furnace is the University of...
Funding, the nitty gritty, post #6 of “Startup Briefs”
If you are going to take other people’s money, then you also have to know about investment structure. Will the investment be structured as debt? Equity? Convertible Debt? What about dilution? What’s the value of my company? How...