Helping to raise business investment for UK entrepreneurs Investing in start-ups and early stage businesses involves risks, including illiquidity, lack of dividends, loss of investment and dilution, and it should be done only as part of a diversified portfolio. Crowdcube is targeted exclusively at investors who are sufficiently sophisticated to understand these risks and make their own investment decisions. You will only be able to invest via Crowdcube once you are registered as sufficiently sophisticated.
Projecting Online Advertising for Business Plans As a consultant to tech startups, I’ve seen entrepreneurs planning online ventures confused when it comes to projecting advertising revenue. Having done ad projections with the benefit of live models from which to extract real data, I offer the following guidelines on how you can calculate revenue projections for your business plan. Baseline Criteria: Let’s assume that for Year One you will only use third-party ad-serving networks, instead of direct selling. 37 New Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed What better way to end Social Media Week than by catching up on all of the new Mashable digital media resources you may have missed? This week we've covered a special hack to trick out your Pinterest boards, ways for your business to avoid a hashtag disaster and a rundown of the tech skills companies are looking for in the coming year. You'll also find the 10 best digital and tech-related quotes from TED Talks, reasons why Twitter is sexier than Facebook and paradoxes that are shaping the future of mobile commerce. We even had a wedding proposal via infographic on Valentine's Day! Look no further for this week's very best resources on technology and digital culture.
The Anatomy of a YC Pitch The other night I had an opportunity to attend Demo Day at Y Combinator. It was a fantastic full frontal assault of entrepreneurial energy. 43 pitches, 2 min each back to back for well over 2 hours. It was clear from the outset that these teams were trained to give a certain kind of pitch with their allotted time. For those who didn’t get the chance to attend, I thought a peek into the anatomy of a Demo Day pitch might be helpful or at least entertaining. So here goes: Slide #1: The elevator pitch. Learn how to raise money online with GoFundMe! Create Your Site An easy way to tell your story and attract support. Share with Friends Built-in online fundraising tools make it easy to invite others. Collect Online Donations You instantly receive each donation in real-time.
Employee Equity: How Much? The most common comment in this long and complicated MBA Mondays series on Employee Equity is the question of how much equity should you grant when you make a hire. I am going to try to address that question in this post. First, a caveat. How to name your startup Choosing a name is one of the parts of a startup I find the most difficult. It’s also something you can easily get hung up on. We all know that the key thing is to move on to actually building something we can put in front of users. Here are 3 steps I would take if I was naming a new startup:
Social Entrepreneur Funding Series: Crowdfunding Your Startup This series is sponsored by Entrepreneurs for a Change, a blog the best entrepreneur interviews and awesome business ideas. Finding funding can be one of the biggest challenges for social entrepreneurs. Fortunately, there is a growing number of options for social entrepreneurs looking for capital to start or expand their social enterprise, green business, or non-profit organization and do more good in the world. Funding Your Social Enterprise With Crowdfunding