Writing for B5 Media – Come on over to Startup Spark

May 1, 2007

Hello all, just wanted to let you know that I have been offered an opportunity to write for a great blog on the B5 Media Network.
The blog is called Startup Spark and is similar to Venture Files but is a broader version on all types of entrepreneurship.
I invite you to check it out and subscribe. [...]

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New Series: Practical Advice for writing a Business Plan

March 6, 2007

I have been thinking a lot about how many entrepreneur’s ask “should I write a business plan?” and regardless of what you think should go in one or what format it may take, the answer is essentially yes.
Then I started to look at all my previous business plans and those I have advised on and [...]

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FOWA Presentation on Venture Capital

February 26, 2007

I saw this presentation that Ben Holmes of Index Ventures gave at the FOWA Conference in London “Everything you need to know about Venture Capital“…
He put his slides on slideshare so take a look. (BTW, Slideshare rocks)
Here is an entrepreneur’s take on the slideshow:
Think of this as liner notes if an entrepreneur was giving this….
Slide [...]

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Getting a standing ovation when you pitch your business

March 31, 2006

Getting people to clap at the end of your presentation is easy.
Getting a standing ovation is hard.
Guy Kawasaki writes on how he thinks you should get one.
Most you want to say “well, yeah, of course”, but you don’t really do them.
First, you should get your house in order and fix your pitch with these tips. [...]

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Perfect Pitch: Vision without execution is just Bulls**t (or three more bullets for Guy Kawasaki’s list)

March 22, 2006

Guy Kawasaki recently wrote his post, the “Art of Execution” that is an extract from his book. It is a good top 10 list, but he is missing 3 extra bullets. Guy also talks about it in an MP3 he put together on the “Art of Raising Capital“.
I have three more bullets I would like [...]

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The Zen of writing a Business Plan

March 6, 2006

I have written many business plans, read hundreds and hopefully become quite good at it. But I have come to realize that in the end, they don’t really matter as much as you think. VC’s read them to validate that you can go a level deeper on how you will execute on your plans of [...]

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The Blogging of DEMO

February 14, 2006

Last week saw an amazing amount of products at the granddaddy of product launch sesssion, DEMO.
DEMO 2006 had a raft of bloggers covering the event.
I really liked TechCrunch’s coverage and Jeff Clavier’s reviews of the companies.
My favorites? Riya, .Zingee, Ugobe, MooBella and Multiverse
Just go to those sites and check them out for yourselves.
Do you think [...]

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Blogging to attract venture funding

February 11, 2006

Brief explanation of Blogging
A weblog or blog is a web-based publication of periodic articles (posts), usually presented in reverse chronological order. It is an online journal with one or many contributors. Besides straight text and hyperlinks, some blogs specialize in incorporating other forms of media such as images, video, or a particular [...]

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10 Steps to a Hugely Successful Web 2.0 Company

February 10, 2006

Union Square Venture has a nice write up for entrepreneurs putting up a Web 2.0 company.
The only problem is that VC’s are going to be sick of hearing Web 2.0 this and Long Tail that.
Check out the article here.

Suggest to ?
[...]

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The Art of the Venture Pitch

February 9, 2006

I thought with all of my VC pitching experiences that could impart some good knowledge to my fellow readers who are building companies and raising money.I call this series “The Art of the Venture Pitch”.
This first is on giving good presentations.
Many of you have heard of Guy Kawasaki.
He has a long history as a guru [...]

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Building a good board of advisors

February 9, 2006

This session of Perfect Pitch is focused on the Board of Advisors.
There is a lot of talk about Boards of Directors and Boards of Advisors. While you have your core team, or maybe it is just you, you are going to need advice. If you are starting out, you need help in many forms and [...]

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