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The 9 Secrets of Pre-IPO Investing
Top Seven Capital Raising Mistakes
20 Reasons Why You Need a Business Plan
The Secrets to Their Success? 25 Quotes From Famous Entrepreneurs
The 6 Untold Reasons Why Businesses Fail
7 Entrepreneurs Whose Perseverance Will Inspire You
Top 7 Myths About Starting a Business
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Martin Conroy's Billion Dollar StoryWritten by Dave Lavinsky on Wednesday, April 30, 2008Categories:  On a beautiful late spring afternoon, twenty-five years ago, two young men graduated from the same college. They were very much alike, these two young men. Both had been better than average students, both were personable and both - as young college graduates are - were filled with ambitious dreams for the future.Recently, these men returned to their college for their 25th reunion. They were still very much alike. Both were happily married. Both had three children. And both, it turned out, had gone to work for the same Midwestern manufacturing company after graduation, and were still there. But there was a difference. One of the men was manager of a small department of that company. The other was its president. What Made The Difference? Have you ever wondered, as I have, what makes this kind of difference in people’s lives? It isn’t a native intelligence or talent or dedication. It isn’t that one person wants success and the other doesn’t. The difference lies in what each person knows and how he or she makes use of that knowledge. And that is why I am writing to you and to people like you about The Wall Street Journal. For that is the whole purpose of The Journal: to give its readers knowledge - knowledge that they can use in business. ----- The above story/sales letter, written by Martin Conroy, was used by the Wall Street Journal for 25 years starting in 1974. Doing the math regarding how many people this letter was sent to, the percentage of orders that came from it, and the subscription prices, it is estimated that this story resulted in $1 billion in sales for the paper. So, what’s the point? The point is that stories are an extremely effective, but often overlooked, sales tool that can allow emerging ventures to compete with large established companies. Stories allow companies to get their prospects involved in their message. It gets them excited. And then they want to learn more. Here's an example of another startup who crafted a great story... ----- I’m about to tell you a true story. If you believe me, you will be well rewarded. If you don’t believe me, I will make it worth your while to change your mind. Let me explain. Lynn is a friend of mine who knows good products. One day he called excited about a pair of sunglasses he owns. “It’s so incredible!” he said. “When you first look through a pair you won’t believe it.” What will I see? I asked. What could be so incredible? Lynn continued. “When you put on these glasses your vision improves, objects appear sharper, more defined. Everything takes on an enhanced 3D effect and it’s not my imagination. I just want you to see for yourself.” ----- The story goes on to discuss all the benefits of Joe Sugarman’s BluBocker sunglasses… over 20 million pairs of which have now been sold! Does your company have a great story? Baseball and the Science of Effective Business BuildingWritten by Pete Kennedy on Wednesday, April 2, 2008Categories:  Over the last thirty years, baseball statistician Bill James has revolutionized the way that players, managers and fans think about statistics in baseball. By carefully analyzing statistics, James has dispelled numerous myths and has shifted the Boston Red Sox management’s decision-making process from one based on intuition and “gut” to a rigorously fact-based approach. What has been the result? After decades of loss and heartbreak, the Red Sox have won two World Series Championships in the past 5 years. Bill James’ analyses have dispelled many myths and have helped both the Red Sox and much of the industry focus on proven measures of performance. For example, James was a leading force in emphasizing the significance of on-base percentage over a player’s batting average. On-base percentage, James argues, is a more significant statistic, since batting average fails to account for bases gained from walks. Regarding batting strategy, James says that the order of the line-up is inconsequential to overall performance, and that the concept of a “clutch” hitter is nonsense. On the subject of a player’s lifetime performance, James concluded that the “prime” years of a baseball player’s career are his mid-late 20s. The Red Sox took James’ recommendations into account when deciding against re-signing star player Johnny Damon. Regarding pitching strategy, James argues that “closers” – pitchers traditionally brought in during the final inning(s) of a game – should instead enter at critical moments when a team’s lead is at stake (e.g. perhaps in the 6th inning), rather than waiting longer. What does all of this have to do with business building and entrepreneurship?
James makes a compelling case that all businesses – not just professional baseball teams – can benefit from careful statistical analysis. Such analysis can dispel unfounded theories, identify significant measures of performance, and illuminate creative, counter-intuitive strategies to bolster a business’ competitive advantage.
James’ fact-based analytical approach is especially valuable for emerging companies who are competing against larger, more established businesses. If Bill James were to analyze your industry or your business operations, what myths would he dispel? What performance benchmarks would he stress? What strategies would he recommend?
Landing Page Optimization, Business Planning and Google's SuccessWritten by Dave Lavinsky on Tuesday, March 18, 2008Categories: Over the past few weeks, I've spent a lot of time studying a field called Landing Page Optimization. It's a fascinating field that deals with improving landing pages, which are the pages of your website that visitors come to either organically or through paid marketing initiatives. The goal of Landing Page Optimization is to maximize conversions (e.g., sales, newsletter signups, etc.) of these visitors. One of the guiding principles of landing page optimization is that landing pages need to be simple. If there is too much information on the page, the reader gets confused and either clicks the back button or closes the browser. This principle is the same as a guiding principle of business plan development; mainly that the plan, and particularly the executive summary, needs to present the business concept concisely so that the audience quickly understands it. If not, they will simply discard the business plan. Interestingly a concise message might not only improve your business plan and your landing page, but your entire business’ success. Consider the case of Google. The Google homepage has always had very little text on it. In fact, if you go to it, it doesn’t even say that it is a search engine. But, by having a big empty box in the middle and having a button underneath it that says “Google Search”, it is pretty intuitive that Google is a search engine. Now, when someone was referred for the first time to Google over the past few years and came to Google.com, what do you think they did? Well, due to its simplicity, I think we can assume that nearly all people who came to Google.com typed in a search term and hit the search button. Then, they instantly saw high quality search results and were sold on the fact that Google is a great search engine. So, by keeping their landing page and business concept/proposition extremely simple, Google was able to get people to try its product. Because the product is high quality, those trials resulted in loyal users. While there are many examples out there, one interesting company that I think could really improve its business plan, landing page, and thus chance of success is SpinVox. I first read about SpinVox in this Guy Kawasaki post in which he says, “This service translates voicemail to text and then sends a text message to your phone and/or an email to your computer.”
While Guy Kawasaki does a great job clearly explaining
SpinVox in this 22 word sentence, I don’t think SpinVox does. On its homepage, SpinVox has the following text: To sum up, KEEP IT SIMPLE. Use simplicity to hook the investor, the customer, the partner, or whoever else you are trying to influence. Once hooked, over time (which could be as little as 2 minutes later), you can tell the full story. Entrepreneur Quote of the Week: AOL’s Steve CaseWritten by Tom Zeleznock on Friday, March 7, 2008Categories:
-Steve Case, co-founder and former CEO of AOL
According to a 2006 study, approximately 2/3 of entrepreneurs claim it was their “innate drive” that inspired them to start their own business. In other words, they were born an entrepreneur.
Of the remaining entrepreneurs surveyed, 21% credited work experience as their motivation for taking the leap, and 16% said they were inspired by the success of others around them.
Forty-two percent of these entrepreneurs also said they started a childhood business venture, meaning that kid selling lemonade down the street might just be a future business owner.
Is a person born an entrepreneur, or is the entrepreneurial attitude created out of experience? Can it be either? Or maybe some combination of both?
Were you born an entrepreneur?
3/4/08 Recap: What Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Eight Year OldsWritten by Pete Kennedy on Tuesday, March 4, 2008Categories: Interesting news and perspectives from around the web:
Who's the Tiger Woods of Your Industry?Written by Tom Zeleznock on Tuesday, March 4, 2008Categories:  Tiger Woods is arguably the most skilled golfer to ever
live. However, his physical abilities alone
are not what make him great.Nike -- one of the companies that sponsor Woods -- once sent Tiger five brand new drivers. The company asked Tiger to test out the drivers and give his feedback. The lesson here is that every field has its own Tiger Woods, and when that person shares their insight, well, you might want to listen.
Analysis ParalysisWritten by Jay Turo on Monday, October 29, 2007Categories: Does anyone do "early-stage investing" anymore? When we present deals to "early-stage" investors, we find their criteria to be more in line with the milestones of more established companies, and it sometimes seems like early stage is a non-entity. I was encouraged by the news of Battelle Ventures and Allied Minds Inc., posted in The Deal here. The author mentions how both firms operate under unique structures which allow them to do true early stage investing in "pre-seed" technologies sourced straight out of research institutions and universities. Battelle only has one LP, the Battelle Memorial Institute, while Allied Minds raises money from shareholders in exchange for future equity with no specified time horizon. Perhaps these "special" circumstances allow them to take on more "risky" investments without having to answer to large numbers of LP's. It makes me wonder if the traditional VC model actually works. What if traditional VC's could take the handcuffs off and get dirty with raw technologies and mad-scientists out of some futuristic research lab? What sort of companies would we start to see hit the marketplace and how frequent? What about timing issues and market relevancy? "The greater the level of involvement and business expertise focused on early stage innovation, the more and higher quality of innovation we will see coming out in the marketplace" - Lesa Mitchell- VP for advancing innovation, Kauffman Foundation. Amen. Flat DaddiesWritten by Jay Turo on Tuesday, April 24, 2007Categories: Flat Daddies is undoubtedly a cool new company. Flat Daddies are full-size printed posters of parents who are serving overseas in the military. Flat Daddies (or Flat Mommies) are free to children who are directly affected by the military deployment of a parent. Others can purchase them for $49.50. The free Flat Daddies are supported by donations from individuals, companies and organizations, and anyone can donate money on their website at http://www.flatdaddies.com/. Staying Home From SchoolWritten by Jay Turo on Monday, February 12, 2007Categories: My son wanted to stay home from school the other day. He wasn't really sick; just wanted to stay home. I asked him what he was going to do if he stayed home. The list went on and on -- watch this DVD, watch this show on Tivo, play this video game, etc. What is Blik?Written by Jay Turo on Thursday, November 2, 2006Categories: A few months ago I bought some Blik for our conference room. So, what is Blik? Blik surface graphics are oversized, geometric decals that allow anyone to quickly and easily create custom wallscapes in no time. The decals are self- adhesive and removable, so your blank walls have no excuse to be bare. We went with the multi-colored dancers pictured to the left.  |
“I’m not sure I knew what an entrepreneur was when I was
ten, but I knew that starting little businesses and trying to sell greeting
cards or newspapers door-to-door or just vending machine kind of thing is…