Looking for venture capital? Or looking for great insights to grow your business?

Well, we've scoured a year's worth of great blog posts from hundreds of venture capitalists and industry experts, and are pleased to present you with our 50 favorite posts of 2009.

Some great information is included in these posts, and savvy entrepreneurs and investors will heed this advice.

And we'd love to hear your comments...what posts did we miss?

Enjoy!

1. Ed Sim (Dawntreader Ventures)

We just published a new series of capital-raising articles on the Growthink website, within our new "Capital Raising Resource Center." 

Angel Funding Articles

• Top 4 Reasons Why Angels Invest
• How Angel Investors Judge Potential Investments
• Angel Funding vs. Venture Capital
• How to Find Angel Investors: 3 Proven Tactics for Success
• How to Pitch Angel Investors

Bank & SBA Loan Articles

• Debt Financing For Your Business: The Pros and Cons
• How to Get an SBA Loan: A 6-Step System for Success
• Small Business Loans: What Lenders Look For
• What Are The Different Types of SBA Loans?
• 3 Major Types of Loans to Fund Your Business

Creative & Alternative Financing Articles

• Alternative Business Financing Source: Customer Financing
• Alternative Business Funding: Direct Public Offering
• Alternative Funding Sources: Grants
• Creative Business Finance: Using Reverse Mergers
• Alternative Source of Financing: Franchising Your Business

Grant Articles

• Get Grants for Your Business: 5 Steps to Success
• Grants for Small Business: Frequently Asked Questions
• Grants for Small Businesses: Where to Look for Them?
• How to Write a Small Business Grant Proposal
• Small Business Grants: How to Qualify for Them

Venture Capital Articles

• Common Venture Capital Terms You Need to Know
• How to Create a List of Venture Capital Firms
• How to Give a Convincing Venture Capital Presentation
• Raising Venture Capital: The Pros and Cons
• 3 Questions Venture Capitalists Will Ask You
• How to Develop a Powerful Venture Capital Elevator Pitch

Stay tuned! In the coming weeks and months, we'll be adding new articles and videos.

Are there any specific capital-raising topics you'd like us to cover?  Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Are you an entrepreneur looking to find angel investors for your deal? Learn proven networking, presentation, and negotiation tactics from Growthink's Angel Investor Guide. 

Here is a video that explains precisely why raising capital is so important to your business.

And, importantly, it includes details regarding why it’s critical that you understand how to raise capital from multiple sources, even if you currently are only seeking one particular type of capital...

Near the end, I reveal a fantastic (and perhaps my favorite)  tip, which is the single most controllable factor that you have to improve your success in both fundraising and successfully growing you business.

Many entrepreneurs and investors have been capitalizing on developing internet capabilities and the increased usage of social networks around the world by creating a new wave of social networks and Web 2.0 websites. Over the last few years, the Web 2.0 sector has seen a number of acquisitions for companies including Bebo, Blogger, Cork’d, Del.icio.us, Flickr, Jaiku, Last.fm, Picasa, Rojo, Skype, Sphere, StumbleUpon, and Webshots. Entrepreneurs have been encouraged by large scale transactions including YouTube selling for $1.7 billion, Facebook’s valuation at $15 billion based on Microsoft’s recent investment, and MySpace’s sale for $580 million.

A great Web 2.0 website can be built on a shoestring budget with a few smart developers and an innovative concept driving the growth of the business. Web 2.0 companies have the potential to experience overnight notoriety through a few press mentions and can grow exponentially thereafter.  Thus, venture capital firms do expect to see a great deal of traction in the marketplace before seriously considering funding your social network. Due to market conditions, VCs today are seeking to fund companies that are already well on their way to success, rather than higher risk and earlier stage deals that they might have previously considered.  As a social network, the right time to contact a VC is when your site has a solid user base and viral growth through an innovative guerilla marketing strategy, not at the idea stage. For example, just today Glubble BV (www.glubble.com), a niche Amsterdam based social networking website for families with children under the age of 12, announced that they raised $1 million in Series B funding. Glubble was launched in 2007 and counts 300,000 family pages on its service to-date.

Due to the large number of social networking sites that were funded in the last three years, VCs are getting increasingly skeptical of these concepts. Kleiner Perkins, one of the largest VCs, has publicly stated that they are no longer investing or even looking at Web 2.0 companies. I’m not suggesting that you get discouraged by this or that the opportunities for new web 2.0 or social networks have passed, but realize that the competition is great and you must differentiate yourself both in your market and when pitching to venture capital firms. Stand out by targeting niche users, such as senior citizens, travelers, specific cultures, or countries. Find a niche that has not been already conquered, but that has enormous value, and do not promote your business as the next MySpace or Facebook. These networks have generated enormous and loyal user bases and it will be extremely challenging if not impossible to replace them.

Growthink has worked with nearly 100 web 2.0 businesses over the last few years and has developed strong expertise in the sector. We can help you to strategically think through your business model and create a compelling business plan that will help your Web 2.0 company stand out among the throngs of competitors. We can also advise you on how to improve your viral marketing strategy to optimize your valuation before bringing your company to a VC firm.

If you are an existing website, we can also help provide you with strategic recommendations based on a complimentary website audit. Please follow this link for more information:

http://www.growthink.com/internet-marketing/website-audit#auditform

Yesterday I had the opportunity to interview Brad Feld, who is considered among the elite investors in privately held companies.

For those of you who are not familiar with Brad, his background includes starting and selling his own software company, investing as an angel in 40 to 50 companies, and founding or co-founding three venture capital firms: Intensity Ventures, Mobius Venture Capital and Foundry Group, where he currently serves as Managing Director.

While there were several invaluable points for entrepreneurs seeking capital in the interview, I found the following to be most interesting:

1. Your VC firm is your partner.

Many first-time entrepreneurs view VCs simply as providers of capital. In actuality, VCs are partners. They exert control over your company. They have experience in product development or scaling companies, or both, and can provide significant value beyond the money they infuse in companies.

Because VCs are partners that exert control, you need to assess them much like you would other partners. Mainly, you need to make sure that there is a really good fit.

2. Angel investors are the friend of the first-time entrepreneur.

First time entrepreneurs should strongly consider angel investments prior to venture capital. Angel investors often have financing experience which can help entrepreneurs navigate the VC waters when they are ready (there are a ton of terms and issues involved with venture capital that most first-time entrepreneurs don't know about).

Angel investors also tend to have relationships with VCs. Also, angels often have the operational experience to help grow the entrepreneur's company. And finally, the angels' funding can help the company grow to a point where it is more suitable for venture capital.

However, when structuring angel deals, it is imperative to keep the pricing/valuation fair and the deal terms as simple as possible. If not, raising subsequent venture capital rounds becomes more challenging.

3. Don't look for investors who are not a good fit

Brad mentioned the 80/20 or even the 99/1 rule. Essentially, entrepreneurs should spend a ton of time on the 1% of investors who are a great fit. And not waste their effort on the other investors.

Two key aspects that Brad mentioned for ensuring a good fit are 1) geography (many VCs will only invest in certain geographic regions) and 2) sector (Foundry Group simply doesn't invest in Clean Tech; no matter how exciting the company looks). I would also add "stage" to this list as many VCs focus on companies at specific stages (e.g., some only want post-revenue companies, etc.)

You can listen to the full 30-minute interview by clicking the blue triangle on the audio player below:

Are you an entrepreneur looking to find angel investors for your deal?  Gain all the tips and advice you need with our Growthink's Angel Investor Guide.

While you probably have heard about the Stimulus Package and President Barack Obama’s push toward increased usage of renewable energies, you may not be aware of how this initiative can help your business and where the money is in fact going. The following information will explore the specific allocations of the Energy Stimulus and how you, as a business or as a consumer, can take advantage of this unique opportunity.

One of the most significant components of the $787.2 billion stimulus package signed into effect by President Obama in February 2009 is the initiative to spur development of “Clean, Efficient, American Energy”.  Of the total sum, more than $30 billion will be allocated to transforming the nation’s energy transmission, distribution, and production systems by improving grid design and investing in renewable energy and another $5 billion will be spent on home weatherization. The energy component of the initiative is aimed at reducing the country’s dependence on fossil fuels, spurring innovation, and creating jobs nationwide.

The following outlines the specific initiatives the energy stimulus money will be dispersed to:

• Improvement of Electricity Grid Design - $11 billion to build new power lines and deliver renewable energy
• Grants for Local Governments - $6.3 billion to state and local governments to reduce carbon emissions in their localities
• Renewable Energy Loans - $6 billion for funding renewable energy projects
• Home Weatherization – Weatherization is the process of protecting a structure’s interior from the exterior elements and improving interior energy consumption efficiency through highly effective insulation. The government has allotted $5 billion to lower income housing
• Eco-Friendly Government Buildings - $4.5 billion to make government buildings more energy efficient
• Fossil Energy Cleanup - $3.4 billion for carbon capture technology development
• Green Research – $2.5 billion in grants for universities, companies, and national laboratories that will demonstrate advancements in technology to foster energy independence
• Advanced Battery Grants - $2 billion to spur development of advanced vehicle and other battery systems
• Green Job Training - $500 million to train workers in the green energy sector
• Electric Transportation - $400 million in grants to develop electric vehicles
• Smart Appliances - $300 million in customer rebates for the purchase of energy efficient appliances
• Federal Vehicles - $300 million to replace or retrofit government vehicles to use renewable energies
• Department of Defense - $300 million to develop more energy efficient military equipment and bases
• Local Transportation - $300 million to local governments to purchase buses and trucks that use alternative fuels, and $300 million to replace or retrofit vehicles that use diesel fuels
• Energy Efficient Housing - $250 million to increase energy efficiency in homes, particularly low-income housing

The world clearly has changed.  Long gone are the days of Rotary Club and Elks Lodge America, and of Tuesday afternoon tea.  Replacing them is the brave new world of social and virtual networking, of Linked-In, of Facebook, and of Twitter.  And from a standpoint of access to and diligence of great deal flow, this is an extremely good thing. 

Let's compare how deals can be and are identified and diligenced today to how it was done 20 years ago.   Back in the good old 20th century, opportunity flow was limited to that which could be introduced to you directly by people you knew, usually in your local community or in your immediate circle of family, friends, and business colleagues.   Oh what a simpler, more innocent time that was!   But it was also a parochial and limited one.  

There was first the limit of geography and introduction. If you were far from the major entrepreneurial and finance centers (New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, and Los Angeles), the likelihood of crossing paths with the "special deals" was very, very limited.   Back then, opportunity flow really was limited to the "old boys club," and what you knew was far less important than who you knew.  

Compare that to today.  Sites such as Linked-In, Facebook, BizBuySell, RaiseCapital.com, The Funded, The Private Equity Exchange, Second Market and even Twitter are treasure troves of startup, small business, and emerging technology deals and ideas.  This is to say nothing of the World Wide Web itself, where all of the serious entrepreneurs and private companies (a number that runs into the millions) have websites that explain, in various degrees of succinctness, what they do, where, why they do it, and how they make money.  And if they can't, with a click of a button, you move on.

And there was enormous information friction 20 years ago.  Getting quality information back then was time-consuming, expensive, and prone to omission errors.  There were no websites, where you could quickly get that critical feel for the "realness" of a business' growth prospects.  There was no ability to "Google" someone and to find out about that bribery conviction 10 years ago – conveniently omitted from conversation and the business plan. There was no Linked-In and Facebook to identify the various "degrees of connection" that confirm resume and background representations. 

Now to this you may say, “But heck in a Norman Rockwell America this stuff wasn't needed,” because, back then, you did business like men:  face-to-face with guys you knew from the club. 

To this I say two words: Bernie Madoff. Mr. Ponzi himself could never have gotten away with what he did if he traveled amongst the modern "technocrati." His M.O. of secrecy and opaqueness would have screamed suspicion immediately to any one even basically versed in online networking. This brave new world is one that if you have nothing to hide, then you ain’t opaque.  And it is a better world for it.

Finally, you may say, “Well Jay, if this new world of ours is so abundant and so filled to the brim with such incredible money-making deals, why are we all getting killed in the markets?  Couldn't we all kind of go for some of those 1980's-esque returns about now?  If this new world of ours is so great, why is everything so bad?”

To this, I refer you to Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of the paradigm-changing treatise, "The Black Swan."  At the risk of over-simplyifying Taleb's big idea, the good old days were a world of "Mediocristan," or in the inimitable words of Garrison Keiller, one where “all of the children were above average.”  There were business successes and failures for sure, but they were of more of a gradual and tepid form.  The 21st century, in contrast, is a world of Extremistan - characterized at the macro level by outrageous bubbles and busts, and at the micro level by a quite small number of enterprises and business models that are responsible for the significant majority of an investment class's return.

Our contention is that, as we move into the 2nd decade of the 21st century, more and more investors will both be able, and prefer, to hunt for these future supernovae via online social networking and deal exchanges and the Internet itself.  From here, most but not all of the traditional deal diligence rules apply.  In future blog posts, we will explore which ones do, which ones don't, and how to assess and price private company deals in the current environment. 

Webinar: Keys to Successful Private Company Investing

Please join me on a live, interactive web conference where I will share with you my keys to successful private company investing including:

- How to utilize the Internet to source and research opportunities
- How to conduct data-driven risk analysis on private company deals
- How to exploit the "pricing inefficiency gap" endemic to private equity
- The importance of technology bias (and which technologies to bias) when selecting deals
- How to properly apply "black swan," or "randomness" thinking to private company investing strategy

To register, click here: http://www.growthink.com/livedeals

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To join my network on Linked In, click here