PLANNING - The 411 On Startups (tm)

16 Startup Metrics | Andreessen Horowitz

Aug

2015

WITH JEFF JORDAN, ANU HARIHARAN, FRANK CHEN, AND PREETHI KASIREDDY We have the privilege of meeting with thousands of entrepreneurs every year, and in the course of those discussions are presented with all kinds of numbers, measures, and metrics that illustrate the promise and health of a particular company. Sometimes, however, the metrics may not ...

Make Financial Forecasts More Realistic

Jun

2015

It’s a rare entrepreneur who enjoys working on financial forecasts. Many feel like the time could be better spent on actually developing and running their business. Still, forecasts truly are a necessity. You need them to attract investors, but more importantly they help you develop long-term strategic plans. Unless these forecasts are fairly accurate they aren’t helpful at all. ...

To Clean Up Your Startup’s B.S., Bring Sales Into The Leadership Team | TechCrunch

Jun

2015

“Coin-operated idiots”. Even if no one says it out loud about sales people anymore, they might still think it. It’s the perception some startup CEOs have when it comes to their sales force (unless the founders have come from sales themselves). Just load ‘em up and watch them do their mindless best … like at ...

A Fundraising (Spreadsheet) Template Every Entrepreneur Can Use | TechCrunch

May

2015

. . . . . . .Early-stage CEOs are practically taught to not even put a financial model in any of their fundraising decks until they get to their Series B. It’s all about building product in the early stages right? You don’t need to worry about figuring out a business since it’s all about ...

Sowing the Seeds of a Successful Startup — Critical Questions for Every Entrepreneur

May

2012

The brilliant, unique idea: whether it serendipitously strikes in the middle of the night or emerges out of frustration over a problem you have experienced, it is a precious seedling with the potential to blossom into a thriving new business. When you are an entrepreneur, this singular idea will become the center of your universe ...

Raising Angel Money — How Angels, Entrepreneurs, and VCs Think of Each Other

May

2012

This post is part of a series of posts called “Pitching a VC” that explains how to get access to VC’s, what to say when you get there and what will happen afterward. A friend of mine who lives in Silicon Valley called me lastt week to talk about his new company. He’s been a ...

The Eight Best Questions We Got While Raising Venture Capital

May

2012

VCs are good at asking questions. They are unimplicated in your dumb decisions, unmoved by your original sense of mission and far less concerned than you that a blunder could bankrupt you. They re-imagine your business in terms of all the other businesses they’ve seen, pulling the arms off one doll and the head off ...

Spreadsheet template for financial plan, cash flow, sales forecast and more

Oct

2008

This page includes numerous links to free templates that are helpful to startup entrepreneur. In particular there is a comprehensive Excel spreadsheet for creating a financial plan. It’s about half way down the page and called ‘Financial Forecast’.

Spreadsheet for creating a startup financial plan

Oct

2008

PricewaterhouseCoopers has provided a free Excel spreadsheet template for financial projections for Business Plans. Use this financial modeling spreadsheet to clearly illustrate your return on investment, profitability and cash-flow milestones, and to integrate your performance goals with your financial goals. (Note: This used to be available directly from PWC’s web site. For some reason it ...

Developing a Marketing Communications plan

Oct

2008

‘A successful marketing plan integrates all marketing activities with all other company departments to surround the consumer without them ever knowing they are being inundated with your message.’ This slide set amplifies this statement but also covers many basic marketing plan concepts.