ShareDavis Smith is a recent Wharton grad. His latest entrepreneurial venture in Brazil is really cool, so I thought I’d share it here. It’s a write-up that first appeared in the alumni newsletter that I put out every month. I think you’ll enjoy it.
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After six incredible years as an entrepreneur, I decided it was time [...]
ShareRaising money for your startup can be brutally difficult.
Do you give up part of your company in the form of equity? You may find that the valuation of your company that an investor will agree to is far lower than you expected, which means that you’ll be giving away a large percentage of your company.
Or [...]
ShareStarting a business is no easy business.
Fortunately, there are some free resources that every entrepreneur should know about.
Most people have heard about the SBA – Small Business Administration, but in my experience, most entrepreneurs don’t know that the SBA, and its sister organization, the SBDC – Small Business Development Center, provide numerous free services to [...]
ShareStart From Where You Want to Get To, Not From Where You Are
Most entrepreneurs know where they want to get to in terms of what their product or service should be. Typically the vision is so clear and distinct in your mind that it’s acutely frustrating to not be there already, just because you need [...]
ShareWhen planning a new company, many entrepreneurs think of these three milestones, if applicable:
1. Get funding
2. Get a patent
3. Become profitable
Make no mistake, they’re all good milestones to reach. But in and of themselves, they’re not enough.
“Whoa there, Numbers Boy, the whole point of starting a business is to become profitable. That’s when you [...]
ShareThere are few things worse in business than waiting, waiting, waiting on a contract that should be a formality, but that drags on for weeks, and sometimes months or even years. Good relationships can sour, conditions can change, your key contact can leave the other company, or momentum can simply be lost. For want of [...]
ShareEvery now and then, along comes a new thingamajig. Actually, “thingamajig” is such a great word, but it’s just so dang encarcassed with old school analogness. We need a new digital equivalent for it – how about “pixemabit.” One part pixel, a dash of data, and a soupcon of “e.”
So my new favorite pixemabit is [...]
ShareIn my experience, entrepreneurs do startups according to their overall personality.
If someone is a perfectionist, then their product or service will almost certainly be in the same vein. This doesn’t mean that the offering itself it will be of high quality, but that the processes and means of delivery will be well-thought out. Think McDonalds. [...]
ShareWhen I worked in the home office of a large insurance company out of college, they would tell the salesman to always obey “The Three Foot Rule.” Anyone within three feet of wherever a salesperson found himself was a prospect. Pure and simple. A stranger (there are no strangers for long!), your friend, heck, your [...]
ShareI loves me some Apple.
The iPod and iPhone are honest to goodness game changers.
The iPod was the main course to Napster’s appetizer in the last meal for the traditional music industry business as a whole. Similar in spirit to the genesis of United Artists – it was a transformational, and legal, way to unbundle cool [...]
