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Before you start, please read our Legal
Notices
These links and resources were updated in June 2004. We
hope you get something out of them.
If you are trying to raise money, write a business plan
or understand the way venture capital works these links may be
a useful resource, a starting point, even an 'agent provocateur'
...
Raising Venture Capital
An overview
of the basic issues... (USA) On the Netpreneur
Exchange website; click on the link to "Venture Capital
- An overview of the basic issues and challenges for entreprenuers"
from Andrew Sherman at law firm McDermott,
Will and Emery. (pdf file). Also worthwhile by the same author
on the Netpreneur site is Anatomy
of a Term Sheet (another pdf file).
Buzz
of the Week (USA) the archive of weekly articles on the venture
capital industry published by the excellent VCExperts.com. Free
registration required. For example try the recent (July 2003)
article on "Why
business plans don't get funded"
That
thing Venture Capitalists do (USA) From the Federal Reserve
Bank of Philadelphia's Business Review, a clear background to
the venture capital 'industry' by senior economist Mitchell Berlin.
(pdf file)
Presenting
to Venture Capital firms (USA) from MIT's website supporting
their business plan competition, these notes are from a seminar
run by a partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures.
Private
Equity brochure - An entrepreneur's guide to private equity
(UK) useful overview published as part of law firm Taylor Wessing's
London office Plain Dealing campaign. Click on the link toward
the bottom of the page for the Private Equity brochure; also
good is the "Getting
your house in Order" link (on the same page) which gives
a summary checklist for technology companies seeking investment.
How
to win VC (USA) from Red Herring's site where an interview
with two seasoned entreprenuers provides advice on raising capital
from VCs.
20 questions you will be
asked by VCs (USA) from VCapital, online exchange for entrepreneur
and investor, this article discusses the kind of questions venture
capitalists might ask when trying to find the "fatal flaw",
the "deal killer".
The
entrepreneur's guide to raising private capital (USA) from
the netrepreneur.org site, a useful slide show from Larry Robertson
of Lighthouse Consulting.
10 steps
to secure venture capital (USA) a useful checklist from East
Coast US healthcare and IT venture capital firm Euclid SR
Debt
Or Equity? (USA) from The Capital Connection
- "The Entrepreneur's Web Site For Financing Resources"
looks at which kind of capital might be appropriate for your
business.
John
Doerr's Start-up Manual (USA) from Fast
Company magazine, an interview with the VC behind (among others)
America Online and Netscape - his views and advice on starting
a company and raising venture capital.
The
smart VC responds to a bunch of dumb questions (USA) Another
great source of good advice is an occasional column that was
run by The Red Herring (in the magazine and on the website) called
The Smart VC by Lawrence Aragon. This particular article has
one VC answering readers questions on how best to present their
companies to VCs; another by Mr Aragon looked at the difficult
funding environment in early 2001 The
second-round blues
Advice
to First Time Entrepreneurs (USA) Accel
are one of the biggest venture capital firms in North America;
this one looks at evaluating a venture capital firm to meet your
company's needs. Also on the same site is How
to Win a Venture Capitalist.
A
Venture Capital Analysis (USA) a
general business resource site produced by morebusiness.com.
They have a series of articles on financing small businesses
including this background piece on venture capital by one of
the partners at the Edison Venture Fund in the US. Also on the
same site is Financing
Guide - Private Equity Alternatives
Venture
Capital: How to raise money in the UK advice from
the firm Black & Williams (turnaround specialists). The author
spent many years as a venture capitalist himself.
Three
keys to obtaining venture capital (USA) useful
background from PWC's US private equity group.
Fund me
.... Please! (USA) from CNET's News.com site; useful background
piece for raising capital in the current climate from Californian
early stage / seed VC Robert von Goeben.
Interview
with - Massachusetts Technology Development Corporation (USA)
this interview gives more insight into the investment processes
of a relatively small US technology venture capital firm.
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Business Plans
Perfecting
your pitch: the horse race (USA) published in Fast Company
magazine, but from Garage.coms' 'bootcamp for start-ups'. This
article looks at your business plan's executive summary. Two
others complete the series - on the "elevator
pitch" (with its great title "Assume short buildings"),
and the
presentation.
Building
a strong business plan (USA) from Inc.com, some useful resources
to help along the business plan process. Especially good is this
article on "How
to write a business plan that will get you in the door".
Planning
Fundamentals (Can) from the Canada / British
Columbia Business Service Centre, a look at business plan fundamentals
and cash-flow forecasting, together with a sample plan that can
be downloaded.
Bplans.com (USA)
a site devoted to business plans for entrepreneurs.
The
Nuts and Bolts of Business Plans (USA)
from Joe Hadzima at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology;
these are the presentation slides from his Jan. 2003 course at
the MIT Entrepreneurship Center.
Assessing
business plans (USA) also with some great insights are these
comments from judges of MIT's annual business plan competition
on what it is they are looking for.
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UK Sites
British Venture Capital Association
includes information on the association and
its services, statistics on the UK venture capital industry,
details on publications and research.
NESTA National
Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, set up by the
National Lottery Act in 1998, makes financial awards in the £50,000
to £150,000 range.
Business Link
main page for the Business Link network detailing all the services
available. You can access all the local Business Links.
UK Business Incubation
site from the Centre for Business Incubation Policy in the UK.
UK Science Park Association
website giving information on more than 50 UK science parks
Intellect
the organisation serving the IT software and services, telecommunications
or electronics industries in the UK.
Small Firms Loan Guarantee
from the DTI's site comes this brief description of the Small
Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme.
SMART awards also
from the Business Link's site, information on SMART awards and
other sources of seed / R&D funding
The Oxford Trust
charitable foundation which includes the Oxford Investment Opportunity
Network (another business angels network) and The Oxford Centre
for Innovation (science and technology business incubator).
The Cambridge
Network "Linking Cambridge to the
global high tech community"
Venturedome
information and news on the UK venture capital scene
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Intellectual Property
The Patent Office
(UK) summaries on patents, trademarks, copyright
and more.
Patent
information on the internet (UK) from Free
Pint, the email newsletter giving you tips, tricks and articles
on how and where to search online more effectively.
Patents in
the United Kingdom (UK) one of a number
of pieces on Mewburn Ellis' site (one of the UK's largest patent
agents); other areas covered include European and US patents,
trademarks, and copyright and designs.
UK Patent Information
(UK) click through to the Patents section for a general introduction
to UK and overseas patent information from Willaims, Powell &
Associates.
Avoiding intellectual
property problems (USA) from the Franklin Pierce Law Center
Intellectual
Property - Copyrights, Trademarks and Patents (USA)
general background on IP from US law firm Bingham, Dana &
Gould.
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Magazines / Resources
Fast Company "how
smart business works".
Red Herring "the
business of technology".
Business
2.0 'business, technology, innovation' (subscription required)
Wired
"crucial tech"
wsj.com Startup Journal
The Wall Street Journal's center for entrepreneurs
Tornado-Insider.Com
"Inside Europe's New Economy"
Inc. Magazine "for
the business builder who is long on work and short on time"
Business
Week Online resource for small business owners.
Forbes.com "home
page for the world's business leaders"
entreworld.org
"a world of resources for entrepreneurs".
Peerspectives
"information, insight and inspiration for business owners"
Darwin "business
evolving in the information age"
The Register "Biting
the hand that feeds IT"
Technology Review
Massachusetts Institute of Technology site & magazine promoting
understanding of emerging technology
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If you have time ...
The VC
(USA) a tragically short 41-part series of comic strips
about VCs - complete fantasy obviously...
Lies
to make a VC groan (USA) from Business Week online, Guy Kawasaki's
(founder of garage.com) observations on the worst faux pas.
Adventures
of a Global Venture Capitalist (USA) From
Fast Company magazine, hot money hunting for cool ideas
Venture Capital
Glossary (USA) from the North Western
US firm of OVP Venture Partners. This is strictly tongue-in-cheek
!
The Trade-off
Game (USA) from Arthur Anderson's Emerging
Business Consulting Group. Should the "idea person"
(probably the company's founder) also end up being the chief
executive?
Starting
your startup (USA) from Fast Company magazine, useful advice
"nuggets" from experienced entrepreneurs.
Lies,
damned lies, and marketing lies (USA) from Network World
Fusion, the first of two articles by Howard Anderson looks at
lies told to VCs by entrepreneurs. The second article "Lies
venture capitalists tell entrepreneurs" makes a valiant
attempt to balance the books.
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If you have any any other links which you think may be
worthwhile additions please e-mail
us the details. Thank you. |
