Entrepreneur's Notebook: Practical Advice for Starting a New Business Venture

Entrepreneur's Notebook: Practical Advice for Starting a New Business Venture
Average customer rating:

Nice Guide for Beginners

A Must-Have for Entrepreneurs

Exellent Book

Brief and to the point

Invaluable advice for the budding entrepreneur

Entrepreneur's Notebook: Practical Advice for Starting a New Business Venture
Steven K. Gold
Manufacturer: Learning Ventures Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Guides | Job Hunting & Careers | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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General | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Business Plans | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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Start Your Own Business (4th Ed.) (Start Your Own)

ASIN: 0976279045

Book Description

Entrepreneur's Notebook propels you on a whirlwind tour of the start-up process. It is an invaluable reference for new and experienced entrepreneurs that includes chapters on a wide range of topics, from entrepreneurial team building to business plans to financing. This excellent book provides an incredible amount of practical information that will help you make smarter decisions and avoid costly mistakes. The author, Steven K. Gold, is an accomplished entrepreneur who has co-founded and led five early-stage ventures. As an investor and mentor, he also advises many entrepreneurs and young companies. He earned his B.S.E. in Entrepreneurial Management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and his M.D. from Brown University Medical School.

Customer Reviews:

Nice Guide for Beginners.......2007-06-16

The author writes a nice overview of the entrepreneurial process. It's basically for novices but it does a good job for this audience. The only problem I have with this book is that it is too basic and is therefore non-unique because it is so low-level. Regardless, I must say that for the right audience, it does a fine job over giving the big picture.

If you are advanced or aspire to become advanced, I would recommend "The Startup Company Bible for Entrepreneurs" but only for high-tech entrepreneurs. Even this author has recommended it.

A Must-Have for Entrepreneurs.......2007-05-14

Steven gives great illustrations to drive home his insightful advice for entrepreneurs. As he's "been there, done that," we can take his advice to heart in the hopes of becoming a success like him!

Exellent Book.......2007-05-11

Great book for getting ready to open a new business. Would refer to anyone thinking about opening a business.

Brief and to the point.......2007-04-27

This is a delightful little book that contains a wealth of useful and helpful information and ideas on starting a small business and ensuring that it is viable and succesful. The book is well written and easy to follow and interesting to read.

This is a must read for entrepreneurs, particularly budding ones as the information the book provides is very practical and can help you avoid making costly errors. The book covers a wide range of topics including the start-up process, marketing the business on a small budget, cash-flow forecasting, among other things.

The book is an excellent companion for the entrepreneur that is well worth having.

Invaluable advice for the budding entrepreneur.......2007-03-04

This book does a terrific job of presenting some of the most important issues entrepreneurs face when embarking on new ventures, touching on topics such as the business plan, funding, team building, and cash flows. Using simple, yet stunningly accurate models of the entrepreneurial process, Steven Gold distills complex subjects into simple, practical, take-away messages. The classification of entrepreneurial personalities (professionals, pragmatists, and inventors) is something I think we can all relate to. I find the metaphor which compares building a new company to making "stone soup" equally compelling. There are countless books out there for budding entrepreneurs, but this one is no fluff. It gets right down to the nuts and bolts so you can concentrate on your business.

Launching New Ventures: An Entrepreneurial Approach

Average customer rating:

Very well done!
Excellent
EXCELLENT TEXTBOOK!!!!
Most informative book in 8 years of business college

Launching New Ventures: An Entrepreneurial Approach
Kathleen R. Allen
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0618528075

Book Description

In Launching New Ventures, Allen prepares students to spearhead new initiatives—paying special attention to the process and activities required before a start-up can open for business. A conversational approach engages and encourages students to rely on this text as more than just a reference book. Real-world case studies, new venture checklists, plus Allen's own firsthand experience guide students through the logical process of recognizing an opportunity, testing a business concept, and implementing a formal business plan.

Stressing the early stages of the process, Allen outlines the importance of completing a feasibility analysis prior to developing a business plan—unlike other texts that focus immediately on business plans.
The Third Edition covers change management, deal structure, database and guerrilla marketing, emerging business models, and business failure.
Internet Resources, an annotated list of URLs at the end of each chapter, refer students to relevant web sites for more information on chapter concepts.
Hands-on tools appear at appropriate points throughout, such as outlines for a feasibility plan, a business plan, and an operational plan—plus a 20-point test to verify the status of independent contractors, an incorporation checklist, and a new products checklist.

Customer Reviews:

Very well done!.......2007-03-30

This book is very well done! Although it's over 500 pages, the content is engaging, well-organized, and relevant. It includes great examples, interesting stories, questions, additional sources of information and internet resources. I highly recommend it for anyone considering launching an entrepreneurial venture!

Excellent.......2007-01-10

Fast shipping the quality was as stated for used book. Great to do business with

EXCELLENT TEXTBOOK!!!!.......2005-11-07

This was a required text for my Small Business Management class. I am usually not too fond of textbooks. But this one really sparked my interest. If there were ever a step-by-step guide for starting your own company, this is it. It is very easy to understand. It was written in clear English without any severely technical terms, so you don't feel like you need your MBA before you read the thing. Anything remotely complicated, it breaks down into realy simple terms. I really enjoyed this book. Its not very often you come acroos a textbook you wouldn't mind reading even if you're not taking the class.

Most informative book in 8 years of business college.......1996-10-15

This book fully explains how to start a real entrepreneurial venture and make it a success! The author is the best expert in the field. I was introduced to this book through an instructor who had made this book required reading for a credit class. Instead of wasting hundreds of dollars on some seminar to start a small business, purchase and use this book to discover how much success you can achieve by thinking "outside" of the box. Launch a venture that can give real financial support to you and your employees. Who knows, you may be the next Bill Gates just needing some basic tools to start. Here are those tools. .......... Michael Taylor .......... V.P. Students in Free Enterprise ..........University of North Florid

Under the Radar: Starting Your Internet Business without Venture Capital

Average customer rating:

Gentlemen, start your businesses!
Don't buy this book
Wish I had this when I started my first net business
Mandatory startup business reading
I'm biased, but...

Under the Radar: Starting Your Internet Business without Venture Capital
Arnold Kling
Manufacturer: Perseus Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Starting an Online Business For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))
Start Your own E-Business (Start Your Own . . .)
Internet Riches: The Simple Money-making Secrets of Online Millionaires
Entrepreneur's Notebook: Practical Advice for Starting a New Business Venture
How to Use the Internet to Advertise, Promote and Market Your Business or Website with Little or No Money

ASIN: 0738204684
Release Date: 2001-09-18

Amazon.com

In an era when venture capital for a proposed Net startup is about as forthcoming as a politician caught in a sex scandal, Under the Radar by economist-turned-entrepreneur Arnold Kling offers timely advice on opening a new cyber-business without such big-time outside money. Combining experiences gleaned from his own self-funded Homefair.com (which he eventually sold for $85 million) along with examples of 25 other online enterprises also financed that way, Kling presents a practical how-to that readers with real ideas and realistic expectations could use to build viable Internet concerns, even in less-than-optimal times. Kling says there are still feasible niches for online businesses aiming between the $5 million entry level and the $1 billion minimum that satisfies venture capitalists--the "under the radar" zone of opportunity of his title--and outlines a route similar to those he and his other sources have used to fill them. One core suggestion does away with the traditional, time-consuming, and usually unproductive process of preparing and continually revising an extensive business plan; instead, he details a more effective program of 12 initial steps (developing the proper team, identifying a personal commitment threshold, recognizing operational milestones that will take you to the next level) that "netstrappers" can combine with internal and more modest funding sources to build a business that outlasts the next shakeout. --Howard Rothman

Book Description

Forget everything you've ever read about starting an Internet business. Forget the moon-shot IPO's. Forget Silicon Valley and venture capital. Above all, forget about fundraising. "Fundraising is not for businesses. Fundraising is for charities," warns this tough-minded, eye-opening portrait of successful Internet entrepreneurship.

Under the Radar tells the story of Web companies that bear little resemblance to the cash-burning businesses that were the media darlings before the NASDAQ bubble burst. In this distinctive and timely book, Arnold Kling, an experienced "Netstrapper" who sold his Internet start-up for $85 million, introduces the reader to over two dozen business founders whose stories will inspire and instruct every aspiring and seasoned entrepreneur alike. You will meet Mike Covel, whose Homepharmacy.com earned profits while venture-backed competitors wasted millions of dollars; Michaela Conley, who used her knowledge of the health care promotions field to make hpcareer.net a successful niche employment site; Trevor Cornwell, whose Skyjet.com aggregated the fragmented charter jet industry into a virtual "on-demand" airline. These are some of the "millionaires next door" of the Internet industry. They did not hire public relations firms to concoct front-page stories for the business media. They did not waste time trying to woo venture capitalists, who have their eye on billion-dollar jackpots. Instead, they combined low-cost Internet technology with proven business strategies, and successfully launched grounded and profitable companies.

In Under the Radar, Kling shares with you their success stories. Along the way he provides practical coaching on every important aspect of launching a solid Internet enterprise-from evaluating business ideas to finding the most suitable partners and making the best use of technology. His step-by-step plan will help you to confront the most common challenges that you face and guide you to building solid Internet businesses of lasting value.

Customer Reviews:

Gentlemen, start your businesses!.......2003-04-08

As a business owner, I am quite pleased with the information I was able to extract from this book.

It will not make you rich overnight, but it will explain patiently the unique challenges of starting and operating an Internet-based business.

Not all ideas are VC-worthy and this book describes the basic VC premises.

The case studies are quite in-depth and definitely will help you avoid same mistakes. The author does not shy away from early failures and fatal choices of wrong business partners.

In short, you'll enjoy the book and learn many things. I highly recommend it to any enterpreneur.

Don't buy this book.......2002-03-19

This book should be titled - "I got lucky with a web site in the '90s"

His title suggests that he has insight into how one could use true bootstrap techniques to get a company started. Yet, in one of his ten or fifeteen bullets about how to start a business successfully, he discusses the topic "when to line up funding". How under the radar is that?!

I would have been more impressed to learn that Mr Kling understood and articulated how to start a business using founding customers or how he worked the corporate banking system to gain access to lines of credit. I think Homefair was a great idea, but 99% of most net businesses today can not be started that cheaply. Same goes for the dozens of Web Design Firms he cites as success stories (Most were bought by companies like IXL, USWeb (Which became MarchFirst), Homestore and where all know where these have ended up.

I could continue about the lack of flow or organization in the book itself but I feel the description of lack of useful content is plenty for this review. I was truly disappointed with this book.

Wish I had this when I started my first net business.......2001-11-30

Twenty-five case studies of businesses that started without venture capital on the Internet, how they grew and what sorts of problems they ran into along the way.(Case no. 19 is about MSEN, the ISP I was involved in in 1991-1995, and I was interviewed for the book.) A well-researched book on lots of issues facing the small internet business, made even more relevant by the drying up of venture capital.

Mandatory startup business reading.......2001-11-23

Arnold Kling is right on.

The examples and suggestions provide business guideposts to starting and growing an innovative company on the Internet. Under the radar is that vast space of million and multi-million dollar niches that don't qualify for the VC or IPO. This is the space where we can do well for others, make money, and not get trampled by the elephants. The area that Arnold Kling describes is even riper since the dot com bubble broke.

Buy this book for the chapter about the economics of VC financing alone. It is a clear short demonstration of why VC financing is unsuitable for the majority of startups (and perhaps is a quick way ruin a good thing).

Get some experience without having to live through it all.

I'm biased, but..........2001-11-22

I am one of the featured case studies in "Under the Radar," so you could say I'm biased. That said, I *really* wish this book had been available when I started my first Internet company. It has lots of great "from the trenches" advice, from developing your strategy to recruiting the right people to courting investors to designing your web site to... you get the picture.

The only quibble I have is at the very end, when the author suggests that technology and statistics may open up the investment pool to "Under the Radar" companies by allowing investors to better manage risk (i.e. make investment decision on more than just "gut feel"). That may be so, but his examples -- a computer that can beat the world's best Othello player, automated underwriting of consumer loans -- are less than persuasive because they deal with relatively simple problem sets (winning a game based on probability, making a loan based on a few easily defined credit characteristics). The profile of a successful startup contains many, many hard-to-quantify attributes (including luck) and they are often mutually exclusive. For example, as an investor do you look for a charismatic CEO like Steve Jobs or a reclusive techno-genius like Seymour Cray? The answer is both. I suspect we're a long way away from a reasonably reliable system for predicting startup success. (Witness the stock market, where the majority of professional fund managers fail to outperform the averages even though they have a wealth of data and modeling technologies at their disposal.)

But this is just a quibble, and an irrelevant one at that. The focus of this book is how to start a successful business, not picking winners and losers. Whether you're already on your third Internet business or just thinking about making the leap for the first time, this book is a must read.

Entrepreneurship Strategy: Changing Patterns in New Venture Creation, Growth, and Reinvention
Average customer rating:
Entrepreneurship Strategy: Changing Patterns in New Venture Creation, Growth, and Reinvention
Lisa K. Gundry , and Jill R. Kickul
Manufacturer: Sage Publications, Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1412916569

Book Description

The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur Announce America's Top-Ranking Schools for Entrepreneurship. DePaul University made the top three on the graduate side.

The Ryan Creativity Center at DePaul received recognition for its Idea Clinic as one of the top ten business programs in universities that are "entrepreneurial hot spots" programs.

Lisa Gundry has been awarded the Innovation in Business Education Award in 1997, by the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) Mid-Continent East Association. She has also received the DePaul University Excellence in Teaching Award.

Jill Kickul received the 2000 Management Department Teaching Innovation and Assessment Award.

In this engaging and practical book, authors Lisa K. Gundry and Jill R. Kickul uniquely approach entrepreneurship across the life cycle of business growth—offering entrepreneurial strategies for the emerging venture, for the growing venture, and for sustaining growth in the established venture. Written from the point of view of the founder or the entrepreneurial team, the book offers powerful and practical tools to increase a venture’s potential for success and growth.

Key Features:

Presents the changing pattern of strategic needs faced by the new venture: The theories, practices, and tools in this book help enhance a venture’s creativity in the early days of business start-up and maintain the innovative edge throughout the life of the business. The authors emphasize the key strategic roles of creativity, opportunity identification, opportunity evaluation, and innovation in the emergence and growth of entrepreneurial firms.
Offers real-world examples and contemporary cases: Each chapter contains up-to-date cases, Strategy in Action vignettes, Speaking of Strategy interviews with real-life entrepreneurs, and a Failures and Foibles segment to help readers learn from others’ experiences and missteps.
Promotes innovative thinking: The Innovator’s Toolkit and Strategic Reflection Points give students the opportunity to reflect on the material presented. In addition, Research in Practice sections provide a summary of recent research on the chapter topic.
Includes instructor resources on CD available upon request: This supportive CD contains PowerPoint slides, lecture outlines, sample syllabi, a guide to using the Special Elements in each chapter, and a listing of additional resources.

IRCDs are available for qualified instructors only. To request an IRCD for this book please contact Customer Care at 1.800.818.7243 (6 am – 5 pm Pacific Time) or by emailing info@sagepub.com with course name and enrollment and your university mailing address to expedite the process.

Intended Audience: This is an ideal core textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses such as Entrepreneurship and New Venture Management, Entrepreneurship Strategy, Strategic Management, Entrepreneurial Growth, Management of Innovation, Entrepreneurial Marketing, and Global Entrepreneurship in the fields of Management, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, and Organizational Behavior.

Inside Business Incubators and Corporate Ventures

Average customer rating:

A balanced and expert-informed approach to incubation
A great reference for our troubled economic times

Inside Business Incubators and Corporate Ventures
Sally Richards
Manufacturer: John Wiley & Sons
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

Business incubators and the technology start-ups they funded enjoyed phenomenal success in the 1990s, only to see many of their bubbles burst at the turn of the millennium. Yet according to Silicon Valley insider Sally Richards, "Technology never rests and companies are undervalued right now. Fortunes are born out of this kind of market chaos." A confidante to the technology industry's premier powerbrokers, Richards brings you a first-person view of both sides of the negotiating table in Inside Business Incubators and Corporate Ventures.
Richards's exhaustive interviews of all the industry's pioneers, coupled with fascinating case studies of successful incubators, will introduce you to the prime sources of start-up capital as the technology industry contracts and expands. You will also learn where many of the strictly for-profit incubators went wrong and why many of the successful incubators today are those aligned with city or state governments, universities, or established corporations on a nonprofit basis.
Whether you are an executive looking to reposition or launch a new incubator, an entrepreneur trying to determine the best source of funding, or an individual investor who wants to know where to place your money now, Inside Business Incubators and Corporate Ventures will prove a gold mine of information on the past, present, and future of business incubation.
Foreword by James Robbins, Executive Director, Panasonic Concepts Center; CEO, Business Cluster Development; and Executive Director, Software Business Clusters

Customer Reviews:

A balanced and expert-informed approach to incubation.......2001-12-18

Sally Richards has tapped into a wide range of Silicon Valley experts-experts through their experience in either success or struggle-to provide a timely and balanced exploration of the opportunities available in incubation. I currently live in "the Valley," and it is refreshing to see an honest treatment of not only the challenges but also the opportunities that exist in developing start-up enterprises in a range of incubator and other venturing environments, rather than the over-reaction (both positive and negative) so common in many treatments of the business climate. I felt the contributions of Jim Robbins-one of the most experienced incubator founders in Silicon Valley-were especially valuable, both in his thoughtful introduction and as quoted in the main text. I found this text very helpful in understanding the "key learnings" from diverse experience in business incubation of various forms, and it should be helpful to others both inside and outside of Silicon Valley.

A great reference for our troubled economic times.......2001-11-30

These days it's hard to find a source for sound financial advice. Richard's new book goes to the source - providing insider information and case studies - and offers a refreshingly honest look at the hits and misses in coporate ventures and business incubators.

The Entrepreneur's Guide To Preparing A Winning Business Plan and Raising Venture Capital

Average customer rating:

One of the top business plan writing guides among a crowd!

The Entrepreneur's Guide To Preparing A Winning Business Plan and Raising Venture Capital
W. Keith Schilit
Manufacturer: FT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0132823020

Book Description

M->CREATED

Customer Reviews:

One of the top business plan writing guides among a crowd!.......1996-11-18

If you are preparing a business plan to sell the merits of your business to an outside investor, this is the book you should use for guidance. BUY THIS BOOK TODAY!

Most business planning guides do not address the investor, in fact, they often ignore the investor completely. In addition to preparing a sound plan, this book tells you how to value your business, communicate this value to your investor, and demonstrate to the investor how he/she will get their money out.

How to Raise Capital : Techniques and Strategies for Financing and Valuing your Small Business
Average customer rating:

Mostly fluff

Good Book for Entrepreneurs!

How to Raise Capital : Techniques and Strategies for Financing and Valuing your Small Business
Jeffrey Timmons , Stephen Spinelli , and Andrew Zacharakis
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0071412883

Book Description

The entrepreneur's step-bystep guide to venture capital--where to find it, how to secure it, and what to do with it

Fewer than 40 percent of entrepreneurs seeking new business funding each year actually get that funding. How to Raise Capital improves those odds, providing prospective as well as current business owners with the knowledge they need to prepare an effective loan proposal, locate a suitable investor, negotiate and close the deal, and more. The all-star team of entrepreneurial experts behind How to Raise Capital gives readers top-level educational theory with hands-on, real-world knowledge. This thorough examination of the inner workings of the venture capital industry explores:

Resources available to entrepreneurs, from SBA loans to angel investors
Proven strategies for identifying and approaching equity sources
Characteristics of a "superdeal"--from the investor's perspective

Customer Reviews:

Mostly fluff.......2006-04-04

I've been reading a lot of business books to get information on how to grow my business. Of all those books, this one is mostly fluff. Many of the statements are vague and ambigious. There isn't much for solid advice. Buzzwords are used everywhere (Do you want a "value-added investor" funding your business?) Numbers and statistics are nonexistant other than a few graphs that look like they were sketched by hand. The author tends to throw lots of questions at you to think about, but doesn't give any advice on the topics.

There were a few bits of useful information on how other people will look at your business and value it, but it's not worth reading through the whole book for them. They could have been summarized in a bulleted list on a few sheets of paper.

If you're looking for a good book on how to obtain venture capital, check out Venture Capital Handbook, by David Gladstone.

Good Book for Entrepreneurs!.......2005-08-20

Thie book gives good resources available to entrepreneurs that want to start their own business. A book you should also check out is "The Wal-Mart Way" by Don Soderquist, it gives the inside story of the success of the world's largest company.

Zero Gravity 2.0: Launching Technology Companies in a Tougher Venture Capital World, Second Edition

Average customer rating:

What a disappointment
Thumbs Up!
A true superstar in a pool of sharks
Worth reading
Right on the Mark!

Zero Gravity 2.0: Launching Technology Companies in a Tougher Venture Capital World, Second Edition
Steve Harmon
Manufacturer: Bloomberg Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Strategy & Competition | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

Zero Gravity quickly became one of the defining books during an unprecedented period in entrepreneurship. But, the world it described and helped shape changed dramatically in the spring of 2000. Now, noted Internet stock analyst Steve Harmon provides an even more penetrating look into the quicksilver world of Internet venture capital and its lasting role in the world enterprise economy.

Version 2.0, revised in concept and content like a major new software update, confidently capitalizes on the best of the old and the new. It features insightful analysis of the 1999-2000 dot-com correction, which affected the portfolios, psychology, expectations, and metrics of venture capitalists. Harmon looks at emerging trends from the vantage point of an entrepreneur. He also shares his perspective on the prospects for obtaining early-stage money over the next several years, now that the first Internet wave has crested.

Version 2.0 also includes new sections on Web incubators, long-term trends, and other recent dotcom developments, plus updated statistics, tables, and resources. And Harmon offers a thought-provoking analysis of the dark underbelly of e-commerce: backlashes by copyright holders and regulators to some Internet business models, new roadblocks in broadband data capacity, and more.

Zero Gravity is written from an insider's point of view. It's packed with insights from top Internet venture capitalists and entrepreneurs, features a new foreword by Ann Winblad, and is the perfect plug-in to the world of e-commerce start-ups.

Customer Reviews:

What a disappointment.......2004-04-21

This book is pure rubbish. Even worse than the first Zero Gravity book (I should have learned my lesson). If what you want is mindless anecdotes, shameless name dropping, and little substance, this is the book for you. For shame.

Thumbs Up!.......2001-12-15

I just purchased a copy of Harmon's book Zero Gravity 2.0.
I am new to the investment arena and found this book extremely useful. In fact, I have already acquired backing for my venture.
My hat is off to you Mr. Steve Harmon...

A true superstar in a pool of sharks.......2001-07-19

Steve Harmon's reputation as one of the brightest stars in the stock world is well deserved. Steve has a gift for uncovering real value in this Internet age. I follow Steve's Broadband Report and my portfolio is up 220%.I rate Steve's new book with five stars because it's even better than his first...and I learned volumes from that book. I always say, the proof is in the pudding and I happen to be enjoying a rather large bowl thanks to Steve Harmon.

Worth reading.......2001-06-28

Steve has presented an in depth look at the venture capital world in this release of Zero Gravity 2. I appreciate his no-nonsense approach and his willingness to expose what goes on behind the scenes. Very good insights!

Right on the Mark!.......2001-06-21

Steve Harmon knows how to get to the heart of the matter. This book has given me very helpful insights and has helped me make sense of the recent investment arena.

External Corporate Venturing: Strategic Renewal in Rapidly Changing Industries

Average customer rating:

External Corporate Venturing: Strategic Renewal in Rapidly Changing Industries
Thomas Keil
Manufacturer: Quorum Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Strategy & Competition | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1567204643

Book Description

Major players in the information and communication technology industries have used corporate venture capital, alliances, acquisitions, or spin-offs to achieve remarkable strategic self-renewal. Keil's succinct and readable account shows how. In-depth empirical research clarifies and emphasizes the role that external corporate venturing plays in the acquisition of knowledge and the advancement of corporate strategic capabilities. Keil explores the ways in which external corporate venturing creates access to other means of renewal, controls critical resources, and accelerates the overall growth of organizations. Keil conceptualizes two main elements of the external venturing process. First, the creation of a shared context bridges the gap between the corporation and the community in which it resides, supporting knowledge transfer and the formation of cognitive intra-corporate frameworks. The second element is the efficient execution of relationships, which allows a rapid development of venturing opportunities. With case studies and lucid explanations, Keil shows how other corporations create and use a variety of connected learning processes to build their own venturing capabilities.

The New Venture Adventure: Succeed with Professional Business Planning

Average customer rating:

If Yours Is a "Hazardous Undertaking"....
An outline, not a book
Plan, create and grow your company

The New Venture Adventure: Succeed with Professional Business Planning

Manufacturer: Texere
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Similar Items:

The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything

ASIN: 1587990032

Book Description

Investors will not be satisfied with a simple description of a business idea, no matter how attractive it may be. They want to know exactly what they are putting their money into, and who is behind the idea. This guide leads entrepreneurs-to-be through the process of articulating a business idea, assessing its feasibility and potential, and preparing and presenting the business plan. The authors provide a step by step introduction to the concepts needed to prepare a business plan and arrange the financing of a business idea.

Customer Reviews:

If Yours Is a "Hazardous Undertaking"...........2001-04-10

The original meaning of the word "adventure" evolved from "what comes or happens by chance" (i.e. luck) to "hazardous undertaking." Looser and Schlapfer perhaps had this in mind as they collaborated on this book. In it, they provide a step-by-step in introduction to the concepts needed to prepare a business plan and then to arrange the financing of a business idea; also, the basic knowledge needed to participate effectively in subsequent discussions and negotiations and to ask the right questions; also, the necessary business language (i.e. all the jargon and technical expressions one needs to know), explained by the authors and augmented by a very useful Glossary; finally, a References section for further reading. They organize their material within four Parts:

Starting Up a Company -- How Companies Grow

The Business Idea -- Concept and Presentation

Developing the Business Plan

Valuing a Start-Up and Raising Equity

Looser and Schlapfer are well aware of the fact that a reputable venture capital firm annually funds (on average) only one business plan of every 500 considered. (In 1999, Draper Fisher Jurvetson received almost 20,000 business plans.) Obviously, competition is ferocious. As the authors explain, their manual "is aimed at helping you through the first stage of starting up an innovative, high-growth company: writing a professional business plan....The trick is to take advantage of promising, innovative ideas, research and technology, and financing in the form of venture capital investment funds to achieve a breakthrough." There are three stages to the start-up process: First, put the business idea down on paper and analyze its marketability of on the basis of a few key indicators. (the authors identify and explain them.) Next, develop the idea into a detailed business plan which obtains the funds needed. Finally, build the company to profitability according to the business plan. (The authors suggest several "next steps", including the withdrawal of investors.) Part 3 is perhaps the most valuable section of the book because it provides a comprehensive, step-by-step explanation of HOW to formulate a proper business plan. Another valuable section is located in the Appendix: the "Extended Table of Contents"(ETC). After you have read the book, I urge you to review the ETC at least weekly. Why? Because it can serve as a check list of possible "early-warning signs" to which you and your associates must constantly be alert. You also need to know that each copy includes a CD: "mySAP Workplace -- The Enterprise Portal solution." This is an excellent value-added benefit.

If you share my high regard for this book, check out Done Deals (edited by Udayan Gupta) and The VC Way (authored by Jeffrey Zygmont). Those involved in a "hazardous undertaking" need all the help they can

An outline, not a book.......2001-03-19

This book weighs in at 217 pages (including index). Unfortunately, what you really get is about 50 pages worth of material, and much of that is repetitive and/or obvious.

Particularly galling are the many pages (over 25) devoted to quotes, one quote per page. We're talking 15-20 words per page for such pages. OK, nice quotes, but they should take a line or two each, not a page.

Probably the most useful thing is that it includes a sample business plan.

In sum, this book is an outline of the book it should be, and an outline that has been stretched to cover 200 pages.

Until the authors write the book that goes with this outline, save your money.

Plan, create and grow your company.......2001-02-10

Probably a updated and translated version of the "Planen, gründen, wachsen. Mit dem professionellen Businessplan zum Erfolg" Book (ISBN: 3706405962).

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