Posts tagged "finding investment"

Having Trouble Starting Your Social Enterprise? Here’s Where to Get Good Help Fast . . .

Who helps social entrepreneurs create great businesses? Look here to learn where you can find information on more than 50 resources for social entrepreneurs.

Sunday 7 February 2010

Start Here! STARTING & GROWING A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS

Following the huge success of our seminars around the UK, Doug and the School for Startups team are taking their nationwide tour to Brighton. A must-attend event for any budding or established entrepreneur, “Start Here! Starting and Growing a Successful Business” is hosted personally by Doug Richard and is the cornerstone of the School for Startups curriculum.

Friday 29 January 2010

Download The Entrepreneurs’ Manifesto & Declaration of Rights

by Doug Richard
January 2010
(Download The Entrepreneurs’ Manifesto and Declaration of Rights PDF)
The Entrepreneurs Manifesto is a public declaration aimed at supporting the UK’s 4.4 million small business owners and entrepreneurs.
Authored by Doug Richard, the high profile entrepreneur and former TV ‘Dragon’, the manifesto calls for a new deal for entrepreneurs as a “recession buster” solution [...]

Monday 18 January 2010

Growing a Successful Social Enterprise

Date: 19 January 2010
Time: 12:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Location: The Royal Institution, London

Following the huge success of our seminars around the UK, Doug and the School for Startups team are returning to The Royal Institution. This must-attend event is for aspiring social/ethical entrepreneurs as well as existing small social/ethical businesses wishing to grow and become more successful and sustainable.

Thursday 24 December 2009

UK Startups are Prey for Rip Off Artists Disguised as Angel Groups & Financiers, says Doug Richard

“Just to be clear . . . start-ups should not be charged to pitch their businesses to angel investors. . . . Corporate financiers do not make their money on [upfront] fees but by taking a percentage of the money raised.”

Sunday 1 November 2009

The Price of Money Part 4: Say No, No, No, No Till Your Tongue Bleeds

I have been writing a series of articles recently entitled “The Price of Money” that grew out of my unease that people neither understood how great the cost of capital is nor the enormous difficulty involved in pricing capital. I was further dis-enchanted by the rhetoric amongst government ministers reciting mantras of entrepreneurship and access [...]

Saturday 31 October 2009

The Price of Money Part 2: At Least You Can Eat Catfish

When Angel Networks are actually providing a corporate finance function they should be able to show their past funding success. If the cannot, one should be suspicious. If they insist on charging for investment readiness training beforehand then they should un-tie that obligation from presenting.

Friday 30 October 2009

The Price of Money Part 1: Sex, Lies & The Bottom Feeders of the Angel Community

Not all angel investors are created equal. Some are real, some are actually corporate finance houses and should be judged on their track record and some are snake oil salesmen who are taking your money for no good reason. You need to be able to tell them apart.

Tuesday 27 October 2009

The Dirty Secret of Credit For Small Business: the Failure of the EFG Scheme

Small businesses do not benefit from the government schemes like the Enterprise Finance Scheme because the banks subvert the schemes to reduce their own risk rather than extending the scope of lending. The incoming government should beware.

Monday 26 October 2009

Living Without Air: How to Need Very Little Capital (Part 1)

In Part 1 of our Living without Capital series I explore how startup companies should focus on creating a small feature set that is completely integrated with the world. Marketing is woven into the code. API’s real or metaphorical should be part of version 1. It’s more important to do a few things well and interoperable with the rest of the world than it is so do alot…

Thursday 22 October 2009