A spectre is haunting the United Kingdom - the spectre of Capitalism.
A spectre is haunting the United Kingdom - the spectre of Capitalism.
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.
"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."
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 to capital as though their wholesale theft of the language of the Schumpterian community absolved them from actually doing anything effective in support of small...
I am supposed to be the investor not the CEO. If I’m solving the problems before the investment, what’s going to happen afterwards?
If you are a startup you must realize that if it’s too good to be true, then it’s too good to be true. People will want your money, what little you have, and will say or do anything to get it.
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.
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.
Doug Richard's School for Startups, working together with O2, will be delivering "Find, Pitch & Close: The Art of Securing Investment" at the Royal Institution on 18 November. Registration open now at www.schoolforstartups.co.uk.