Checklist
for Starting a Business
For those that have been in business before, the checklist exists in your head.
For others, here is a helpful list to consider.
Due
Diligence Checklist
Potential investors have been identified when out raising money for your start-up
company. A fairly typical due diligence process follows. Due diligence is a
systematic review process that allows the investor to further study the company
to determine risk and rationalized the overall opportunity.
Types
of Business Organizations
One of the first decisions you will need to make is the choice of a legal form
for your company. There are a number of options, each with advantages and disadvantages.
Glossary
of Business Terms for Entrepreneurship & Start-ups
Planning a new start-up often leads to an introduction to new business terms
that can be new and unfamiliar to the founder. The following list offers a jumpstart
on this process.
About Angel Investors
Business angels are high net worth individuals that exchange their capital and
often their expertise for equity in start-up businesses. Angel investing is
one of those activities that can be done alone or with partners as a part of
an angel network. Angel Investor Clubs or Networks are often formed by groups
of angel investors that invest individually or collectively through a common
fund that each angel contributes to, usually in the range of $50k-$250k per
annum. Some of these pools are professionally managed by experienced fund managers
that screen deals, perform due diligence, and negotiate investment terms with
the entrepreneur.
Angelsoft
Angelsoft is an online system that allows your start-up businesses to connect
with Networks of Angel Investors.
About Valuation
If you decide on equity capital, or a mix that includes equity financing, you
will
need to address the market value of your business. Valuation is the art and
science of
estimating the worth of a business based on its potential future earnings.
- Pre-Money Valuation is the value of the company prior to investment.
- Post-Money Valuation is the value of company after the investment.
- Choosing
the Right Valuation Model
OTHER TOOLS:
Plan Cruncher
Plan Cruncher asks questions about key issues such as the team, product and
revenue plan and uses icons to represent concepts such as “advertising-based
revenue model” or “we have a working demo”. While the user
selects from standard options, there are also free-text sections that allow
some creativity. Plan Cruncher may not replace the traditional business plan,
but it could act as a useful first filter for investors. The tool is free to
use, and the icon set used in Plan Cruncher is released under a creative commons
license so it can be modified and reused in other applications and publications.
Essentially this means that you can create your own business plan format using
the icons.
If you are looking for creative ways to put together business plan in a matter
of minutes.
Cisco eTube
Hundreds of free video content on business and entrepreneurship can be accessed
through this portal. Topics include inspiration, entrepreneurial tips, technology
and many more.