Tag Archives: What Is In A Business Plan

2019 Major Startup Events

2019 Major Startup Events

The Events Every Startup Should Know About in 2019

We’ve compiled a list of some of the best conferences in the coming year to keep an eye out for. Don’t have these on your calendar yet? We’d recommend you do !

Startup Grind Conference

The Startup Grind Global Conference provides an environment unlike anything else – where our community of startups, partners, investors, thought leaders, and worldwide directors come together for 2+ days of invaluable education, connection, and inspiration.

Where: Palo Alto, CA

When: February 12 – 13, 2019

SXSW Conference

Featuring a variety of tracks that allow attendees to explore what’s next in the worlds of film, culture, music, and technology, SXSW proves that the most unexpected discoveries happen when diverse topics and people come together.

Where: Austin, TX

When: March 8 – 16, 2019

Ceres Conference

The Ceres Conference 2019 will convene more than 600 influential investors, senior corporate executives, policy makers and capital market leaders to reaffirm the business case for sustainability and share best practices to empower leadership, build solutions, and drive change.

Where: San Francisco, CA

When: April 29 – May 1, 2019

Collision Conference

Collision is the fastest growing tech conference in North America. Now in its fifth year, Collision has grown to over 25,000 attendees and is in for a big change in 2019.

Where: Toronto, Canada

When: May 20 – 23, 2019

Launch Festival

LAUNCH Festival is the largest startup event in the world. For the past 10 years we’ve hosted Festival in San Francisco, featuring fireside chats with Silicon Valley technologists and pioneers, demonstrations of cutting-edge future technology, and exciting startup competitions with founders and teams from all around the world.

Where: Sydney, Australia

When: June 18 – 19, 2019

Industry: The Product Conference

Over 3 days, 1,200 attendees from over 30 countries will learn from renowned product leaders and share the latest methods, tools, and frameworks that they use to build, launch and scale world-class software products.

Where: Cleveland, OH

When: September 23 – 25, 2019

Disrupt SF

If you’re serious about startups, we’re still keeping it as real as ever. At Disrupt, everyone is a startupper – no matter if you’re a founder, investor, hacker or tech leader. So much more than just on-stage interviews, Disrupt is where you’ll find the renowned Startup Battlefield competition, a virtual Hackathon, hundreds of startups in Startup Alley, Workshops and legendary networking at our After Parties… and we’re in San Francisco, right where startup dreams began.

Where: San Francisco, CA

When: October 2 – 4, 2019

**This will be an ongoing post as new dates/conferences become available.

For more information on fundraising, our Founder/CEO, Tyler Jensen has created several eBooks on the topic.  We invite you to browse our website to request free downloads.

Business Plan Writer vs. Business Plan Strategic Consultant

Business Plan Writer vs. Business Plan Strategic Consultant

People often ask me, “What are my options for writing a business plan?”

At the highest level, there are two options, writing it yourself or hiring someone else to do it for you.

The benefits of writing the business plan yourself are that you will save money and you will learn a lot about your business by going through the research and financial modeling processes.

However, this can be a risky option if you haven’t written a business plan before and/or if you haven’t raised capital before.

It is important to have a solid understanding of the way investors see value in a company as well as the milestones they care about if you are going to be successful writing the business plan yourself.

Furthermore, even if you have a good grasp on the investors’ perspective, you often miss out on objective, third-party pushback that can elevate your business plan to the next level. Lastly, as a time-strapped entrepreneur, spending several hundred hours writing your plan probably isn’t the best use of your time as you should be focusing on developing your product, expanding your team, and establishing
awareness with your customers.

While hiring someone to write your business plan for you will save you a lot of time, the capital outlay may or may not be worth the time savings – who you hire to write your business plan will make all the difference.

Hiring a Business Plan Strategic Consultant that can elevate your plan and strategy to help increase your chance of nailing the first impression with investors is money well spent. However, hiring a Business Plan Writer that merely saves you time but doesn’t add value to your pitch is a waste.

Below we’ve provided the differences between a Business Plan Writer and a Business Plan Strategic Consultant.

Business Plan Writer

A Business Plan Writer can be half the cost, or more, of a Business Plan Strategic Consultant. Typically, these savings come at the expense of the quality of the final product (you get what you pay for type of thing).

A Business Plan Writer typically completes a business plan in far less time simply because they can only put a limited amount of time into the plan in order for their business model to be profitable.

The problem with this model is that a business plan isn’t complete once a certain amount of time has passed; a business plan is complete once all red flags and issues have been identified, addressed, and overcome.

At the end of the day, a Business Plan Writer will require you to present the content, solutions, and answers that they will plug into a cookie-cutter template. While a Business Plan Writer can certainly save you time, the plan will ultimately only be as good as the information and strategies you provide them.

Business Plan Strategic Consultant

Hiring a Business Plan Strategic Consultant is certainly more expensive than hiring a Business Plan Writer or writing the plan yourself. However, the result will pay off in the long run when it comes to providing yourself with the best chance possible of successfully raising capital.

First a foremost, a Business Plan Strategic Consultant brings specific experience and education in the startup sector beyond expertise in broad business writing.

Second, a Business Plan Strategic Consultant understands what it takes to attract capital. They have an intimate knowledge of the capitalization timeline, who invests at the various stages, and what investors need to see at each stage. They will be able to coach you on the milestones and accomplishments you should be focusing on while crafting the investment story.

Third, a Business Plan Strategic Consultant takes a holistic approach to assessing your business including monetization strategies and business models, target markets and competitive differentiation, management team and personnel plan, sales and marketing communication strategies, and more.

Fourth, a Business Plan Strategic Consultant identifies red flags and gaps in your model by asking tough questions and challenging your assumptions in a way that is constructive and educational.

Finally, a Business Plan Strategic Consultant will compile all of this information in investor friendly documentation (business plan, executive summary, pitch deck, financial projections, one-page business plan, etc) based on your specific needs and audience.

The Startup Garage is a recognized Business Plan Strategic Consultancy that helps founders raise capital and get out of the garage through proven business plan writing and startup strategy consulting services. Feel free to contact us for a free consultation!

San Diego Startup Events July Wrap-Up

San Diego Startup Events July From The Startup Garage

San Diego Startup Events July Wrap-Up

CyberTech & CyberHive — IoT Pitch Night

Monthly

Free monthly event hosted by CyberHive, an incubator and shared working space dedicated to cyber security and high tech companies — this “pitchfest” gave 7 different companies the floor to present for 3 minutes (and not a second longer) in front of a panel of judges and other like-minded individuals.

It was an interesting range of companies pitching from a variety of disciplines including: Cybersecurity, Internet of Things, Big Data, Analytics, sustainable technology, software and apps. Afterwards the judges and the audience gave valuable, and constructive feedback and awarded the top 3 companies with prizes as well as a free trial using their shared office.

My personal favorite was Cause Based Solutions (3rd place), which has created a debit card system that nonprofit organizations can offer to the supporters. Basically it rounds up every purchase consumers make to the nearest dollar and donates the difference back to the non-profit.

1Million Cups at Co-Merge

Weekly

This hour long, weekly event hosted at Co-Merge, the co-working space in downtown San Diego, offers 2 entrepreneurs the opportunity to present their company for 6 minutes, followed by a 20 minute feedback and a Q& A session.

Before starting it is emphasized that the forum is not intended as a chance to seek investment, but instead as a way to practice their delivery/ pitch and gather feedback from the startup community, so they are better prepared when an investment opportunity occurs in the future.

During this event in particular Price Patrol, one of The Startup Garage’s clients, presented their sample pitch that they intended to use for angel investment. The slogan was “what you want at the price you want.”

They are developing an app that will allow consumers the ability to find out where specific products are available at the most affordable price in their local region. With the app, consumers will also be able to reserve items so that they are available once they arrive at the brick and mortar storefront, as well as receive notifications when the products reach a certain price point that they set up beforehand.

3D Printing Meetup @ FabLabSd

Monthly

This is a must-attend, monthly event for forward thinkers. Perfect for those with experience in the new 3D printing field and anyone who just wants to learn more.

Much to my surprise, San Diego is actually one of the leading areas for 3D printing startups. Allen McAffee, the event organizer, created the event in an open forum style, allowing everyone to mingle and network.

It was an eye-opener to learn about how 3D printing can be used as a means of social entrepreneurship. McAffee is currently involved in a project to create prosthetic limbs for kids — with production costs of less than $20 and the ability to print each one in 5-10 hours.

Marketing Mondays @ EvoNexus

Bi-Weekly

Hosted by 2 marketing experts with several decades of experience, Randy Gerson and Chris d’Eon, these bi-weekly meetups at the EvoNexus Incubator office in downtown are the perfect event for anyone looking to advance their knowledge in the ever-changing digital marketing world, discuss strategies with other industry professionals and make connections before and after the event. (The free pizza/ refreshments are a nice perk too)

The discussion turned to finding leads, giving me an overview of tools out there that can be used to gather potential client information. As unsettling as it seems that most of our personal information is readily available to those with enough energy or cash to gather it through the internet, the fact of the matter is that it’s there, it’s not going away anytime soon, and you can either ignore it or use it to your advantage.

Obrary Launch Event @ PreFabSD

Hosted at PreFabSD, a co-working space for creatives and designers in non-tech industries, Obrary (A play on words of “Object” and “Library”) introduced some of their newest products that they have a kickstarter campaign for. Many of the products they introduced were modified using high-powered laser cutters that allows a single piece of plywood to be bent into a box.

Their long-term strategy is to become an open marketplace for product collaboration. What this means is that members will be able to use design files from their database, tweak them for their own preference, then submit the modified design back into the database for others to use.

This “outside the box” approach seems to have unlimited potential in regards for what it can be applied to and it puts the power of design into the consumers hands.

Overall, the month of July offered a variety of Startup events well worth attending.

The Startup Summer scene in San Diego is just heating up. If you have an event you’d like for us to attend or spread the word on please Tweet us @Startup_garage

What’s the Biggest Challenge For New Entrepreneurs?

What's the Biggest Challenge For New Entrepreneurs? from The Startup Garage

What’s the Biggest Challenge For New Entrepreneurs?

Welcome to video Fridays
from The Start Up Garage


A place where Tyler Jensen, The Startup Garage’s founder, answers questions directly from viewers

Key Take Aways From Video:

1. The biggest obstacle that new entrepreneurs tend to face is really overcoming their personal limitations.

2. As a new entrepreneur you need to be coachable, which means you need to be able to listen to other peoples viewpoints and opinions and consider them seriously.

3. Be realistic about your strengths and weaknesses.

4. Surround yourself with people who compliment your weaknesses.

Complete Transcript below:

Question= “What’s the biggest obstacle that new entrepreneurs tend to face?”

Tyler Jensen: The biggest obstacle that new entrepreneurs tend to face is really overcoming their personal limitations. In order to be successful new entrepreneurs really need to learn a whole bunch of new knowledge, they have to learn new leadership skills, and communication skills.

Nicole Morris: So what would you say are some kind of tips for overcoming these?

Tyler Jensen: I would recommend number one is that you really need to be coachable, which means you need to be able to listen to other peoples viewpoints and opinions and consider them seriously. You also need to be realistic about your strengths and weaknesses. You don’t want to overestimate or underestimate your abilities. I see this all the time — you just need to get real about it. And thirdly which compliments this with, you need to surround yourself with people who compliment your weaknesses. Don’t be afraid to not know everything and not be able to do everything. No one person is good at all the parts of running a successful startup.

Whether you have a question about your business plan or you’d like to discuss our business plan writing services, feel free to contact us for a free consultation!

HBO Show Silicon Valley Shines The Spotlight on Business Planning

Silicon Valley Show On Business Plans from The Startup Garage

HBO Show Silicon Valley Shines The Spotlight on Business Planning

The clip below provides accurate yet comical insights into a typical angel investor meeting.

Key Take Aways From Video:

  • Investors are in the business to invest in companies, not just products.
  • Investors are not guidance counselors for your Startup.
  • Investors are smart and sophisticated, they want you to be prepared.
  • There are key Milestones investors care about.
  • One thing you want to never hear in an investor meeting
    “He doesn’t seem to know what he’s doing.”

    • Are you prepared to #Getfunded?

     

    Whether you have a question about your business plan or you’d like to discuss our business plan writing services, feel free to contact us for a free consultation!

Is a Business Plan Necessary?

Is a business plan necessary? From The Startup Garage

Is a Business Plan Necessary?

Welcome to video Fridays from The Start Up Garage


A place where Tyler Jensen, The Startup Garage’s founder, answers questions directly from our viewers.

Key Take Aways From Video:

1. When starting a business you will almost always want a business plan.

2. Even if you do not need investors or a business partner, a business plan will help you answer critical questions.

3. Investors want and require documentation.

Complete Transcript below:

Question:

I’ve read that you really don’t need a business plan. Is this true?

Well, my short answer is no — it’s not true.

If you’re starting a company, there are a couple of main reasons why you’re almost always going to need a business plan.

The first one is that even if you don’t actually need the document of a business plan for an investor or business partner, going through that process of answering all the questions that a business plan will require you to answer is so critical early on. If you don’t do it early on it’s going to cost you a lot of time and money later on.

The second reason is that if you are raising money from anyone other than a close friend or family member, almost any serious investor is going to require that you have gone through the process of writing a business plan and they’re going to want to see that document.

Remember, “the worst business plan is one you never bother to write.”

Whether you have a question about your business plan or you’d like to discuss our business plan writing services, feel free to contact us for a free consultation!

What Do Investors Want in A Professional Business Plan?

What do investors want to see in a business plan? from The StartupGarage

What Do Investors Want in A Professional Business Plan?

Welcome to video Fridays from The Start Up Garage


A place where Tyler Jensen, The Startup Garage’s founder, answers questions directly from our viewers.

Key Take Aways From Video:

1. Investors want to see a clean, professional looking, honest, and reasonable assessment of the business.

2. Investor wantwell-sourced research sections, which include the market, industry, and competitive analysis.

3. Investors want an exceptional product description that explains all the features and benefits of the product or service you’re going to be selling.

4. Investors want a reasonable sales, marketing, and operational plan and budget.

5. Investors want 5-year financial projections.

Overall, investors are sophisticated and smart, this isn’t a traditional sales document.

Complete transcript below:

“What do investors want to see in a professional business plan?”

Great question Jen, overall investors really just want to see a clean, professional looking, honest, and reasonable assessment of the business. They want clear, well-sourced research sections. So this includes the market, industry, and competitive analysis. These really need to be cited with trusted sources, so add footnotes in there as well.

The next thing you want is a really good product description that explains why all the features and benefits of the product or service you’re going to be selling. Then they’re going to want a reasonable sales, marketing, and operational plan and budget — so you just need to be reasonable in these expectations of what you’re really going to be able to achieve in terms of growth.

And then they’re going to want to see a well thought out 5-year financial projections. These include balance sheet, cash flow, and profit/loss along with all the assumptions that go into making those up.

So overall investors are sophisticated and smart. So this isn’t a traditional sales document — you don’t want to make it too “salesy”. They want to see something that is just reasonable and honest — and I think you’re going to get a lot further with investors than something that is hyperbolic and exaggerated

Whether you have a question about your business plan or you’d like to discuss our business plan writing services, feel free to contact us for a free consultation!

Trademarks, Copyrights, and Patents

Trademarks, Copyrights, and Patents from The Startup Garage

Trademarks, Copyrights, and Patents

Leave a reply

When starting a business, one thing to think about is security. Not just the security of your business in general, but security of your ideas and what you have created. This is where things such as trademarks, copyrights, and patents come in to play. These are ways to assure that your business is safe from plagiarism and knockoffs. Trademarks are used to protect things such as business logos, names or anything that is put on your product to distinguish it from other products. A copyright protects things that are written such as any literature, books, music, or visual and performing art. A patent is the protective right against anything that is a physical invention.

Most startup companies will want to trademark their businesses to ensure that no other company has or uses the same name or logo. Trademarking can be done simply online at the United States patent and trademarking website www.uspto.gov. An attorney is usually not required for trademarking, but it may help things go a lot smoother. The average cost for trademarking is between $200 and $500.

 

Theoretically, a completed work is copyrighted, but sometimes it is important to file a copyright to avoid infringement. If your new startup company needs a copyright, whether it is for a book, or significant document, it can be easily done online as well. First you must visit www.copyright.com, and then choose the type of work you are copyrighting, and fill out the application. It is that simple, and it will only cost $35 online or $50 if you would like to file the physical papers by sending them through the mail.

Patents are the most important protection devices for inventions. A patent will ensure that your invention can not be copied by anyone else to make profit. This is why the patent process is a little bit longer and more difficult. First, you must ensure that your product has not already been invented. You can find this information by looking at www.uspto.gov. Now you must decide which category your invention falls under; utility, design or plant. A utility patent is for an invention of a machine or article of manufacture. A design patent is for an invention of a new and original design of an article of manufacture. A plant patent is exactly what it sounds like, a patent for an original plant that was created and reproduced.

Next you must fill out the correct application at Uspto.gov. In most cases an attorney is highly recommended. This is important to make sure that your patent is filed and protected correctly. Patents are not cheap so it is important to make sure that everything is done correctly and uniformly. A patent runs anywhere from $1,500 to $15,000 depending on the type.

A business is important to protect, and so are your ideas and inventions. The use of trademarks, copyrights, and patents is imperative to providing the protection needed against infringement, plagiarism, and stealing.

Whether you have a question about Trademarks, Copyrights, and Patents or you’d like to discuss our business plan writing services, feel free to contact us for a free consultation!

Stage 2 of Non-Profit Incorporation: Planning

Non-Profit Incorporation Planning From The Startup Garage

Stage 2 of Non-Profit Incorporation: Planning

Leave a reply

Create a Business Plan

  • Beyond the Mission Statement and Purpose that you have already drafted, you should create an entire business plan that will serve as a roadmap as you get your operations started.  The Business Plan includes your mission and purpose, but also provides detail on all aspects of your business: the budget and financials, the target audience, your marketing plan and your management structure.  All this information is necessary to serve as both an internal framework as well as a communication aimed at external parties such as investors.  The Startup Garage specializes in writing business plans and we provide a wealth of information on the topic elsewhere on our site- feel free to explore!

Write and File Articles of Incorporation

  • Once you have a board assembled and a name registered with the state, you must write your non-profit’s Articles of Incorporation, which are the documents that your state needs to recognize your organization as a corporation.  In California, the web link for the PDF to fill out and submit is here.  You can search for another state’s Secretary of State page here.  You can search for additional information on your state’s incorporation laws on NOLO’s page here.  Read the instructions carefully to ensure you are aware of any other documentation that is required, such as the Statement of Information for non-profits in California.  The mandatory contents of the Articles of Incorporation are governed by the state’s Corporations Code but generally include the names and signatures of the directors, the stated mission and purpose, proof of ownership of the corporation’s name, a disclosure acknowledging that there will be no private gain, and a filing fee.

Draft Governance Policy

  • Corporate governance is a hot topic following the financial crisis, and you must ensure that your non-profit is up-to-date on the important features of a comprehensive governance policy.  The policy will include the bylaws that govern the non-profit, a conflict of interest policy, and a compensation policy.  Look into how Sarbanes-Oxley affects your non-profit at the National Council of Nonprofits page here.  The governance policy is most importantly applied to the Board as it relates to their fiduciary duty to the non-profit.

*The information contained in this post is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be construed as legal advice on any subject matter.  You should not act or refrain from acting on the basis of any content included in this site without seeking legal or other professional advice. The contents of this post contain general information and may not reflect current legal developments or address your situation. We disclaim all liability for actions you take or fail to take based on any content on this site.
 

Whether you have a question about Incorporation Planning, or you’d like to discuss our business plan writing services, feel free to contact us for a free consultation!

Overview of the Types of Non-Profits

Overview Of The Types Of Nonprofits By The Startup Garage

Overview of the Types of Non-Profits

Leave a reply

Now that you have decided to start a non-profit organization, you must consider which legal structure you wish to use.  The most common form of non-profit is the non-profit corporation, and later in this blog series I will explain how you can file for incorporation if you wish to do so.  If you don’t want to go through the incorporation process, you can consider structuring your non-profit as either an unincorporated association or a trust.

Before you decide which structure is the best for you, consider the differences in choosing between the legal structures.  The main reason that a non-profit chooses to incorporate is to protect the management from personal liability from lawsuits or debt.  Depending on the type of work your organization will be doing, and the type of assets the organization will be buying or owning, chances are that you will want the legal protection of a corporation.  A corporation is a separate legal entity that has the capacity to sue and be sued, to own property and to make contracts.  But if the corporation cannot meet its financial obligations, the personal bank accounts of the people in charge of the organization will be protected.  Another option for your non-profit is to form a limited liability company (LLC).  A LLC offers legal protection similar to that of a corporation but is easier to form and manage.

Once you have engaged in a risk-assessment analysis for your organization’s activities and you have an idea as to how much liability you will be exposed to, you can narrow your entity choice options.  If you find that there is some exposure to risk, but perhaps not enough to justify the effort and expense necessary to file for incorporation, you can also consider investing in liability insurance.  Other options for minimizing liability include using waivers or operating under an umbrella group that has its own insurance policy.  Or you can try to eliminate the risky activities.

 

Whether you have a question about the Types of Non-Profits, or you’d like to discuss our business plan writing services, feel free to contact us for a free consultation!