Not long ago, I sat patiently in my CEO’s spare bedroom while his mother removed her belongings from the family desk so I could work there for the day. We had no corporate office, no employees and no paychecks. Luckily for us, what we did have was product/market fit and a couple hundred paying customers…
Minutes before the first meeting of my startup’s seed round, a wise advisor pulled me aside. “This is going to be wild,” he warned, with a knowing smile. “Brace yourself.” Several months later, after raising $850,000 for my startup, ReelGenie, the ride has stopped (for now). I hopped off the fundraising…
Do you know what would happen to your business if your partner got recruited for an amazing job from Google and took it? What about if you have a snowboarding accident and are unable to work? What if one of your partners is arrested and sent to prison? If your partner and her spouse co-own their share of the…
As every new business owner knows, companies need capital. Credit cards can provide that capital for growing companies, and they have attractive benefits – but they also have potential dangers. Here’s a look at the basics of using credit cards to fund your company. Rates. Funding your business with a credit…
The biggest reason to write out a business plan regardless of any financing option concerns is that it can help you stay organized and remain on track. Businesses without a plan can easily get off-target, and revenues will suffer as a result. Creating a plan with expense projections, revenue forecasts…
Trying to get your small business off the ground can be as exciting as it can be nerve-racking. Here are some key actions to take while you are still in the earliest stages in order to protect your long-term growth and help your new business start out right. Plan for the Unexpected. Take the time to create…
Adam Schoenfeld is co-founder and CEO of Simply Measured, where he drives the overall vision for the company. Adam has spoken at industry events such as SXSW, and is frequently quoted in leading marketing and emerging technology media outlets. When asked for the best business advice he’s ever gotten…
When I finally made the leap to starting my own consulting company, it was with a sense of totality. I, a serial executive for various startups, had finally realized that I didn’t want to be behind the scenes anymore. I was ready to be numero uno. Entrepreneurship seemed to be everything that working…
Entrepreneurs tend to undervalue and underpay what we do at our company. Unfortunately, this creates a fundamental flaw in all of our financial models, thus clouding our ability to make smart decisions from our numbers. Even if you can’t afford to pay out cash yet, have your accountant track it to give…
Is your business too complicated? After running an ultra-high-growth, successful business for three years, I noticed a disturbing trend creeping around the edges: complexity. As we grew our team, expanded our product line and added more marketing strategies into the mix (all at a high speed), each piece started…
You’re in business to make money. In its purest sense, that’s the concept of business. If you’re going to make money, you have to keep track of it, and you have to do it right. For a business owner, budgeting is as important as paying bills. Your budget is the framework on which your business will be built and…
The typical business owner is trying to juggle several plates in the air simultaneously. Between procuring new business, servicing current customers, and dealing with personnel and inventory, it’s not hard for a bill or two to be overlooked. Unfortunately, when bill payments get missed, those are the dropped…
The constant hustle for cash is an inevitable part of the startup founder’s life. Whether it’s balancing multiple credit cards, pitching to investor after incubator after investor, or applying for government grants, it seems like the quest for cash is constant. If you’re just getting started with the funding…
Losing hard-earned cash isn’t funny. Second to rats nibbling away at your huge stash of bank notes, losing money because of workflow inefficiency is a frustrating, if not irresponsible, way to be in the red, especially since it could have been prevented. Imagine having to incur penalties for late payments…
It’s no secret that I’m a financially-challenged person. I shy away from budgets and numbers and anything that has to do with managing money. Sounds irresponsible, but it’s not that so much as the type of person I am. And, I don’t think I’m alone. If you’re an entrepreneur, however, financial know-how is…
It’s no secret that many activist investors are frustrated with the lack of financial literacy among entrepreneurs today. In my own battle against the blank face in the boardroom, I’ve been following the work of Brad Feld, Jason Mendelson, and Fred Wilson (in addition to asking some of our great investors…
You can’t create a realistic business plan without knowing how much it will cost to get your business up and running. If you don’t have an idea of your startup costs, you won’t know how long you’ll have to bootstrap, how much funding you’ll need, how quickly to scale. In other words, without calculating…
The most important financial metric for most startups is monthly cash flow. Indinero lets us easily see how much we’re spending each month by category so we can budget for the coming months. Almost all small business accountants in the United States are familiar with QuickBooks. Thus, I recommend…
I remember one of my favorite memories in middle school was taking a field trip to a place called Enterprise Village where we were assigned a job and salary and we simulated adult financial responsibilities like paying mortgages and buying cars. Beyond that though, financial education wasn’t necessarily a…
“Do what you do, do well,” goes a song lyric I often have stuck in my mind. For entrepreneurs, walking their walk usually entails championing their startups, coming up with great ideas, solving problems, and remembering to renew domains. Uh, that last item, not so much. Good thing Dominder has founders’ backs…
