Posts Tagged ‘Venture Capital’
Why Men Get VC Money and Women Don’t….and How that is Changing
If you’ve ever made a pitch for funding from a venture capitalist, you’ll know all about the laundry list of must-have financials and projections that you have to prepare – and if you’re smart, you’ll also know everything you do has to follow the venture capitalists golden rule: He who has the gold makes the rules!
Not surprisingly, this should prompt you to want to know more about how VCs make choices about spending their gold. Sure, you’ll read all the well-intentioned advice in the world about how to woo a potential VC with a clear, crisp pitch that shows the brilliance of your business idea and its likelihood of making them millions. Then you watch an episode of Dragon’s Den or Shark Tank, and you soon discover that nine times out of ten, the men behind the money table respond less to the business idea than they do to the person pitching it.
Business Networking Events and Resources for Entrepreneurs in New York
Almost everyday someone asks me “where can I go to find XYZ.” I figured it would be easier if I wrote down a decent portion of the organizations I normally recommend to folks. Here in New York there are a plethora of events day in and day out. They include conferences, forums, meetups and workshops.
The frequency, quality, size and scale of events in New York for entrepreneurs, from the aspiring or idea-stage entrepreneur all the way up to the growth and acquisition-stage entrepreneur, can vary greatly.
Quickly Connect With NYC’s Thriving Startup Community
Groups/Events:
Garysguide.org
NY Tech Meetup
NextNY
New York Entrepreneur Week
Girls in Tech New York
6 Confirmed Panels for New York Entrepreneur Week April 2010
Social Media Can Generate Revenue For My Business…. Really?
Description: Panelists discuss unique strategies they’ve implemented for leveraging social media to generate substantial revenue for their businesses. Long and short-term strategies for generating this important additional revenue source will be explored.
Entrepreneurial Ventures: The Impact at Home
Description: Launching a business can have a significant impact on your family and personal relationships. This panel discusses many of the common challenges, and offers strategies to strike a healthy balance between business and relationships.
I Have No Money, Now What?
Description: Panelists will discuss creative approaches to sustainability and stability as well as how to develop, build and scale a breakthrough company with limited resources, such as:
1) Unique incentive structures for your company
2) Free and low cost resources for entrepreneurs
Success is in the Company You Keep
Description: Seasoned entrepreneurs and CEO’s reveal how to diligence partners, suppliers and employees; as well as
1) How to find an attract the right talent and partnerships
2) Understanding the pitfalls of hiring just on resume alone
3) Understanding how and where to find a complimentary partner
4) Hiring, managing, getting the most out of non-full-time employees
My Product isn’t Cool? What in the World Should I Do?
Description: Panelists discuss how to get the word out about your product, even when it isn’t flashy. Topics include:
1) Understanding hype and why it’s a power weapon
2) Clever ways to get publicity for your brand
3) Learn the pros and cons from top-tier “spin doctors”
The $5MM Company: Growing Fast…. But Also the Right Way
Description: Panelists will share tactics they’ve leveraged to achieve unprecedented business growth; as well as strategies for mitigating marketshare loss in the face of stagnant growth.
Leveraging Social Media Today- What is the Future of Print?
The new business landscape is truly a game changer. It allows smaller businesses to reach 1,000s of potential customers without huge marketing budgets like that of larger corporations. Viral videos, Facebook, Twitter are a few of the new tools available to small business.
But, just like any tool, social media tools are worthless unless you know how to use them. Paramount in successful use of social media is to avoid what’s termed interruption marketing. That is, disrupting people with your sales message when they haven’t asked for it.
Instead, people want to be helped. Rather than selling to someone, it is more effective to provide useful information. If someone on a forum asks a question, one should answer it rather than saying “hire me”. By providing help and showing you knowledge, you’re more apt to actually have a follow up discussion involving being hired.
The old days of spending tons of cash for print, TV or radio ads are gone. The new landscape involves being nice and un-solicitous. For more information about the new business landscape, attend New York Entrepreneur Week.
—-
About the Blogger:
Matthew Weiss is owner of Weiss & Associates, PC, a boutique vehicle and traffic law firm located at 419 Park Avenue South, New York, NY. For more information visit his site New York Traffic Lawyer. Mr. Weiss is also the Global Learning Chair for the Entrepreneurs’ Organization, a worldwide not-for-profit dedicated to helping businesses owners learn and grow.
Panel Preview- Roadmap for the Tech/Mobile/Telecom/Media: Top Entrepreneurs Reflect
On Tuesday, I will be part of the NYEW panel “A Roadmap for the Tech/Mobile/Telecom/Media Sectors: Top Entrepreneurs Reflect.”
It is a perfect topic and promises to generate a lively discussion. I have lots of Silicon Valley tech start-up experience and some Fortune 50 Telecom experience – but for reasons that will become obvious I will focus on mobile. Mobile changes everything and we are just beginning to realize it. What interests me most is how profoundly mobile phones are changing the way we work.
5 Components to Making Your Business Perfect
Lately I have been teaching a uniquely green focused FastTrac™ Tech Venture program run by ITAC – New York City’s Industrial and Technology Assistance Corporation.
Our class is full of small start-up and early-stage businesses with state-of-the-art green technology business concepts. Super cool ideas ranging from solar panel manufacturers to internet-based companies that measure energy usage of your home and commercial buildings.
New York Entrepreneur Week’s Top 10 Tips to Starting a Business in This Economy
For the fearful, our current economic environment is an obstacle, for the bold, it is an opportunity.
What do companies like GE, HP, Microsoft, CNN, Hyatt and Burger King have in common? They were all started in economic downturns by entrepreneurs whose passion, commitment, and ability to execute far out-shadowed the temporary economic obstacles.
New York Entrepreneur Week (NYEW) scheduled November 16th to the 20th 2009 celebrates the opportunities to be found in this economy. Through a series of panels, keynotes and networking sessions, entrepreneurs will learn from over 120 speakers from 18 states and 3 continents the resources available to them and how to launch, grow, and manage a successful business venture.
