Growth

When an entrepreneur makes a pitch in front of a venture capitalist or angel investor, there are some standard expectations of the presentation. However, the potential investor may also have some less obvious expectations with regard to the impression made and confidence conveyed by the entrepreneur. The physical content of the pitch deck slides is significantly important, but perhaps more important are the lasting impressions that the content conveys. In this blog post, we will describe five things an investor expects a pitcher to know.

Funding a startup frequently requires securing some type of capital investment from other individuals or entities. Sometimes those arrangements are made through venture capitalists or angel investor groups. This process is not simple and will be time consuming and challenging.

When approaching the capital investor, most startups use a pitch deck, or set of presentation slides, or possibly video, to make their pitch for funding. Because of the time required to prepare such a pitch deck, it is important to get it right.

Besides bootstrapping, there are basically two ways to fund revenue growth in a business: take on debt or invite equity investors. In this blog post, we look at using debt to raise capital, and more specifically, what is required to qualify for a commercial loan.

All commercial lenders follow some standard underwriting principles and consider certain factors. This process is intended to build up a lender’s confidence that a business owner will repay the loan according to the loan provisions. In doing so, the lender generally considers what are known as the 5 Cs of credit.

When it comes to assessing the effectiveness of your business’ marketing efforts, not all metrics are equally valuable. For startups, one metric that is particularly useful in measuring marketing effectiveness is customer lifetime value.

Customer lifetime value (CLV) indicates the average total revenue a business can reasonably expect a single customer to generate over the course of the business relationship. The longer a customer continues to purchase from a company, the greater their lifetime value becomes.

Let us say you have had an idea rattling around in your head for a few years about how to improve a basic service or product that you have used in the past. You are pretty sure you have the knowledge and skill to deliver that enhanced service or product. Now you are wondering how to go about commercializing it.

With the new year comes some exciting new developments at NaperLaunch. In March, we’ll debut some updates to the format, schedule, and content of our programs. These changes reflect the latest evolution of our continued efforts to serve the needs of Naperville-area entrepreneurs and small business owners. While some of our programs may look different, our commitment to meeting business owners where they are remains the same. Here’s a look at what’s new, and what won’t change, at NaperLaunch in 2020.

In the classic book Think and Grow Rich, author Napoleon Hill writes that power comes from accumulated knowledge and an individual can organize that knowledge and accumulate more of it and do so faster by taking advantage of the “master mind,” those persons who have mastered certain skills or processes and who possess superior subject matter knowledge.

Naperville Public Library provides access to many digital resources, but a key one to update and learn new skills is Lynda.com. Lynda.com is an online learning platform that contains thousands of streaming videos that can help anyone learn business software, technology and creative skills.

Access is free for Naperville Public Library cardholders and easy to use. Just log in with a library card number/username and PIN.

Whether starting a new venture or growing a current business, entrepreneurs need access to information and planning tools to help them achieve their goals. Small Business Resource Center covers the major areas of starting and operating a business, including planning, financing, accounting, taxes, management, human resources and marketing.

This online resource brings together hundreds of sample business plans and the content of 300 small business journals. The content now also includes a wide range of other media and sources: