The Female Founders’ Guide To Funding, Business Assistance Resources And Venture Capital In Northeast Ohio
Raising capital is hard enough, but did you know that only 2.7 % of venture capital investment goes to female-founded businesses? On Thursday, August 18th, JumpStart hosted an insightful panel discussion examining how female founders are defying the statistics and finding creative paths to funding, entitled The Female Founders’ Guide To Raising Capital. As part
3 Tips To Scale Your Business To $10 Million
Achieving your first few million in sales requires a crystal clear value proposition that solves a real problem for your customers, not to mention a considerable amount of focus, dedication and hard work. But taking your sales revenue to the next level requires something more—a bulletproof strategy. The following three tips will aid in developing
[PODCAST] Making Sense Of Small Business Certifications: How To Navigate The Certification Maze And Drive Business Growth
On Wednesday, May 18, JumpStart and the Women’s Business Center of Ohio welcomed a panel of successful business owners for a discussion about women-owned, minority and disadvantaged business certifications. The group explored the pros and cons of each certification type, and discussed how to leverage these certifications to gain additional business. This event was sponsored by the
How To Crowdfund For Your Venture
Over the last decade, online crowdfunding has changed the fundraising game, and small businesses are reaping the benefits. At its most basic, the concept of crowdfunding (raising small amounts of money from a large amount of people) can be broken down into two distinct categories—donation/reward-based and investment-based. Nonprofits and cause-centered organizations often use donation/reward-based crowdfunding, while
6 Valuable Resources For Minority Entrepreneurs
JumpStart is committed to inclusion across all of its programs. We recognize the single best hope for the nation’s ongoing competitiveness is to create inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystems, and we understand there are the unique challenges and opportunities facing minority entrepreneurs. From educational opportunities to networking and career development, here are six valuable organizations dedicated to helping diverse
Finding Your Target Market
If you want to be big, you have to start small. This is especially true for entrepreneurs who are just going to market. In an ideal world, you’d be able to promote your small business to everyone and, furthermore, everyone would be interested. In reality, marketing to everyone is not only expensive, but ineffective. Even
What Does An Investor Look For In A Prospective Investment?
Most entrepreneurs in search of funding have a solid idea and focus. They’re passionate about their business, and they see a direct need for their product or service in the market. However, in some cases, these entrepreneurs don’t catch an investor’s eye right away. In other cases, perhaps an investor has expressed interest, but after
Understanding Due Diligence
So, you’ve found an interested investor. They’ve read your executive summary and heard your pitch. Just when it seems like being funded is in your future, the potential investor begins asking more in-depth questions. Perhaps they ask for a list of references, or more specific details on how you determined your financial projections. Welcome to
Fine Tuning The Investor Pitch
If you’ve ever tried to tweet something witty in 140 characters or text your friend some great pithy insights, you know that being “short and sweet” isn’t simple. Crafting and delivering a compelling story limited by word count or time is a challenge for anyone. Now imagine the future of your business is on the
How To Bring Your Invention To Market
Many people are looking to raise capital, connect with a mentor, or find other resources that will help them advance their businesses. Most of the time their ideas have been formalized in some way and they already have a business plan or maybe even a prototype. But lately, we’ve received several calls from serial inventors
Do Startups Need Employee Handbooks?
When you started out, you and the management team were like family. But you’re growing now and adding new people every week it seems. Naturally, you need a central document that sets out policies and procedures on how new employees should conduct themselves, right? Besides, isn’t having a handbook a legal requirement? Though not required,