Posts Tagged ‘startup business’

← Older Entries

Are You Creative?

by admin on Friday, January 30th, 2009

Innovation and entrepreneurship - especially in the world of technology and Internet startups - are often looked on as ‘creative’ disciplines requiring a creative mind.

Certainly coming up with fresh business ideas - including ideas for growing or marketing your business - is part of what it means to be an entrepreneur.

However, many businesses and business owners get so hung up trying to be creative and imaginative that they forget to look after the simple things that are proven to work.

So how do you strike the right balance between solid basics and creative flair

  1. Don’t reinvent the wheel.
  2. Don’t be afraid to be different and pursue good ideas.
  3. Think twice before throwing out a “bad” idea.
  4. Find your inspiration.
  5. Focus on the message.

Even if you don’t feel that you are particularly creative or that your businesses is in particularly a creative industry, a little imagination and creative ‘desire’ can help differentiate you from the rest. Just make sure to balance that with a focus on the basics.

If your goal is to maximise your return on investment, creativity should serve the business - not the other way around.

In our new post we’ll look at those five points in more detail …

Tags: , , , ,
General, Planning · No Comments

Starting a Business: Five Things to Do Over Christmas

by admin on Wednesday, December 24th, 2008

Christmas is a time to relax with your family and friends, eat too much food and indulge in a little too much alcohol.

Unless, that is, you are an aspiring entrepreneur.

In that case, Christmas is the perfect time to do some research and planning for your new business. Not only is 2009 just around the corner but, if you’re currently working for someone else, these few weeks are probably one of the few occasions when you can spend a day or two planning your business.

So what should you do?

Five Things to do for Your Startup this Christmas

  1. Work on your business plan: You’ve been putting it off for ages - nows the perfect time to put the finishing touches to your business plan (or get started if you haven’t already). Join acfuse for free to download our free business plan template.

  2. Do some reading: You can never know enough about your niche - or about starting a business. Use Google to help you find information about your niche and identify the people who are talking about it in blogs and websites. Then take a trip to your favourite bookstore (or Amazon for that matter) and find interesting new books about your niche or starting a business - a Christmas present for your business. You’ll also find useful articles in our business startup resource section.

  3. Build Your Profile: Create profiles on relevant social networking sites and forums. LinkedIn is great for building business contacts. Twitter can help you find people who are active in your niche. Acfuse.com is great for finding investors and partners (if we do say so ourselves). And forums are always good for building your profile and keeping up-to-date with what’s going on.

  4. Start a blog: A blog is a great way to give your business personality, demonstrate your expertise and attract new visitors to your website. Even if you haven’t started your business yet you can always start blogging about your experiences as an aspiring entrepreneur or use it to provide useful information in your niche (building your reputation and contacts for when you do launch).

  5. Think: Set aside a day, if you can, just to think about your business. Find somewhere that you won’t be disturbed. Bring a pen and lots of paper. Then just think. Ask yourself questions. Challenge your ideas and see how you might be able to improve them. Sometimes just a few hours thinking can help you define your strategy and even come up with exciting new ideas. If nothing else, you should walk away reinvigorated and ready to move your business forward.


Have a great Christmas!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
General, Planning · No Comments

Six Questions Your Elevator Pitch Needs to Answer

by admin on Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008

If you haven’t heard the term before, an elevator pitch is a short description of your business idea that you could deliver to someone in the time it takes to ride up a few floors in a elevator.

i.e. If you got into a lift with your perfect investor and had just a few moments to get them interested, what would you say?

Crafting a Great Elevator Pitch

  1. What does your business do? Keep it simple. If you can’t state what your business does in one sentence you need to be more precise.

  2. Who are your market? Who are you going to sell to. ‘Everyone’ or ‘anyone’ is not a good answer, an elevator pitch is about precision - who are your most likely customers? Give an indication of the size of this market. Why does this market need or want what you have to offer?

  3. How will you make money?

  4. Who’s on board? This will include your team, mentors, backers and even potential customers who have expressed an interest.

  5. Who are your competitors? Every business has competitors. They may be other companies, other solutions or even just the status quo. Answering this question will give your prospective investor some idea of the kind of market you’re playing in.

  6. What makes you different? What’s your USP (unique selling proposition), why is it relevant and is it lasting?


The easiest way is to start by writing your answers to these questions out. Don’t worry about how it sounds at first or even how long it takes.

Once you’ve written your answers, it’s time to edit. Try and get each section down to just one or two insightful sentences. If it’s good, you’ll get the chance to explain in more detail

Even if you never get stuck in a lift with your perfect investor, being able to give precise answers to these questions will help with everything from attracting mentors to hiring staff and developing business partnerships to selling to customers.

More than anything though, precise thinking leads to precise decision making in your business.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Pitching Your Business · No Comments

Seven Great Sites for Finding New Business Ideas

by admin on Monday, December 22nd, 2008

Whether you’re looking for an idea to start a business or ideas to grow your existing business, inspiration can often be found in what other businesses are doing.

Here are seven great websites for doing just that:


Springwise.com & Trendwatching.com

Springwise and it’s sister site Trendwatching utilise a network of thousands of individual spotters from around the world who all send in innovative new business ideas that they see or hear about.

Spingwise and Trendwatching give them context and show how they relate to bigger ideas.

Trendhunter.com

Trendhunter calls itself ‘the world’s most updated, largest collection of cutting edge ideas’. Everything from fashion trends to business ideas are represented and there are fresh ideas pouring in from across the globe 24 hours a day. It all seems a little daunting at first but if you spend a few minutes getting used to the site you’ll find plenty to keep your mind buzzing with ideas for days.

NicheGeek.com

Perfect inspirational fodder for small business - especially online business - ideas. Did you know that people make money suggesting domain names or that smashing plates in San Diego is a great new business idea.

KillerStartups.com

They review 15 online startups every day. What more do you need to know?

Innovation.alltop.com

If you haven’t come across AllTop before, it’s a categorised collection of the world’s top blogs. The Innovation category may be a little techie for some people but there are dozens of interesting sites to check out and keep up-to-date with the latest thinking and innovations.

StumbleUpon.com

Install the Stumble toolbar, tell Stumble what you like and then let it bounce you around dozens of websites in your niche. 90% of what you find might just be a diversion but even if 10% of what you find gets you thinking, it could be well worth 20 minutes of your time.

Oh, and don’t forget to give us a little Stumble too.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
business ideas · No Comments

Borrowing From Friends and Family: Pros and Cons

by admin on Sunday, December 21st, 2008

Are family and friends a good source of finance for your business?


If you’re struggling to raise finance for your business idea it might be tempting to raise the money you need from friends and family. There’s good chance they’ll help but is it a good idea?

Borrowing Startup Capital from Friends and Family: The Pros

  1. You Can Get It -Borrowing from banks will often require collateral, finding investors means having a big enough idea to deliver a return for you both. If you don’t tick either of those boxes, family and friends may be an option.

  2. No Interest - Friends and family will probably not ask for interest payments - saving you money. You may not even have to give up any equity.

  3. Flexible Repayments - There’s a good chance that you won’t have to pay back what you borrow on a strict schedule - handy when your cash flow is unpredictable.


Borrowing Startup Capital From Friends and Family: The Cons

  1. You might lose it: It’s a fact of life that some businesses fail. How will you feel if you can’t repay what you borrow?

  2. They might back you anyway: I say anyway, as in, even when your idea isn’t that good. Finding bank funding or investors to back you means proving your business plans are sound and that your idea is likely to make money.

  3. Mixing Business and Personal: What happens when Dad wants to get involved in the business because he lent you the money? Do you really want to mix your business and personal lives in that way?

  4. Lack of Professional Advice: Finding an outside investor usually means finding someone with experience in business - and maybe even contacts in your industry. Either way, they can bring more to the table than just money.


Ultimately many small businesses do turn to family and friends when it comes to finding finance for their startup idea. It can work, but it’s certainly worth giving it a little thought before you start hitting up Mum and Dad at the Christmas table this year.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Finance and investment, Planning · No Comments
← Older Entries