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Displaying 1-30 of 61 results
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The language of crowd-funding
- Article
- 01 Sep 2023
- Daniela Blei
Do crowdfunders seeking donations see different results depending on the phrasing they use? A new paper to be published in the Journal of Consumer Research investigates the language of crowdfunding appeals by mining some ten years of data from crowdfunding platforms GoFundMe and Kickstarter. Daniela Blei reports on the outcomes.
Exclusive
Think big: Frontaal invests in a new brewery
- Article
- 01 Jun 2023
- Rebecca Szkutak
Netherlands brewery company Frontaal discusses their growth through crowdfunding, which has generated EUR 5m in capital, with around 5,500 beer-lovers now counting themselves among the co-owners of the brewery. The company sees this community of shareholders as being one of the advantages of raising money by crowdfunding. The economics of running a microbrewery and the logistical challenges of installing a new brewery operation are also discussed.
Exclusive
Startups stung by UK delay in awarding tax credits to innovators
- Article
- 13 Apr 2023
- Aisha S Gani
Some UK startup businesses have been waiting upwards of six months to receive research and development tax credits from HMRC, forcing some to take out loans to plug the gap in funds. The Fintech trade body Innovate Finance said it has member firms worried about lengthy delays that make it difficult to predict their cash flows. HMRC has acknowledged that it had extended processing times.
Exclusive
When best to scale up
- Article
- 01 Mar 2023
- Hamdi Ulukaya
A new study sheds light on the debate into how fast a high-growth company should scale up. From examining job postings from 38,000 start-ups, the researchers found those start-ups that had scaled up in the first year were 20-40% more likely than others to have failed. They also found that using A/B testing software significantly raised a start-up's odds of success.
Exclusive
Feature: the pros of the Hybrid Start-Up
- Article
- 01 Mar 2023
- Nathan Furr, Kate O'Keeffe
How established companies can create a 'Hybrid Start-Up' - a new model that combines the best of people, processes, and resources from both inside and outside the company. Evidence suggests that it is two or three times as likely as an independent start-up to succeed.
Exclusive
The key to a successful business scale-up
- Article
- 01 Jan 2023
- Martin Kupp, Jeffrey F.Rayport, Davide Sola
How to master the “extrapolation” stage, when business start-ups begin to focus on profitability, not just growth. The authors share their advice, based on their experience teaching business school courses on scaling up enterprises and their analysis of dozens of rapidly growing start-ups. The company must construct a business model that boosts revenue while reducing variable unit costs and containing fixed costs.
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Startups that grew fast learn shrinking can be just as hard
- Article
- 15 Aug 2022
- Aggi Cantrill, Olivia Solon
Lessons from dismissal methods chosen by downsizing companies - there's a right way and a wrong way to do it. Some start-ups try to make redundancies exceptionally quickly, but find employees who stay lose a lot of trust.
Exclusive
A 'radical' market data approach to startup valuations
- Article
- 01 Apr 2022
Valuation professional Michael Blake has issued a challenge to appraisers of early-stage companies: add rationality to valuing start-ups by relying more heavily on market inputs. The article covers some of the non-standard sources of market data recommended by Blake for valuing start-up companies.
Exclusive
The strategic risks facing start-ups in the financial sector
- Article
- 31 Mar 2022
- Patrick McConnell
The majority of start-ups fail. But some succeed, and a very small number succeed spectacularly. However they all face enormous risks. This paper provides a guide to the strategic risk companies face.
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Show us the money: A guide to raising capital
- Article
- 01 Feb 2022
- Glenn Baker
Securing investor funding is the key to accelerating business growth, particularly for fledging ventures. NZ Business magazine shares advice on attracting investors from three of New Zealand's leading funding platforms, including tips on preparing for an equity crowdfunding campaign. As well as venture capital, an emerging alternative is 'venture-debt'.
Exclusive
Rethinking how to grow a small business
- Article
- 01 Jan 2022
- Christopher Johnson
The right finance strategies will help your business be more resilient in the face of challenging market conditions. Christopher Johnson notes some possible adjustments that can have a positive impact, including rethinking your working capital, protecting cash flow, diversifying your sources of lending, asking your lender the right questions and considering equipment financing.
Exclusive
Costs and benefits of start-up funding
- Article
- 01 Nov 2021
- Miguel Fernandez
A look at the financing options available (and pitfalls to avoid) for start-ups and midsize companies, including venture equity, corporate venture capital, venture debt and angel investors. Different funding options may be appropriate depending on which stage of growth your company is in. A list of questions to ask when vetting potential investors is given.
Exclusive
Startups can raise from crowdfunding sites and get their venture capital too
- Article
- 14 Oct 2021
- Rebecca Szkutak
Increasingly startups are looking to crowdfunding platforms not to collect their entire rounds, but rather as tools to bring different types of investors in a raise. An equity crowdfunding campaign can both raise capital and also market your product or service to thousands of potential brand followers. However, there can be privacy risks for companies raising on public crowdfunding platforms.
Exclusive
Reasons start-ups fail
- Article
- 01 May 2021
- Tom Eisenmann
Harvard Business School Professor Tom Eisenmann shares some of the research findings from his book, Why Startups Fail, in which he identifies recurring patterns behind start-up business failure. He focuses on the two most common avoidable reasons where he believes start-ups go wrong: Good Idea, Bad Bedfellows and False Starts.
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The perks of hiring your best customers
- Article
- 01 Jul 2020
- Amy Douthit
This article looks at why a social enterprise company should look at their own customer base as a source of talent. It covers start-ups and established companies alike creating similar working models around the people they hire; and hiring actual users of the product or service, guaranteeing that customer care specialists are true specialists.
Exclusive
The new lease accounting rules
- Article
- 01 Jun 2019
- Evan Scarbrough
The updated lease accounting standard IFRS 16 is likely to affect most small businesses that follow US GAAP or IFRS. The new rules will impact the definition of a lease, what leases are reported and the difference between an operating and a finance (or capital) lease.
Exclusive
Effective financial projections for a startup
- Article
- 01 Mar 2019
- Tiffany Hovland
A list of practical considerations to help start-up businesses - and the accountants who support them - develop a business plan with meaningful financial projections. Revenue, costs of sales, selling, general and administrative expenses, capital investments, cash flow, overall presentation and the high-level projections which investors like to see are covered in this handy guide for start-ups hoping to attract investments.
Exclusive
Fun in the sums
- Article
- 26 Jun 2017
- Ed Niman
Ed Niman, director of specialist accountants NWN Blue Squared, dissects the latest funding options available in the music business. Funding possibilities include crowd-funding, asset and invoice finance and pension-led funding. The chosen method must meet the business needs, timescales and ability to repay.
Exclusive
Sizing up BuzzFeed
- Article
- 20 Jun 2017
- Todd Spangler, Brian Steinberg, Andrew Wallenstein
At a time when an unusual number of media companies are considering IPOs - including BuzzFeed, Vice Media, Rovio and STX Entertainment - they may find that being highly dependent on advertising revenue and in the content business counts against them on Wall Street. Although BuzzFeed has excelled at providing advertiser-friendly multimedia content that has a large online audience, its financials are modest by 'unicorn' start-up standards.
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The ugly unethical underside of Silicon Valley
- Article
- 01 Jan 2017
- Erin Griffith
Erin Griffith looks at instances of fraud and corrupt practices in Silicon Valley's high-technology industries. She discusses alleged fraud at companies including blood-testing equipment company Theranos and human resources software company Zenefits. Topics include how the nature of venture capital (VC) funding culture can put pressure on business founders to exaggerate their successes.
Exclusive
Listen to the crowd
- Article
- 07 Dec 2016
The article discusses the growth of the alternative finance market in Great Britain. It states the three main areas of the market, including peer-to-peer lending, reward-based crowding, and equity-based crowdfunding. It notes that alternative finance is developing from the shadows of mainstream competition.
Exclusive
Social enterprises' startups: possibliities and barriers
- Article
- 01 Nov 2016
- Julia Kuznecova
The ability of social enterprises to secure funding is related to the specific social problems they are created to address. This research paper examines the possibilities and barriers with regard to a social enterprise company becoming a startup.
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Crystal ball gazing
- Article
- 01 Oct 2016
- Richard Pepler
Richard Pepler looks at the rise of the alternative funding finance market and makes some predictions on what the future holds for this fast growing sector. Business customers should do careful due diligence before securing finance and aim to build long-term relationships with funding partners.
Exclusive
Breathing new life into healthcare
- Article
- 05 May 2016
- Mindi Chahal
Lack of NHS funding and the resulting strain on services, coupled with consumers' desire to take control of their own wellbeing, has made the healthcare sector ripe for disruption, leading to a surge of innovation. Mindi Chahal investigates how healthcare startups are benefiting from patients' desire for on-demand healthcare and digital health data solutions.
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Business lending on the rise
- Article
- 01 Apr 2016
- Malcolm Small
With lending conditions improving and an increasing appetite for alternative finance, growth prospects for UK businesses look healthy. Malcolm Small assesses the findings of a recent survey on SME funding.
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The challenge of scaling up
- Article
- 01 Feb 2016
Too many start-ups fail within their first two years of operating. An expert roundtable of nine UK SME leaders discuss the difficulties of growing businesses and how to support companies in this key stage.
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Growth: How unicorns do it
- Article
- 01 Jan 2016
"Unicorns" - private, venture-backed start-ups valued at a billion dollars or more - seem to be growing faster than ever. Yet new research has found no relationship between the amount raised before an initial public offering (IPO) and long-term value creation. Article includes an interview with venture capitalist Jim Goetz, who gives his views on why start-ups are growing so quickly.
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Snap. Crackle. (Pop?)
- Article
- 15 Dec 2015
- Erin Griffith
Erin Griffith discusses what has changed in the world of billion-dollar unicorn start-ups. Worrying signs include missed targets at Zenefits, share markdowns at Snapchat, a cash crunch at Jet, an executive exodus at Rent the Runway, and doubts about Dropbox revenue potential.
Exclusive
How to value the new breed
- Article
- 01 Nov 2015
- Adam Lashinsky
The article discusses the rapid increase in the number of unicorns, the start-up companies worth more than a billion dollars. One of the factors of their success is the low interest rates that have encouraged investors to invest money in unicorns hoping for bigger returns. But are unicorns worth their valuations? "Sometimes the eye-popping valuations aren't exactly what they appear to be", says Adam Lashinsky.
Exclusive
Enabling today's mobile workforce
- Article
- 01 Nov 2015
- Kelly Koelliker
Whether you’re a small start-up or a multinational corporation, chances are your employees expect to carry out their jobs with at least some of the flexibility they enjoy as consumers. As well as setting up the IT infrastructure and security policies to support mobile working, it's important to consider the services, support and user experience you deliver to
mobile employees.
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