Informed Success: A Bibliography for Student Entrepreneurs

Startup money is moving online, and this guide shows you how it works. The Art of Startup Fundraising takes a fresh look at raising money for startups, with a focus on the changing face of startup finance. New regulations are making the old go-to advice less relevant, as startup money is increasingly moving online. These new waters are all but uncharted--and founders need an accessible guide. This book helps you navigate the online world of startup fundraising with easy-to-follow explanations and expert perspective on the new digital world of finance. You'll find tips and tricks on raising money and investing in startups from early stage to growth stage, and develop a clear strategy based on the new realities surrounding today's startup landscape. The finance world is in a massive state of flux. Changes are occurring at an increasing pace in all sectors, but few more intensely than the startup sphere. When the paradigm changes, your processes must change with it. This book shows you how startup funding works, with expert coaching toward the new rules on the field. Learn how the JOBS Act impacts the fundraising model Gain insight on startups from early stage to growth stage Find the money you need to get your venture going Craft your pitch and optimize the strategy Build momentum Identify the right investors Avoid the common mistakes Don't rely on the "how we did it" tales from superstar startups, as these stories are unique and applied to exceptional scenarios. The game has changed, and playing by the old rules only gets you left behind. Whether you're founding a startup or looking to invest, The Art of Startup Fundraising provides the up-to-the-minute guidance you need.

A Wall Street Journal Bestseller! What are venture capitalists saying about your startup behind closed doors? And what can you do to influence that conversation? If Silicon Valley is the greatest wealth-generating machine in the world, Sand Hill Road is its humming engine. That's where you'll find the biggest names in venture capital, including famed VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, where lawyer-turned-entrepreneur-turned-VC Scott Kupor serves as managing partner. Whether you're trying to get a new company off the ground or scale an existing business to the next level, you need to understand how VCs think. In Secrets of Sand Hill Road, Kupor explains exactly how VCs decide where and how much to invest, and how entrepreneurs can get the best possible deal and make the most of their relationships with VCs. Kupor explains, for instance:
* Why most VCs typically invest in only one startup in a given business category.
* Why the skill you need most when raising venture capital is the ability to tell a compelling story.
* How to handle a "down round," when startups have to raise funds at a lower valuation than in the previous round.
* What to do when VCs get too entangled in the day-to-day operations of the business.
* Why you need to build relationships with potential acquirers long before you decide to sell.

Filled with Kupor's firsthand experiences, insider advice, and practical takeaways, Secrets of Sand Hill Road is the guide every entrepreneur needs to turn their startup into the next unicorn.

Help take your startup to the next step with the new and revised edition of the popular book on the VC deal process--from the co-founders of the Foundry Group How do venture capital deals come together? This is one of the most frequent questions asked by each generation of new entrepreneurs. Surprisingly, there is little reliable information on the subject. No one understands this better than Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson. The founders and driving force behind the Foundry Group--a venture capital firm focused on investing in early-stage information technology companies--Brad and Jason have been involved in hundreds of venture capital financings. Their investments range from small startups to large Series A venture financing rounds. The new edition of Venture Deals continues to show fledgling entrepreneurs the inner-workings of the VC process, from the venture capital term sheet and effective negotiating strategies to the initial seed and the later stages of development. Fully updated to reflect the intricacies of startups and entrepreneurship in today's dynamic economic environment, this new edition includes revisions and updates to coverage on negotiating, gender issues, ICO's, and economic terms. New chapters examine legal and procedural considerations relevant to fundraising, bank debt, equity and convertible debt, how to hire an investment banker to sell a company, and more. Provides valuable, real-world insights into venture capital structure and strategy Explains and clarifies the VC term sheet and other misunderstood aspects of capital funding Helps to build collaborative and supportive relationships between entrepreneurs and investors Draws from the author's years of practical experience in the VC arena Includes extensively revised and updated content throughout to increase readability and currency Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist is a must-have resource for Any aspiring entrepreneur, venture capitalist, or lawyer involved in VC deals as well as students and instructors in related areas of study.

Private equity firms are on the rise and rapidly changing the game. Today more than 5,500 P.E. firms own tens of thousands of companies, so it is essential for CEOs and senior management executives to understand exactly how private equity firms operate. This invaluable resource can help you devise a winning P.E. game plan for your own company that offers you greater freedom and financial success. CEO Adam Coffey has almost twenty years of experience building businesses for private equity companies. In this authoritative yet approachable handbook, he covers: The history and landscape of private equity Ground rules for finding the right firm to partner with Techniques for navigating the new governance Strategies for continued growth in the private equity space And more. The Private Equity Playbook provides all the coaching you'll need to compete and win on this new playing field.

Secrets to Raising Capital is the definitive guide on how to get funding for your business. Unlike other books on raising capital, it is not a list of lenders, investment bankers and investors nor is it filled with instructions on how to value your business or the difference between angel investors and private equity funds. The content of Secrets to Raising Capital is unique. The challenge faced by the business looking to obtain funding is convincing the money source to actually make the loan or the investment. That's where Secrets to Raising Capital comes in. This easy to read, strategy filled book is packed full of insights and actionable ideas on what to do, and how to do it, to make sure your business get's the money it needs. This book contains the secrets that money guys won't tell you, and most CFOs and consultants don't know. You'll find information on what never to say to a money guy, how to handle deal killers, and how to deliver a compelling presentation. You'll also find out how you can ruin a potential funding in one sentence. Secrets to Raising Capital is packed with pages of dos, don't, how tos, rules and instructions. It's not some theoretical book from academia, but a hands-on guide with real life examples. And it's not just for early stage companies and startups. The secrets included in this book will be of value to any CEO or CFO trying to raise capital-even in larger corporations and established companies. It doesn't matter how good you think your business is, or how good a manager you are, there are hundreds of reasons why you may not be getting the funding you need. Understanding the process of raising capital is key to funding your business. In Secrets to Raising Capital you'll discover how the money world works, and how you can raise money for your business the easiest and fastest way possible.Included for free - register on our website to connect with hundreds of funding sources.

IS YOUR COMPANY 'INVESTOR READY'? Getting investment is tough. Competition is fierce. There are new start-ups around every corner fighting for their slice of the pie. In this book, Julie Barber shares her proven six-step process to showcase your company at its best and wow your potential investors. The six Investor Ready steps outlined in this book will enable you to: - Communicate your company Vision to investors - Ensure the Structure and Scalability of your start-up supports your Vision - Prove your Market fit and impact - Provide business Numbers that give investors confidence - Build your ideal Investor Profile and find investors who match it - Create a Pitch and Business Plan that will wow potential investors

Often downplayed in the excitement of starting up a new business venture is one of the most important decisions entrepreneurs will face: should they go it alone, or bring in cofounders, hires, and investors to help build the business? More than just financial rewards are at stake. Friendships and relationships can suffer. Bad decisions at the inception of a promising venture lay the foundations for its eventual ruin. The Founder's Dilemmas is the first book to examine the early decisions by entrepreneurs that can make or break a startup and its team. Drawing on a decade of research, Noam Wasserman reveals the common pitfalls founders face and how to avoid them. He looks at whether it is a good idea to cofound with friends or relatives, how and when to split the equity within the founding team, and how to recognize when a successful founder-CEO should exit or be fired. Wasserman explains how to anticipate, avoid, or recover from disastrous mistakes that can splinter a founding team, strip founders of control, and leave founders without a financial payoff for their hard work and innovative ideas. He highlights the need at each step to strike a careful balance between controlling the startup and attracting the best resources to grow it, and demonstrates why the easy short-term choice is often the most perilous in the long term. The Founder's Dilemmas draws on the inside stories of founders like Evan Williams of Twitter and Tim Westergren of Pandora, while mining quantitative data on almost ten thousand founders. People problems are the leading cause of failure in startups. This book offers solutions.

Investors don't back entrepreneurs, they back Investable Entrepreneurs Too many brilliant business ideas are killed by poor communication, leaving investors unable to understand the very basics of the business. When it comes to pitching, clarity is key. 'The Six Principles of the Perfect Pitch' is a proven process that will help to make your pitch powerful, get you noticed, generate interest and have investors queuing up to help you succeed. Read this book to understand: - The mind of an investor and what they are looking for- What funding assets you need for a successful investment campaign - How to promote your investment opportunity to relevant investors - How to increase your likelihood of success by 30×

Crack the Funding Code demystifies the world of angel investing, venture capital, and corporate funding and lays out a strategic pathway for any entrepreneur to secure funding fast. Lack of funding is one of the biggest reasons small businesses fail. In 2016 in the United States alone, more than 31 percent of small business owners reported that they could not access adequate capital, and the lack of capital prevented them from growing the business/expanding operations, increasing inventory, or financing increased sales. Most business owners believe that their only feasible funding options are (1) savings or personal credit, (2) friends and family or (3) bank loans. They may have heard about venture capitalists or angel investors, but they don't have enough information about what these investors do, what they can provide for a business, and on what terms. What's worse, entrepreneurs often don't know how to access the people who are looking to put their money into young companies with potential. Finally, business owners don't have enough expertise to navigate the treacherous waters of outside funding. Many small companies don't believe they are the type of company that gets funded. Even when business owners are brave enough to look for the right outside investors, they don't know how to create the compelling pitches or how to structure the deals that will get them the funding to expand and grow. Crack the Funding Code will show readers how to find the money, create pitches that attract investors, and then structure fair, ethical deals that will bring them new sources of outside capital and invaluable professional advice. It will give readers the broader perspective--how funding works, how investors think, and what they need to hear to put their money where your mouth is. Every entrepreneur who reads this book will get easy-to-follow deal checklists, a roadmap of where and how to locate the best funding resources and top business mentors for their particular industry and/or geographical location, and a step-by-step process to create pitches that make their idea or business irresistible.

Every year the government gives away over $85 billion in economic incentives to businesses in the form of tax credits/deductions, grants, loans, and cash reimbursements. Ninety percent of these funds go to big businesses that can afford high-priced consultants and lawyers. With this guide, small to medium-sized businesses owners now can learn how to capture these incentive dollars for themselves without having to take on the costs and complications of expensive consultants.

WHAT IF YOU HAD AN ANGEL ON YOUR SIDE? "Terrific advice from a master of the angel investing game. Brian Cohen reveals the art and craft of raising angel money. An investment in this book will pay off a thousandfold." -- DR. HOWARD MORGAN, founder and partner at First Round Capital When you connect with the right angel investor, it's like finding a new best friend--you just have to know what makes him or her happy. Smart funding is waiting for smart founders. Raising funds is all about connecting with the investor who's right for you--and What Every Angel Investor Wants You to Know shows you exactly how to succeed. Veteran early-stage investor Brian Cohen knows how to spot a great company destined for success, and in this groundbreaking book he offers soup-to-nuts guidance for any entrepreneur seeking to launch an invention, a product, or a great new idea into a receptive marketplace. As chairman of the board of directors of the New York Angels, Cohen is one of the most engaged angel investors out there today. The first investor in Pinterest, he describes exactly what angels want to see, hear, and feel before they take out their checkbooks: A clear exit strategy before the startup even launches Facts that turn "due" diligence into "do" diligence Authenticity--"save your spinning for the fitness center" Proof that you "live inside the customer's head" Cohen gives invaluable insight into how the most successful angels view due diligence, friends and family money, crowdfunding, team building, scalability, iteration, exit strategies--and much more. This one-of-a-kind book provides a rare look inside the minds of people who are in the business of funding businesses just like yours. Read What Every Angel Investor Wants You to Know to get your best shot at funding for your product after your very first pitch.

If you are interested in habits to develop the investor mindset then grab a copy today before the price goes up. #BreakIntoVC: How to Break Into Venture Capital And Think Like an Investor gives you the insight to understand technology investing without endlessly scouring the internet or having access to the top venture firms in the industry. What if a few new habits could help you understand the complex and ever changing landscape of the technology sector? What if you could tell a great business from a good business with a few simple steps? Imagine being one of the smartest people in the room when it comes to transportation technology, drones or healthcare technology. Amazon bestselling author Bradley Miles in his first book covers multiple ways to analyze and understand the complex and opaque world of technology investing.
Here are a few things that you will get out of #BreakIntoVC. In this book, you will learn:
* The fundamentals of the venture capital industry and how it works
* The difference between accelerators, angel investors, early stage VCs and late stage VCs
* How to understand any market
* The key metrics that matter to VCs
* How to value early and late stage technology companies
* How to reach venture capitalists How to land a job, internship or learning-based opportunity at a venture capital firm How to handle a mock call with a venture capitalist
* How to spot great technology businesses in your everyday life
* How to pitch a business to venture capitalists Case studies on how five other people broke into the venture capital

Entrepreneurship can be chaotic. Some chaos drives innovation. But legal chaos rocks many startups to their foundations, dashing dreams, jeopardizing jobs and investments, creating liabilities, and slowing innovation. Paul Swegle wrote Startup Law and Fundraising for Entrepreneurs and Startup Advisors to help startups avoid these pitfalls, including the pitfall of struggling to grow a poorly funded business. This is a practical book meant to help entrepreneurs and their advisors:- build on a solid foundation, - avoid costly legal and regulatory mistakes, and - raise the money needed for stability, innovation, and operational success. Startup Law and Fundraising is for everyone interested in business, business law, and startup fundraising. Its 550 pages cover an unmatched range of startup-focused concepts, tips, traps, strategies, and best practices. Fifty-one colorful startup case studies keep things interesting.Legal, governance and regulatory hurdles are covered in the book's first ten chapters. But surviving those hurdles is no guarantee of success. Many startups simply run out of money. Others are bedeviled by ill-advised early funding rounds. Startup Law and Fundraising devotes five chapters to creating and executing a fundraising plan around the principles of just-in-time finance and raising money from the right investors, in the right amounts, and on the right terms, whether from friends and family, angel investors, angel investing groups, seed funds, VCs, strategic investors, accelerators, or crowdfunding platforms.The final chapters fittingly cover the final chapters of startup life - optimizing an "exit" with a successful IPO or sale, or, as happens about 80% of the time, managing through insolvency and winding up.Startup Law and Fundraising provides the foundation for an entrepreneurial law and finance class at any level, including law school, MBA, undergraduate business, community college, or startup incubator.