Outside Help

Outward Bound to Startup: Outdoor experiential learning and starting a new venture might seem like an oblique connection. The reality, though, is that such learning has many important lessons for [...]

Note—You might want to read the page on Startup Business with Disability, before you read this page. Support for Entrepreneurs with Disability: There is a vast amount of guidance, training and [...]

Funding for Female Founders: This Directory of Funding for Female Founders aims to help increase these numbers. It is inevitably incomplete, so we would cherish any additions or suggestions for [...]

Grassroots Startup Barriers: Determined rural entrepreneurs will make it, whatever barriers stand in their way. More than 68 per cent of people in the US think it’s easy to start a business [...]

Dangers of Startup Mentors: I was a startup mentor for many years. So, why would I warn entrepreneurs about the dangers of using mentors? My warnings are based on my understanding of how such [...]

Nearsourcing: Nearsourcing is a way of outsourcing that brings subcontracted services nearer to the client company. Nearer can be in terms of distance, time, language, or culture. Nearsourcing [...]

Exit Strategy by ESOP or Co-op: An Employee Stock Ownership Plan or Co-operative Ownership are both increasingly popular options as exit strategies for entrepreneurs and small business owners. My [...]

Staffing a Startup: What staff does a startup need? The data does not show that solo founders do any worse than those with two or more. However, my advice is that the second member of the team [...]

Startup Workshops: The best startup workshop that I ever attended was one designed to enable a venture capital company to decide on potential startup investments. Lead entrepreneurs from about a [...]

Loans from Family and Friends: The first port of call for borrowing money for startups is family and friends. Historically, promissory notes have acted as a form of privately issued currency. [...]

Startup Mentor Checklist: Mentors can be invaluable to a founder to act as a sounding board for ideas and planned action. They can also play the role of devil’s advocate, challenging your [...]