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Top 3 Reasons Your Loan Application Will Be Denied

by Adam Hoeksema, June 20, 2012 | Comments

	Why most entrepreneurs are denied loan funding Securing a loan with a bank is nearly impossible these days for most small businesses. I manage a small microloan fund that is meant to serve entrepreneurs who have been turned down by traditional banks, yet only 10% of entrepreneurs who apply for one of our microloans are approved. I have observed 3 reasons that most of our loan applicants ...
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Tool Makes Creating Financial Projections Simple

by Adam Hoeksema, June 18, 2012 | Comments

ProjectionHub helps entrepreneurs create financial projections without a PhD in spreadsheet modeling

Forget the 20 tab spreadsheet template! Entrepreneurs no longer need a PhD in spreadsheet modeling to create accurate and realistic financial projections for their startup or small business. ProjectionHub has developed a web application that allows entrepreneurs to generate a full set of financial projections on the web that can then be downloaded as an Excel spreadsheet. Creating financial projections ...

Crap! We Only Doubled Our Money this Week

by Adam Hoeksema, April 23, 2012 | Comments

How VC's Feel About Doubling Their Money

If you haven’t heard, Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion dollars. One interesting aspect of this story is the fact that Instagram just closed a round of investment from top VC firms two days earlier that valued the company at $500 million. According to this article by Techcrunch, Instagram received a $50 million dollar investment just two days before selling ...

Bootstrap your startup

by Adam Hoeksema, April 29, 2011 | Comments

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Stop building your business to raise capital and just build a business

I encounter hundreds of entrepreneurs who are looking to raise capital each week. Most of the time, these entrepreneurs are looking to raise capital far too early in the life of their startup. I have watched as a couple of entrepreneurs have literally lost their opportunity to build a successful startup because instead of working on building a customer ...

Is Your Startup the Next Facebook?

by Adam Hoeksema, February 2, 2011 | Comments

	Top 10 Reasons Your Startup will Not Become the Next Facebook Do you think your startup has what it takes to become the next Facebook? Here are the top 10 reasons your startup does not have what it takes to become the next Facebook: 1. First Startup Venture - If this is your first startup then the odds are against you for long term success. Even Mark Zuckerberg, Founder of Facebook, ...
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Seeking Venture Capital?

by Adam Hoeksema, December 22, 2010 | Comments

Top 3 Reasons you Should move to California to Raise Venture Capital

Ten years ago if you were a startup company with high expectations you had to be in California. Today with online startup communities like Vator.tv, which boasts over 50,000 members in their online community, you might think there is no reason to be located out in Silicon Valley. In most cases you might actually be right, but there is still ...

Top 30 business plan mistakes

by Adam Hoeksema, December 20, 2010 | Comments

	How to ruin your business plan Raising capital is hard enough as it is. Don't make it even harder by committing any of these common business plan mistakes. 1. Financial projections are too optimistic - Entrepreneurs always say they are "conservative" but you just aren't 2. Business plan is too long - Stay well under 30 pages. 3. Executive summary is too long - 2 pages ...
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How to Know if Your Business Idea is a Winner

by Adam Hoeksema, December 14, 2010 | Comments

	The 2 Essential Elements of a Business So you have this great idea for a new business. How do you know if your business idea stands a chance to be successful? Well there are 2 essential elements in any successful business. There is a BIG problem. You have a UNIQUE solution. Let me elaborate on those two points. 1. Big Problem – When you explain the ...
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What is Google Ventures?

by Adam Hoeksema, December 14, 2010 | Comments

	And How Can They Help my Startup? Google Ventures is the Venture Capital arm of the powerful search engine giant Google. Google Ventures is more than just a venture capital firm though because the team at Google Ventures is full of experienced entrepreneurs and technical experts. Below are the 5 questions that you need to know if your startup is looking for venture capital and you are ...
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Biz plan competition industry - $375 Million?

by Adam Hoeksema, December 12, 2010 | Comments

How to find, enter, or organize business plan competitions

Business plan competitions are big business for startups these days. A 2009 McKinsey & Company report found that total funds from prizes have more than tripled over the past decade and now surpass $375 million. There are 3 great resources on the web to help you find, enter, and win business plan competitions.1. Vator.tv - Vator, which stands for innovator, ...

How to Use Alltop to Build Your Startup

by Adam Hoeksema, December 10, 2010 | Comments

	Alltop a Powerful Tool for Entrepreneurs As a startup company owner who works with startups for a living I am constantly looking for websites like www.vator.tv that provide me with the latest startup news. The problem is there are simply so many great resources and websites that I could spend all day looking through the newest articles and news releases on each of these websites. There ...
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How to get free publicity for your startup

by Adam Hoeksema, December 7, 2010 | Comments

Generate buzz for your startup by taking advantage of free tools on the Web

Many startups will run into this dilemma at one time or another. “How do you get the word out about your company without spending thousands on advertising?” Luckily there are a number of websites that are devoted to helping entrepreneurs get the word out about their new business for free. Below you will find four steps to generate a buzz ...

How to write an executive summary

by Adam Hoeksema, December 1, 2010 | Comments

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Want to pitch investors? Put your plan together by including these few sections, such as 'The Grab'

Below is template for your business plan executive summary with commentary for each section to help you write a powerful executive summary and raise capital. The Grab - This section is probably the most important part of your entire executive summary. In two or three sentences you should tell the reader why your business is special. Maybe you have Michael ...

How to Write an Executive Summary

by Adam Hoeksema, November 29, 2010 | Comments

	Executive Summary Basics Below is a quick video overview of the Basics of Writing a Powerful Business Plan Executive Summary: For free executive summary guides, templates, and articles make sure to visit www.theexecutiveplan.com.
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What is the Purpose of an Executive Summary?

by Adam Hoeksema, November 29, 2010 | Comments

	A Powerful Executive Summary Hundreds of thousands of small business owners and entrepreneurs set out each year to write or re-write their business plan. After spending up to hundreds of hours crafting the perfect plan, they simply take the heading from each of the major sections and throw together a summary of the business plan in 20 minutes. The purpose of your executive summary ...
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