How to Start a Business Final Outline v.2

							How to Start a Business
Extended Outline - http://premium.docstoc.com/docs/124396385/How-to-Start-a-Business-Outlines


1.                 Overview
        The Goal of This Course
            o    Provide an action plan, ready to start your business in 90 days
            o    If already have a business, fill in the blanks
        What We Are Going to Cover
            o    Review All Topics
            o    Our Focus:
                      Providing a Quality Product/Service
                      Raising Money
                      Getting Customers
            o    The Status of Small Business in the US (info-graphic)
            o    Overview Pie Chart of Small Business
        Who am I
            o    Background with Docstoc
            o    Previous History and Other
                      Number of companies advising


2. Why Start a Business

     a.) What’s Your Why (Ebook)
     b.) Urgency and Momentum
     c.) The Only Failure Would be Not to Start


3. Ideation
     a.) The Fallacy of the Good Idea
            a.   Execution matters not ideas
            b.   If you wait for a good/great idea you will be perpetually waiting, there is no such thing as a great
                 idea, just great businesses. But there are bad ideas….
     b.) The Idea Checklist
            a.   □ Does it solve other peoples’ problems
            b.   □ Do a lot of people have this problem
            c.   □ Am I passionate about the idea
            d.   □ Am I willing to commit the next 5-10 years of my life to this idea
            e.   □ Are others successfully doing something similar
            f.   □ Does it have too many competitors
            g.   □ Can I do something substantially different or better than others
            h.   □ Can I build the businesses on my capital resources
            i.   □ Could I have an MVP and customers in 90 days or less
         j.   □ Are potential customers giving overall positive feedback > 75% of the time
         k.   □ Do I have a background / skill-set compatible with this business
         l.   □ Do I have competitive advantage on how to get customers
         m.   □ If I don’t start this, will someone else
         n.   □ Can I court mentors who have been successful doing something similar
         o.   □ Does it have a high likelihood of success
         p.   □ Does the business risk/reward match my personal risk/reward
         q.   □ Does it help me full-fill my purpose



  c.) Lifestyle vs. Liquidity Business
         a.   Running a business for profits vs liquidity (video)
         b.   Is my business a fit for venture capital (video) (SU video)
         c.   Sharing Business Ideas (video)




4. Protecting My Idea (course)
  a.) When to Share Your Ideas (video)
  b.) Copyrights, Trademarks, Patents, Trade-Secrets (course)
  c.) NDAs (course)

5. The Business Plan (course)
  a.) 10 Key Questions to Address (doc) (video)
         a.   These are the critical components of a business plan simplified down to the key essentials
  b.) The Business Plan Deck (doc)
         a.   A business plan is primarily a financing tool, and sales tool to recruit advisors, employees and to
              solicit feedback
         b.   Show don’t tell – a picture/chart/graph is worth a thousand words
  c.) The Financials (doc)
         a.   Aggressive but within the realm of reality (video)
         b.   Must show an economy of scale or sustainable profit margin
         c.   Assumption based models – understanding the key drivers of your business (video)


6. Setting Up the Business (course)
  a.) Choosing the Right Structure (video) (article)
         a. Sole Proprietorship (video)
         b. General Partnership (video) (video)
         c. LLC (video) (video) (doc)
         d. S-Corp (video)
         e. C-Corp (video)
         f. LP
         g. LLP

  b.) Filings / Business Checking
         a.   Business Bank Account (video)
           b.   EIN (IRS Form SS-4) (article) (video)
           c.   FBN Statement
           d.   Articles of Organization or Incorporation
           e.   Organizational Minutes
           f.   Corporate Resolution authorizing opening corporate account
           g.   Partnership Agreement

  c.) Licenses & Insurance
           a.   Types of licenses required (License123.com)
           b.   Types of insurance required
                    i. Product Liability Insurance




7. Creating a Corporate Presence
  a.) Names / Logos
           a.   Trademark check (trademarkia.com)
           b.   Domain Name / Social Media
           c.   Logo - 99Designs (course)

  b.) Physical Collateral / Phones
           a.   Vista Print
                       i. Letterheads
                      ii. Business Cards
                     iii. Fax Cover Sheets
                     iv. Bills / Invoices
           b.   Ring Central / Google Voice / One Box

  c.)   Online: Websites / Email / Social Media
           a.   Weebly / Wix / Site Creator / Intuit / Wordpress
                      i. iStockPhoto
                     ii. ONLINE COMMERCE: Shopify / Volusion / Magento / Google Checkout / Paypal
           b.   Mail Chimp / Constant Contact / SendGrid
           c.   Managing Your Social Media Business Presence (course)
                      i. Facebook
                     ii. Twitter
                    iii. Linkedin
                    iv. Pinterest
                     v. Yelp




8. Business Operations
  a.) Identifying / Securing a Location
           a.   Retail
                      i. Location, Location, Location – lock in a great long term space
           b.   Office
                     i. Keys to lease – try not to get locked into long term lease to start, look for an option to
                        extend
  b.)   Working with Professional Vendors
           a.   Best practices for working with attorneys & accountants
  c.) Tools/ Services
           a.   ADP / Trinet
           b.   Outlook
           c.   Salesforce
           d.   Quickbooks
           e.   SohoOS
           f.   Google Analytics (course)
           g.   Box / Dropbox
           h.   Docstoc
           i.   GoToMeeting
           j.   Basecamp
           k.   Skype / Phone Systems
           l.   LegalZoom
           m.   SurveyMonkey
           n.   ZipRecruiter
           o.   Yelp
           p.   Efax
           q.   Ask Your Target Market: http://aytm.com/
           r.   Freshbooks
           s.   Yext
           t.   Google Apps
           u.   Amex




9. Service Based Businesses

  a.) You Are Your Product
         a. Key’s to Building a Successful Consulting Relationship (video)
         b. Key Contracts
                 i. Consulting agreement (doc)

  b.) Go Right to Getting Customers
         a. When demand too high, time to increases prices and bring on employees / sub-
             contractors
         b. Your customers are your marketing, delight them

  c.) Scale Expenses Along with Demand
10. Building and Selling Physical Products (course)

  a.) Leverage Slide-ware and Prototypes
         a.   Sourcing Product
                    i. Alibaba.com
                   ii. Tradekey.com
                  iii. mfg.com
                  iv. globalsources.com
                   v. made-in-china.com
                  vi. dhgate.com
                 vii. 9-ways-to-make-a-new-product.html


         b.   Get Customer Feedback
                    i. SurveyMonkey
                   ii. http://getsatisfaction.com/
                  iii. Ask Your Target Market: http://aytm.com/

  b.) Pre-Sales Contracts
         a.   Use your sales contracts to pay for your inventory
         b.   Use a good attorney – check patents

  c.) Selling Your Products Online (course)
         a.   Where to Sell
                     i. Amazon
                    ii. Ebay
                   iii. Magento
                   iv. Shopify
                    v. Volusion
                   vi. Google Checkout
                  vii. Paypal
         b.   Fulfillment & Customer Service
  d.) Selling Your Products via Retail
         a.   Getting Partnerships (course)




11. Building an Online Product (course) (SU video)
         a.   3 Golden Rules (video)
                   i. 3-6 Months to Build Product
                  ii. Up to 50K Personal Investment
                  iii. Get paying customers or scale free users quickly
         b. How to Build an Online Product (video)
                    i. PRD
                   ii. Wireframes (doc) (doc) (doc)
                  iii. Designs (course)
                           1. 99Designs
                  iv. Developers / Dev Shop
                           1. How to find developers
                           2. Elance / Guru / TopCoder / ODesk
                   v. Hosting
                           1. Media Temple
                           2. Rackspace
                           3. Co-Lo
     c.) Getting Feedback and Users
         b. Usertesting.com
         c. 7 Ways to Get Traffic Online for Free - http://premium.docstoc.com/docs/43664560/7-
              Ways-to-Get-Traffic-Online
                    i.   Search Engines (course) (PPT)
                   ii.   Referring Traffic / Press
                  iii.   Social Media (course)
                  iv.    Partnerships & BD Deals (course) (video) (doc)
                   v.    Refreshing Content
                  vi.    Viral Loop
                 vii.    Solve a Compelling Need




12. Raising Money & Financing (course)

  a.) The 5Ps
         a.   People
         b.   Product
         c.   Progress
         d.   Passion
         e.   Persistence
  b.) Sources of Capital (video)
         a.   Personal / Bootstrapping (SU video) (eBook)
         b.   Friends & Family
         c.   Bank Loans
                   i. Credit Lines
         d.   Grants
         e.   Angel Investors
         f.   Venture Capital (video) (SU Video)
  c.) Mastering the Pitch (course) (SUvideo) (PPT)
         a. Warm Intros
         b. Business Plan Deck
         c. Cycle of Telling Investors What You’re Going to Do & Over-Delivering (video)
13. Building a Team

  a.) The Bar for Partners, Employees, & Investors
         a.   My 3 Hiring Principles (video)
         b.   Company Values: AGPIE
                        st
         c.   Tips for 1 Time Managers
                     i. You Know More Than You Know: Trust Your Instincts
                    ii. Don’t be afraid to be the leader
                   iii. Recognition is invaluable
                   iv. The 4 Cs (article)
                            1. Communicate
                            2. Culture
                            3. Compensate
                            4. Cultivate (video)
  b.) Recruiting
         a.   Start with who you know
         b.   Linkedin / Facebook
         c.   Meetups & Networking Events (course)
                    i. Eventbrite / Meetup / Facebook Events

  c.) Issues with Partners, Early Employees, & Equity
         a.   Picking a Business Partner (PPT)
         b.   Sole Decision Makers
         c.   Dissolution Agreements
         d.   Vesting of Equity




14. HR Essentials (course)

  a.) Interviewing Candidates (course)
         a.   Questions to Ask in a Job Interview (article) (video)
         b.   Red Flags (video)

  b.) Hiring and Firing Employees
         a.   Required Documents (package)
                   i. Job Descriptions (custom doc)
                  ii. Job Application (doc)
                 iii. Offer Letters (doc)
                 iv. Employment Agreement (doc)
                  v. Release of Claims (doc)
                          1. Consideration
                    vi. Contractor Agreements (custom doc)
                   vii. Employee Handbook (custom doc)
         b.   Rules for Employees
                      i. Employees vs Contractors (doc)
                              1. Interns
                                       a. Paid Internship (doc)
                                       b. Unpaid Internship (doc)
                                       c. Intern Offer Letter (doc)
                     ii. Wages and Hours
                              1. Exempt vs Non Exempt
                                       a. Required Break Times
                                       b. Overtime
         c.   Firing
                      i. Documented feedback
                     ii. Last day: final pay and vacation time

  c.) Payroll and Benefits
         a.   ADP
         b.   Trinet
         c.   Paychex




15. Getting Customers (SU video)

  a.) #1 Reason Why Businesses Fail
         a.   Must be obsessive about getting customers
  b.) You Can’t Outsource Sales & Marketing
         a. no one will do the selling for you
         b. understand how you’re are going to drive customer for your particular business
  c.) This Has to Be Your #1 Priority
         a. Where you spend 50% of your time
         b. If you can drive customers you can always hire for all other functions; if you can’t biz will likely
            fail
         c. Invest in getting better here




16. Sales (course)

  a.) The 5 Step Sales Process (video)
         a.   NEED: We buy on emotion and justify with logic
         b.   Persuasion (SU Video) (Ebook) (PPT)
  b.) Prospecting
         a.   Create a Sales Funnel
         b.   1/10 qualified people will buy your product
  c.) Methods and Types of Sales
         a.   Inside Sales vs Outbound
         b.   Phone vs In Person
         c.   Online Product Sales (PPT)
         d.   Selling Services vs Selling Products


16. Marketing & PR (course)

  a.) Online Marketing (PPT)
         a.   FREE
                     i. 7 Ways to Drive Online Traffic (PPT) (video)
                           1. Search Engines (Course) (PPT)
                           2. Referring Traffic / Press
                           3. Social Media
                                     a. (report)
                           4. Partnerships & BD Deals (course) (video) (doc)
                           5. Refreshing Content
                           6. Viral Loop
                           7. Solve a Compelling Need


         b.   PAID
                    i. Google Adwords (Course)
                   ii. Bing / Yahoo
                  iii. Facebook
                  iv. Twitter
                   v. Linkedin
                  vi. Yelp
                 vii. DSPs
                viii. Affiliate Marketing (course) (video) (eBook)
         c.   Mobile (course)

  b.) Local Guerilla Marketing
         a.   Promotions
         b.   Customer Reward Programs
         c.   Flyers
         d.   Door to Door Promotion
         e.   Event Marketing (course)
         f.   Radio
         g.   Local TV
  c.) Leveraging PR
         a.   Building Your Brand (course)




17. Financial Planning and Accounting

  a.) Key Financial Statements
         a.   P&L (doc)
         b.   Income Statement (doc)
         c.   Balance Sheet (doc)
         d.   Financial Projections (doc)

  b.) Bookkeeping
         a.   AP & AR
         b.   Bookkeepers, accounts, & controllers
         c.   Quickbooks (course) and Excel (course)
                   i. Learn them both
         d.   Prepared for an audit

  c.) Tax Planning
         a.   Ethically and legally minimize tax liability
         b.   LLC taxes
         c.   City Gross Receipt Taxes




18. The Business Dashboard

  a.) Defining Your KPIs
  b.) Tracking/Measuring Key Metrics
         a.   Resources
                    i. StatsMix
                   ii. BIRT Performance Analytics
                  iii. Klipfolio
                  iv. Salesforce
  c.) Benchmarking Success (video)




19. Primary Legal Considerations (course)

  a.) Working with Business Attorneys (course)
         a.   DIY vs Attorney
  b.) Preventing and Managing Lawsuits
         a. Working with Contracts (video)
  c.) Enforcing Your Rights
         a.   Cease and desist letters


19. Mentors, Advisors & Board
  a.) What You Don’t Know, You Don’t Know
  b.) Courting Advisors (video)
  c.) Working with a Board of Directors
20. Buying and Selling Business
   a.) Finding Businesses to Buy
   b.) Valuing a Business (doc)
   c.) Selling Your Business


21.) Strategy
   a.) How to Make the Right Business Decisions (PPT)
          a.   4 Factors to Factor (eBook) (video) (PPT)
   b.) Stay in the Game: Protect Your Downside Risk
          a.   Eliminate unnecessary risk that could threaten the livelihood of your business and isn’t
               accompanied by a big upside reward
   c.) Revenue Models (eBook)(PPT)
          a.   E-Commerce (video)
          b.   Subscription (SU Video)
          c.   Ads (course) (Ebook)
          d.   Lead Generation (PPT)
          e.   Freemium



22.) Philosophies (video 1) (video 2) (video 3) (Ebook) (PPT)
   a.) The Entrepreneurs Dilemma (video)
   b.) Entrepreneurs Sell Ether (video)
   c.) Mistakes People Make Before Starting a Business (PPT)
   d.) The One Most Important Thing
       (video)http://premium.docstoc.com/video/102694613/10-Lessons-Startups-Can-
       Learn-From-Superheroes
   e.) 10 Lessons Startups Can Learn From Superheroes (PPT) (video)


BONUS: Resources
ADDITIONAL LINKS


http://www.mysmallbiz.com/

http://www.bizminer.com/?aid=242

http://www.nfib.com/

http://www.franchisegator.com/

www.bizbuysell.com

http://www.smbceo.com/

http://www.smetoolkit.org/smetoolkit/en/

http://www.bschool.com/blog/2008/brain-trust-100-ivy-league-business-entrepreneurship-courses-
you-can-take-for-free/

http://www.smallbusinesstools.com/TimeCardServiceApiProduct.aspx


http://smallbiztrends.com/2012/05/13-sms-text-messaging-services.html

                    i. http://www.s.co/partners/current-programs
                   ii. http://www.toolkit.com/tools/
                  iii. http://www.toolkit.com/
90 Days to Start a Business
       Day 3 - Settle on Business Idea
           o Day 4 (Service Based Business) – Start Getting Customers
       Day 7 – Version 1 Business Plan
       Day 14 – Collect Initial Feedback / Version 2 Business Plan


Retail Business – Day 60 Identify Space / Lease

                       Day 14 – 60 Fundraise
                       Day 14 – 60 Collect Inventory
                       Day 30 – Incorporate
                       Day 60 Secure Initial Funds
                       Day 60 Secure Lease Space / TI
                       Day 75 Corporate Presence
                       Day 90 Open for Business


Online Product

                       Day 15 – 90 Fundraise
                       Day 60 – Completed Wireframes & Requirements / Development Begun
                       Day 90 Secure Initial Funds
                       Day 90 Alpha Product Ready
                       Set Up the Business




Physical Product

                       Day 15 – 90 Fundraise
                       Day 15 – 60 Source Product
                       Day 60 – Finalize Vendors / Skews
                       Day 90 Secure Initial Funds
                       Day 90 Demo Product Ready
                       Set Up the Business


http://premium.docstoc.com/docs/124396385/How-to-Start-a-Business-Outlines