Global Entrepreneurship Institute

Transatlantic Innovations in Affordable Capital for Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Prospects for Market-Based Development Finance

A joint report by the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Milken Institute. Traditional state and donor-driven approaches to economic development in the SME sector have largely failed. Macroeconomic, institutional, and financial weaknesses prevail in many developing countries, hindering SME financial access and development. Continue reading ‘Affordable Capital for Small & Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)’ »

Discussions About Bootstrapping The Launch

Traction to move the venture forward comes from capturing one specific slice of a market. This focus-first approach needs to lead to other follow-on markets. But committing to a focus is difficult because of the unknowns. Nothing gets an entrepreneur more focused than uncertainty and fear. And at no other time in the entrepreneurial life cycle is there more uncertainty and fear than in Stage 3, Commitment of Resources, when the entrepreneur and venture has to commit to one direction. Continue reading ‘How can we bootstrap the launch our new business?’ »

How to Start Preparing Your Cash Budget Table

Entrepreneurs who fail with their first venture almost always put the blame on lack of capital, saying they were undercapitalized. But all too often we hear about entrepreneurs who create wildly optimistic sales projections, to cover their fear of failing, and then go out and spend their money on noncritical capital resources like fancy offices, computer systems, new cars, global-travel, slick brochures, and launch parties. Continue reading ‘What is a cash budget table?’ »

Discussion About The Importance of Setting Milestones

Launching a new product is essentially an experiment. The “hypothesis” is the business purpose, and the assumptions can only be validated or negated by real-world experience. Going back to classical Chicago School of Economics, it was F.A. Hayek who pointed out that “entrepreneurs are rewarded by markets when they are right and show superior judgment, but punished when they are wrong.” Today, Dr. Paul Jacobs of Qualcomm simply states, “It’s OK to make mistakes, just don’t make a career of it.” Continue reading ‘What are milestones?’ »

Discussions About the Costs For A Start-Up 

Many entrepreneurs tend to underestimate both the costs and time that it takes to launch and later manage an early stage business. For the first-time entrepreneurs, especially, there are major challenges, such as having to think in advance and how to plan for expenses. This Article about budgeting will help you to accurately estimate the cash required for starting up your venture so that you will avoid the pitfall of underestimating both the money and time it takes to start your venture. Continue reading ‘What are the specific costs to get started?’ »

Discussion About Assessing Your Critical Capital Resources

Leadership, as we discussed in a previous Article, requires marshalling resources cooperatively toward a goal while simultaneously preserving and encouraging a strategic vision. To successfully execute a business plan, in order to translate the business concept into a reality, entrepreneurs have to surround themselves with the right mix of resources, which includes people, capital, and partners. Continue reading ‘What are the critical capital resources for an entrepreneur?’ »

At 28,900 feet, just 135 feet below the summit of Mt. Everest where the South Summit takes a slight dip, is a 40-foot treacherous ice and rock face that can only be scaled one person at a time. It is the last obstacle all climbers who desire in making it to the true summit must climb. It is called the Hillary Step. Continue reading ‘Case In Point: Sir Edmond Hillary & The Hillary Step on Mt. Everest’ »

Your exit strategy is important because it helps you define success in business. When entrepreneurs have not thought through an exit strategy, it may be an indicator that they are not focused on the eventual transition of the venture. There is a saying among venture capitalists, “It’s easy to get into an investment, but how do we get out?” Continue reading ‘Case In Point: Intel Capital’ »

Bootstrapping Yourself Up the Hillary Step on Mt. Everest

Every entrepreneur planning a new venture faces the same dilemma. What are the critical capital resources? How much cash (financial capital) is needed? When is it needed? How will the funds be used? How soon will the venture reach profitability? For an entrepreneur, when times are good, cash flow is the oil that keeps a venture running smoothly. But cash is like oxygen at the summit of Mt. Everest, run out of cash and trouble brews really fast. Continue reading ‘What is bootstrapping?’ »

Discussions of Your Revenue Model

Put simply, no business can exist without top line revenues from sales, no matter how well the other functions are handled. Your business plan must detail how you plan to price and sell your product, and how much money you plan to make. The basics should cover three broad aspects: your selling tactics, your revenue model, and your sales cycle. Continue reading ‘What is a revenue model?’ »

Discussions About New Product Development Issues

New product development is the set of activities that begins with the perception and analysis of a market opportunity, and ends in the production, sale, and delivery of a new product. Risk and uncertainty accompany new product development, and there are many challenges to “integrating the fuzzy front-end of new product development.” The best way to manage the front-end process is to use a systematic approach to integrating your business strategy and technology strategy. Continue reading ‘How do we get our started on our first product?’ »

Assessing Your Critical Capital Resources

Leadership requires marshalling resources cooperatively toward a goal while simultaneously preserving and encouraging a strategic vision. To successfully execute a business plan, in order to translate the business concept into a reality, entrepreneurs have to surround themselves with the right mix of resources, which includes people, capital, and partners. Continue reading ‘What are critical capital resources?’ »

Discussions about Aligning Strategy, Metrics, and Rewards

A business has a purpose to market and sell a viable solution. And sales do not exist in a vacuum, they result from marketing and sales expenditures, R&D expenditures, and money committed to assets. Therefore, sales should be studied and analyzed in conjunction with other statistics that relate to their creation and impact on the bottom line. Continue reading ‘What are performance metrics?’ »

Discussions About New Product Development

New product development is the set of activities that begins with the perception and analysis of a market opportunity, and ends in the production, sale, and delivery of a new product. Risk and uncertainty accompany new product development, and there are many challenges to “integrating the fuzzy front-end of new product development.” The best way to manage the front-end process is to use a systematic approach to integrating your business strategy and technology strategy. Continue reading ‘What is new product development?’ »

For years, new jobs in Mexico’s assembly-for-export plants have been a growth engine on both sides of the Rio Grande. Mexico reported monthly on employment, wages and production in the maquiladora industry, and those figures became key indicators for the border region’s economy. Recent changes in Mexican regulations on export-oriented industries mean these important barometers of border manufacturing activity have been lost—at least temporarily. The new rules merge the maquiladora industry and a program for homegrown exporters into Maquiladora Manufacturing Industry and Export Services, or IMMEX.
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