Venture Capital Funding. Guidelines to Ensure Your Success.
By Bill Oxford
Understanding the Process
Professionally managed venture capital funds provide seed money to entrepreneurs. Typically, VC firms establish partnerships, in which to invest the money of their limited partners. Venture capitalists invest in companies for a short period of time for a substantial total return.
Research is vital to targeting the right venture capitalists. Criteria for selecting the right venture capitalist include geographic, industry specialization, stage of development, size of investment preferences, investment role, and co-competitive ventures.
Integrated Branding for Start-Up Companies.
By Bill Oxford
The initial lack of customers and cash flow concerns often cause start-up companies to postpone developing a professional branding program until they build a client base and generate revenues. Some firms may decide to accomplish this task in-house or as cheaply as possible. Unfortunately, designing their own marketing materials and identity when they launch their businesses instead of having them professionally created will make getting those initial clients more difficult and may result in a business that will struggle to succeed.
Seventeen Secrets for Successfully Launching a Product or Service.
By Bill Oxford
1. Empower the marketing department.
Marketing is a coupling of customer and company. It is the organization charged with understanding the market. It must drive the company to respond to the customer. Marketing is the organization that must make development groups aware of the customers’ needs and the manufacturing organization knowledgeable about capacity and cost issues. Marketing must be active in planning the company’s products.
2. Create a marketing plan.
This seems obvious, but you would be surprised how many products are pushed to market without any plan in place. Once it is created, it must be a living plan as well.
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