Helping Businesses Grow & Succeed
By Dileep Rao – Guest Contributor The conventional wisdom is that there are two kinds of entrepreneurs: · Small-Midsized Business Owners (SMB): They comprise the bulk of entrepreneurs · Unicorn-Starters (U-Starters): This type uses the Silicon-Valley-style venture-development method to build a unicorn with capital-as-a-weapon. It seeks first-mover ideas, minimum viable products (MVP), product-market combinations, angel […]
Is your company appropriate for venture capital investors? Ricardo Weisz, a Florida SBDC at FIU consultant, knows a thing or two about this topic. He’s been a business operator multiple times and has invested in dozens of startup companies over the years. First you need to determine that your company […]
By Dileep Rao – Guest Contributor Given the current habit of labeling all types of equity financing as venture capital and all ventures receiving VC as startups, things can get a little confusing. Not all VCs are created alike and not all startups are at the idea stage. All VCs are […]
By Dileep Rao – Guest Contributor Joe Martin started his first business in 2004 with $375 when he was an international student at a community college in Florida. He built this business to more than $10 million in annual sales by 2012. He used $500,000 in profits from this business […]
By Dileep Rao – Guest Contributor There will never be enough early-stage venture capital (VC) to satisfy the world’s venture hopes. But these hopes may be misguided by the myths—and the hype—of VC. VC has many holes that need to be plugged: VCs finance very few and succeed on fewer. […]
By Dileep Rao – Guest Contributor Robert Johnson was on CNBC and like many others, wanted someone to offer more venture capital for minority venture development. With all due respect, he needs to be clearer on exactly what he means, who should be funding this, and what risks are they […]
By Dileep Rao – Guest Contributor There will never be enough new business financing to satisfy all the world’s entrepreneurial hopes. Having been to many venture-development conferences, I have found that one theme remains constant – entrepreneurs everywhere, and the venture developers who promote them, seem to constantly complain about […]
By Dileep Rao – Guest Contributor Billion-Dollar Entrepreneurs (BDEs) are defined as entrepreneurs who have built ventures from startup to more than $1 billion in sales and valuation. Billion-Dollar Entrepreneurship (BDE-ship) is defined as the process used by BDEs to build these ventures. This blog explains the difference between the […]
If your business is a startup seeking venture capital, your prospects are dim. Instead, you should focus on trying to grow the business without VC funding, says Dileep Rao, part of the faculty at Florida International University College of Business and author of Nothing Ventured, Everything Gained. The erroneous perception […]