Ableness Consulting’s Post

Why we insist on designated points of contact during SBIR/STTR proposal preparation It turns out even professionals in the startup community need guidance when it comes to accountability. Our takeaway from client interactions has led to an improved SOP in assigning tasks across team. 📊 #funding #startups #capital #nondilutive #grants #smallbusinessdevelopment #smallbusiness #businessfunding #innovation #businessgrants #SBIR #STTR

Three takeaways for adhering to deadlines and creating accountability in an SBIR proposal preparation team Adherence to deadlines can make or break a proposal. Is your team ready to make a commitment and stick to it? 🔐 #funding #startups #capital #nondilutive #grants #smallbusinessdevelopment #smallbusiness #businessfunding #innovation #businessgrants #SBIR #STTR

Three things to know about E.B. Howard Consulting’s project planning procedures in proposal preparation The project planning state of our onboarding process for new clients sets critical communication and documentation timelines and expectations for improved chances of success 🏆 #funding #startups #capital #nondilutive #grants #smallbusinessdevelopment #smallbusiness #businessfunding #innovation #businessgrants #SBIR #STTR

The concentration week in entrepreneurship at SDA Bocconi ended a few days ago. We concluded 5 daily courses on: • Business Planning & Execution by Elena Coffetti • Business Model Canvas by Jacopo Perfetti • The lean/smart entrepreneurial start-up process by Mikkel Draebye • Revenue Models by Alessandro Arbore • Finance for Innovation by Alberto Dell'Acqua Our profs showed impeccable professionalism, depth, and, importantly, enthusiasm! Did you know there are many types of entrepreneurship? In Side-entrepreneurship, one starts a business, or a side project, while still occupied with his main profession. In intra-entrepreneurship, one spins off a company within the company he/she already works. A business plan starts from the "IDEA". But the steps to follow, the risks, and the alternatives to address for its realization are not simple. There are tools to help out any entrepreneur with his/her IDEA realization, such as PBS. (Program breakdown structure) at criticaltools.com, to organize his/her objectives and deliverables. The steps for the realization of any IDEA need to be summarized in the Business Model Canvas, a tool that allows one to visualize all the building blocks of a startup business, including customers, route to market, Value Proposition (Why, Who, Why us, What, Where), and finance. The most difficult and important step to the realization of any IDEA, is, probably, its funding. There are many ways to fund a project either by bootstrapping, crowdfunding, public and private funds, or initial coin offer. And there are different funding mechanisms according to the maturation stage of the business, e.g., business Angels, Private Equity, Banking, & Restructuring Funds. A business model needs to include the revenue model, which should involve multiple financial streams of income for the business. Wholesales, Agency, & Marketplace are some of them. For digital platforms, the most critical factor of success is reaching the critical mass of clients. There are several strategies to boost it but knowing how to perform marketing analysis is key. Today, we evidence more and more the "concentric" model in business that applies vertical integration using a participatory mold where the revenues remain with the entrepreneur while the costs are distributed among all contributors. Take Uber for example. What counts for a startup's success is the mentality, commitment, passion, vision, and proactiveness of the entrepreneur(s). However, "Just do it" ( Cowboy) entrepreneurs risk a lot especially when they fall in love with the project. "Just Plan it" (Nerd) entrepreneurs may lose themselves in Excel sheets. So, is there a sweet spot? Yes, the "Lean Start-up", where entrepreneurs start with prototyping to reach an MVP (minimal viable product) and perform iteration, validation, learning, adjusting, or pivoting. Good luck to any aspiring entrepreneur out there! #business #marketing #successstrategies #innovation #startup #entrepreneurship

I strongly recommend you to read our new article!) Here we told about some projects that failed and shared the lessons we learnt from it! Share your thoughts on this in comments :)