Small companies are desperate for growth capital, but banks and investors remain cautious, says Pepperdine Private Capital Markets Project’s John Paglia  Read More →

Most business models don’t appeal to investors. Entrepreneurs shouldn’t waste time and money pursuing equity capital from them, says Scott Shane  Read More →

With  Read More →

The figures for venture-capital funding for the first quarter of this year are in, and it’s a mixed bag. Some sectors are seeing funding increase while others are losing ground. Interestingly, the two biggest sectors didn’t gain any ground, while traditionally less-funded industries moved ahead. A recent report from VC-database firm VentureDeal  Read More →

The UK Election was held on the 6th May 2010 – and here we are, the 11th May, will still no way out of the political wilderness that we currently find ourselves in. We have an unelected Prime Minister in power, with a party the British Public have lost faith in residing in the cabinet. In my opinion the way the political parties have been behaving since 6th May has represented everything that politics should not be; manipulative, scheming... 

All small business experience difficultly in obtaining the capital they need to start and grow their enterprises. But according to the research, women do not have equal access to capital. On overage it took women business owners 4 attempts to secure bank loans or lines of credit and 22 attempts to acquire venture capital. In fact, according to the Center for Women’s Business Research, over half of women owned firms did not seek capital... 

ZoomProspector weighed 11 factors-including the number of startups, quality of the workforce, and resources like universities and venture capital-to compile a list of the top places to build the next Apple or Google.  Read More →

Entrepreneurs seeking early-stage capital must rethink strategies to suit investors’ expectations. HitFix shows how the landscape has changed  Read More →

Sure, heirs of the ultra-rich who die this year will get a break on estate taxes, but they could wind up paying even more in taxes on capital gains  Read More →

Many entrepreneurs have been hanging on to the knot at the end of their rope for more than two solid years, waiting for the economy to improve. Two new studies show an increasing number of them are concerned that knot’s not going to hold them long enough to see a turnaround. Studies from Discover and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) show more owners think business conditions are deteriorating. In the…  Read More →

The gloom is still out there for small business owners. But they’ve hit the point where they’re saying, “What the heck — I’m going to start hiring and investing in my business anyway,” a new American Express Business Monitor survey shows. AmEx surveys more than 700 small-business owners twice a year to gauge their feelings about the business climate. This time, nearly half say they’re making capital …  Read More →

Today, Alistair Darling revealed the budget for the coming year. A lot of policies were focused was on helping small businesses with a “£2.5 billion one-off growth package”. Really, though, this is going to do little to really help small businesses. The chancellor included tax breaks, better access to credit, better payment terms from the public sector and lower business rates for small businesses. In summary: – SME’s can double... 

One of the biggest challenges for many startups is finding funding. How can they connect with angel investors or venture-capital firms? There are plenty of investor conferences you can attend, and maybe pitch a group of possible funders your story. But there aren’t many places designed to let entrepreneurs and investors hang out in a casual setting. A new restaurant, The Venture Cafe  Read More →