Financial aspects of launching and operating a high-tech company, including risk analysis, business models, U.S. securities law, financial accounting, tax issues, and stock options, explained accessibly. This book offers an accessible guide to the financial aspects of launching and operating a high-tech business in such areas as engineering, computing, and science. It explains a range of subjects—from risk analysis to stock incentive programs for founders and key employees—for students and aspiring entrepreneurs who have no prior training in finance or accounting. The book begins with the rigorous analysis any prospective entrepreneur should undertake before launching a business, covering risks associated with a new venture, the reasons startup companies fail, and the stages of financing. It goes on to discuss business models and their components, business plans, and exit planning; forms of business organization, and factors to consider in choosing one; equity allocation to founders and employees; applicable U.S. securities law; and sources of equity capital. The book describes principles of financial accounting, the four basic financial statements, and financial ratios useful in assessing management performance. It also explains financial planning and the use of budgets; profit planning; stock options and other option-type awards; methodologies for valuing a private company; economic assessment of a potential investment project; and the real options approach to risk and managerial flexibility. Appendixes offer case studies of Uber and of the valuation of Tentex.

Financial aspects of launching and operating a high-tech company, including risk analysis, business models, U.S. securities law, financial accounting, tax issues, and stock options, explained accessibly. This book offers an accessible guide to the financial aspects of launching and operating a high-tech business in such areas as engineering, computing, and science. It explains a range of subjects—from risk analysis to stock incentive programs for founders and key employees—for students and aspiring entrepreneurs who have no prior training in finance or accounting. The book begins with the rigorous analysis any prospective entrepreneur should undertake before launching a business, covering risks associated with a new venture, the reasons startup companies fail, and the stages of financing. It goes on to discuss business models and their components, business plans, and exit planning; forms of business organization, and factors to consider in choosing one; equity allocation to founders and employees; applicable U.S. securities law; and sources of equity capital. The book describes principles of financial accounting, the four basic financial statements, and financial ratios useful in assessing management performance. It also explains financial planning and the use of budgets; profit planning; stock options and other option-type awards; methodologies for valuing a private company; economic assessment of a potential investment project; and the real options approach to risk and managerial flexibility. Appendixes offer case studies of Uber and of the valuation of Tentex.

This book examines the proliferation of new sources of entrepreneurial finance and how these sources have the potential to make it easier for ventures to raise capital and grow. To date, entrepreneurial finance literature has developed a rich tradition of research on venture capital and angel finance. However, the emergence of ‘new’ sources of finance – such as crowdfunding – and the limited attention paid to ‘traditional’ debt financing and financial bootstrapping offer opportunities to explore, from different points of view and theoretical perspectives, the challenges that ventures face. The objective of this book is to explore these new and traditional sources of finance; suggest how these phenomena can be better understood conceptually; and guide new ways of understanding the topic in future, especially for researchers. The introduction outlines the new sources of entrepreneurial finance, and in comparing them with more traditional sources, proposes challenges in our conceptual understanding of these new and traditional sources. The subsequent chapters deal with important topics, including looking at the way different funding sources may interact; factors that impede family firms from getting external funding; how best to succeed with equity crowdfunding by looking at pre-selection processes; considering differences in perceptions towards funding sources arising from whether entrepreneurs are native born or immigrants; factors to consider when funding specialized assets in high uncertain sectors such as biotechnology; and the internationalization of business angel activity. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Venture Capital journal.

This book is written primarily for people who are creating the future high-tech world by designing, building, and marketing innovative products. More specifically, it is for all engineers, engineering managers, entrepreneurs and intapreneurs. The book provides insight into the problems entrepreneurs face and gives a model for successful startup companies in a formal checklist.

This revised and updated edition of Nesheim's underground Silicon Valley bestseller incorporates twenty-three case studies of successful start-ups, including tables of wealth showing how much money founders and investors realized from each venture. The phenomenal success of the initial public offerings (IPOs) of many new internet companies obscures the fact that fewer than six out of 1 million business plans submitted to venture capital firms will ever reach the IPO stage. Many fail, according to start-up expert John Nesheim, because the entrepreneurs did not have access to the invaluable lessons that come from studying the real-world venture experiences of successful companies. Now they do. Acclaimed by entrepreneurs the world over, this practical handbook is filled with hard-to-find information and guidance covering every key phase of a start-up, from idea to IPO: how to create a winning business plan, how to value the firm, how venture capitalists work, how they make their money, where to find alternative sources of funding, how to select a good lawyer, and how to protect intellectual property. Nesheim aims to improve the odds of success for first-time high-tech entrepreneurs, and offers an insider's perspective from firsthand experience on one of the toughest challenges they face -- convincing venture capitalists or investment banks to provide financing. This complete, classic reference tool is essential reading for first-time high-tech entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurs already involved in a start-up who want to increase their chances of success to rise to the top.

This book offers cutting-edge insights into the changing landscape of entrepreneurial finance, as digital technologies play an increasingly dynamic role in the world economy. Assessing the rapid development of innovative technologies in entrepreneurial ecosystems, it contributes to a wider discussion on the role that technology plays in facilitating and commercializing ideas in the context of global finance.

Providing an introduction to the establishment, development and managerial issues confronting the smaller enterprise, this text is particularly concerned with the kinds of action and behaviour that seem to characterise successful new business ventures.