Once you decide to incorporate a small business online and depending on your particular needs, you need to consider how you’re going to finance the new venture. This is one of the biggest challenges business startups face – finding funding.
You can go to investor conferences and pitch your idea. However, a casual atmosphere to discuss things with potential investors is lacking to say the least.
And if you’re asking people for money, they probably want to get to know you a little bit unless your business plan just wows them from the start.
In comes Venture Café, an idea hatched by Cambridge Innovation Center founder and CEO Tim Rowe. The café opened March 1st in Boston to provide area entrepreneurs and investors a place to interact in a casual atmosphere and talk business. Currently housed in a temporary location, the café is looking for a permanent location.
To get things started, organizers are holding a series of “office hours” sponsored by the New England Venture Capital Association where entrepreneurs can hold 25-minute pitch sessions at the café. Organizers invite investors to attend and encourage them to come a little early and stay a little later – all in the hopes of them making more random, casual connections.
It’s especially nice to see innovative techniques like this being put into action. Nothing can take the place of one-on-one relationships so it’s nice to see ideas like this put people together. Not only does it serve as a wonderful way to meet prospective business partners, its casual nature will help those entrepreneurs who may be nervous about approaching some large venture capital firm.
Incorporating a business and running it successfully requires a lot more than simply completing some forms. But places like Venture Café in Boston help make the journey more fulfilling.
It’s a common question for budding entrepreneurs – what type of bank should they choose?
Banks can pretty much be divided into two categories – small community banks that serve a specific city, region or state and large commercial banks that have branches in many states or across the entire country. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages and which one you choose depends a lot on how many places your business operates.
There are over 7500 community banks in the United States and typically have under $1 billion in assets. It is easier to establish a relationship with a branch manager or loan officer at a community bank. These relationships may allow you to deposit checks into your account without a hold or get a quick loan with little trouble.
Large banks on the other hand operate in several states. And while it’s harder to establish a personal relationship with a large bank, they generally have more capital to loan out. Also, if you operate in different states, it may be worth looking into a large bank so you can better manage your business.
Check out the video below for more tips on how to choose the right bank for your business.
One question that may come to mind for businesses wanting to incorporate is how many “founders” they should have. By “founders”, we mean individuals who have collaborated together to establish a new company.
It really depends on how you structure it as to whether there should be one or two founders or five or more as expressed in the video below.
Simply having several people who come together and say – “We want to start a company that will be successful in the future” – isn’t enough. In this case, having more than one or two founders could be huge mistake. Progress will be elusive and chances are, the venture won’t succeed.
On the other hand though, if each person has their own area of responsibility like one in charge of marketing, another in charge of development and another in charge of fundraising for example, several founders for a company could be a plus.
Watch this quick interview of venture capitalist David Hornik for more. And if you’re ready to incorporate a business, turn to the online incorporation experts at MaxFilings to quick and reliable service.
Now that we’re into the New Year, it’s time to think about your tax strategy for 2010. And this could be one of the craziest years to try and plan a workable strategy – but no matter what Congress does, you can take some useful precautions to minimize the impact of your tax bill on the bottom line.
One highlight of this year – the estate tax is supposed to go to 0% for this year. President Obama though is opposed to this move and is pushing for the rates to be set to levels comparable to recent years.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provided some great tax breaks for small businesses in 2009 such as larger first-year and bonus depreciation tax write-offs. Expect some of these to be extended into 2010.
Bonnie Lee, a tax expert with Entrepreneur.com says “who knows what’s going to happen” but added that taxes are likely to rise, especially if the proposed healthcare legislation passes.
In spite of the uncertainty, Lee suggests a few prudent steps you can take to minimize your tax bill. These include:
Do what you can to reduce taxable income – contribute to a health savings account or make charitable donations. Contribute the maximum allowance into your IRA or 401k.
Develop better strategies to track your expenses. Buy a mileage log and develop company-wide strategies to track all expenses. You’ll need all the deductions you can get.
As stay on top of all the changes that go on from year to year so if you haven’t used one in the past, consider hiring one.
Set aside money each month for your tax bill that will be due in 2011. You can probably bet your 2010 taxes will be higher than 2009 so be prepared.
Taxes for small businesses are unfortunately a fact of life so we need to stay proactive so we don’t end up paying more than we should.
After working for years in an office with coworkers, it can be very challenging to work from home alone. There’s no one to go to lunch with, bounce ideas off of or vent frustrations.
How does a person working at home avoid feeling isolated and motivated to be as productive as possible?
A new article in the online incorporation knowledge center courtesy of Leah Grant has some great tips on how to cope with the traumatic change of working with others nearby to by yourself at home.
Tips include:
1. Find an accountability partner
2. Find or join a Mastermind group
3. Join offline networking groups
4. Join your industry’s professional organization
5. Schedule time every week to reach out to customers and colleagues
6. Try to work outside your home at least once a week
Working from home doesn’t have to feel like being trapped on a deserted island. Read the article for more detail on how you can ensure success in running a small business from the confines of your home.