Burn the (Traditional) Business Plan!
Why You Should Consider a Lean Approach
¡Queme el Plan de Negocios (Tradicional)!
Hay tres palabras temidas en el léxico del emprendimiento que hacen que la mayoría de las personas se encojan de miedo cuando las escuchan: plan de negocios. Pero estamos aquí para quitarle el temor al presentarle el enfoque Lean de la planificación comercial que genera todos los elementos de un plan comercial tradicional en una fracción del tiempo. El Lean Canvas y el Modelo de Negocios de Canvas son dos variaciones de este tema. Por lo general, los planes de negocios escritos solo se exigen para los bancos... y, a veces, para los inversionistas, aunque muchos inversionistas requerirán una plataforma de presentación...
Top 10 Important Documents You Need to Launch Your Startup
Starting a business is confusing and when it comes to legal and financial matters, you may not know where to start. Rest assured; you are in the right place. Sparkyard will help you navigate the resources you need for your business and how to build a trusted network to ensure your success. Save this article for later or download our document checklist to reference what documents you still need to create, find, or complete. Find business resources on The City of Fort Worth’s Business Services page here: https://www.fortworthtexas.gov/copy-business Think of this as the handbook that will make your business successful. Although tedious,...
Anatomy of a Pitch Deck
Pitch deck. Investor pitch. Slide deck. Presentation deck. There are a multitude of names for the same thing: a concise written and visual presentation of your company (or future company) that explains how you will change the world, on a small or big scale. We’ll refer to it as a pitch deck here. If you are an entrepreneur building a fast-scaling product or service based around some type of technology, then you MUST have a pitch deck, but we argue that most founders will benefit from developing one regardless of your company type. According to Get Backed, a pitch deck serves...
The State of Entrepreneurship in Fort Worth is Strong
I had the opportunity this year to deliver the 5th annual State of Entrepreneurship Address at the Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) luncheon event sponsored by HSC Next and FortWorth,Inc and it was an honor to highlight all the great work that was accomplished by local innovators, entrepreneurs, startups and ecosystem builders in the past year. I have highlighted a few of my key talking points below, but you can also watch the full event, recorded by the FWISD students in the Broadcast Journalism/Media Technology program at Southwest High School here. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram did a nice recap of the event and...
SCN Series: Growing, Guiding and Connecting Entrepreneurs in Fort Worth Highlights
The Startup Champions Network (SCN) Fall Summit is happening in Fort Worth this October. Ashley Ray, the Social Media and Communications lead at SCN, has been shining a light on the University of North Texas Health Science Center team hosting this event in Fort Worth. Here are some highlights of Marco Johnson, the Associate Director of Entrepreneurship at HSC Next. If you’re trying to start a business, navigate the myriad resources available, or develop your business model in Fort Worth, Marco Johnson is the guy and Sparkyard is the platform. Marco’s work in a nutshell? Business wayfinder. His toolbox includes assets created...
10 Most Read Blogs on Sparkyard 2022
In the summer of 2021 we ran the numbers and showed the Top 10 Read Blogs for the previous year. We decided to run the numbers again in 2022 and see what’s changed in the last year and what content our readers like to see. So here’s the updated top 10 posts of all time (since we launched in 2019)! 10. Burn the (Traditional) Business Plan! posted June 17, 2021 Most entrepreneurs write a business plan, but it quickly becomes outdated. And, if you ask some of the most famous entrepreneurs, they never even had a business plan in the first place....
Hãy Đốt Kế Hoạch Kinh Doanh (Truyền Thống) Đi!
Trong từ điển doanh nhân có một cụm từ chỉ nghe thôi đã thấy sợ, mà hầu hết mọi người đều né tránh khi nghe tới, đó là: kế hoạch kinh doanh. Qua bài viết này, chúng tôi muốn giúp quý vị vượt qua nỗi sợ này bằng việc áp dụng cách tiếp cận tinh gọn để lập kế hoạch kinh doanh, sao cho bao gồm mọi yếu tố của một kế hoạch kinh doanh truyền thống, chỉ trong một thời gian ngắn. Mô Hình Canvas Tinh Gọn và Mô Hình Kinh Doanh Canvas là hai biến thể của mô hình...
The Age of the SHE-cosystem!
Have you ever heard the term “women rule the world”? Of course you have, and if not, tadaaahhh, today is your day! What an awesome time to be a woman! As we look at the landscape and how the professional scope is changing, it is important for us to know and understand how we fit into the fold of what some may call….The SHE-cosystem. As life evolves and the landscape of the workplace changes, taking on additional tasks, assuming higher positions and taking on life’s everyday challenges can become a bit overwhelming at times. As tradition would have it, women tend...
4 Most Asked Entrepreneur Questions
Launching and growing a business is one of the most difficult things a person can do. Every entrepreneur needs help at some stage and many of the questions they ask revolve around similar topics. Here we provide four of the most asked questions and responses that will help save you time and headaches.