How To

March 16By Comments OffRead more...

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...

February 16By Comments OffRead more...

7 Things You Can Do to Celebrate Innovation Day!

Did you know, that today, February 16th, is Innovation Day? Despite hosting a podcast called Innovate Fort Worth, I didn't either. But, that doesn't mean I'm not planning to celebrate this year! According to the National Today website, Innovation Day is, "an event that inspires young inventors to share their ideas with the world. Business organizations all over the world motivate their employees to be creative and develop innovative products and services for their customers." Sounds boring to me. But, I'll bet you can find ways to make it fun and celebrate innovation in Fort Worth and Tarrant County. Here are 7...

January 26By Comments OffRead more...

Avoiding Cofounder Mistakes

We discuss the top mistakes that founding teams make that end up impeding or killing companies. We share advice for how to avoid these mistakes, general tips for finding a cofounder and setting up your founding team for success, and access to tools to help new cofounding teams.

January 16By Comments OffRead more...

Beyond Founder’s Agreements: The Cofounder “Prenup”

As any experienced entrepreneur, investor or business educator will assure you, a Founders Agreement is essential to your company’s success. This legally binding contract will outline business structure, ownership percentages, operational control, rights and obligations, among other things. It should be advised and executed by an attorney.   In addition—and perhaps even more importantly—cofounders must outline their relationship beyond the legal parameters. According to best-selling author and Harvard Business professor Noam Wasserman, conflict among cofounders causes 65% of the failures among high potential startups. Avoid this pitfall by discussing and documenting how you will navigate challenges that fall outside the Founder’s Agreement.  What...

January 4By Comments OffRead more...

Accessing the Right Capital at the Right Time to Grow Your Business

One of the first questions that entrepreneurs ask when they decide to launch a business is: where am I going to find the money to do this?   Sparkyard has the answer for you. Meet the Capital Growth Circuit. We developed this tool to help entrepreneurs answer this question no matter what stage their company is. Whether it’s an idea on the back of a napkin or an established company generating revenue, there are always sources of capital to help you get to the next level.   The structure may look familiar to people who are acquainted with our original Growth Circuit that charts...

November 15By Comments OffRead more...

5 Things You Should Look for in a Cofounder

Starting a company is hard. For most people, starting a company is probably the hardest thing they will do in their entire lives. And, as much as we think about Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos or Mark Zuckerberg starting the companies that made them into billionaires, they had cofounders and founding teams around them  every step of the way.   There is a common myth of the “solopreneurs” but in reality, most companies start with more than one founder. And yet, according to research cited in Noam Wasserman’s The Founder’s Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink A Startup, 60-65...

July 1By Comments OffRead more...

Life Lessons from Pitching

As my life has morphed over the past ten years (from uber-domesticated mom to career woman for starters), I've discovered a passion for pitching, coaching and judging competitions. Over the COVID-19 shutdown, the things I missed most were:  random hugs  my cousins  pitch competitions  As we have re-emerged into an event-friendly world and pitch competitions are back in action, I've realized that many of the things that make pitches great are also pretty useful life skills. So, here's my take on ways you can elevate your business pitch to the next level—and also just be better at life.   Are you surrounded by seasoned investors, potential...

March 24By Comments OffRead more...

Women and Mentorship

Mentoring is widely considered critical to career advancement as well as success as an entrepreneur. This is even more true for female business owners and professionals. Mentoring is a key element that when utilized more frequently, we would advance more women in the workplace and help more women take their businesses to the next level.   There are stereotypes about women competing and rivaling each other as professionals. However, according to the  Women as Mentors: Does She or Doesn’t She?, A Global Study of Businesswomen and Mentoring, the number one reason cited for why women mentor is because they want to be...

March 7By 0 CommentsRead more...

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.