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The competitive analysis section of your market analysis in your business plan is essential. Knowing your competition is as important as knowing your product and your customer. Market gaps tell you where to develop your product and internal weaknesses tell you where you’re vulnerable to losing customers.

A solid competitive analysis is your way of showing that you know exactly where you stand among your fiercest competitors — and that you have a way to out-maneuver them. The best way to think of the argument you’re trying to articulate is:

“Here is where we can gain the most customers (offense) and here’s where we could potentially lose them (defense).”

Your competitive analysis should start with your SWOT Analysis — Strengths, Opportunit...

In twenty years of covering the startup industry, this may be a first: A top VC advises people don’t follow in his footsteps. Specifically, Union Square Ventures Fred Wilson talks about his route to venture capital and how he succeeded by timing, luck, and taking longer to learn parts of the business than he may have if he’d had operating experiences.

He also talks about the ascendancy of the New York ecosystem, as a man with one of the most valuable front row seats. We talked about the ups and downs of several of his largest investments, including Twitter, Tumblr, Foursquare and Zynga, and he addresses the dangers of a lot of corporate venture capital groups… and putting too much time in building hype.

Fred Wilson: I was a slow starter. I...

Ever struggled to properly measure productivity within your business? You’re not alone.

A lot of growth-driven business owners have a hard time pinning down the productivity (and efficiency, for that matter) of their team members and of general operations.

As managers, we all care about productivity and the impact it has on the stability and success of our businesses. That’s why we often find ourselves thinking hard about questions like, “What is the monetary value of an employee working at maximum capacity?” and, “What processes are negatively impacting our bottom line because they’re inefficient?”

We all know how to identify productive and unproductive behavior, but the problem is, we don’t all inherently know how to best measure product...

As is the case with most big projects, crafting a business plan is one of those things that takes an incredible amount of diligence and no shortage of courage. After all, your business idea is probably more than just some passionless money-making ploy — it’s your dream that you’re getting ready to lay bare for the world to scrutinize!

Never fear!

We have 4 sample business plans here to make it all less scary.

If you approach this with a firm understanding of what key information to include in each section of your business plan and know how each section works together to form a cohesive, compelling, and — above all — persuasive whole, it will make the writing process a whole lot less daunting.

We’re about to help you do exactly that by deconstru...

What is a B Corp?

Before we even dive into what a “B corp” is, we need to talk about terminology. Like a C corps or an S corps, people are often referring to a “benefit corporation” when they say “B corp.” But B corp is actually different from a benefit corporation, although they’re related.

A benefit corporation is…

A benefit corporation is a type of formal legal business structure, like a C corp or S corp. In addition to making a profit, shareholders hold benefit corporations responsible to contributing in some way to the public good. In some states, benefit corporations are required to produce proof that they’re contributing to the public good. They’re taxed the same way as C corps, which means they’re subject to double taxation.

Benefit...

Women are starting businesses at impressive rates — but they’re still not getting as much money to fund those new businesses and startups as men are.

According to research from Kaufman, 40 percent of first time entrepreneurs in the United States are women. Even more impressive? The number of women-run businesses in the US is growing at twice the rate of man-owned businesses.

But women aren’t getting nearly as much money for those businesses as men are. In the startup world, women founders got only 2 percent of VC funding in 2017.

That means women are forced to look to other money sources when they’re looking to launch a startup or small business. And many are looking specifically for business loans for women.

However, there aren’t actually...

When we want to achieve a certain goal or go somewhere, we plan for it. Why? Simply because taking action and not thinking of the consequences that goes along with it produces chaos and a waste of resources such as time, effort, and money.

Why A Startup Business Plan is necessary

For instance, our lives. I’m pretty sure we all have a plan for our own lives. We want to achieve this and that by a certain age. We look forward the next day because we have a plan to fulfil.

Why do we do this? It’s not because we’re bored or nothing better to do but because we value our life. We want it to be meaningful. We don’t just want to survive, we want to live.

And for this same thing, we need to have a startup business plan. We didn’t think of building i...

Do you know all of the possible types of business your startup could be? It’s probably not at the top of the list — but it should be. The legal formation of your business — or, in other words, the type of business you form — affects everything from the structure of your company to your personal and professional liability to how you pay taxes. It’s a lot — we know.

And when you’re setting up a startup, you have a lot going on. You have to figure out your market. You have to determine what you’re going to sell them. You have to create a website, social media presence, a blog. You have to pitch and find investment and, and, and…

The list is so long that it can be overwhelming. But if you’re committed to getting a startup going, then you’re com...

What is a minority-owned business?

In order to be considered a "minority" in the world of small business, you must be at least 25%...

• African-American
• Hispanic-American
• Asian-American
• Pacific Islander
• Alaskan Native
• American Indian

Women-owned businesses, on the other hand, are another category.

In order for a business to qualify as minority-owned, it needs to be at least 51% owned by a person or persons from one of those groups.

Additionally, you’ll often need to be certified as a minority business enterprise (MBE) or a disadvantaged business enterprise (DBE) in order to qualify for certain loans or grants.

That’s not the case for all loans and grants, however, so make sure it’s a requirement before going through the process of gettin...

Virtual reality (VR) is a term and technology that has garnered a lot of buzz, especially in recent years. But while VR is a phrase many are familiar with, that ubiquity hasn’t translated into widespread use, despite some notable advancements to make it more accessible.

When Facebook bought Oculus in 2014, many felt the move would usher VR into the modern era. It took another two years of development before the merger’s first consumer shipments went out, but even after that lead time, most customers still don’t consider VR a must-have. Content producers and hardware manufacturers are chock full of ideas for home-based systems with hardly anyone to buy in to them.

The good news is that those who have tried VR can vouch for its potential. It ...