Blog
Former Military Officer Uses His Leadership Experience to Build a $32 Billion Company
This is the story about Fred Smith and FedEx, an idea he came up with while in college. His professor was not impressed with his term paper that laid out his business plan, but Fred went on to build a $32 billion business. This is a great story of creative thinking and •••
- January 14, 2008
Defining Success in the Restaurant Business
You've probably heard that most start-up restaurants fail, but that is merely a myth according to one business professor based upon his latest research into restaurant failures and successes. While running a restaurant is not necessarily a great fit with the context that most Christian •••
- January 14, 2008
Why Employees Hate Performance Reviews
It's that time of year again when we review all of our employees at my property management company. It's a process that we all dread because of the time and effort and the potential for people to get sideways with each other. Here is some simple advice that I found helpful about •••
- January 11, 2008
Launch Your Food Business with the Help of a Kitchen Incubator
You've heard of business incubators that offer shared office space and business advice and you're certainly aware of New Venture Lab as a virtual onilne business incubator, but have you ever heard of a kitchen incubator? If you have a food business in the making, you should consider this •••
- December 18, 2007
Failure is Part of Success
During U.S. Army Ranger training, we were trained in hand-to-hand combat, including how to fight with knifes and how to defeat an opponent with a knife (or unfixed bayonet). We “fought” with rubber knives which helped us gain expertise without a lot of physical damage to each other, •••
- December 14, 2007
Top 25 Franchises
Each year Entrepreneur Magazine ranks the top franchise opportunities. I’ve pasted below their most recent list of the top 25 franchise opportunities. Of the top 25, eleven of the franchises are fast food, six are retail while two each were in the travel and leisure, janitorial •••
- December 12, 2007
How One Faithful Father Prepared His Son, Part II
A few weeks ago, I wrote about an exceptional young man I had met that stepped in to run a family business brokerage/mergers and acquistions business at only 18 years old (click here to read the post.) Since many of you may want to know more how this young man's faithful father and •••
- December 11, 2007
How One Creative Entrepreneur Built a Multi-Million Company During the Depression with No Capital
Here is another very inspiring story about entrepreneurship and creativity. The most creative entrepreneurs I know are those that work hard to find creative ways to accomplish their goals and get others to share risk along with them. While many entrepreneurs stand in line hoping to get •••
- December 10, 2007
Powerful Lessons Learned in a Manufacturing Context
One of the most powerful learning experiences I had when I worked at the Mobil Chemical division of Mobil (now ExxonMobil) involved manufacturing operations strategy and what can happen when you get it wrong. One of the products we produced was plastic grocery bags -- the “t-shirt bags” •••
- November 21, 2007
How a 17-Year-Old Built a Multimillion-Dollar Business
I don't know about you, but I just love to hear stories about how successful entrepreneurs did it - the steps they took, the pitfalls that almost did them in and their lessons learned. This is a terrific story about a 17-year-old college freshman that built one of the world's largest •••
- November 19, 2007
Cautions on Angel Investors
Angel investors are wealthy individuals that make individual venture investments in start-up companies. They typically invest $25,000 to $250,000 and often are the intial venture funding source prior to a larger institutional round of $1 - 5 million or more. But not all angles are saviors, •••
- November 16, 2007
How One Faithful Father Prepared His Son, Part I
I met a very sweet family last night with a bittersweet story. Their husband/father had been called home a couple of years ago after a short two and a half month battle with cancer. But even though the father left this earth, his legacy lives on in his wife and two •••
- November 16, 2007
Start a Business Just to Learn
I was recently talking to our two interns about their next steps after their internship with New Venture Lab. They are Godly young men in their early 20’s with some good work experiences and they are eager for the next phase of their lives. In addition to working closely with me in a •••
- November 3, 2007
Guest Blog: Overcoming Adversity
Our families and our households are often under pressure and attack from the outside world. We are called by God to be a city on a hill, an example for all to see. But in the early stages of building our “city”, when there are numerous vulnerabilities, we must often build with a •••
- October 31, 2007
Industry Consolidation Patterns
Industry consolidation is the process when a few companies start buying up other companies in the same industry and the number of competitors in an industry shrink dramatically. The main goal for the consolidators is to grab market share, cut costs, boost productivity and improve investment •••
- October 29, 2007
Guest Blog: All About Patents
PATENT STRATEGIES FOR ENTREPRENEURS BACKGROUND ON PATENTS This analysis explores some recent globalization trends and historic changes in US patent law with special attention to possible impacts of these trends and changes upon independent inventors who may wish to consider getting •••
- October 24, 2007
The Formula for Entrepreneurial Success
There are many ways to think about what determines an entrepreneur’s success and I must admit that until recently I had not structured my thinking on this as much as I could have. As a venture investor, I’ve made the same mistake as most venture investors in going mostly by “gut feel” on •••
- October 20, 2007
Just Say No to Venture Capital
There is a constant stream of entrepreneurs that ask me to invest in their idea or ask me advice about how to raise venture capital for their business plan. In many cases, they should just say no to venture capital. There are a lot of benefits to raising venture capital such as the ability •••
- October 11, 2007
Character Traits of Entrepreneurial Leaders
As Christians we obviously need to make sure that we are right with God, that we have a heart for Him and that we stay in His will and His word. But as we work to add virtue to faith, what character traits define an entrepreneurial leader? I like the article below because it defines character •••
- October 8, 2007
Provisional Patent Applications
Intellectual property is an important way for entrepreneurs to protect the value of their creations, but before rushing into filing a provisional patent application, be sure to bone up on the patent process to you know what you are getting into. This is a good article that outlines the •••
- September 27, 2007
You can add your own comments to any blog post or any Q&A post.
Your comments will be accompanied by the first and last name you used to register.
We are constantly adding resources, so check back frequently for new items.
Additional resources offered by New Venture Lab:
- subscription-based HD video of our Christian entrepreneurship training course
Startup Financial Model Website
The Startup Financial Model a detailed, multi-sheet, completely integrated, easy-to-configure Excel-based business plan model for those who are planning or running a startup or small business and want an excellent financial model to enhance their business plan and capital-raising efforts. This companion site of ours includes step-by-step video instructions and customers choose what price they pay.
Save thousands of dollars on legal fees by using our forms (organized by topic) and then only pay your attorney to review, rather than write an agreement from scratch.
