Regardless of economic background or walk of life, most individuals make money in two ways: earning it through work and investing. Though for the first-time investor, this second option can feel daunting and inaccessible. 

It all starts with an idea. It’s a great idea, to be sure. But how are you going to get the idea to the people, your customers? How will you market your idea? Implement it? Schedule it? Pay for it? And deliver it on time?

Remember, key factors to consider are financial, economic, legal, and tax business ramifications. Attorneys, CPAs, and other professionals can also help. And though there are DIY tools out there, forming your business can be a smart place to invest in professional advice.

When thoughts about your competitors pop into your head, the last thing you may think of doing is reach out to them to start a relationship. After all, you’re going after the same customers so what if you accidentally give away a secret or worse see what they’re doing and start feeling like they’re better than you.

You lie awake at night realizing you must delegate operational responsibilities that you’ve always done yourself, so that you’re not the bottleneck to profits. You also know that you need to hire A+ talent to get the results you expect.

Most entrepreneurs would agree watching your vision come to fruition is a greater reward than the grueling hard work, effort, and sacrifice.

I often sit back and wonder about the many changes that seem to have taken place over the past so many years. Or was it decades ago? Actually, it was and it shows how fifty years have rushed by. Seems like just yesterday that I was still in Coke, full of myself and out of IIM (4th batch 1967-69), for those who might be curious. All set to change the world.

Scaling is the act of increasing a business’ revenue and output without significant investments. Instead of spending more money and more resources, your business will scale through better processes and the use of technology to reach and serve larger audiences. Scaling allows you to increase your customer base without adding resources, thereby increasing your profit margins with every sale.

The cap table or capitalization table is an extremely important component to consider for both the founders and investors. The cap table is a table that shows ownership or in financial terms equity capitalization of a company. As basics go, a cap table is very easy to understand. It is a table that shows all the shareholders of the company and how much of the company each person or entity owns. However, managing the cap-table and its evolution is a complicated matter which could take up a lot of time and effort to understand.