This repository offers helpful tools and educational information including articles, handbooks, spreadsheets, and presentations to prepare your team to launch your startup.
Click on the gray "Resources" bars to expand each section.
Getting Started
How do you get from idea to execution? Who can help you?
Value Proposition
What is the problem you're solving and who cares? Why is this a problem? What is the context? What trends are driving the issue in the industry/world?
Business Planning
- TLA Startup Guide
- Business Plan Overview
- What is a pivot? (Steve Blank)
- A Smart Business Knows 8 Ways to Pivot Their Vision (Forbes)
Business Planning
- How to (Not) Articulate a Value Proposition
- The Business Model Canvas - 9 Steps to Creating a Successful Business Business Model - Startup Tips (The Business Channel)
- Build Your Value Proposition
NSF I-Corps
Market Research & Analysis
Go to Market
Who is your customer? How is the market segmented? Who actually does the selling? What are the channels?
Operations
What is your business model and how will you make and sell your product? How will you structure your governance? What tools and functions do you need to think through?
Operating Agreement
- Capitalization Tables and Operating Agreements
- The Basics of Cap Tables (The Rising Tide Program)
- Capital Tables and Memorializing Your Capital Structure (Gregg and Taylor)
Business Models
Building a Team
Funding
Where can you find connections to SBIR/STTR programs? What opportunities are out there to compete for funding and attend investment conferences? Where can you link up with local investor groups?
SBIR/STTR
SBIR/STTR Program Information
Participating Agencies
National Institutes of Health
- NIH SBIR/STTR Home Page
- Program Directors by Institute
- Grant Application Examples
- NIH Applicant Assistance Program
- NIH SBIR/STTR Submission Checklist/Timeline
- Technical and Business Assistance (TABA) Program
- Webinar Slide Deck on TABA
- Request TABA Needs Assessment Report
National Science Foundation
Department of Energy
Department of Defense
NASA
Competitive Opportunities
Investment Conferences
- Unmet Arizona
- RESI (Redefining Early Stage Investments) Conference
- TechConnect World Innovation Conference
Local Investor Groups
Financials
What are cash and balance sheets? What are my funding options, like friends and family, angels and venture capital? Are SBIR/STTR grants a good option? How do we get revenue flowing?
Exit
What is your licensing strategy? Have you thought about acquisition? Will you have an IPO? How will you grow and run your company to attain these goals?
Valuation
- When You Swim With Sharks, Take Your Calculator (Fuse Financial Partners)
- Valuation (Investopedia)
- Startup Tucson
Incubators and accelerators
- Accelerators vs. incubators: What startups need to know (TechRepublic)
- The University of Arizona Center for Innovation (UACI)
- Arizona Forge
Co-working space
Other Investors
- 8 Best Practices to Seek Funding From Friends, Family and Fools (Entrepreneur Magazine)
- Friends, Family...Fools?: Who Will You Get To Fund Your Startup (Forbes)