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The process of acquiring venture capital can stir up quite a few emotions in an early-stage founder: Excitement. Fear. A sense of doing something incredibly important. The incredible degree of pressure in knowing that you need this money to be successful. However, as many founders have discovered, chasing that venture capital funding can be incredibly time-consuming, expensive, and frustrating. What if there was a better way to raise capital?

Taxes is like the sands on the beach by my house, it is a constantly changing world molded by the tides of public sentiment and the seasons of political changes. Sometimes I walk down and there is a ton of sand and everything is smooth and easy to walk on. Other days the sand is sucked out, leaving rocky crevices where my feet are constantly at risk of a cut. The same thing is happening in the business world regarding the shifting of tax laws. We have experienced a decade of smooth regulations that have eased the way for business development, but the seasons are shifting and we are moving into a period where this may not be the case for long.

New business owners who form a corporation often wonder how to run their shareholder meetings. Answers to common questions about shareholder meetings.

Mention the term “business plan” and the image that likely comes to mind is a thick document generated by a business consultant for you to give to a banker or investor and then forget about. But since these days everyone worships at the altar of the lean startup, it’s common knowledge that a business plan is “old school” and completely useless. All you need is a slide deck and a great team, right? Wrong!

Good news for startups building from within New York State! New York State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) and it's venture capital management arm, NY Ventures is providing support and capital of $30 million for it's Pre-seed and Seed Matching Fund Program to help early stage startups who are registered in New York. The program will offer early-stage businesses growth assistance starting from $50,000 and up to $250,000 for every matching dollar investment from a private sector investor (there must be at least $1 of private sector investment for every $1 NY Ventures invests). The program is also aiming to help businesses who are typically socially and economically disadvantaged and do not normally have access to this type of support.