Archive for May, 2009

This year, The Wharton School (perennial competitor to my alma maters, Columbia Business School and London Business School) has again generated some interesting ideas in its annual Business Plan Competition: Article

This year, hi-tech ideas have yielded ground compared to

This year’s competition had 168 entries, showing the huge involvement of the student body of the University of Pennsylvania even in these tough economic times. As the article says:

This year, with the economy in disarray, business plans from the “Great Eight” finalists played the field, with products ranging from a new training machine for crew teams to artificial eyes that dilate to a noninvasive way of measuring blood sugar levels.

Venture funding is drying up quickly, and what is out there is so expensive as to attact only the most desperate. In spite of this, these contestants gave it their all to compete for the $70,000 in funding.

What does all this mean? If you are considering starting a business, it’s still not a bad time to start, but be careful of where your funding is coming from! Plan carefully and think through what you want to do and how you will earn more than your cost of doing business. Master these critical matters and your business will do well in bad times or good times.

The accounting firm Marcum & Kleigman LLP has an interesting article about avoiding problems with sales tax filings for business. Sales tax is a major revenue source for states, especially New York, so never mess with them on this point. I personally knew one of the agents from this section; while a nice guy personally he had no qualms about shutting down an uncooperative business. Check out this article: Marcum & Kleigman sales tax audits

USA Corporate Services helps new businesses register for sales tax as part of our startup services. Check out our services at USA Corporate Services Inc.

Try this quiz and see how you do: ENTRPRENEUR QUIZ

I got an 18…