The Alliance of Angels: This organization, a “program of the Technology Alliance, is a regionally-focused group of about 140 individual investors and representatives of investment corporations in the Pacific Northwest. Our organization acts as a “matchmaker” for young technology companies and interested investors.”
Entrepreneur Magazine: See their very long and complete list of Topics for information of interest to entrepreneurs as well as their list of How-To Guides, downloadable business Forms and much more.
Franchise Zone: Franchise information from Entrepreneur.com, with descriptions of businesses, costs and fees, number of units and corporate information. Also includes ranking of the top 500 franchises in the nation.
Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research: This site, from Babson College, provides access to a large number of papers on research into entrepreneurship, some in full text, some in summary form, presented at the annual Conference on Entrepreneurship. This list can be browsed by topic or by year presented.
Global Entrepreneurship Monitor: A joint effort by Babson College, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, and the London Business School, this research program is an annual assessment of the national level of entrepreneurial activity, begun in 1999 with 10 countries, expanded now to over 30 countries.
Inc Magazine: A magazine for growing companies, aimed somewhat at newer, smaller, private companies. Their website offers How-To Guides, Articles By Topic, and theirInc 500 List of the fastest growing private companies in America. There is also a search engine to their archive of articles.
National Business Incubation Association: The National Business Incubation Association “is the world’s leading organization advancing business incubation and entrepreneurship. It provides thousands of professionals with the information, education, advocacy and networking resources to bring excellence to the process of assisting early-stage companies worldwide.” See their Resource Center.
National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship: The National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship “was established to provide local, state, and national leaders with a roadmap of how to sustain and expand a flourishing entrepreneurial economy.” “The Commission is funded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.” See their Reports, Further Information on Entrepreneurship, and Statistics.
National Venture Capital Association: The National Venture Capital Association is “the trade association that represents the venture capital industry. It is a member-based organization. Its membership consists of venture capital firms and organizations who manage pools of risk equity capital designated to be invested in young, emerging companies. Currently, the NVCA represents 400+ member firms, representing the majority of venture capital invested in U.S. based companies.” See their overview of the Venture Capital Industry and Resource Links.
Northwest Entrepreneur Network: The Northwest Entrepreneur Network is a locally-based organization, located at Bellevue Community College, formed in 1985, and with a membership of over 700, dedicated to bringing local entrepreneurs together to make connections, provide mentoring, and access entrepreneurship resources. It publishes a monthly newsletter, holds meetings, and hosts events.
Startup Journal (Center for Entrepreneurs): From the Wall Street Journal comes this online section for entrepreneurs, with new articles daily and links to franchising information and to trends in small business, a How-To section, and a Search engine.
State-By-State Guide to Doing Business: Prepared by Entrepreneur magazine, this site is based on the SBA 2000 State Small Business Economic Profiles, with overviews of the business environment in each state.
Street Smart Strategic Advice for Entrepreneurs: This site is a blog, hosted by successful entrepreneur Mark Powell, founder of HouseValues.Com, aimed at other entrepreneurs who would like to be as successful as Mark has been.
Social Entrepreneurship
Victoria Hale, an uncommon hero eradicating black fever:
Blaise Judja-Sato Delivering medicine across the “last mile”:
Amitabha Sadangi, an uncommon hero tackling poverty in India:
Martin Burt, an uncommon hero tackling starts micro-credit in Paraguay:
“The menstrual man”: An entrepreneur who invented the world’s least expensive sanitary pad:
Resources available through WSJ Web Watch
Gust.com
Looking for a way to tap into angel-investor networks? Gust.com offers an online venue where entrepreneurs and investors can meet and get to know each other. Entrepreneurs can fill out an application that works like the Common Application for college admissions: One application works for all groups, saving time and effort.Entrepreneurs can search through more than 1,000 angel-group and venture-firm profiles on the site. Those profiles are sortable by a host of criteria: For example, would-be applicants can look at a group’s average number of applications it receives per month and how much it invests. The site also ties into business-networking site LinkedIn, so entrepreneurs can check their networks to find connections they might have with potential investors.
The Funded
This online community of entrepreneurs offers reviews of more than 5,000 venture-capital investors, rating them on such criteria as track record and deal terms. The site’s more than 12,000 members can also share the documents that spell out their venture deals and discuss how to find investors and run a new business. Founded by entrepreneur Adeo Ressi, The Funded Inc.‘s site also offers venture-capital firms a voice, allowing them to post their own profiles. The site is free to company CEOs; other participants must pay a fee, ranging from $200 for six months to $1,000 for a lifetime membership.
Startable
For a peek into how venture capitalists work, and how company founders can navigate their world, check out this blog by former venture-capitalist associate Healy Jones and serial entrepreneur Prasad Thammineni. They write about pitching to VCs, how companies are valued by the industry and building a start-up team, among many other topics.
OnStartups
This popular blog for entrepreneurs—by Cambridge, Mass., entrepreneur Dharmesh Shah—often sparks thoughtful and lively exchanges in reader comments. While written with software start-ups in mind, OnStartups has plenty to say to entrepreneurs of all stripes.
Suresh Kotha 