Key Concepts in Starting a Business

About the Book

A new business faces numerous problems. They include marketing and sales, capital, forming business units, accounting, inflation, interest rate, taxes, and tons of files.

In this book, marketing is compared to imaging, consisting of film, aperture, and subject. The film is analogous to the product. A camera's aperture is the organization of the business. The subject represents customers. How a business captures a customer depends on its value and support systems and the apathy of customers.

An entrepreneur will have to fund the initial start-up. To this end, the book provides recommendations on how to raise funds. Equally important is to continue working on the idea despite the lack of funds. Each work is an intellectual property and has monetary value. The more intellectual property, the higher will be the valuation of the business during its initial public offering (IPO).

Accounting is another area which an entrepreneur must have a working knowledge. It is important not only for taxes but also in monitoring the financial health of the business. Inflation, interest rate, and taxes are variables beyond an entrepreneur's control. However, they have to be understood to correctly position a business.

E-mails, Web sites, data security, and tons of files could divert an entrepreneur's attention from the real issues of the business. Somehow they have to be controlled, and this book provides recommendations on managing them.

About the Author

Jesus Desosa has bachelor?s degree and a master?s degree in electrical engineering from San Diego State University. In addition, he has bachelor?s degree in mathematics from Adamson University, Philippines. He was an adjunct professor of mathematics at San Diego City College and held various electrical engineering positions with the government, the construction industry, and the defense industry. He owns an engineering consulting firm, Desosa Electrical Engineers. (www.desosa.com)

In early 2006, he encountered the problem of renting out a new house he had bought a year earlier. His neighborhood had four competing homes for rent. Competition was stiff. The popular belief then was to minimize improvement in a house if it was to be for rent. He abandoned the belief. Instead, he maximized the improvements and provided inducement to the renter to take care of the house. In the end, his house was the first to be rented. Starting from this simple experience, Desosa further investigated the elements of a new business start-up. This book encapsulates the elements he discovered.