entrepreneurship

Originally posted on Forbes

In the wake of Facebook‘s IPO, and despite where the stock goes from here, one thing is clear: Entrepreneurs–especially successful ones–arethe new rock stars of business culture. Despite this trend, the reality remains that for every successful entrepreneur who builds even a modestly successful business, there are thousands who struggle and toil endlessly and may never see the fruits of their labor come anywhere close to commercial success. Add that to the fact that while entrepreneurialism seems to be enjoying a golden age of sorts, it isn’t for everyone.

Steve Jobs once said: "It's rare that you see an artist in his thirties and forties able to really contribute something amazing". Yet in his forties and beyond he went on to reinvent the music industry model, mobile phones, computers (again) and books.

The crowdfunding phenomenon, which has already helped thousands of artistic and cultural projects go public, is now crossing over into the world of venture capital and the financing of startup companies. The only problem is that, until now, it has been illegal to invest as little as $100 at a time into a new startup without first being an accredited investor.

Guest Post by: Guy Kawasaki

Over the past two weeks via my partnership with Microsoft and Office Web Apps, I’ve provided templates of models for you to create enchanting PowerPoint pitches, Word business plans, and Excel financial models. They are all available for you to download from my SkyDrive account. I hope these documents and blog posts help you save a boatload of time and increase the quality of your efforts.