Design and marketing are two very valuable aspects of a founding venture. A company must have a product with great design and a plan to market that product effectively. Marketing relies on having a well designed product to sell and Design relies on having an abled marketing plan to sell it.

Resources

Build a Twitter presence: www.oneforty.com

Fast Company Design: www.fastcodesign.com

Core 77: www.core77.com

From Up North: www.fromupnorth.com

Make a quick site: www.flavors.me

Sell things online: www.shopify.com or www.goodsie.com

Crowdsource funding your idea: www.kickstarter.com

 

Experience is key. Read about the advice and experiences that many knowledgable and successful entrepreneurs have to offer.

Resources

Individuals

Entities

A number of universities are beginning to grasp the entrepreneurial fervor. With a rise in entrepreneurship on these campuses, many of these universities are growing a number of resources for their students to help, guide, and advise them.

Resources

MIT

Stanford

Legally forming your company is quite simple once you get into it – Goodwin Procter, a national law firm has a tool called Founders Workbench that should be able to answer most of your legal questions. If you require more advanced assistance – apply for the IAP Acceleratorwhere we will walk you through this process step by step.

Resources

Blog

Legal Tools

Tips from VCs

Law Firms and Lawyers

At some point your company is going to need money. Yes, it is. One way or another. This can be a pretty touchy topic that a lot of people have their own ideas on, but to start – take 10 minutes and read this summary of Fundraisingby Paul Graham.There are a few common ways of financing (in order of the amount of money they will invest):- Friends and Family
- Angel Investors – such as Boston’s Best Angel Investors
- VCsThe details of term sheets (the things that you use to issue stock and such) are explained quite well by Brad Feld’s article. You should also have a good idea of what your financials of your company should look like – something else that Brad Feld addresses well in another article.