Get Backed, Get Big, Get Bought

"Bebo sale to AOL nets founders a £290m fortune in 3 years." - March 2008


"Foxtons sale nets founder £370m." - May 2007


"L'Oréal buys Body Shop for £652m." - March 2006


For entrepreneurs and business owners alike, this is your ticket to serious money.


Fact 1: Business is all about making money.


Fact 2: Personal satisfaction is great, but it doesn't pay the bills.


If your main ambition is to make big money from your business, you're already on the right track. Over 4 million people start up businesses in the UK each y ear but only 1% become millionaires. Start with the end in mind and you could be one of them.


Colin Barrow, bestselling start-up author and business investment specialist, shows you how to shape up for a sale right from the world go:


Get Backed - secure big investment


Get Big - create real value and strong growth


Get Bought - dress the business and negotiate a killer deal


With practical advice, tools and stories from those who have done it, you'll find out how to guide your start-up business towards the payday of your dreams.

Colin Barrow is based in Cornwall, UK. An established Dummies' author, Colin was Head of the Enterprise Group at Cranfield School of Management, and a visiting professor in a number of international Universities. He is a specialist in business investment and finance with a score of books to his name. They have been translated into eighteen languages, including Russian, Chinese and Romanian.
Other titles by Colin Barrow: Incubators: A Realists Guide to the Worlds New Business Accelerators (Capstone); Starting a Business for Dummies For Dummies UK); and The Sunday Times Business Plan Workbook (Kogan Page).
Colin is the biggest selling author of Start Your Own Business books in the UK with over 56,000 copies sold to date.

Introduction: Be careful what you wish for.


Part One: GET BACKED.


1 Problems over passion – the real characteristics of winning business ideas.


2 The traits of the entrepreneur – it’s all in the mindset.


3 Nothing new under the sun – the same old problems, some brand new solutions.


4 Research, research, research.


5 Mastering the ‘master plan’ – business plans are templates, not straitjackets.


6 The money – who has it and why you might just get your hands on some of it.


7 Another day over and deeper in debt – leveraging the investment.


Part Two: GET BIG.


8 You must be this high to go on the ride – why babies can’t swim.


9 The path to growth – and riches too.


10 Selling fivers for a tenner – why margins matter most.


11 Taking charge – good management’s a simple yet rare commodity.


Part Three: GET BOUGHT.


12 What’s it to you? Calculating value.


13 Dressing to kill – preparing your business for sale and getting the timing right.


14 Pay day – selling up.


15 Floating Off.


16 Getting a second life.


References.


Resource list.


About the Author.


Index.