Intro to Startups

• Customer Discovery - Is My Idea a Good One? [pdf]
• Creating a Successful Startup Team [pdf]
• Competitive Analysis [pdf]

CONNECTS

• CONNECTS Schedule
• Workshop Materials

CMU Entrepreneurship Research Guide

• Key databases for entrepreneurship research

Entrepreneurship

• The accidental entrepreneur: Gordon Moore [.pdf]
• Confessions of a four-time entrepreneur [.pdf]

Pitching

• Pitching to Angels [.pdf]
• Art of the Pitch [.pdf]
• What entrepreneurs need to know about: The elevator pitch

Getting Media Coverage

• How to Get Media Coverage - Olympus [pdf]

Startup & Co-Working Spaces

Listing of space that is ‘friendly’ to startups and small enterprises (low rent and month-to-month leases) most that are close to the ‘university corridor’ (Fifth and Forbes Avenues) and accessible by public transportation.
Please send any additions to the listings to olympus@cmu.edu.

PGH Startup & Co-Working Spaces [Google Doc]

START SMART Seminar & Workshop Material

• Employment/Employee Equity Matters [.pdf]
• Protecting Your Intellectual Property [.pptx]
• Startup Funding Identifying and Avoiding the Pitfalls [.ppt]
• Structuring and Leveraging “Partnering” Arrangements
• Doing Business in China [.pptx]
• Startup Funding: Avoiding the Pitfalls [.pptx]
• Structuring Startups [.pptx]
• Understanding Investment Securities [.pptx]
• Taking Money from Friends, Family, and Angels [.pptx]
• How to Shop for a Lawyer [pdf]
• Raising Capital [pdf]
• Raising Capital Part 1 [pdf]
• How to Conduct Patent Research [pdf]
• Business Formation [pdf]

Intellectual Property

Articles and information regarding intellectual property and its importance

• How to keep an inventor's logbook
• Patent law basics [.pdf]
  
• Patent law you can use: inventorship and ownership of a patent [.pdf]
• Patent law you can use: provisional patent applications [.pdf]
  
• Patent law you can use: patents vs trade secrets [.pdf]
  
• Patent Analytics

Other Resources

NOTE: While these have been good resources for many startups, CMU does not own or manage the content of these.

• Life Style Business Plan Templates
• Starting a Life Science Venture
• Small Business Resource Center [99designs]
• How to make a Website
• Building an online store with Shopify

Splitting the Equity Pie

• Equity Compensation [.pdf]
• Founder Share Vesting [.pdf]
• Founder's Pie Calculator [.xls]
• Founder's Pie [.pdf]
• Fundraising [.pdf]
• Raising Money from Private Investors [.pdf]
• Tactical Plan for Raising Money from Private Investors [.pdf]
• Small Piece - Big Pie [.pdf]
• Small Piece - Big Pie Graphics [.xls]

Compensation & Equity

• Cofounder Equity Split, 50/50 is the Wrong Answer
• How to Split Equity Among Founders
• The Idea or The Execution?
• How Big Should an Employee Option Pool Be?
• How Startup Options (and Ownership) Works
• Recommendations for Startup Employee Options Plan
• Startup Employee Options - Beyond One Size FIts All [VIDEO]
• Is It Possible to Achieve Equitable Equity for Startup Employees? [VIDEO]
• What to pay your top team
• Calculating payroll and taxes