Financing a New Business - Independent review

The following review was published in the January 2002 edition of Start and Run Your Business.

"Financing a New Business by Phil Stone is targeted mainly at people with little or no previous commercial experience looking for easy to understand advice on how to start their first business from scratch."

"The book gives basic and practical information on how to go about raising finance from a variety of sources. It focuses mainly on raising debt finance rather than equity, which is a complicated and arduous process, and this makes it of less value to those with larger aspirations."

"That said, the book is comprehensive in its wide range of basic debt finance methods making it a useful framework for the budding entrepreneur to get their bearings with."

"There is a section on creating a business plan which offers some solid guidelines and addresses several key points about clarity of language, complete honesty in what you pitch to investors, and the importance of putting yourself in the shoes of both the customer and the investor."

"In an appendix there is also a business plan template, which gives a standard and acceptable framework, although it could have been more beneficial to include an example of a real plan to give an idea of the style and tone required in the finished document."

"The book provides some useful business techniques that will help people create a compelling business plan, but it could have reinforced the important point that it is wise for the new business person to consult, discuss and debate their proposals. It is always wise to practice the presentation over and over again, until it is word perfect."

This review was written by Paul Humphries, Business Development Director at Opta, the business creation company.