Who is an entrepreneur?

An entrepreneur is a person who starts and manages his/her own business or enterprise and takes the onus of all risks and opportunities. An entrepreneur is wholly responsible for planning business strategies, acquiring human and other resources and deciding on budget allocations.

Key questions for an Entrepreneur

· Is it worthy to invest time and money in this business?

· What is the cash burn rate?

· How to minimize dilution by external investors?

· Scenario analysis and contingency plan?

The importance of financial planning to an entrepreneur is to allow entrepreneurs to estimate the quantity and the timing of money needed to start their venture and keep it running. It also helps to determine the value of a venture and serves as an important marketing tool towards prospective investors.

The sources of entrepreneurial financing are financial bootstrapping, external financing, business angels, venture capital.

A start-up's Chief Financial Officer (CFO) assumes the key role of entrepreneurial financial planning. In contrast to established companies, the start-up CFO takes a more strategic role

Skills an entrepreneur must acquire in Management Consulting

Analytical skills: An entrepreneur must be able to analyze and solve problems that are outside the purview of even top-level management.

Presentation skills: An entrepreneur must possess a good presentation skills so as to be able to condense weeks of hard and fruitful work into concise, to the point presentations when consulting.