Thinking about starting a new venture - here are some sources that could prove useful. If you know of other resources that could be useful to would-be entrepreneurs please share them with us.

You can find this guide and other checklists at:

http://www.fastfuture.com/frm_hplink_startupguide.html

THE FAST FUTURE BUSINESS START-UP RESOURCE GUIDE

1. GENERAL RESOURCES
www.vcr1978.com - Venture Capital Report - useful links and sample legal documents

www.businesslink.co.uk (0345 567 765) - Local Government backed Business Links across the country - providing support to start-ups and early stage firms

- online community of entrepreneurs which meet regularly at different London venues

www.firsttuesday.com - meetings, discussion groups and resources for entrepreneurs www.fourleaf.com - online introduction and dealmaking service for Internet ventures

www.dcfor.com - online access to 'dot com' people, resources and knowledge

www.estart.com - online resource centre for internet start ups

The law society runs a 'lawyers for your business scheme' where local lawyers will do the initial consultation free of charge 020 7405 9075

business-incubator.com (Exodus, Oracle, Cisco, Sun) / uglyducklings.co.uk (Compaq, DCfor, Exodus) - fixed fee technology support programmes providing
initial technical consultancy, design and prototyping

DTI Innovation Advisory Service 01633 811161
http://www.internettrafficreport.com - Internet traffic statistics

http://www.venturescape.com - Venturescape Global Hi-Tech Directory of Key Players & Resources in technology investment

Research sources - www.durlacher.com www.fletch.co.uk www.jup.com www.nua.ie

2. FUNDING ROUTES
Accountants - most of the accountancies now have corporate finance teams which will assist in finding funds from private sources, VC funds, trade
investors and institutions

Corporate finance boutiques such as Blackstone Franks (0207 549 4414) and Kerburn Rose (0207 486 0606) specialise in putting together venture finance
packages

Business Angels - National Network of Business Angel Groups - contact LentA Ventures on 020 7236 3000; for a directory of business angels contact The British Venture Capital Association (BVCA) 0207 240 3846
www.brainstorm.co.uk/ bvca

Private Equity Groups such as Pi Capital (0207 629 9949), Botts and Company (0207 427 6300) and investor communities such as offstreetcapital.com (0207
435 3570)

Venture Capital Firms - contact BVCA in UK or NVC in the USA www.nvca.org also www.pwcmoneytree.com lists further details on US VC funds

www.thechemistry.com - regular matchmaking events

www.garage.com - US online funding mechanism linking entrepreneurs with sources of venture funding

Banks and Financial Institutions - all of the major players such as Deutsche Kleinwort Benson and Morgan Stanley have both corporate finance and private
equity teams

The Princes Trust 020 7707 4001 - provides small start up grants

Corporate Venturing - a number of firms such as Nokia, Reuters, Pearson, Guardian Group and Chrysalis have established investment funds

Lawyers - many lawyers provide fund raising support - check out the BVCA directory

Business Incubators - there are now a wide range offering a broad spectrum of services - UKBI will provide a list of incubators 0121 250 3538 www.ukbi.co.uk or the US National Business Incubation Association at
www.nbia.org

3. WRITING YOUR PLAN
LentA 020 7236 3000 provide guides to getting started in business and writing business plans - they also run one-day 'Invest a Saturday' workshops on starting a business

www.sbaonline.sba.gov - business plan template

Most of the banks provide business plan checklists

4. PUBLICATIONS
Business 2.0. - Tel 00 1 800 234 0804 - www.business2.com

Fast Company - Tel 00 1 303 604 1465 - www.fastcompany.com

Red Herring - 001 303 604 7435 www.redherring.com

The Industry Standard - Tel 00 1 415 733 5400 - www.thestandard.com

Wired - Tel 00 1 800 276 8506 - www.wired.com

New Media Investor 020 7292 3733

Internet Investor - www.internetinvestoruk.com 0207 486 0606