E

Preparation-excogitating a business idea, running feasibility studies, present ing the idea to the team of “colleagues”

Start-up-creating the company, team building, setting up production activities, marketing, selling

Growth-defi ning the organizational structure of the company, creating various supply/sales channels, growing the team, internationalizing, penetrating new markets

Exit-liquidating partially or totally the work of the original promoters

Again, ideally speaking, various fi nancial needs may be associated with these phases;

specifi cally, early stage fi nancing addresses two of them:

Preparation-pre-seed or seed. Normally the fi nancial needs that arise here are negligible. In fact, the promoters of the initiative are the ones who take on these expenses personally, or in some instances together with their families or friends. In recent years, an increase in specialized public funds for this kind of venture has been seen, along with the appearance of specialized fi nancial intermediaries, oft en “spin-off s” of venture capitalists attracted by the chance to fi nance these companies/ projects during later phases.