Business Resources

Patents, trademarks, intellectual property:

• The US Patent and Trademark Office provides free searching of patent and trademark databases, as well as information on registration, regulations, and applicable laws;
• The Europe's Network of Patent Databases of the European Patent Office.
• Stanford University maintains a web site of Selected Resources for Patents, Inventions, and Technology Transfer http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/swain/patent/pattop.html.
• Delphion Intellectual Property Network: (Formerly IBM Intellectual Property Network): Free online patent searching;
• University of California Office of Technology Transfer http://www.ucop.edu/ott/industry.html

Web resources for startups, entrepreneurs, and investors:

• "To smooth the path for startups to access capital from sophisticated investors, Guy Kawasaki, former chief evangelist for Apple Computer, Rich Karlgaard, publisher of Forbes Magazine, and Craig Johnson, chairman of the Venture Law Group founded Garage.com in October 1997." (Kawasaki is profiled in Next Wave Stocks.)
• The purpose of BAYANGELS.COM is to provide early stage technology companies with access to capital through the Angel Investment community of Marin County, north of San Francisco.
• The Berkeley Entrepreneurs Forum meets monthly during the academic year at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/groups/lester/bef.html
• Entrepreneur resources and links from the venture capital firm of Draper Fisher Jurvetson
• MoneyHunter has a free business plan template and many useful links to other sites. It is also affiliated with the "MoneyHunt" TV show on PBS, which presents entrepreneurs being interviewed by a panels of venture capitalists.
• The infoUSA.com web site has a number of useful services for businesses, such as a free online business library with a guide to writing a business plan. They also offer various services such as telephone directories online and on CD-ROM.
• Resource Informagen directories have listings of Biotech Companies, Investment Banks, and Venture Capital Firms.
• Red Herring: Technology Business News, Analysis, and Research.
• The Silicon Valley Association of Startup Entrepreneurs www.svase.org
• The World Internet Center http://WorldInternetCenter.com
• The Web of Finance has information for angels who might be interested in investing in internet startups.
• Small Business Funding Opportunities at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Extramural Research.

State of Florida Business Information

• Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations, information on starting a business and filing forms http://www.sunbiz.org/
• Article on how to register a fictitious business name in Florida http://www.jamesmartinpa.com/flfict.htm
• Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations, On-Line Fictitious Name Registration https://ccfss1.dos.state.fl.us/corpweb/efiling/ficregintro.html