I didn’t do a book review in October because with Financial Literacy Month coming up in November I wanted to present a trifecta of book reviews and accompanying resources covering three topics related to financial literacy for female entrepreneurs:

• Getting funded
• Financial intelligence – Knowing Your Numbers
• Funding other women – Angel Investing

Getting Funded:

Funded: The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Raising Your First Round by Katherine Hague

Katherine Hague is a serial entrepreneur who was the Co-Founder and CEO of Shop Locket acquired in January 2014 by PCH International, Founder of Female Founders until July 2017, and is now Founder and CEO of Sheerly Genius.

This is a thin volume but packed with useful information.

Some books are purely informative, some are informative and entertaining, I would say this one leans completely towards purely informative, even though it was thin; I had to keep taking breaks because it’s very content heavy.

It covers everything from what makes a start-up fund-able, venture capital: The Pros, Cons, and alternatives, ownership and valuations, structuring your raise, what investors are looking for, building the pitch, preparing for due diligence, drafting financial projections, the investor pipeline, the anatomy of a term sheet, closing the deal, top 10 tips for equity crowd funding, top 10 fundraising mistakes and top 10 fundraising hacks. All this is packed into a 158 page volume.

What drew me to the book was the author, given her experience, I felt like the book would actually be useful, after reading it, it was, so I would recommend it as a guide to how fundraising typically works and as a resource for learning all the technical pieces.

Financial Intelligence – Knowing Your Numbers:

Financial Intelligence for Entrepreneurs: What You Really Need to Know About the Numbers, by Karen Berman + Joe Knight with John Case

This is a must read for all entrepreneurs, I cannot express enough how good this book is for learning how to understand your numbers, it’s extremely informative but in an easy to read and understand way, there’s a bit of levity in how the content is presented.

 

It covers the art of finance (and why it matters), the (many) peculiarities of the Income Statement, the Balance Sheet reveals the most, Cash is King (though here at FinanciElle, we know it’s Queen), ratios: learning what the numbers are really telling you, how to calculate (and really understand) return on investment, applied financial intelligence: working capital management, and creating a financially intelligent company.

The other reason I love this book is because of the author Karen Berman. Dr. Karen Berman was the Founder and President of the Business Literacy Institute (Customized Financial Training), she was a sought-after expert in the fields of business and financial literacy, upon her death, Inc. Magazine named her the Patron Saint of Financial Intelligence.

To assess your financial literacy skills, test your financial literacy skills through the Acceler8 Program Financial Literacy Quiz for Women in Business.

And to keep the financial literacy reading going past the month of November, sign up for Acceler8’s newsletter, The Business Desk: a fresh look at financial education for women in business.

Funding Other Women – Angel Investing:

Now that you’ve been funded, know your numbers and have used that knowledge to make a financial success of your business, it’s time to pay it forward and learn about Angel Investing.

Impact with Wings: The Stories to Inspire and Mobilize Women Angel Investors and Entrepreneurs, by Suzanne Andrews, Jagruti Bhikha, Karen Bairley Kruger, Christine Emilie Lim, Wingee Sin and Hana Yang, with contributing authors Susan Preston and Geri Stengel

The authors are the team behind Wingpact.

Wingpact is a global community of investors and entrepreneurs whose vision it is to create a more gender inclusive world. They have come together to encourage other women to identify their passion, determine their purpose and unleash their fullest potential.

To further this vision, Wingpact is working to inspire and mobilize women angel investors and entrepreneurs. They have written the first book for women about angel investing and provide programs to unleash women’s financial power and create community for women investors and entrepreneurs.

Each chapter is written by one of the women, focusing on their area of expertise. The book is separated into three sections – Women and the lay of their land: investing, funding, and entrepreneurship, Women’s stories and voices from the leading edge of Angel Investing, and what the world could look like when women are fully empowered.

If you have no idea about Angel Investing or have an interest in the topic and want to learn more, I highly recommend this book, it’s informative, interesting, and empowering.