... better prepared to take on an investment. Further details of theseinitiatives are provided in Chapter 1.3.David IrwinChief Executive, Small Business ServiceAbout the ContributorsBertoli ... environment ingeneral terms and provides background to the more specialised sec-tions that follow. In Chapter 1.3, Adrian Piper, Investment Director ofthe Small Business Service (SBS) launched in 2000, ... newgovernment initiative, Business Links and the networks of formal andinformal venture capitalists. Chapter 1.4 is devoted to the specialfinancing issues of technology-based small firms (TBSFs).Part...