Most entrepreneurs greatly underestimate the difficultly and time required to succeed at this task. They also underestimate the opportunity cost to their business while they are “away” focusing on something else. You only want to raise outside capital, if you really NEED to have capital to grow. I am recommending to many CEOs I coach and mentor today that because it is so difficult to raise money today, and valuations are not great, it would be a far superior alternative to spend the same amount of time selling, or adding value to your business in other ways, than to spend six to twelve months chasing investors. In many cases spending the same amount of time and effort selling your products, or service, could generate just as much money and not dilute your ownership and subject you to the whims, regulations and covenants of bringing in outside capital. This does not, however, mean you should not develop a complete business plan. This process will greatly increase your chances of success whether you are raising outside capital or not.

1. I have not invested my own cash in the business, but have only put in lots of sweat equity. Experienced investors know that a start-up is a roller coaster ride of both highs and lows. They want founders to prove their commitment by investing their own money to the point where it will REALLY hurt if they walk away during tough times. Skin in the game is your vote of confidence, so don’t expect others to invest if you don’t. This does certainly not have to be all your personal net-worth, but it must be a significant portion. You can take out a home equity loan, borrow or withdraw from retirement funds, or just invest personal savings. In the end this will pay off, if you do it right, because it will make you more efficient with capital usage and allow you to bring in investors later, after you have created some value and increased your company valuation. Ultimately, if you are successful, you will likely own more of the company as a result.

2. This (or that) market research firm said this market will be a $2 billion market in five years, so all we need is 5% of that market to build a $100 million company. Counter institutively this is basically saying you have NOT done your homework, and do not really know who your customers will be. This is “top-down”, not “bottom-up” market research. Besides most of these analysts firm’s lost huge credibility when the bubble burst and people realized some projected numbers beyond what the population of the entire planet for Internet users. You need to describe, if not actually list, the exact customers where you can win in most cases and why. Research says that 32% of angels site weak market analysis and analysis of the competition as the most critical mistake entrepreneurs make in their business plan. You must design your launch strategy around a particular customer profile and offer something that that customer cannot get elsewhere. Smart investors would prefer an unfair advantage in a smaller focused market, because the marketing and selling costs will be lower (concentrated) and the sales close rate higher. This also shows you know what you are out to accomplish and are focused on a smaller market you understand well and can win.

3. My spouse (or any immediate family) will be our other senior officers. – Or we are going to use my brother’s company for distribution (or anything else). Investors do not like nepotism and also know that a divorce could destroy the company. They are taking enough risk already, so why should they add another layer of risk with the divorce rate at 50%? Why should they believe out of all the management in the world your brother is the best qualified? Also, there can be no conflict of interest issues with “deals” that could be perceived as favored or the result of nepotism. This allows for shifting of costs and revenue in ways that are totally legal, but at the same time unfair to the investor due to subjective factors. This is fine in a wholly owned private company owned by a single individual (a lifestyle company), but should not really ever happen with outside investors. Enron, Adelphia, Worldcom and Tyco are perfect examples, and these have made everyone more aware of how easy it is to abuse executive positions. It is even possible that in the future institutional investors who allowed this could be perceived as violating their fiduciary responsibilities and have liability. After the fact, if something went wrong and the company shut down, the perception could be that things were done improperly. The room for interpretation on the dissolution of assets could easily be perceived as improper, even when it is done right, due to the wide room for judgement on the value of the remaining assets of any company that is closing. Since this is effectively a fire sale prices will be well below “fair market value”. In short, avoid any and all conflicts of interest, whether real or perceived.

4. I am going to also be doing some consulting to cover my expenses because of my low salary. Or I have other businesses to run also. Or anything else I invent I will personally own the rights to. These are all variations of the same theme. You are not fully committed to the business you want them to put their money in. This might work for Donald Trump, but for anyone who has not made his or her first $25 million don’t expect that kind of latitude. Investors want and deserve your full-time attention as soon as they invest. This might be OK while you are pulling together your plan and don’t have outside investors yet, but investors are buying YOU lock, stock and barrel and want your full-time attention and focus. This not only means your time at the office, but as a CEO, or any senior executive really, it also means they want to own your thinking in the car and shower, and all your ideas that are a result of your work.

5. We have it all figured out. The fact of the matter is that the only guarantee you can make is the plan will evolve and change and the business plan is pretty much guaranteed NOT to happen. Only naive investors would think you are going to do everything that the plan says and not make changes as you go. If they really believe this, you probably do not want them as investors anyway. If you say this, you are basically saying you are wet behind the ears or unrealistic. Besides, if you really had it all figured out and proven, you probably would not even need their money, you would be “bankable” and pay prime rate instead of twenty to fifty percent per year to get equity dollars.

6. We have everyone we need on board in management to be successful. If this were true, you are either spending WAY too much money on staff, or you do not understand the skills you will need to bring on as the business grows and evolves. This is never true and saying it is like waving a flag saying I am an amateur. All investors assume you will need to hire other key players and set aside a stock option pool for that purpose.

7. We are going to sell this product to everyone (even in a single industry), because everyone can use it. This worked during the bubble for a while when $30 million was being dropped (foolishly) at a pop to fund some broad horizontal plays. Today, the smart money is mostly funding companies going after niches, and maybe some verticals (with top management teams, ideas and markets). Virtually every company today needs a market entry strategy that is narrow and focused to establish them as the “go to company” for a particular problem or solution. You NEED to be the big fish in a small pond first because small fish in the ocean get eaten alive more often than not. You can add niches, products or expand to an entire vertical later after proving every element of your business in a single niche. By the time you get there so much can change it is usually even a waste of time figuring out what that order will be in advance. Markets and technology are too dynamic today.

8. We have no competition. This is virtually never true, as people are doing something to deal with the problem you solve today. If you are a restaurant then the grocery store across the street is your competition. You can almost never view a market that narrowly, unless you just got the patent on nuclear fusion, even then coal, oil, hydroelectric and solar are still competition. Besides you really can’t know who else might be working on the problem and if it is an attractive market you will clearly have followers. So you need to articulate how you will stay ahead of competition either way.

9. Only our management team is qualified to develop and execute this business. This is about as false, naive and arrogant a statement as anyone can make, so don’t even come close. To say you are the only people in the world who can do this is not only terribly unlikely, it is in FACT something you can not possibly know for sure, because you don’t actually know everybody else do you? So it is always a false statement and shows overconfidence. It is better to err on the side of saying something like: “we know there will be competition and here is how we will be cheaper, different, better and/or faster.”

10. Our projections are very conservative. This is the most overused expression of the lot and I would guess it gets said in more than ninety-percent of investor presentations. The fact is that entrepreneurs are always optimistic; they wouldn’t be entrepreneurs if they were not, as they are certainly fighting the odds. Any good investor is going to make their own judgements on the ramp rate of sales and expenses anyway, so this is better left unsaid. The fact is you never know because you never know if there are fifty other companies working in stealth mode on the same idea. According to research 32% of angels site “unrealistic financial projections” as the number one mistake made by entrepreneurs.

11. We don’t know how much money we need, or we can do it on anything between $500K and $10MM. Investors want to know you have a solid plan. They also all have a certain amount they want to invest. Do your homework and understand exactly who you are talking to. You should know exactly what you are asking for before you go in and have a business plan with a financial plan that matches this. Asking for the wrong amount is as good as blowing the presentation entirely. Although you may be able to execute a business plan more slowly, yet successfully on less capital, and you may have a couple of scenarios figured out (you should), you can really only show one plan to any particular investor.

Level of Management Team Needed

Getting investors today requires a strong team, idea and market (not the same as idea). What level of team do you need to have a good likelihood of obtaining angel financing? Here is a chart of the level of management team you will likely need and you can interpolate between these levels. Currently, you will likely need to reach level five to bring in any angel investors and probably a level 8 to get any money from VCs. This also assumes you have an attractive, and large, potential market, some barriers to entry and a good head start or patent protection.

Conclusion

You need to pull out all the stops today to obtain angel financing. This means getting further on less money than ever before. Which in turn means better focus and using virtual company techniques to get much further on your OWN personal resources, and/or friends and family money. It also means pulling together a team of people that address all the major risks in the business. This requires creative deals to bring people in and probably not be paying them, certainly not full-time, while you are creating real value in your business. Investors want to invest in something that already has value built in, not an idea or business plan with a “one-man show” today.

The most common mistake made today made by entrepreneurs is going out looking for money before they are ready. The competition is fierce out there, so don’t burn your best personal contacts by approaching them with an incomplete or undeveloped business plan or company. If you have not successfully raised money before, get help from someone who has. C-Level Enterprises offers a complete financing review and critique that is guaranteed to improve your chance of obtaining financing. Go to www.CLevelEnterprises.com for further information. Also see www.StartupPlanet.com for audio courses on raising investor capital.

Mr. Robert Norton, is an author of four books, speaker and President and CEO of C-Level Enterprises. He has over 15 years as full-time President and CEO of numerous successful companies. Two grew to over $100 million in annual sales while Mr. Norton was there and one grew from $0 to over $1 billion in revenue today. His experience spans all key disciplines needed to start, grow and exit businesses in several industries. He can provide a breath of experience and perspective across all disciplines that only experienced CEOs can.

He founded and run the exclusive CEO & Entrepreneur Boot Camp – The Art and Science of Business Design. See http://www.CLevelBootCamp.com

With 22 total years experience, including former positions as Senior Software Architect, VP Engineering and CTO, Mr. Norton can understand both deep technical issues and strategic management issues. So often operations, product development, sales and marketing issues are deeply interwoven, requiring multidisciplinary experience to effectively solve problems. Mr. Norton’s breath of experience allows for complete validation and/or improvement of entire business models for maximum growth and profit. He is also a specialist at designing long-term competitive advantage into businesses so profit margins can be maintained and stockholders build sustainable revenue and profits that can justify high multiples on exit.

He is also the author of The Startup Manual, the first roadmap to starting and growing any business to $100 million in sales, available at http://www.StartupManual.com.

A complete biography is available at http://www.CLevelEnterprises.com a resource for CEOs, entrepreneurs and C-Level executives at early-stage companies.

Turns out, they sold enough to stay afloat through 1996. In 1997, sales failed to grow as quickly as they expected, so they decided to seek financing again. This time, they expected positive results would be easier to obtain, after all they were fairly well established now. The board, however, told them to get out there and promote their business and make more sales.

If At First You Don’t Succeed

Gumpert and his partner instead decided to dust off their old business plan, spend many hours rewriting and updating the plan, and to set out once again to seek financing. And, once again they were turned down. How could this be? In the late 90’s, it seemed like every new Internet-related venture in the world was obtaining financing. In fact, according to the MoneyTree Survey, sponsored by Price Waterhouse Coopers, Venture Economics, and the National Venture Capital Association, the amount of venture capital – $7.7 billion in 1995 — had grown to $16.4 billion by 1997.

Nonetheless, the failed financing left Gumpert and his partner with two stark choices at this stage: Find ways to grow the business without financing or call it quits. They took the first choice. They also engaged public-relations professionals, and succeeded in getting several of their most successful corporate clients written up in business and industry trade publications – with their agency mentioned as the key force behind their clients’ success. This publicity got the agency’s phones ringing with new prospects, several of which converted into additional sales.

As the business grew, they remained on guard about monitoring their expenses and aggressively collecting receivables. By 1999, they were operating profitably at $2 million in annual revenues, with nearly 20 employees. Also, the amount of venture capital being invested nationally had soared to an astounding $55.5 billion. But, Gumpert and his partner paid little attention to this; their interest in outside financing had dropped significantly. (By 2000, Venture capital availability peaked at $85.5 billion.)

The Power Of Publicity

As Gumpert and his partner carried their success into 1998 and 1999, their promotional efforts eventually attracted the attention of a publicly held company that was seeking the expertise they offered in developing and managing online content. In December 1999 this company acquired Gumpert’s company, NetMarquee. To Gumpert’s surprise, the acquirer never asked to see their business plan; it only wanted to see their financial projections under several different scenarios.

In recounting his financing experience, Gumpert makes two points: First, even during good times, the venture capital route is closed to the vast majority of businesses that seek it out. While it might have seemed back then that nearly every business that asked was receiving venture capital, the reality is most carefully crafted business plans are rejected out of hand by venture capitalists. Second, you’ll be surprised what you can accomplish without the financing you think you so desperately need to stave off failure.

The truth is that it’s unlikely a business plan by itself will bring funding in the door, unless it is part of an overall marketing strategy.

Four Tools To Help Market Your Business Plan To Investors

The famous motivational speaker Jim Rohn says there are three steps to successful communications: “Have something good to say, say it well, and say it often.” These three steps form the foundation of the Business Plan Secrets Revealed manual. They are essential to marketing your business plan with the intent of attracting investors and selling your business plan to them. Here are four tools to help you “say it often” so you can attract investors and sell your business plan to them.

One, a concise, well written twenty-five page business memorandum or “business plan” that builds a case to separate your venture from your competition. You don’t need a two-inch thick business plan. Plans this long often lack aim; instead of building a case that leads investors to decide whether the business is the right investment for them, they “fire away” in hopes that some of the shots will take effect.

Two, an effective elevator pitch–a 60-second, to-the-point verbal pitch for your businessthat communicates to your customers and investors what you do in an exciting and engaging way. The ability to separate your business from your competitors and get an investor’s interest in the short time it takes to ride up an elevator is critical.

Three, an investor relation Web page to build credibility and help investors quickly get the information they need, when they need it. Of all the communications media available, the Web is particularly important. It’s fast and available 24/7. With it, you can capture leads and automatically keep in touch with those who are interested in your business.

Finally, press releases to help you get your word out. A press release is the basic tool for gaining the attention of the media. The public’s desire for interesting, relevant news remains strong, as does the importance of carefully selecting relevant target audiences. You are dealing with much more skepticism on the part of the public now than there has been in the past, which makes the evidence and objectivity in your press release paramount.

The process of raising money and attracting investors isn’t easy. If it were, every business idea would get funded. You have to use all the tools that are available to you, and start looking at this process as a marketing process backed by hard, verifiable evidence. You just don’t know when the plumsinvestors, on the tree will become ripeready to invest. But, you do know that if you do everything you can to take care of the treewater it, fertilize it, and so on–it will ultimately bear fruitraise money for your business.

Mike Elia is a chief financial officer and an advisor to
venture capitalists and leverage buyout specialists. For more information about business plans and raising capital for your business or to review his business plan manual, visit Business Plan Secrets Revealed.

Before I delve into specific recommendations, let’s briefly review the purposes of a preparing a business plan.

In practice, a business plan has three purposes and three purposes only: (1) to demonstrate the validity of your business model (including the existence of a market); (2) to establish the qualification of your team to execute your business model; and (3) to convince investors/lenders that the only thing you’re missing is capital. That’s it. Anything else you try to make it will detract from these goals.

If you want your business plan to make it to the Loan or Investment Committee, consider following these 8 recommendations:

1. Present the Right Type of Plan to the Correct Audience

Generally speaking, there are three types of business plans: Loan-Targeted; Equity-Targeted and Operating-Only. Do not send an equity investor a loan request and do not send a lender a request for an equity investment. Operating-only plans do not seek to raise capital and thus are not discussed in this article.

Loan-targeted and Equity-targeted business plans are quite different. Lenders are principally concerned with collateral and cash flow. They tend to give a lot of weight to the debt coverage ratio. Equity investors focus on the Return on Equity generated from anticipated liquidity events like a lucrative acquisition or initial public offering. There are other differences. For example, if you’re trying to raise equity, then your business plan will likely be known as a Private Placement Memorandum. This terminology comes from Regulation D of the Securities Act of 1933, a federal law which applies to your business plan if you’re attempting to raise private equity across state lines. This document has a specific format that investors are accustomed to. Failure to follow this format is a sure sign of a novice.

2. Abide by the 50/50 Rule

Your business plan should be no longer than 50 pages and no more than 50% of its content should be quantitative in nature.

There are two compelling reasons to keep your page-count under 50 pages:

First, whether your business plan is 20 pages or 200 pages, in most cases an analyst will reduce it to a 10-page summary called an Internal Credit Memorandum. The ICM is the only thing the decision-makers will ever see. Save the trees and save your time.

Second, people with money to invest or lend are among the busiest people on earth. None of them have time during the business day to sit and read more than 50 pages. The ideal length of a business plan is 20-30 pages, which is more than long enough to concisely state everything you need to. In my experience, every business plan longer than 50 pages contains unnecessary filler. Filler is bad. No matter what you read in that business plan book, your business plan does NOT need to include patent applications, folded-up blue prints, job descriptions, research studies, brochures, or pictures of your children. If and when I need any of these items, I will request them from you during the due diligence phase.

The reason you should limit your quantitative content to no more than half is because your business plan should tell a persuasive story that your numbers support. The numbers themselves are not the story.

3. Your Narrative Must Match Your Numbers

In many cases, the person who writes the narrative portion of a business plan is not the same person who prepares the financial portion. This often leads to inconsistencies, usually because your plan was not proofread or because one section gets updated without updating the other. A common example is where the Narrative lists executive salaries that amount to one figure but the Income Statement calculates salaries as a percentage of revenue, resulting in an entirely different figure. In addition to appearing sloppy, the problem with such inconsistencies is that they force the person analyzing your business plan to decide which of the two figures to accept. When I’m that person, I always pick the more conservative figure. That’s usually bad for the applicant.

4. Show Them the Money

An entrepreneur once famously remarked, “If I succeed, everyone wins. If I fail, the bank loses.” Your investors have heard this one too, but they’re not amused. Investors and lenders are much more favorably inclined towards projects where the sponsor will be sharing the risk of the venture by co-investing some of its own capital along side theirs. They also saw the movie “Other People’s Money,” which may be why they instruct their analysts to discard business plans that include no sponsor equity.

5. Pass the Acid Test

One of the first things most analysts do with a new business plan is go straight to the Balance Sheet and check if Cash plus Cash Equivalents is greater than Current Liabilities. It’s called the Acid Test. A ratio of less than 1 is a danger sign. Without getting too deep into financial theory, it’s a warning that you have (or will have) a liquidity problem, or worse, a solvency problem. There are several acceptable methods of calculating this ratio. Pick the most favorable method. For most businesses, the most favorable method is to include the value of accounts receivable in the numerator.

6. Pass the Common Sense Test

No one wants to invest money in a profit-making enterprise that doesn’t make any profits. Don’t submit a business plan that projects a loss in the first few years but great profits thereafter or one where your product loses money on each sale but claims profit will be made “on volume.” Even if you honestly believe that either of these scenarios will actually happen (which, statistically speaking, they won’t), you will be much better off simply projecting break-even or a very small profit. The difference in dollars is negligible, but the difference in perception is critical. The main reason to avoid this is that most lenders and investors have policies against intentionally “funding losses.”

7. Real Men (and Women) Don’t Use Templates

If you’re going to use business plan software to produce your business plan, then at least spend the time to make it unique and credible. Every month, without fail, I get several business plans produced by one particular software package. The reason I know this is because every one of them, regardless of the business model or industry, contains the EXACT boilerplate language and the EXACT default figures from the program. Because this demonstrates a lack of diligence and effort, those plans usually go straight in the trash bin. A coffee shop and a multinational defense contractor should not have the same financials. The only number these two businesses really have in common is the $99 they paid for the software.

8. Avoid Common Financial Mistakes

There are so many potential mistakes to be made in this area that it deserves its own article. However, here are some basics:

• The Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Statement of Cash Flow must agree with each other.
• Most Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) do not pay corporate income taxes. I see this one all the time. Over 80% of LLCs are setup to pass tax liability through to members, yet most business plan spreadsheets include a line-item for taxes that people fill-in anyway. When you do this, you underestimate your Operating Income by the amount of the tax. Because Operating Income is an important metric to most analysts, it’s not a good idea to artificially decrease it.
• Don’t Forget the Notes. For an analyst, financial statements without explanatory notes are almost useless. The notes will contain essential information like the company’s fiscal year, basis of accounting (cash or accrual), definition of inventory and the details of liabilities (interest rates, maturities, etc.). To illustrate my point, consider the simple case of revenue recognition. Suppose you receive an income statement that claims a company will earn $1,000,000 in revenues this year. Does that figure refer to cash received or the value of sales contracts? Only the notes will tell. Anybody remember Enron?
• Tell Them How Much You’re Asking For. Another common mistake is not including a Statement of Sources and Uses (sometimes called a Funding Plan). This statement expressly sets forth how much funding you are requesting and what you will do with the proceeds. I can’t tell you how many

  business plans I’ve reviewed that tell you everything but how much money is being requested.

Extra Credit

If you want to earn goodwill points with the person who will decide if your business plan ever makes it to the investment or loan committee, consider these optional steps:

1. In addition to a hardcopy, email an electronic copy of your business plan in PDF format.
2. Include the NAICS code for your industry. The NAICS code is the successor to the well known SIC code. It’s what an analyst uses to look up information about your industry at commercial data sources like Dun & Bradstreet and RMA.
3. Don’t use a ring binder.
4. Include a ratio analysis with your financial projections.
5. Don’t misspell names.

There you have it. Following these tips may not be enough to get your business plan funded, but they will get it taken seriously. The rest is up to you.

——————————————————————

Jamel Cato is a senior analyst at a private equity firm in the leafy suburbs of Philadelphia.

Copyright 2004 – Jamel H. Cato. All Rights Reserved.

REPRINT RIGHTS: You may reprint this article as long as do not edit the article in any way and give author name credit.

So, where do re-sellers that wish to take their businesses to the next level go to get working capital? The bank? Unlikely, as banks are tough sources of business financing. To qualify for a business loan you’ll usually need to provide reports showing three years worth of profitable operations – and – the owner will need to have a spotless credit record. Oh, and if you are a startup, don’t bother. Few banks will provide working capital to startups.

Are there any alternate options? Fortunately, the answer is yes. Purchase order financing (commonly known as po funding) is a great source of financing for startups and growing companies that have exhausted their bank financing options. However, you won’t find PO Funding at your local bank, you’ll find it at your local factoring company.

PO funding is an ideal source of financing for resellers, wholesalers, importers, or just about any business that buys goods from third parties and resells them. PO financing covers up to 100% of your supplier expenses, enabling you to close big sales and deliver on them. As opposed to traditional financing, purchase order financing uses your purchase order as the actual collateral. There are no set maximum limits, and you can finance as many orders as you want, provided that they come from commercially credit worthy businesses or the government, and have profit margins of 15% or more.

Purchase order funding works as follows:

1. You get a purchase order from a client. You place an order with your supplier

2. The purchase order finance company pays your suppler using a letter of credit

3. Your supplier delivers the product and your client acknowledges receipt

4. Your client pays for the goods and the transaction between the parties is settled

Purchase order financing can be an affordable financing option that allows you to expand your business when your bank financing options have been exhausted. It can truly enable you to close very large orders, with confidence, and take your business to the next level.

About Commercial Capital LLC
Are you looking for purchase order funding? We can provide you with a competitive po financing and po funding quote. Please call (866) 730 1922 for more information.

Are we saying that most wholesalers will take advantage of you? Of course not. We believe in wholesaling. We wholesale many deals ourselves every year. Frankly, the majority of wholesalers are honest, and try to provide data that is as accurate as possible. The problem is twofold: first, wholesalers are sales people and present deals in the best light possible. The Buyers still need to do their due diligence to make sure the deal works for them. Second, wholesalers can only provide what the average renovator may incur as expenses. Your individual, specific expenses in any given deal may be higher or may be lower. It also depends on what exit strategy you’re planning. That’s why two investors can analyze the same deal, and one decide that it works great, and the other decide there’s no profit. Both views may be correct since everyone’s individual costs vary.

When you purchase any property, you have to calculate your own specific costs to determine if it is a good deal FOR YOU. It could be a great deal for many investors, but not for you. Only you can make that determination. Conversely, other people may have to pass on a deal that you, because you may have better resources available, will jump on the opportunity.

You also have to evaluate the After Repaired Value yourself. We still hear buyers talking about getting an appraisal to determine the value. An appraisal is a tool for the lender – NOT for the investor. Appraisals are an art, not a science. We could bring three appraisers to a property, and get three different values.

Therefore, it’s up to you to do your homework and figure out the right value. The question is: “What will this house sell for when the rehab is complete?” You obviously do not want to use as a comp the one home that sold significantly higher than all of the others. But by the same token, don’t use the lowest values either – you’ll never buy a house. We use the highest price cluster of similar homes we find in the area as our comps. This is the most realistic version of what you can expect in the marketplace. We do not under-value the property making it impossible to buy deals; nor do we over-value the property potentially resulting in no profit.

Use the information the wholesaler provides you as a guide to determine which deals to pursue, but then do your own due diligence. Determine your own specific costs, and determine your own property values. Don’t guess whose numbers are correct. In the long run, you’ll be much more successful as an investor.

(*) Wholesalers are investors who market extensively to attract motivated sellers, get the property under contract, then sell the deal to other investors who will fix up the property and re-sell to owner-occupants.

Best of success & abundance,

Lou Castillo

Now, Easily find all the real estate funding you’ll ever need! This complete system will show you how to acquire unlimited real estate funding, even without using banks, hard money or your own credit! Learn more in this FREE Report!!

Real Estate Financing

Most of the cases I’ve seen the firm retains 40% ownership if you pay them what they demand every month. If you fall short a couple of payments they take 60% control of the company and you get 40%.

There will also be certain covenants when you have the majority ownership. You will only be allowed to spend a certain amount of money wihout approval from the firm.

Sound fairly straight forward right? You pitch the idea along with the amount of money you’ll need and you’re expected earnings over a five year period. You show them how you’ll increase sales, cut costs, and manage the company better than anyone else could ever dream. They in turn give you a pile of money and free advice. What a deal!.

Here’s what really happens.

You approach the venture capital firm and meet with the board. You show them how you’ve invented a process of combining milk and apples into a potion that will cure cancer, and serve as an alternate to gasoline for 3 cents per gallon.

One of the board members is very enthusiastic. She thinks you’re on to something that with a little management and marketing guidance from the firm could be really big. The other six grumble about the risk of alar and other problems associated with apples.

After a few weeks they grudgingly decide to meet with you again. The guy that was excited about your idea sits quietly and the other members have softened a little to your idea but still have serious concerns, blah blah blah. After the meeting is over your ally will come over and talk to you alone. She’ll tell you she was really pulling for you and you may have to give up a little more control or equity, but she’s in your corner and thinks she can get it done for you.

If your idea really is good, you’ll get the money. If they detect you’re not 100% confident and that you don’t posess business savvy they’ll try to control as much of your business as they can in most cases. In other cases they’ll give you tons of freedom, but watch over your shoulder and count every penny.

When you fail to make a couple of the payments (and they will be considerably higher than bank payments) they’ll take control of the company. Then they’ll run it with such a heavy hand you’ll be forced to either sell to them, or get bank financing and buy your company back at a healthy profit to the venture capital firm.

So is it really that bad? It can be. You have to research the VC firm or angel investor much more diligently than you would a bank or other lending institution. You must stick to your gains and get the best deal you can. This means you’re going to have to be patient, and you certainly will want to talk to at least to other VC firms. In short, you have to play their game.

So what should you look for in a venture capital firm?
I’d recommend one that’s been around for more than fifteen years. Some of the VC lenders have became jaded since the dotcom bust, and honestly it’s hard to blame them.

On the board there should be at least one or two entrepreneurs who made their money the old fashioned way. Hard work and perseverance. If it’s full of former dotcommers you’ll probably want to steer clear. The biggest reason for this is they may have no management or real business experience. The fact that they had a great idea and were able to capitalize on it before the bust doesn’t make for the next Jack Welch. It would also be a plus if they had a senior level manager in a big company. These guys know how to work a bureaucracy and what the traps are.

If you’ve done your homework and really believe in yourself and your idea, let the confidece shine through. That doesn’t mean be arrogant. It just means, hold your ground until you get the best deal possible.

Eric Gurr is a senior editor at smbresource. He has owned and managed small to medium sized businesses and started two successful businesses.
He can be reached at egurr@intralinkinc.com

http://www.smbresource.com

Cash flow can get even tighter if the company’s sales grow, or if the owners decide to open new locations. When this happens, most company owners try to obtain bank financing through a loan or line of credit. However, qualifying for bank financing is incredibly challenging as they will only lend money to a business that shows profits for three straight years and can provide audited financials.

There is a financing alternative in the healthcare industry that has been used with success with medical supply companies. This solution provides you with quick financing based exclusively on your sales. Furthermore, since financing is tied to sales, the line of financing grows as your sales grow. The solution is to factor your medical insurance claims using medical receivables factoring.

Medical factoring provides you with immediate financing based on your slow paying insurance and Medicare/Medicaid claims. Rather than waiting 30 to 60 days to get paid, with medical factoring you can get paid in a few days. This frees up significant cash, allowing you to finance operations, and more importantly, to buy supplies and fuel new sales.

As opposed to bank financing, where the bank lends you money, the factoring company buys your invoices and pays you immediately for them. The process is fairly straightforward. But more importantly, this also means that you are free from the traditional bank lending requirements. Medical receivables factoring is easier to qualify for, and often, the owners’ personal credit is not a consideration.

Factoring your medical receivables can be an ideal solution for your medical supply company if your main challenge is that you cannot afford to wait up to 60 days to get paid by insurance companies. If that is the case, medical factoring should provide you with the working capital you need to operate and grow your business.

About Invoice Factoring Group

We can provide you with a free medical factoring, medical receivables factoring or invoice factoring quote for your healthcare company. Marco Terry, the president, can be reached at 1 866 730 1922.

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