10 "Speed-Copy" Secrets
By John Forde
The better you get at writing good copy, the more clients will want access to your time. In the beginning, you'll want to give it to them.
But as time goes by, you won't be able to.
You'll try to cherry-pick projects, taking on only those that won't bog you down disproportionately to what you'll get in return.
But what happens when you have no other choice than to just... write... faster?
A few suggestions...
1. Really DO Cherry-Pick Projects
There are some copywriting jobs that just aren't worth your time. Which ones? Be wary, for instance, of products with no clear audience or no clear benefit for the audience they're meant to target.
Be wary of projects without a passionate champion on the client side, too. If there's nobody who can sell you on what you're supposed to be selling, there's a good chance you'll have a hard time selling it to prospects.
And look out for projects that don't have at least 85 percent of the pieces in place before you get started. Unless, that is, you're also being paid to help develop the product... a different and more involved job than just writing the sales letter.
2. Know Your Load
Writing can be physically draining, if you're doing it right.
Copywriter Bob Bly once told me that he logs only about four hours on each project per day, but he stays fresh by keeping two projects going at once and switching to the second project in the afternoon.
I've tried that. And sometimes it works. Maybe it will work for you. But, frankly, once I start working on something -- anything -- I get too caught up in it to let it go. So I actively try to avoid other projects until I've got the first one completed.
3. Gather Your Resources, Part I
One of the best ways to accelerate the pace on any writing project is to feed it the nourishment in needs to get started. That nourishment is information.
Read up, interview, discuss.
Do a phone interview with someone who knows the product inside and out. Record it and start typing as you play it back. You'll need other resources along the way. But this is where you'll need to begin if you want to burst out of the gate with as much power as possible.
4. Build Your Framework
Once you've got a grasp on the general direction you're going to take with the promo, make an outline. Too many writers skip this step.
Yet, for all but a rare few, unstructured writing shows. The benefit of an outline is that you know where you need to go. You also know where you DON'T need to go.
And as the research and ideas start piling up, that's equally important.
5. Gather Your Resources, Part II
Once you've pulled together a rough outline, you'll start to see the holes you need to fill.
That means more digging -- more magazine clippings, more notes from studying the product and the customer base, more notes from talking to the client.
The research part of the copywriting process should almost always take most of your time. If you're working with a product you don't know well, figure on spending about 50 percent of your total time on research. Then 30 percent on writing the first draft and another 20 percent for polishing and revision.
6. Try Writing in 3D
You would think that the best way to tackle any copywriting project would be to write the beginning first, the middle second, and the end last. And for many writers, that's precisely the path they follow. However, I'd personally recommend an approach that's a little more non-linear.
What do I mean?
Ideas, phrases... tend to arrive pell-mell, like a conversation that leaps from topic to topic.
So what I do is write in sections. I actually create separate, labeled documents in Word that match my outline or "mind-map" of the message I'd like to deliver. Then, as I research and revise, I jump back and forth between sections, adding to one, tightening another, copying and moving bits and pieces of ideas. Then I reorganize them to fit the more logical, linear outline that will underlie the final piece.
7. Write Your Close First
Here's an interesting idea -- start at the end. And I can give you at least two solid reasons to do it.
First, because the offer you write will, word for word, have more impact on the prospect than any other section of the promo (except the headline and lead). If the offer stinks, you haven't got a chance.
Second, because knowing specifically how you'll close the sale keeps you from going off on tangents that can sidetrack your sales message.
8. Give Your Headline and Lead Room to Breathe
Perfectionism is a problem for a lot of writers. If that means you, get over it. You'll kill yourself and your career trying to get every word right -- sacrificing the rest of the copy while you tinker... and tinker... and tinker... with the headline and lead.
Instead, put the headline and lead copy in a separate document -- or somehow cordoned off from the rest of the promo. Open that alternate writing window whenever you're working on the main document. And when you get an idea about how to make the headline or lead stronger, dip into that alternate writing window, make the changes, and then jump back to the rest of the piece.
I do this a dozen or more times while I'm writing, with the headline and lead changing 10... 20... or more times before I'm through.
9. Learn to "Copyify" Your Notes as You Research
This takes practice. But you'll write much faster if, when you take notes, you record those notes in a form that's close to what you'll want for the final copy.
For instance, instead of jotting down this note: "Mention last year's booming commodity market to support resource buying op"... make this note: "Last year's booming commodities market is the perfect example. Had you subscribed to my 'Dirt, Rocks, and Other Investments' advisory service then, you'd already be up XXX% on Mud Futures alone by now."
You get the picture.
10. Use Markers and Shortcuts
This last suggestion is a small thing. But very, very handy.
Let's say you're writing and you need to cite a stat you don't have at your fingertips. Just drop in "XX" and keep writing.
Or let's say you need a subhead to transition between sections but the perfect one escapes you at the moment. Just drop in "[SUBHEAD HERE]" and go back to it later.
The idea is to preserve your momentum at all costs.
There you have it -- 10 of the "secrets" that help me write the best possible marketing copy at top speed. They should work for you too.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
grant services
VCI will provide research of Federal, State, Local, Foundation or Corporate Grant Opportunities for your Nonprofit Organization, For Profit Business or Local Government Entity such as a City or County Department. Once the basic research has been performed, a long-range funding strategy with revenue generation can be developed for your organization to maximize available grant opportunities.
Once the grant opportunities have been identified, the next step is for the client to provide information about their organization such as EIN, DUNS, mission, philosophy, values, history, goals and objectives, programs, staffing, organization budget and program budget(s) for current year and upcoming year. Then VCIs Certified Grant Writer™(20 yrs experience) begins preparing the application or proposal sections such as the Executive Summary, Statement of Need, Project Description and Budget. Drafts are provided to the client for review and additional input may be requested. Finally, VCI prepares the final document ready for mailing or electronic submission.
No grant award can be guaranteed; in fact, most grants are highly competitive but by using a certified grant writer your chance of approval jumps to more than 50% and only the most detailed and complete applications win awards.
VCI charges for its grant writing services on an hourly fee or a project fee. It is unethical for a Certified Grant Writer™ to accept fees that are contingent upon a grant award, or that are based on a percentage of a grant award. You will find that VCI provides professional services by experienced and successful Certified Grant Writers™ who will give your application a strong competitive narrative and will make sure you qualify. We will gladly speak with you personally to discuss how our services may benefit your business.
Once the grant opportunities have been identified, the next step is for the client to provide information about their organization such as EIN, DUNS, mission, philosophy, values, history, goals and objectives, programs, staffing, organization budget and program budget(s) for current year and upcoming year. Then VCIs Certified Grant Writer™(20 yrs experience) begins preparing the application or proposal sections such as the Executive Summary, Statement of Need, Project Description and Budget. Drafts are provided to the client for review and additional input may be requested. Finally, VCI prepares the final document ready for mailing or electronic submission.
No grant award can be guaranteed; in fact, most grants are highly competitive but by using a certified grant writer your chance of approval jumps to more than 50% and only the most detailed and complete applications win awards.
VCI charges for its grant writing services on an hourly fee or a project fee. It is unethical for a Certified Grant Writer™ to accept fees that are contingent upon a grant award, or that are based on a percentage of a grant award. You will find that VCI provides professional services by experienced and successful Certified Grant Writers™ who will give your application a strong competitive narrative and will make sure you qualify. We will gladly speak with you personally to discuss how our services may benefit your business.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Hi Everyone,
Thanks for joining my business network and becoming one of my trusted sources for your business referrals. I know you'll provide all of my leads with outstanding service. I hope you'll think of me when you come across people who have Private Equity,Federal Grants or Commercial loan needs.
Let's try to keep in touch. We can send each other messages on what we're working on. This can help us identify new referral opportunities for people looking for our services. See you !
Warm Regards,
THOMAS DUFFY
Venture Capital International llc
NEW MILFORD, CT
860-350-4440
Thanks for joining my business network and becoming one of my trusted sources for your business referrals. I know you'll provide all of my leads with outstanding service. I hope you'll think of me when you come across people who have Private Equity,Federal Grants or Commercial loan needs.
Let's try to keep in touch. We can send each other messages on what we're working on. This can help us identify new referral opportunities for people looking for our services. See you !
Warm Regards,
THOMAS DUFFY
Venture Capital International llc
NEW MILFORD, CT
860-350-4440
Friday, May 14, 2010
structured capital loans
For businesses that cannot provide sufficient collateral to secure a commercial loan, a complex and multi-level approach to structuring the transaction makes it possible to successfully receive venture capital funding, without any collateral from the client. This category of capital procurement requires extensive inside financial industry knowledge, legal and negotiating expertise, and direct, active professional support.
Working with financiers to structure conditional purchase of discounted collateral and other guarantee instruments, our Strategic Alliances can reliably obtain full, once-source funding from venture capital lending banks. The core of this mechanism is third parties, usually other banks, financial institutions or insurance companies. These collateral providers either partially or fully back the loan from the source, with little or no risk to the receiving company.
Licensed financial institutions and a London-based, international law firm are the direct legal representative and consortium of investor-depositors who are prepared to purchase the collateral instruments for our clients. Our London-based international law firm alliance is also a licensed Escrow agent for distribution of deposit funds and loan funds. For this reason, our Strategic Alliances are recognized by cooperating lending banks as a “Collateral Provider”, allowing them maximum control over management and support for the process.
Reliable Results for Investment and Project Financing
The reliable procurement of capital funds is not a myth, but an unavoidable reality. The mission of funding sources is in fact to give working capital, not to withhold it. They are under significant pressure from contractual obligations with constituent investors, pension funds, trusts or even government agencies to make active use of funds to realize gains. Under performance or inactivity results in damage to the source’s reputation, and even loss of rights to manage the entrusted funds.
Preparation of Projects
Applying extensive professional resources, intellectual property, and effective strategies, it is only a matter of time before a professional services firm obtains an approval and offer from a source on favorable terms.
Working with financiers to structure conditional purchase of discounted collateral and other guarantee instruments, our Strategic Alliances can reliably obtain full, once-source funding from venture capital lending banks. The core of this mechanism is third parties, usually other banks, financial institutions or insurance companies. These collateral providers either partially or fully back the loan from the source, with little or no risk to the receiving company.
Licensed financial institutions and a London-based, international law firm are the direct legal representative and consortium of investor-depositors who are prepared to purchase the collateral instruments for our clients. Our London-based international law firm alliance is also a licensed Escrow agent for distribution of deposit funds and loan funds. For this reason, our Strategic Alliances are recognized by cooperating lending banks as a “Collateral Provider”, allowing them maximum control over management and support for the process.
Reliable Results for Investment and Project Financing
The reliable procurement of capital funds is not a myth, but an unavoidable reality. The mission of funding sources is in fact to give working capital, not to withhold it. They are under significant pressure from contractual obligations with constituent investors, pension funds, trusts or even government agencies to make active use of funds to realize gains. Under performance or inactivity results in damage to the source’s reputation, and even loss of rights to manage the entrusted funds.
Preparation of Projects
Applying extensive professional resources, intellectual property, and effective strategies, it is only a matter of time before a professional services firm obtains an approval and offer from a source on favorable terms.
anti fraud due diligence
Types and Methods
"The term “due diligence” comes from the legal concept that corporate executives have a legal obligation to duly exercise reasonable diligence in researching any potentially adverse facts in a business or transaction.
The phrase “due diligence” was first made popular by multinational law firms. It later became even more commonly used when prominent financial consulting firms began to incorporate the related practices of law firms into their services. As a result of this widespread popularity, “due diligence” is like a diluted trademark, often used as an interchangeable synonym for a “background check”, although real “background checks” can only effectively be provided by detective agencies, investigative or security firms. The essence of professional due diligence work is to provide complete, accurate and reliable fact finding, to establish a true and correct representation of a business situation for effective decision making.
The Due Diligence methods used by the law and financial firms that made the term popular are generally limited, and are not “investigative” in character. Such professional practice firms generally advise the client on requesting available corporate documents or accounting statements from potential business partners prior to contract closings, and assist the client in obtaining copies of similar publicly filed records declared by the subject of the inquiry.
This method commonly uses “check lists” of documents, licenses, etc. that should be identified and collected as the basis for specific types of transactions, such as mergers and acquisitions, real estate development deals, franchising and product licensing, joint venture contracts, or direct investment. The firm will have different checklists that are used for each type or category of transaction. In addition to identifying and collecting legal and commercial documents, the firm will review them to ensure that documents are properly signed, complete, accurate and otherwise legitimate.
Legal and management consulting firms do not attempt or purport to meet the standards of the economic security industry for background checks or investigations. This type of Due Diligence is not intended to provide a conclusion as to whether a potential partner is reliable. Accordingly, law and financial firms often hire security firms to conduct economic security investigations as a supplement to the “management consulting” type corporate Due Diligence.
The most widely used due diligence methods in the security industry are referred to by professionals as “Open Source” research. This type of background checks are conducted on the level of official registered information, such as corporate registrations and business filings, proprietary ownership registrations, mass media articles, publications and broadcast transcripts (called “media search”), licensing records, and similar data that is commonly referred to as “public records”.
Taken by itself without any additional methods, however, this type of background check is highly limited in usefulness. There are many “security” companies on the market that offer “public records” and “open source” research, providing only unverified raw data obtained from the most readily available computerized databases. While this approach is popular for its minimal cost, it most often cannot address the most valuable information upon which clients must make important business decisions. At worst, limited “public records” checks can overlook critical facts and mislead decision makers. At best, they usually raise many more questions than they answer.
A professional “Background Check” investigation consists of a full and advanced “open source” investigation, enhanced by extensive verification and analysis of data. Conducting effective “open source” background checks for use in due diligence investigations is both an art and a science.
For reliable results, it is necessary to use experienced professional investigators who know exactly what factors and indications to look for, can quickly assess or verify the validity of information discovered. For results to have practical value and benefit for the client to use in real-world business situations, the investigators must also be able to fully explain and interpret the significance of information, and make practical recommendations."
-Advisory Counsel
"The term “due diligence” comes from the legal concept that corporate executives have a legal obligation to duly exercise reasonable diligence in researching any potentially adverse facts in a business or transaction.
The phrase “due diligence” was first made popular by multinational law firms. It later became even more commonly used when prominent financial consulting firms began to incorporate the related practices of law firms into their services. As a result of this widespread popularity, “due diligence” is like a diluted trademark, often used as an interchangeable synonym for a “background check”, although real “background checks” can only effectively be provided by detective agencies, investigative or security firms. The essence of professional due diligence work is to provide complete, accurate and reliable fact finding, to establish a true and correct representation of a business situation for effective decision making.
The Due Diligence methods used by the law and financial firms that made the term popular are generally limited, and are not “investigative” in character. Such professional practice firms generally advise the client on requesting available corporate documents or accounting statements from potential business partners prior to contract closings, and assist the client in obtaining copies of similar publicly filed records declared by the subject of the inquiry.
This method commonly uses “check lists” of documents, licenses, etc. that should be identified and collected as the basis for specific types of transactions, such as mergers and acquisitions, real estate development deals, franchising and product licensing, joint venture contracts, or direct investment. The firm will have different checklists that are used for each type or category of transaction. In addition to identifying and collecting legal and commercial documents, the firm will review them to ensure that documents are properly signed, complete, accurate and otherwise legitimate.
Legal and management consulting firms do not attempt or purport to meet the standards of the economic security industry for background checks or investigations. This type of Due Diligence is not intended to provide a conclusion as to whether a potential partner is reliable. Accordingly, law and financial firms often hire security firms to conduct economic security investigations as a supplement to the “management consulting” type corporate Due Diligence.
The most widely used due diligence methods in the security industry are referred to by professionals as “Open Source” research. This type of background checks are conducted on the level of official registered information, such as corporate registrations and business filings, proprietary ownership registrations, mass media articles, publications and broadcast transcripts (called “media search”), licensing records, and similar data that is commonly referred to as “public records”.
Taken by itself without any additional methods, however, this type of background check is highly limited in usefulness. There are many “security” companies on the market that offer “public records” and “open source” research, providing only unverified raw data obtained from the most readily available computerized databases. While this approach is popular for its minimal cost, it most often cannot address the most valuable information upon which clients must make important business decisions. At worst, limited “public records” checks can overlook critical facts and mislead decision makers. At best, they usually raise many more questions than they answer.
A professional “Background Check” investigation consists of a full and advanced “open source” investigation, enhanced by extensive verification and analysis of data. Conducting effective “open source” background checks for use in due diligence investigations is both an art and a science.
For reliable results, it is necessary to use experienced professional investigators who know exactly what factors and indications to look for, can quickly assess or verify the validity of information discovered. For results to have practical value and benefit for the client to use in real-world business situations, the investigators must also be able to fully explain and interpret the significance of information, and make practical recommendations."
-Advisory Counsel
Thursday, May 13, 2010
SECURITIES LOANS
A Securities-backed Finance Primer for Prospective Borrowers
What a Stock-Secured Loan Borrower Needs to Know Prior to Signing on the Dotted Line.
Is a securities-collateralized loan the right choice for you?
This may sound like a simple, easy-to-answer question, but it bears asking - and answering. Put another way, do you really need this loan? Or would you be wiser to wait, or maybe to sell your investments outright in the conventional manner through your brokerage or bank?
No one can answer that question other than you as the owner and prospective borrower, because at the end of the day your financial objectives, your assets, and and your needs are yours and yours alone. That isn't to say you shouldn't get outside advice, particularly if you are not well-versed in financing issues. To the contrary: Input from your qualified financial adviser, CPA, or attorney should be a standard part of your financial decision-making in any realm. Still, whether or not to proceed with securities-backed financing will be your decision alone to make, and just as you'd learn the different financing options, rates, and so forth before buying a car, so you owe it to yourself to learn all you can about securities loans.
However you ultimately decide – and whether you place your loan through our service or another – we have assembled this page for all prospective securities loan borrowers because there are several basic concepts we think you ought to understand before you sign on the dotted line. We hope you'll find this section useful in helping you make your decision wisely.
Should you have any comments or further questions after reading this, please feel free to drop us a line via our Contact Form and we will respond immediately.
TRANSPARENCY AND DISCLOSURE - WHY IT MATTERS.
Like any contract, it is important that you review all of the information carefully before you commit to anything, and to be sure that you are completely comfortable with and fully understand the terms of your lender's contract before you sign. You should understand and receive full disclosure covering the key elements of your loan, and these should be provided freely by the actual signatory lender (or a licensed advisor or intermediary for that institution)
The most important information you should have is much like what you should know about any financing anywhere, beginning with the total cost of the financing including interest and any points or fees. As a rule, there should be no administrative "processing fees" or any other form of advance fees payable up front before you receive your financing (Good securities loan programs do not charge fees in advance of the loan itself.)
Expect - insist - that your lender fully disclose how the interest rate is determined, whether fixed or floating or any other method is used, and when the loan and payments are due. Make sure the term (length) of your loan is likewise clearly stated. Make sure any fees are listed and clearly stated at the very outset, and that you understand what net loan amount to expect and how that amount will be determined. Do not proceed until you have asked all of these questions and have received satisfactory answers to all of them.
How we implement this. Our company gives you interest rate and LTV ranges verbally during our first phone call with you. Following that first call and confidential delivery of your account statement for review, we deliver a formal Term Sheet outlining in detail the total cost of your loan as quoted over the full term of your loan (average is 3-5 years). The interest rate is now firm and clearly stated. You understand precisely when your interest-only repayment would begin if you chose to proceed to your loan documents, and you will know what your total payments come to annually and over the full term using the lender's rate calculation method.
It's a good idea generally (and particularly so if you are not accustomed to lending contracts) to have your securities loan agreement reviewed by a knowledgeable trusted third party, for example your attorney or your CPA. If you do not understand any aspect of your securities loan contract, you should always ask and get the answers you need. Never enter into any contract unless you fully understand it and your questions have been answered in full. Remember - You have every right – and we would add, every responsibility – to know precisely what each word in your loan contract means or implies before you close.
PROMPT AND COMPLETE ANSWERS SHOULD NOT BE OPTIONAL
Make sure your lending firm has an "open door" policy when it comes to your questions. Your lender should have no hesitation to provide answers to even the simplest of questions, and you should feel completely comfortable asking them and not rushed. If you do not, then consider moving on to another loan program.
Like any industry, product, or service, the securities-backed lending field has it's share of poorly managed operations, often staffed by people who know very little about the securities business or any financial business. Out-of-work mortgage brokers, failed internet entrepreneurs, people looking for second careers - just about anybody - can put on a hat and call him/herself a loan broker. (As of this writing, plans are afoot that mean this may all change, should the administration's proposed Consumer Financial Protections Agency come into being). Wise borrowers will always keep their feet on the ground and consider their written term sheets as their guide at first, followed by their loan documents, rather than to rely on warm spoken phone assurances alone or a flashy website.
Accessibility goes hand-in-hand with prompt answers. It does no good if your lender or advisor is off vacationing in the Bahamas while you have a pressing question that cannot (and should not) wait.
How we implement this. You will start your inquiry using your online form, and one of our staff will call you typically same day to answer your questions and help you gain a full picture of our loan program and its administration. You'll be given our direct toll-free number, and if you have an account statement, you'll be provided with a no-obligation Term Sheet. We'll be on hand from 8AM-8PM Monday through Friday, and by email 24/7 for any follow-up questions. Once you have signed your Term Sheet, we'll take you directly into desk at one of our institutional program providers in New York, a top-tier, well-know "household name" firm where you will be warmly welcomed. You'll have access to your licensed account advisor from that point onward, by phone or email or in person, who will work with you to finalize your loan documents and to ensure you are full apprised of all elements of the loan.
This access extends beyond the loan signing as well. Your account advisor will be on hand whenever you need him/her; we too will be on hand should there by any questions for which we can help. Access, and a culture of personal service for over ten years means you're covered from the day you first contact us to the day you exist your loan - and beyond.
TO TRANSFER OR NOT TO TRANSFER ...
If your lender is requiring you to transfer the title into the lender's name during the loan term, this is something you need to be sure meets with your expectations and that you fully understand before you send a single share over. It is a very important question overall because it addresses the core issue of whether allowing lender contractual control over your securities until the loan is repaid is acceptable to you, or too risky.
In recent years the Internal Revenue Service has often come to treat such loan programs, particularly those where the borrower receives at least 90% LTV in collateral, as taxable at inception. Their view is that since some or all of the shares are sold as part of the funding with all transfer-of-title loans, they are therefore taxable events from the day the shares transfer to the lender. Before you choose any transfer-of-title type loan, therefore, be sure to consult with a qualified tax professional to determine if this structure will work within your financial planning model. Note also: The proceeds of such programs are in any case not tax-free by definition.
With some lenders such transfer may indeed mean more risk, although the level of risk will depend on many different factors, chief among them the financial heath and stability of the transfer-of-title lender.
HOW FINANCIALLY HEALTHY IS YOUR TRANSFER-OF-TITLE LENDER?
This is why we recommend that you ask for a statement of assets or similar review by a licensed professional to ensure that the lending firm has the assets and financial wherewithal to properly manage and process your loan. You should also request a thorough background check to ensure that you are aware of any legal or regulatory issues they may have faced. Your final decision should incorporate all of these areas, and you should not be reluctant to ask the hard questions.
Step One
Before you do anything, your first step is to conduct a legal background check. If you do not have access to a background checking service, consider using the U.S. government's own PACER database. For a nominal fee, any U.S. citizen can open a Pacer account and get access to all public records on federal-level (and many state-level) civil and criminal legal cases.
When beaming backgrounds using a search service like PACER, use the "All Courts" setting and conduct completely separate searches with these types of variations so as to bring up all applicable background information:
1) Last name, first name (no not use initials)
2) Full company name without "Inc" or "LLC" etc.
3) Names of any known principals in the company
4) It is always best to have the full name, including middle name, and state. This can usually be obtained from a copy of any picture ID, but it is especially important in the case of common names, e.g., John Smith will be harder to pinpoint that John Stanhouse Smith. If you have the full name, search on the Middle and Last name too. Sometimes those with problems in their backgrounds will use their middle name and last name as their professional name to throw background researchers off.
One technique that is useful is to use Google to start, which will allow you to collect a lot of information quickly, and then to use that with Pacer or any of the many other services to highlight information that can be searched on later. Put the name in quote marks e.g., "Alexander Smith" with words that pull out fraud or court issues, e.g.,
"Alexander Smith" court
"Alexander Smith" fraud
If you continue to get too many results, use Google's "+" function to make sure the results have what you are looking for:
"Alexander Smith" +court
"Alexander Smith" +fraud
HOWEVER: Remember that if you find derogatory information that does not necessarily mean you should do absolutely no business with that lender. You should ask for an explanation, in writing, of the circumstances surrounding the incident or case, and perhaps consult with your attorney for an opinion prior to proceeding. It is difficult for any financial firm to remain in business for any length of time without having at least one legal issue appear along the way, particularly in our overly litigious society nowadays. If the matter is minor, dismissed, or settled, and the lender's explanation is adequate, and/or enough time has passed since it occurred, you may want to still consider working with them.
If the matter involved criminal issues - criminal financial or securities fraud - that is a different matter entirely. We cannot recommend any interaction with any individual or company involved actively in an unresolved criminal securities or finance-related case, or who has been found guilty thereof of either a criminal or civil case involved securities fraud.
Step Two
If you've determined that your Transfer-of-Title lender has no unresolved legal issues, then the next step is to determine their financial health. This process is divided into two subsections:
A) Determine the managerial background of the lender; and the adequacy and quality of financial management.
One of the issues with Transfer-of-Title lenders has been that of careless, incapable, or under-capitalized lenders that become unable to service their loan portfolios, effectively making it impossible for them to return shares upon payoff.
Generally speaking, anyone can lend money privately to anyone else in the United States unless specifically prohibited from doing so in a court of law. Except for certain collection and usury laws, there is no prohibition against the lending of money.
This has helped make financing available widely, stimulating business growth, home ownership, and investments, but it has also opened the door to incompetent or incapable lenders touting themselves as "skilled" or "experienced". Even those with degrees in business may make very poor securities loan managers. Your job is to look for signs of good financial management.
Your civil/criminal and Internet background check will go a long way towards defining some background on the individual(s) managing your collateral portfolio. Your lender needs also to provide financial health verification as well.
B) Verify the lender's ability to service all loans under contract; financial health of lender.
In theory, a well-capitalized lender or a lender with adequate liquid assets who has traded or sold part or all of the collateral portfolio as part of the funding of the loan can go back into the market and purchase whatever shares he does not own when the client pays off his loan. If the lender is competent and capable, he will trade the account sufficiently to ensure that the loan cash from repayment of the loan is sufficient to cover any shortfall.
In practice, however, there are pitfalls when the lender is not particularly skillful, makes bad calculations, and/or does not have the liquid resources needed to cover any cash shortfall needed to enter the market and deliver the shares he owes to the client at loan exit. Even if properly hedged, that lender may have not paid attention to his portfolio, for example, or may have engaged in reckless practices that make it impossible to deliver the shares on time when the loan is repaid.
The only way to be sure that your lender has the capital needed to service their portfolios properly -- that is, to return shares in full upon repayment of the loan -- is to have their status verified by an independent, licensed third party. That might be a licensed CPA, or it could be an attorney specializing in finance-related business in some manner. Whoever it is must have access to the financial records of the company and the individuals who own it, and you must be able to speak with and verify the individual themselves. Needless to say, the individual must be licensed and in good standing in their state.
Obviously a full audit is ideal. However, if the reviewing party truly has access to the lender's loan portfolio, bank accounts, and other relevant financial data, and is a licensed professional in good standing, that individual can review and verify the lender's status and produce a solid picture of their financial standing.
Of course, these steps are not necessary in the case of institutional loans, since they are heavily regulated and required to abide by many strictures for licensing and SIPC-membership. Their financial statements are also, by and large, open to the public
What should you be looking for?
You are looking for verification that the lender has sufficient assets to return every portfolio under management - all of them - even under the most extreme and unusual circumstance, namely, as if all of the outstanding loans under the lender's management were paid off and all of the collateral shares had to be returned to those borrowers within a few days. Ideally, the lender should have at least ten times the liquidity needed to achieve that feat, so they have a buffer. Using this very strict system would ensure that, in the extremely unlikely event all loans under management came due simultaneously, every share could be easily returned.
But a strong as that would be, professional/licensed third-party verification should take it even a step further. The third-party evaluator should consider all of the portfolios currently under management, examine their price histories, then make "worst case" extrapolations. If all portfolios under management were to rise 20%-30% that have historically risen that much of a period of X months, how would the lender fare? A good "worst case" scenario would take the worst-case figures and play them out into forecasts over six months or longer, so that if all portfolios were to come due the lender would no only have at least 10 times the assets to service every portfolio, they'd have them even six months or a year (or more) from now given the historic price projections.
That's a lot of due diligence, but if you are contemplating a Transfer-of-Title loan, your lender should have liquidity that allows that to happen for at six months down the road based on a reasonable expectation of portfolio growth, verified by a third-party financial professional as noted.
WHAT MAKES AN INSTITUTIONAL SECURITIES LOAN SO STRONG?
The instinctive reaction to a question like this "isn't it obvious?" - but in fact one is not necessarily comparing apples to apples in this situation. True, a loan like the fully-licensed, capital-enhanced institutional loans we offer provide, on the face of it, a level of security and flexibility that is far ahead of anything currently available privately. SIPC membership for all of our managing institutions, for example, ensures that the lending brokerage has met a broad range of quality and disclosure standards in particular. In addition, major U.S. institutions have had to abide by additional safety measures over and above those they've practiced in the past, as regulatory scrutiny has increased in the wake of the subprime mortgage crisis of recent years
But as important as a regulated, licensed institutional setting is, a good securities-backed loan should offer much more than just security alone. It should include a range of features and strong, competitive terms that meet modern financial consumer's demands. Today's investors, after all, are not simply concerned about security when it comes to their financing. They want a good loan too.
Most people thinking of institutional securities loans immediately assume they are talking about standard margin loans.
* The loan-to-value of a margin loan is limited to 50% of the value of the collateral.
* Our loans go as high as 95% for some types of securities (our proceeds, however, cannot be used to purchase marginable securities).
* Interest rates may or may not be competitive, often are not.
* Our rates are always very competitive, some of the lowest monthly-LIBOR-based rates in financing.
|
* Special structures including limited-recourse loan contracts are not common and usually available, if at all.
* Our limited recourse (in default loan variant is available to any borrower with marginable, optionable securities.
* The loans are all easily callable if the value declines, requiring the borrower quickly up with cash or further shares to cover the shortfall or risk default
* Our program can be tailored to have no call, or a very deep call that will only be triggered in extreme cases, with a liberal cure policy.
* In many ways, traditional institutional loans meet the needs of certain investors,
* Our loans are flexible enough to meet the needs of virtually any investor, and a client's securities are not sold to fund their loan.
Clients love the security of a fully regulated financial institution, particularly today, which is understandable. But they do not like the limits and restrictions that often make it impossible for a borrower to achieve their financial objectives. Private funding, though possibly attractive, can bring in issues of safety and stability as noted in the discussion above. Yet institutions are loathe to experiment with alternative financing or expanded loan features at a time when economic concerns present unacceptable levels of risk.
We discovered that the market demanded a loan product superior to both private and institutional variants without sacrificing the superior safety and predictability of institutional underwriting and management.
How we implement this. Public-private integration was the path we chose. By using capital depository relationships with several top brokerages, we were able to "open the door" to the creation of equity-enhanced lending facilities that would be far closer to what our clients were demanding in their lending program. With this enhanced loan facility, many benefits over traditional institutional lending became possible, chief among them much higher loan-to-value and low, monthly-LIBOR-based interest rates.
With the additional presence of private capital to back the loan facility, many features normally associated with the higher tier of private banking become available for every client of his loan program, even those with portfolios as low as $150,000. Swapping one set of collateral stocks for another set of equivalent value, mid-loan, for example. Consideration for additional loan cash if the portfolio rose in value while it secured the loan for another. Or executing a hedged portfolio structure, institutionally managed, to help reduce or eliminate the potential claim on other assets in default.
That would be attractive in any loan package of course. But in our institutional package it has brought all the benefits and features of a modern top-tier financial firm's custom financing desk (some crafted to our specifications) to our loan clients, including online account reporting and full access to the institution's collateral offerings on more exclusive terms. Best of all, the collateral securities remain in our client's title and account throughout the entire loan, with no question as to who owns them.
SO AGAIN: SHOULD YOU PROCEED WITH A SECURITIES-BACKED LOAN?
Again, the most important question of all. Why not just pick up the phone, call your stock broker, and tell him to sell your stocks at today's or some set price?
We don't think a stock-secured loan is the answer for everyone. But we do think that if retaining your stocks rather than a direct sale through your brokerage, or an indirect hedge-type sale through a transfer-of-title lender is important to you, then our institutional lending facility is without question the finest of its kind. And if your still prefer a transfer-of-title loan, our lender has provided documented verification throughout that matches the recommended requirements noted above.
Whether or not you choose to fund with us, keep in mind that wherever you place your collateral, you should always strive to know your actual lender, the signatory to your loans and how your loan is funded and administered. If you choose an institutional program, that work has been largely done for you. If you choose a transfer-of-title lender, then you'll need to do the work yourself. Above all, when there's anything you do not understand, ask. Make sure you are fully comfortable with your loan as well as your lender and if you are, you can sit back and enjoy the assurance of knowing you've "done your homework" prior to taking this important step.
What a Stock-Secured Loan Borrower Needs to Know Prior to Signing on the Dotted Line.
Is a securities-collateralized loan the right choice for you?
This may sound like a simple, easy-to-answer question, but it bears asking - and answering. Put another way, do you really need this loan? Or would you be wiser to wait, or maybe to sell your investments outright in the conventional manner through your brokerage or bank?
No one can answer that question other than you as the owner and prospective borrower, because at the end of the day your financial objectives, your assets, and and your needs are yours and yours alone. That isn't to say you shouldn't get outside advice, particularly if you are not well-versed in financing issues. To the contrary: Input from your qualified financial adviser, CPA, or attorney should be a standard part of your financial decision-making in any realm. Still, whether or not to proceed with securities-backed financing will be your decision alone to make, and just as you'd learn the different financing options, rates, and so forth before buying a car, so you owe it to yourself to learn all you can about securities loans.
However you ultimately decide – and whether you place your loan through our service or another – we have assembled this page for all prospective securities loan borrowers because there are several basic concepts we think you ought to understand before you sign on the dotted line. We hope you'll find this section useful in helping you make your decision wisely.
Should you have any comments or further questions after reading this, please feel free to drop us a line via our Contact Form and we will respond immediately.
TRANSPARENCY AND DISCLOSURE - WHY IT MATTERS.
Like any contract, it is important that you review all of the information carefully before you commit to anything, and to be sure that you are completely comfortable with and fully understand the terms of your lender's contract before you sign. You should understand and receive full disclosure covering the key elements of your loan, and these should be provided freely by the actual signatory lender (or a licensed advisor or intermediary for that institution)
The most important information you should have is much like what you should know about any financing anywhere, beginning with the total cost of the financing including interest and any points or fees. As a rule, there should be no administrative "processing fees" or any other form of advance fees payable up front before you receive your financing (Good securities loan programs do not charge fees in advance of the loan itself.)
Expect - insist - that your lender fully disclose how the interest rate is determined, whether fixed or floating or any other method is used, and when the loan and payments are due. Make sure the term (length) of your loan is likewise clearly stated. Make sure any fees are listed and clearly stated at the very outset, and that you understand what net loan amount to expect and how that amount will be determined. Do not proceed until you have asked all of these questions and have received satisfactory answers to all of them.
How we implement this. Our company gives you interest rate and LTV ranges verbally during our first phone call with you. Following that first call and confidential delivery of your account statement for review, we deliver a formal Term Sheet outlining in detail the total cost of your loan as quoted over the full term of your loan (average is 3-5 years). The interest rate is now firm and clearly stated. You understand precisely when your interest-only repayment would begin if you chose to proceed to your loan documents, and you will know what your total payments come to annually and over the full term using the lender's rate calculation method.
It's a good idea generally (and particularly so if you are not accustomed to lending contracts) to have your securities loan agreement reviewed by a knowledgeable trusted third party, for example your attorney or your CPA. If you do not understand any aspect of your securities loan contract, you should always ask and get the answers you need. Never enter into any contract unless you fully understand it and your questions have been answered in full. Remember - You have every right – and we would add, every responsibility – to know precisely what each word in your loan contract means or implies before you close.
PROMPT AND COMPLETE ANSWERS SHOULD NOT BE OPTIONAL
Make sure your lending firm has an "open door" policy when it comes to your questions. Your lender should have no hesitation to provide answers to even the simplest of questions, and you should feel completely comfortable asking them and not rushed. If you do not, then consider moving on to another loan program.
Like any industry, product, or service, the securities-backed lending field has it's share of poorly managed operations, often staffed by people who know very little about the securities business or any financial business. Out-of-work mortgage brokers, failed internet entrepreneurs, people looking for second careers - just about anybody - can put on a hat and call him/herself a loan broker. (As of this writing, plans are afoot that mean this may all change, should the administration's proposed Consumer Financial Protections Agency come into being). Wise borrowers will always keep their feet on the ground and consider their written term sheets as their guide at first, followed by their loan documents, rather than to rely on warm spoken phone assurances alone or a flashy website.
Accessibility goes hand-in-hand with prompt answers. It does no good if your lender or advisor is off vacationing in the Bahamas while you have a pressing question that cannot (and should not) wait.
How we implement this. You will start your inquiry using your online form, and one of our staff will call you typically same day to answer your questions and help you gain a full picture of our loan program and its administration. You'll be given our direct toll-free number, and if you have an account statement, you'll be provided with a no-obligation Term Sheet. We'll be on hand from 8AM-8PM Monday through Friday, and by email 24/7 for any follow-up questions. Once you have signed your Term Sheet, we'll take you directly into desk at one of our institutional program providers in New York, a top-tier, well-know "household name" firm where you will be warmly welcomed. You'll have access to your licensed account advisor from that point onward, by phone or email or in person, who will work with you to finalize your loan documents and to ensure you are full apprised of all elements of the loan.
This access extends beyond the loan signing as well. Your account advisor will be on hand whenever you need him/her; we too will be on hand should there by any questions for which we can help. Access, and a culture of personal service for over ten years means you're covered from the day you first contact us to the day you exist your loan - and beyond.
TO TRANSFER OR NOT TO TRANSFER ...
If your lender is requiring you to transfer the title into the lender's name during the loan term, this is something you need to be sure meets with your expectations and that you fully understand before you send a single share over. It is a very important question overall because it addresses the core issue of whether allowing lender contractual control over your securities until the loan is repaid is acceptable to you, or too risky.
In recent years the Internal Revenue Service has often come to treat such loan programs, particularly those where the borrower receives at least 90% LTV in collateral, as taxable at inception. Their view is that since some or all of the shares are sold as part of the funding with all transfer-of-title loans, they are therefore taxable events from the day the shares transfer to the lender. Before you choose any transfer-of-title type loan, therefore, be sure to consult with a qualified tax professional to determine if this structure will work within your financial planning model. Note also: The proceeds of such programs are in any case not tax-free by definition.
With some lenders such transfer may indeed mean more risk, although the level of risk will depend on many different factors, chief among them the financial heath and stability of the transfer-of-title lender.
HOW FINANCIALLY HEALTHY IS YOUR TRANSFER-OF-TITLE LENDER?
This is why we recommend that you ask for a statement of assets or similar review by a licensed professional to ensure that the lending firm has the assets and financial wherewithal to properly manage and process your loan. You should also request a thorough background check to ensure that you are aware of any legal or regulatory issues they may have faced. Your final decision should incorporate all of these areas, and you should not be reluctant to ask the hard questions.
Step One
Before you do anything, your first step is to conduct a legal background check. If you do not have access to a background checking service, consider using the U.S. government's own PACER database. For a nominal fee, any U.S. citizen can open a Pacer account and get access to all public records on federal-level (and many state-level) civil and criminal legal cases.
When beaming backgrounds using a search service like PACER, use the "All Courts" setting and conduct completely separate searches with these types of variations so as to bring up all applicable background information:
1) Last name, first name (no not use initials)
2) Full company name without "Inc" or "LLC" etc.
3) Names of any known principals in the company
4) It is always best to have the full name, including middle name, and state. This can usually be obtained from a copy of any picture ID, but it is especially important in the case of common names, e.g., John Smith will be harder to pinpoint that John Stanhouse Smith. If you have the full name, search on the Middle and Last name too. Sometimes those with problems in their backgrounds will use their middle name and last name as their professional name to throw background researchers off.
One technique that is useful is to use Google to start, which will allow you to collect a lot of information quickly, and then to use that with Pacer or any of the many other services to highlight information that can be searched on later. Put the name in quote marks e.g., "Alexander Smith" with words that pull out fraud or court issues, e.g.,
"Alexander Smith" court
"Alexander Smith" fraud
If you continue to get too many results, use Google's "+" function to make sure the results have what you are looking for:
"Alexander Smith" +court
"Alexander Smith" +fraud
HOWEVER: Remember that if you find derogatory information that does not necessarily mean you should do absolutely no business with that lender. You should ask for an explanation, in writing, of the circumstances surrounding the incident or case, and perhaps consult with your attorney for an opinion prior to proceeding. It is difficult for any financial firm to remain in business for any length of time without having at least one legal issue appear along the way, particularly in our overly litigious society nowadays. If the matter is minor, dismissed, or settled, and the lender's explanation is adequate, and/or enough time has passed since it occurred, you may want to still consider working with them.
If the matter involved criminal issues - criminal financial or securities fraud - that is a different matter entirely. We cannot recommend any interaction with any individual or company involved actively in an unresolved criminal securities or finance-related case, or who has been found guilty thereof of either a criminal or civil case involved securities fraud.
Step Two
If you've determined that your Transfer-of-Title lender has no unresolved legal issues, then the next step is to determine their financial health. This process is divided into two subsections:
A) Determine the managerial background of the lender; and the adequacy and quality of financial management.
One of the issues with Transfer-of-Title lenders has been that of careless, incapable, or under-capitalized lenders that become unable to service their loan portfolios, effectively making it impossible for them to return shares upon payoff.
Generally speaking, anyone can lend money privately to anyone else in the United States unless specifically prohibited from doing so in a court of law. Except for certain collection and usury laws, there is no prohibition against the lending of money.
This has helped make financing available widely, stimulating business growth, home ownership, and investments, but it has also opened the door to incompetent or incapable lenders touting themselves as "skilled" or "experienced". Even those with degrees in business may make very poor securities loan managers. Your job is to look for signs of good financial management.
Your civil/criminal and Internet background check will go a long way towards defining some background on the individual(s) managing your collateral portfolio. Your lender needs also to provide financial health verification as well.
B) Verify the lender's ability to service all loans under contract; financial health of lender.
In theory, a well-capitalized lender or a lender with adequate liquid assets who has traded or sold part or all of the collateral portfolio as part of the funding of the loan can go back into the market and purchase whatever shares he does not own when the client pays off his loan. If the lender is competent and capable, he will trade the account sufficiently to ensure that the loan cash from repayment of the loan is sufficient to cover any shortfall.
In practice, however, there are pitfalls when the lender is not particularly skillful, makes bad calculations, and/or does not have the liquid resources needed to cover any cash shortfall needed to enter the market and deliver the shares he owes to the client at loan exit. Even if properly hedged, that lender may have not paid attention to his portfolio, for example, or may have engaged in reckless practices that make it impossible to deliver the shares on time when the loan is repaid.
The only way to be sure that your lender has the capital needed to service their portfolios properly -- that is, to return shares in full upon repayment of the loan -- is to have their status verified by an independent, licensed third party. That might be a licensed CPA, or it could be an attorney specializing in finance-related business in some manner. Whoever it is must have access to the financial records of the company and the individuals who own it, and you must be able to speak with and verify the individual themselves. Needless to say, the individual must be licensed and in good standing in their state.
Obviously a full audit is ideal. However, if the reviewing party truly has access to the lender's loan portfolio, bank accounts, and other relevant financial data, and is a licensed professional in good standing, that individual can review and verify the lender's status and produce a solid picture of their financial standing.
Of course, these steps are not necessary in the case of institutional loans, since they are heavily regulated and required to abide by many strictures for licensing and SIPC-membership. Their financial statements are also, by and large, open to the public
What should you be looking for?
You are looking for verification that the lender has sufficient assets to return every portfolio under management - all of them - even under the most extreme and unusual circumstance, namely, as if all of the outstanding loans under the lender's management were paid off and all of the collateral shares had to be returned to those borrowers within a few days. Ideally, the lender should have at least ten times the liquidity needed to achieve that feat, so they have a buffer. Using this very strict system would ensure that, in the extremely unlikely event all loans under management came due simultaneously, every share could be easily returned.
But a strong as that would be, professional/licensed third-party verification should take it even a step further. The third-party evaluator should consider all of the portfolios currently under management, examine their price histories, then make "worst case" extrapolations. If all portfolios under management were to rise 20%-30% that have historically risen that much of a period of X months, how would the lender fare? A good "worst case" scenario would take the worst-case figures and play them out into forecasts over six months or longer, so that if all portfolios were to come due the lender would no only have at least 10 times the assets to service every portfolio, they'd have them even six months or a year (or more) from now given the historic price projections.
That's a lot of due diligence, but if you are contemplating a Transfer-of-Title loan, your lender should have liquidity that allows that to happen for at six months down the road based on a reasonable expectation of portfolio growth, verified by a third-party financial professional as noted.
WHAT MAKES AN INSTITUTIONAL SECURITIES LOAN SO STRONG?
The instinctive reaction to a question like this "isn't it obvious?" - but in fact one is not necessarily comparing apples to apples in this situation. True, a loan like the fully-licensed, capital-enhanced institutional loans we offer provide, on the face of it, a level of security and flexibility that is far ahead of anything currently available privately. SIPC membership for all of our managing institutions, for example, ensures that the lending brokerage has met a broad range of quality and disclosure standards in particular. In addition, major U.S. institutions have had to abide by additional safety measures over and above those they've practiced in the past, as regulatory scrutiny has increased in the wake of the subprime mortgage crisis of recent years
But as important as a regulated, licensed institutional setting is, a good securities-backed loan should offer much more than just security alone. It should include a range of features and strong, competitive terms that meet modern financial consumer's demands. Today's investors, after all, are not simply concerned about security when it comes to their financing. They want a good loan too.
Most people thinking of institutional securities loans immediately assume they are talking about standard margin loans.
* The loan-to-value of a margin loan is limited to 50% of the value of the collateral.
* Our loans go as high as 95% for some types of securities (our proceeds, however, cannot be used to purchase marginable securities).
* Interest rates may or may not be competitive, often are not.
* Our rates are always very competitive, some of the lowest monthly-LIBOR-based rates in financing.
|
* Special structures including limited-recourse loan contracts are not common and usually available, if at all.
* Our limited recourse (in default loan variant is available to any borrower with marginable, optionable securities.
* The loans are all easily callable if the value declines, requiring the borrower quickly up with cash or further shares to cover the shortfall or risk default
* Our program can be tailored to have no call, or a very deep call that will only be triggered in extreme cases, with a liberal cure policy.
* In many ways, traditional institutional loans meet the needs of certain investors,
* Our loans are flexible enough to meet the needs of virtually any investor, and a client's securities are not sold to fund their loan.
Clients love the security of a fully regulated financial institution, particularly today, which is understandable. But they do not like the limits and restrictions that often make it impossible for a borrower to achieve their financial objectives. Private funding, though possibly attractive, can bring in issues of safety and stability as noted in the discussion above. Yet institutions are loathe to experiment with alternative financing or expanded loan features at a time when economic concerns present unacceptable levels of risk.
We discovered that the market demanded a loan product superior to both private and institutional variants without sacrificing the superior safety and predictability of institutional underwriting and management.
How we implement this. Public-private integration was the path we chose. By using capital depository relationships with several top brokerages, we were able to "open the door" to the creation of equity-enhanced lending facilities that would be far closer to what our clients were demanding in their lending program. With this enhanced loan facility, many benefits over traditional institutional lending became possible, chief among them much higher loan-to-value and low, monthly-LIBOR-based interest rates.
With the additional presence of private capital to back the loan facility, many features normally associated with the higher tier of private banking become available for every client of his loan program, even those with portfolios as low as $150,000. Swapping one set of collateral stocks for another set of equivalent value, mid-loan, for example. Consideration for additional loan cash if the portfolio rose in value while it secured the loan for another. Or executing a hedged portfolio structure, institutionally managed, to help reduce or eliminate the potential claim on other assets in default.
That would be attractive in any loan package of course. But in our institutional package it has brought all the benefits and features of a modern top-tier financial firm's custom financing desk (some crafted to our specifications) to our loan clients, including online account reporting and full access to the institution's collateral offerings on more exclusive terms. Best of all, the collateral securities remain in our client's title and account throughout the entire loan, with no question as to who owns them.
SO AGAIN: SHOULD YOU PROCEED WITH A SECURITIES-BACKED LOAN?
Again, the most important question of all. Why not just pick up the phone, call your stock broker, and tell him to sell your stocks at today's or some set price?
We don't think a stock-secured loan is the answer for everyone. But we do think that if retaining your stocks rather than a direct sale through your brokerage, or an indirect hedge-type sale through a transfer-of-title lender is important to you, then our institutional lending facility is without question the finest of its kind. And if your still prefer a transfer-of-title loan, our lender has provided documented verification throughout that matches the recommended requirements noted above.
Whether or not you choose to fund with us, keep in mind that wherever you place your collateral, you should always strive to know your actual lender, the signatory to your loans and how your loan is funded and administered. If you choose an institutional program, that work has been largely done for you. If you choose a transfer-of-title lender, then you'll need to do the work yourself. Above all, when there's anything you do not understand, ask. Make sure you are fully comfortable with your loan as well as your lender and if you are, you can sit back and enjoy the assurance of knowing you've "done your homework" prior to taking this important step.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
reciprocity
Trivia
Today's Question: All of Henry Ford's cars
were black until 1925 when he introduced
two new colors. What were they?
Yesterday's Question: A 1959 commercial for
Good Luck Margarine featured whom as the
spokesperson?
Answer: The spokesperson was former First
Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
Today it would probably be impossible to
get the First Lady to endorse your product,
but the power of endorsements remains
an incredibly powerful marketing tool.
Think about who could be a powerful spokesperson
or endorser of your products or services. In
many cases, that person may be a or local or industry
celebrity and could be paid just a small sum,
paid in equity, or not paid at all if you have
a strong relationship with them.
*** Months Later & This LAW Still Holds True
Several months ago, there was a huge snow storm
that caused my power to go out for two days.
Fortunately, a friend of ours living a few miles away
didn't lose power and invited us (my wife, kids and I)
to stay with them until our power was restored.
Well, the other day, I ran into William, the father
of that family. William is a great guy, so I was excited
to see him. But I felt slightly awkward because I
felt a little as if I owed him something.
Now, after our stay, we gave William and his wife
a nice bottle of wine and a nice thank you card.
But that must not have made me feel "even."
You see, a very powerful law was in force here --
The Law of Reciprocity.
The Law of Reciprocity was made famous by
Dr. Robert Cialdini in his book "Influence: The
Psychology of Persuasion." The Law states
that if you give someone something, they feel
compelled to give you something back in return.
That is why you'll often receive "gifts" in the mail,
like return address stickers from non-profits. Their
hope is that by sending you something of value, that
you will reciprocate by sending them a donation.
The Law of Reciprocity is clearly very powerful.
And it should be added to your marketing mix.
- Can you give your customers or prospects a
product sample, a book, or a report of value to them?
- Can you give quality advice that can improve
their success?
- Can you make a helpful introduction to a
potential partner?
Think about what you can do for others.
Since if they truly value it, they will seek to
help you out when they can.
Note: I am not saying to do this in sneaky way
where you give someone something just to try
to get the Law of Reciprocity working for you.
You must be genuine in your efforts to
help someone out for this law to take hold.
*** Watch This to Protect Your Company
Entrepreneurs are always concerned (and rightfully so)
about protecting their business ideas and concepts.
Not only are there numerous cases of individuals and
companies unlawfully stealing ideas and infringing on trade
secrets, but there are even tons of examples of
companies losing the right to use their company name
or product name after they start achieving success.
To make sure you are protected, I asked Stephen
Strauss from the law firm Fulwider- Patton LLP to give me
a private webinar on these key topics.
You see, Stephen specializes in trademark, copyright,
unfair competition and trade secret law. He's at the top
of the game in this field, not only representing a diverse
list of startups and large corporations, but top
entertainers like Stevie Wonder.
Today's Question: All of Henry Ford's cars
were black until 1925 when he introduced
two new colors. What were they?
Yesterday's Question: A 1959 commercial for
Good Luck Margarine featured whom as the
spokesperson?
Answer: The spokesperson was former First
Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
Today it would probably be impossible to
get the First Lady to endorse your product,
but the power of endorsements remains
an incredibly powerful marketing tool.
Think about who could be a powerful spokesperson
or endorser of your products or services. In
many cases, that person may be a or local or industry
celebrity and could be paid just a small sum,
paid in equity, or not paid at all if you have
a strong relationship with them.
*** Months Later & This LAW Still Holds True
Several months ago, there was a huge snow storm
that caused my power to go out for two days.
Fortunately, a friend of ours living a few miles away
didn't lose power and invited us (my wife, kids and I)
to stay with them until our power was restored.
Well, the other day, I ran into William, the father
of that family. William is a great guy, so I was excited
to see him. But I felt slightly awkward because I
felt a little as if I owed him something.
Now, after our stay, we gave William and his wife
a nice bottle of wine and a nice thank you card.
But that must not have made me feel "even."
You see, a very powerful law was in force here --
The Law of Reciprocity.
The Law of Reciprocity was made famous by
Dr. Robert Cialdini in his book "Influence: The
Psychology of Persuasion." The Law states
that if you give someone something, they feel
compelled to give you something back in return.
That is why you'll often receive "gifts" in the mail,
like return address stickers from non-profits. Their
hope is that by sending you something of value, that
you will reciprocate by sending them a donation.
The Law of Reciprocity is clearly very powerful.
And it should be added to your marketing mix.
- Can you give your customers or prospects a
product sample, a book, or a report of value to them?
- Can you give quality advice that can improve
their success?
- Can you make a helpful introduction to a
potential partner?
Think about what you can do for others.
Since if they truly value it, they will seek to
help you out when they can.
Note: I am not saying to do this in sneaky way
where you give someone something just to try
to get the Law of Reciprocity working for you.
You must be genuine in your efforts to
help someone out for this law to take hold.
*** Watch This to Protect Your Company
Entrepreneurs are always concerned (and rightfully so)
about protecting their business ideas and concepts.
Not only are there numerous cases of individuals and
companies unlawfully stealing ideas and infringing on trade
secrets, but there are even tons of examples of
companies losing the right to use their company name
or product name after they start achieving success.
To make sure you are protected, I asked Stephen
Strauss from the law firm Fulwider- Patton LLP to give me
a private webinar on these key topics.
You see, Stephen specializes in trademark, copyright,
unfair competition and trade secret law. He's at the top
of the game in this field, not only representing a diverse
list of startups and large corporations, but top
entertainers like Stevie Wonder.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
a great opinion
An innovator and strategic thinker with hands-on diversified sector and international experience who is recognized for his track record, knowledge, and experience of successfully funding and growing companies.
Thomas has a wealth of experience in business execution, successfully directing a number of sourcing customers towards their goals and objectives. Thomas successfully achieved rapid returns on investment providing services that allowed revenue turnaround with staggering speed.
An innovator and strategic thinker with hands-on diversified sector and international experience who is recognized for his track record, knowledge, and experience of successfully funding and growing companies.
Thomas has a wealth of experience in business execution, successfully directing a number of sourcing customers towards their goals and objectives. Thomas successfully achieved rapid returns on investment providing services that allowed revenue turnaround with staggering speed.
Thomas has a wealth of experience in business execution, successfully directing a number of sourcing customers towards their goals and objectives. Thomas successfully achieved rapid returns on investment providing services that allowed revenue turnaround with staggering speed.
An innovator and strategic thinker with hands-on diversified sector and international experience who is recognized for his track record, knowledge, and experience of successfully funding and growing companies.
Thomas has a wealth of experience in business execution, successfully directing a number of sourcing customers towards their goals and objectives. Thomas successfully achieved rapid returns on investment providing services that allowed revenue turnaround with staggering speed.
Monday, April 26, 2010
membership
1.) Meet investors in our network
Join our investor Network and put your business in the investor spotlight. We take great pride in our investor network, interviewing and categorizing each investor who applies. Use our network to meet investors who are in your area and interested in your industry.
Post Your Plan Membership
* Post a Business Plan for our accredited Investors to view
* Get Feedback on your plan from a professional analyst
* Post a video pitch for investors to watch
* 13 Lesson Funding Bootcamp: over 30 hours of educational podcasts, webinars, and article from funding experts
* Business Plan Templates
* Pro-forma Financial Templates
Meet investors in our network
* Contact 10 of our accredited investors each month
* Search through our database of over 1,500 angel group's contact info and submission pages
* Everything from 'Post Your Plan' Membership
2.) SpeedPitch event: pitch to qualified investors
SpeedPitch is personal & exclusive. You'll get to meet and pitch to 20 - 30 active and engaged investors. The format is simple & personal. Five entrepreneurs are each given 4 minutes to present their business to 30 - 40 investors, with an additional 3 minutes for Q&A. The event is focused on funding and each investor in attendance is prepared to invest.
3.) InvestorReady Analysis
We analyze your business the same way investors do
A 56-point inspection detailing
* Traction
* Market Opportunity
* Sustainable Competitive Advantage
* Investment Offering
* Management Team
* A quick look under the hood (financials)
--
Venture Capital Intl., Thomas Duffy, CEO
Office 860-350-4440
Cell: 203.775.9999
Fax: 203.648.4942
Funding & Advisory
Join our investor Network and put your business in the investor spotlight. We take great pride in our investor network, interviewing and categorizing each investor who applies. Use our network to meet investors who are in your area and interested in your industry.
Post Your Plan Membership
* Post a Business Plan for our accredited Investors to view
* Get Feedback on your plan from a professional analyst
* Post a video pitch for investors to watch
* 13 Lesson Funding Bootcamp: over 30 hours of educational podcasts, webinars, and article from funding experts
* Business Plan Templates
* Pro-forma Financial Templates
Meet investors in our network
* Contact 10 of our accredited investors each month
* Search through our database of over 1,500 angel group's contact info and submission pages
* Everything from 'Post Your Plan' Membership
2.) SpeedPitch event: pitch to qualified investors
SpeedPitch is personal & exclusive. You'll get to meet and pitch to 20 - 30 active and engaged investors. The format is simple & personal. Five entrepreneurs are each given 4 minutes to present their business to 30 - 40 investors, with an additional 3 minutes for Q&A. The event is focused on funding and each investor in attendance is prepared to invest.
3.) InvestorReady Analysis
We analyze your business the same way investors do
A 56-point inspection detailing
* Traction
* Market Opportunity
* Sustainable Competitive Advantage
* Investment Offering
* Management Team
* A quick look under the hood (financials)
--
Venture Capital Intl., Thomas Duffy, CEO
Office 860-350-4440
Cell: 203.775.9999
Fax: 203.648.4942
Funding & Advisory
If you are currently raising capital and need to do any of the following:
1) Go outside of your existing network of contacts to find investors
2) Schedule an expensive national road trip to meet capital sources
3) Pay to retain an investment banker or placement agent
4) Find a cost-effective proven venue to locate new investors
5) Accelerate the funding process to execute your business plan
Then you should consider applying to attend or present at this event. You're welcome to send a copy of your Executive Summary to me at VCAPINT@GMAIL.COM. I'll get back to you promptly as to whether or not your company would be good fit for the event. Also, feel free to call my office at 860-350-4440. I would be happy to discuss the visibility options, qualifications, costs to attend or present and answer any questions you may have about the format, audience composition, references, etc.
We have been hosting these exclusive “deal-oriented” venues for the last nine years. They are the best investor-attended events of their kind in the U.S. and are not compromised with a high population vendors or service providers. This will be our 29th consecutive venue.
If you believe that your company's potential is truly compelling and that management's vision can be effectively communicated, this private event will provide a unique NATIONAL platform to get your message across to active serious investors who want to see fundable deals. YOU CAN THINK OF IT AS A “ROAD SHOW” THAT COMES TO THE COMPANY.
Please keep in mind that most of our presenting companies at the point where they are ready to begin commercialization or have begun marketing their products, and are not usually "unfunded start-ups" with no sales. We will consider pre-revenue companies that have already had some meaningful outside funding and have a clear proprietary advantage in their science, technology or business method and can reach a large addressable market. Presenter qualifications are listed at http://www.privateequityforums.com/qualifications.html .
This prestigious venue can help you solve the three biggest problems in the fundraising process: 1) identifying qualified investors, 2) gaining credible entrée to them and 3) meeting them under favorable circumstances. Moreover, the event drives the single most essential factor in getting funded quickly, and that is the ability to create contemporaneous interest among investors - which also can serve to significantly improve deal terms.
More information about this established proven venue to meet investors and the possible benefits of presenting or attending are on our website at http://www.privateequityforums.com/message.html .
As we are not part of any non-profit group and our events are not primarily funded by vendors and service providers, companies are required to pay a Presenter Fee based upon a number of options. Our forum could be best described as a co-op for the 12 to 15 companies that present, such as a trade show would be. We underwrite the events and the featured companies share in the cost. They do so because our model ensures them an audience of nearly 100% qualified investors who have paid to attend and whom we disclose in advance.
To see a list of recent registrants along with other investment groups who regularly attend our events, please go to http://www.privateequityforums.com/guests.html .
Look forward to hearing from you if you feel that this event can help you to get funded.
1) Go outside of your existing network of contacts to find investors
2) Schedule an expensive national road trip to meet capital sources
3) Pay to retain an investment banker or placement agent
4) Find a cost-effective proven venue to locate new investors
5) Accelerate the funding process to execute your business plan
Then you should consider applying to attend or present at this event. You're welcome to send a copy of your Executive Summary to me at VCAPINT@GMAIL.COM. I'll get back to you promptly as to whether or not your company would be good fit for the event. Also, feel free to call my office at 860-350-4440. I would be happy to discuss the visibility options, qualifications, costs to attend or present and answer any questions you may have about the format, audience composition, references, etc.
We have been hosting these exclusive “deal-oriented” venues for the last nine years. They are the best investor-attended events of their kind in the U.S. and are not compromised with a high population vendors or service providers. This will be our 29th consecutive venue.
If you believe that your company's potential is truly compelling and that management's vision can be effectively communicated, this private event will provide a unique NATIONAL platform to get your message across to active serious investors who want to see fundable deals. YOU CAN THINK OF IT AS A “ROAD SHOW” THAT COMES TO THE COMPANY.
Please keep in mind that most of our presenting companies at the point where they are ready to begin commercialization or have begun marketing their products, and are not usually "unfunded start-ups" with no sales. We will consider pre-revenue companies that have already had some meaningful outside funding and have a clear proprietary advantage in their science, technology or business method and can reach a large addressable market. Presenter qualifications are listed at http://www.privateequityforums.com/qualifications.html .
This prestigious venue can help you solve the three biggest problems in the fundraising process: 1) identifying qualified investors, 2) gaining credible entrée to them and 3) meeting them under favorable circumstances. Moreover, the event drives the single most essential factor in getting funded quickly, and that is the ability to create contemporaneous interest among investors - which also can serve to significantly improve deal terms.
More information about this established proven venue to meet investors and the possible benefits of presenting or attending are on our website at http://www.privateequityforums.com/message.html .
As we are not part of any non-profit group and our events are not primarily funded by vendors and service providers, companies are required to pay a Presenter Fee based upon a number of options. Our forum could be best described as a co-op for the 12 to 15 companies that present, such as a trade show would be. We underwrite the events and the featured companies share in the cost. They do so because our model ensures them an audience of nearly 100% qualified investors who have paid to attend and whom we disclose in advance.
To see a list of recent registrants along with other investment groups who regularly attend our events, please go to http://www.privateequityforums.com/guests.html .
Look forward to hearing from you if you feel that this event can help you to get funded.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Generally, to raise capital a company must register its stock or securities with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and with each state. Registration typically involves providing and obtaining approval from the federal and state governments for complex information about a company and its financing. Registration is time consuming and expensive. Most registration "exemptions" limit the number of investors, the dollar amount of the offering, and the manner in which money may be raised.
The most common exemption from registration is the private offering. Private offerings are generally sold through a legal disclosure document known as a private placement memorandum. Although private offerings are exempt from federal and state registration requirements, complex "notice" filing requirements still exist and many states further qualify a private offering. Finally, private offerings may not be sold by means of general advertising or solicitation. Normally a preexisting relationship between the company and the investor is required. Most entrepreneurs do not know enough qualified investors to finance a private offering. It is therefore easy to inadvertently turn a private offering into a public one, which then defeats the exemption and requires registration and/or return of investors' money.
The SEC has created a "safe harbor" guideline to enable companies to stay within the private offering exemption. Regulation D (17 C.F.R. Sec. 230.500 et. seq.), Rule 506 allows a company to sell an unlimited dollar amount of securities to an unlimited number of "accredited" (generally wealthy investors and institutions, see Rule 501) investors, and to up to 35 nonaccredited investors. While Reg. D provides burdensome disclosure requirements for offerings over $7.5 million such as expensive and time consuming audited financial statements, these requirements are lessened if the offering is limited to accredited investors.
Reg. D offerings must still comply with state exemption filing and qualification requirements ("blue sky laws"). However, Rule 506 offerings are not subject to burdensome state qualifications, only to state notice filings and fee requirements. See 15 USC Sec. 77r.
For emerging as well as many established companies, the best way to raise capital is through a Reg. D, Rule 506, offering limited to accredited investors. The only remaining problem is Reg. D's prohibition (see Rule 502) on Rule 506 offerings utilizing any form of "general solicitation or advertising".
Of course, the questions are what is and what is not "general solicitation or advertising", and whether or not it is possible to raise capital on the internet without violating this prohibition. A review of relevant SEC opinions on these matters is in order.
In H.B. Shaine & Co., Inc., No Action Letter dated May 1, 1987, the SEC staff indicated that the distribution by a securities dealer of questionnaires to prospective accredited investors to determine their suitability to participate in private offerings would not be a "general solicitation or advertisement". This view was premised upon several factors, including the use of a generic questionnaire and upon the elapse of a sufficient period of time between the completion of the questionnaire and the contemplation or inception of any particular offering. 45 days has been held to be a "sufficient period of time". See E.F. Hutton, SEC No-Action Letter (Dec. 3, 1985).
In IPONET, SEC No Action Letter (Division of Corporate Finance and Market Regulation Interpretive Letter dated July 26, 1996), the SEC staff indicated that a securities dealer and underwriter could distribute questionnaires to prospective accredited investors to determine their suitability to participate in private offerings, and that those investors may be invited to access a secured web-site to review private placement offerings not contemplated or commenced prior to the lapse of a sufficient period of time after completion of an investor's questionnaire.
In SEC Interpretation: Use of Electronic Media (Securities Act Release No. 7856; Exchange Act Release No. 4278; Investment Company Release No. 24426-4/28/00), the SEC staff noted that "third party service providers who are neither registered broker-dealers nor affiliated with registered broker-dealers have established web-sites that generally invite prospective investors to qualify as accredited or sophisticated as a prelude to participation, on an access-restricted basis, in limited or private offerings transmitted on those web-site." While the staff expressed some concern that certain sites have deviated from the format approved by IPONET, the staff went on to state that "the presence or absence of a general solicitation is always dependent on the facts and circumstances of each particular case" (citing and quoting Securities Act Rel. No. 6825-March 15, 1989, at n. 12 "the staff has never suggested, and it is not the case, that prior relationship is the only way to show the absence of a general solicitation"). The conclusion was that "a third party, other than a registered broker-dealer, could establish a 'pre-existing, substantive relationship' sufficient to avoid a 'general solicitation'". While it is permissible for these web-sites to accept a fee for their listing services, these sites may not act as broker-dealers by attempting to induce sales of the securities of others without being licensed to do so.
There are many web-sites purporting to match entrepreneurs with accredited investors. Some of these sites may be found at http://www..wall-street.com/vcpp.html. While it is legally permissible to sell securities to accredited investors through properly structured on-line services, most of these sites do not provide enough accredited investor leads to properly capitalize many private offerings. A conservative rule of thumb is to contact 1000 accredited investors to raise $25,000. Because most of these sites do not have 1000 accredited investors, it is difficult to raise the amount of money needed solely from these sites.
A more effective alternative involves the purchase or rental of voluminous "accredited investor lists". However, the mere fact that solicitations are directed solely to accredited investors may be insufficient to prove that solicitations are limited if no safeguards are taken to ensure that non-accredited offerees are not solicited. See In re CGI Capital Inc. Securities Act Release No. 33-7904 (9/29/00) ("CGI Capital"). In CGI Capital, the company sent e-mail messages to several thousand potential investors (some of whom the company did not have preexisting relationships with) regarding a private placement offering. Prospective investors were provided a "password" to a restricted web-site which contained the offering. However, offerees were not restricted from forwarding the password to others, nor otherwise advised that the password was restricted. Neither were offerees required to verify their accredited investor status prior to viewing the offering on the web-site. The SEC found CGI Capital had engaged in a general solicitation and advertisement because of a combination of three factors: (1) The e-mail was sent to thousands of offerees, many of whom lacked preexisting relationships with the company or its agents; (2) Offerees were not required to verify their accredited investor status prior to viewing the offering on the web-site; (3) There were inadequate restrictions on accessing the offering on the web-site-i.e., the password was not restricted from being forwarded and offerees were not advised the password was restricted to personal use. While it is important that the SEC found the lack of preexisting relationships a factor in finding CGI Capital had engaged in general advertising and solicitation, it is important to remember that the presence or absence of a general solicitation is always dependent upon the facts and circumstances of a particular case. As already mentioned, the SEC "staff has never suggested, and it is not the case, that prior relationship is the only way to show the absence of a general solicitation." See Securities Act Release No. 6825 (3/15/89 at n. 12.
Secured third party web-sites matching entrepreneurs with accredited investors, where the site has established preexisting relationships with accredited investors, is generally permissible. Use of large accredited investor lists, such as e-mails or direct mailings, would be appropriate if the list owner has established preexisting relationships with accredited investors. The stronger the relationships established the better. For example, buying or renting a list from a company of its existing accredited investor-shareholders is preferable to purchasing a list derived from public property records. However, preexisting relationships are not determinative. The other factors cited in CGI Capital should be heeded: (1) Prior to viewing the offering prospective investors should verify their accredited status; (2) Safeguards should be in place to ensure only those to whom the solicitation is sent are able to view the offering.
506D offerings have the advantages of allowing a company to raise an unlimited amount of funds without the headaches of registration or burdensome blue sky compliances (beyond notice filings and fees). By limiting investors to those who are "accredited", burdensome disclosure requirements are greatly lessened. The problem has been compliance with the ban on "general solicitation and advertising". In light of recent SEC releases, it is possible to target large accredited investor databases provided those databases were properly generated, prospective investors verify their accreditation prior to viewing the offering, and safeguards are in place to ensure those not solicited do not view the offering. Legal counsel is advisable not only to ensure compliance with 506D offering requirements, but to assist in maximizing the number of investors to whom an offering may legally be targeted. For more information specific to this article, please contact:
The most common exemption from registration is the private offering. Private offerings are generally sold through a legal disclosure document known as a private placement memorandum. Although private offerings are exempt from federal and state registration requirements, complex "notice" filing requirements still exist and many states further qualify a private offering. Finally, private offerings may not be sold by means of general advertising or solicitation. Normally a preexisting relationship between the company and the investor is required. Most entrepreneurs do not know enough qualified investors to finance a private offering. It is therefore easy to inadvertently turn a private offering into a public one, which then defeats the exemption and requires registration and/or return of investors' money.
The SEC has created a "safe harbor" guideline to enable companies to stay within the private offering exemption. Regulation D (17 C.F.R. Sec. 230.500 et. seq.), Rule 506 allows a company to sell an unlimited dollar amount of securities to an unlimited number of "accredited" (generally wealthy investors and institutions, see Rule 501) investors, and to up to 35 nonaccredited investors. While Reg. D provides burdensome disclosure requirements for offerings over $7.5 million such as expensive and time consuming audited financial statements, these requirements are lessened if the offering is limited to accredited investors.
Reg. D offerings must still comply with state exemption filing and qualification requirements ("blue sky laws"). However, Rule 506 offerings are not subject to burdensome state qualifications, only to state notice filings and fee requirements. See 15 USC Sec. 77r.
For emerging as well as many established companies, the best way to raise capital is through a Reg. D, Rule 506, offering limited to accredited investors. The only remaining problem is Reg. D's prohibition (see Rule 502) on Rule 506 offerings utilizing any form of "general solicitation or advertising".
Of course, the questions are what is and what is not "general solicitation or advertising", and whether or not it is possible to raise capital on the internet without violating this prohibition. A review of relevant SEC opinions on these matters is in order.
In H.B. Shaine & Co., Inc., No Action Letter dated May 1, 1987, the SEC staff indicated that the distribution by a securities dealer of questionnaires to prospective accredited investors to determine their suitability to participate in private offerings would not be a "general solicitation or advertisement". This view was premised upon several factors, including the use of a generic questionnaire and upon the elapse of a sufficient period of time between the completion of the questionnaire and the contemplation or inception of any particular offering. 45 days has been held to be a "sufficient period of time". See E.F. Hutton, SEC No-Action Letter (Dec. 3, 1985).
In IPONET, SEC No Action Letter (Division of Corporate Finance and Market Regulation Interpretive Letter dated July 26, 1996), the SEC staff indicated that a securities dealer and underwriter could distribute questionnaires to prospective accredited investors to determine their suitability to participate in private offerings, and that those investors may be invited to access a secured web-site to review private placement offerings not contemplated or commenced prior to the lapse of a sufficient period of time after completion of an investor's questionnaire.
In SEC Interpretation: Use of Electronic Media (Securities Act Release No. 7856; Exchange Act Release No. 4278; Investment Company Release No. 24426-4/28/00), the SEC staff noted that "third party service providers who are neither registered broker-dealers nor affiliated with registered broker-dealers have established web-sites that generally invite prospective investors to qualify as accredited or sophisticated as a prelude to participation, on an access-restricted basis, in limited or private offerings transmitted on those web-site." While the staff expressed some concern that certain sites have deviated from the format approved by IPONET, the staff went on to state that "the presence or absence of a general solicitation is always dependent on the facts and circumstances of each particular case" (citing and quoting Securities Act Rel. No. 6825-March 15, 1989, at n. 12 "the staff has never suggested, and it is not the case, that prior relationship is the only way to show the absence of a general solicitation"). The conclusion was that "a third party, other than a registered broker-dealer, could establish a 'pre-existing, substantive relationship' sufficient to avoid a 'general solicitation'". While it is permissible for these web-sites to accept a fee for their listing services, these sites may not act as broker-dealers by attempting to induce sales of the securities of others without being licensed to do so.
There are many web-sites purporting to match entrepreneurs with accredited investors. Some of these sites may be found at http://www..wall-street.com/vcpp.html. While it is legally permissible to sell securities to accredited investors through properly structured on-line services, most of these sites do not provide enough accredited investor leads to properly capitalize many private offerings. A conservative rule of thumb is to contact 1000 accredited investors to raise $25,000. Because most of these sites do not have 1000 accredited investors, it is difficult to raise the amount of money needed solely from these sites.
A more effective alternative involves the purchase or rental of voluminous "accredited investor lists". However, the mere fact that solicitations are directed solely to accredited investors may be insufficient to prove that solicitations are limited if no safeguards are taken to ensure that non-accredited offerees are not solicited. See In re CGI Capital Inc. Securities Act Release No. 33-7904 (9/29/00) ("CGI Capital"). In CGI Capital, the company sent e-mail messages to several thousand potential investors (some of whom the company did not have preexisting relationships with) regarding a private placement offering. Prospective investors were provided a "password" to a restricted web-site which contained the offering. However, offerees were not restricted from forwarding the password to others, nor otherwise advised that the password was restricted. Neither were offerees required to verify their accredited investor status prior to viewing the offering on the web-site. The SEC found CGI Capital had engaged in a general solicitation and advertisement because of a combination of three factors: (1) The e-mail was sent to thousands of offerees, many of whom lacked preexisting relationships with the company or its agents; (2) Offerees were not required to verify their accredited investor status prior to viewing the offering on the web-site; (3) There were inadequate restrictions on accessing the offering on the web-site-i.e., the password was not restricted from being forwarded and offerees were not advised the password was restricted to personal use. While it is important that the SEC found the lack of preexisting relationships a factor in finding CGI Capital had engaged in general advertising and solicitation, it is important to remember that the presence or absence of a general solicitation is always dependent upon the facts and circumstances of a particular case. As already mentioned, the SEC "staff has never suggested, and it is not the case, that prior relationship is the only way to show the absence of a general solicitation." See Securities Act Release No. 6825 (3/15/89 at n. 12.
Secured third party web-sites matching entrepreneurs with accredited investors, where the site has established preexisting relationships with accredited investors, is generally permissible. Use of large accredited investor lists, such as e-mails or direct mailings, would be appropriate if the list owner has established preexisting relationships with accredited investors. The stronger the relationships established the better. For example, buying or renting a list from a company of its existing accredited investor-shareholders is preferable to purchasing a list derived from public property records. However, preexisting relationships are not determinative. The other factors cited in CGI Capital should be heeded: (1) Prior to viewing the offering prospective investors should verify their accredited status; (2) Safeguards should be in place to ensure only those to whom the solicitation is sent are able to view the offering.
506D offerings have the advantages of allowing a company to raise an unlimited amount of funds without the headaches of registration or burdensome blue sky compliances (beyond notice filings and fees). By limiting investors to those who are "accredited", burdensome disclosure requirements are greatly lessened. The problem has been compliance with the ban on "general solicitation and advertising". In light of recent SEC releases, it is possible to target large accredited investor databases provided those databases were properly generated, prospective investors verify their accreditation prior to viewing the offering, and safeguards are in place to ensure those not solicited do not view the offering. Legal counsel is advisable not only to ensure compliance with 506D offering requirements, but to assist in maximizing the number of investors to whom an offering may legally be targeted. For more information specific to this article, please contact:
Saturday, February 13, 2010
predictions great article
This post is by Simeon Simeonov, the firm’s founder and CEO (and formerly a partner at Polaris Ventures). If you like it, check out Sim’s blog and tweets @simeons. – Nivi
“Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future.”
Niels Bohr, Nobel Prize winner
By penalizing entrepreneurs who are humble and honest about how their companies will grow, many investors cause entrepreneurs to over-promise (and later under-deliver) when they’re raising money.
The histories of some of the best-known technology companies demonstrate the power of luck, timing, the mistakes of incumbents, and solid execution.
Execution is the main tool under a startup’s control but it’s often under-valued by investors.
So it’s not surprising that most entrepreneurs come to pitch meetings armed with very precise statements about a very uncertain future and a list of proven strategies guaranteed to make their company successful. While sitting through these pitches, I sometimes wonder which is worse: the entrepreneurs who know they’re spinning tall tales or the ones who “got high on their own supply.”
VCs and entrepreneurs collaborate to lie about the future
Instead of bringing entrepreneurs back down to earth, some investors push them further into orbit. Some VCs ask a seed-stage, pre-product startup for a detailed five-year financial plan. When I was a partner at Polaris Ventures, I saw many of these spreadsheets built “for fundraising purposes.” We didn’t ask for these spreadsheets — entrepreneurs had usually built them after meeting other, less early-stage, investors.
I find the process of planning — and understanding how a founder thinks about a business — educational and valuable. But pushing the exercise to the point of assumptions layered upon assumptions is not just wasteful, but dangerous, because it sets the wrong expectations.
After a few pitches, entrepreneurs realize that the distant future is safer territory than the immediate. It’s easier to boast about 30 must-have features your product will have in three years, than to show the three must-have features in the current prototype. It’s easier to talk about how you’ll recruit world-class CXOs when you’re big and successful, than to show a detailed plan for bringing in an amazing inbound marketing specialist, when everyone on the team is getting paid below-market rates to conserve cash. The examples go on and on.
I’ve co-founded four companies. The two that most quickly and easily raised money did it with nothing but slide decks. Both were funded by Polaris, which has a lot of experience with very early stage investing. We didn’t waste time over-planning the future in those two companies.
And for good reason. Both startups ended up quite different than the fundraising presentations promised — for solid, market-based reasons that were invisible during diligence. Plinky acquired a new product line and became Thing Labs. 8th Ring failed quickly and cheaply, only seven months after funding. The CEO and I decided the execution risk was too high. And, in retrospect, we were right: our only competitor had an unexciting exit a few years later.
Over-promising causes startups to throw away money
Over-promising is not a problem when it comes with over-delivery. But the overwhelming majority of startups fail to meet the promises they’ve made during fundraising. After years of observing this pattern, I’ve come to believe that over-promising can actually cause under-delivery. Entrepreneurs over-promise to raise money easily and set themselves up for pain down the road.
How? The reasons have to do with information signals, expectation setting, and the psychological contracts between entrepreneurs and investors. It’s very hard to pitch one story today and then change it the day the money hits the bank, especially if you’ve drunk the Kool-Aid.
An overly rosy pitch leads to expectations and fateful commitments that downplay the variability of the future. Decisions are made based on assumptions rather than tested hypotheses. The burn goes up earlier. The sales team is hired much too soon. In venture funds, over-promising also spreads from the investing partner to the rest of the partnership. It can also spread from the company to its customers and partners, further extending the reality distortion field.
If you’re Apple and you’ve got Steve, that’s awesome. For everyone else, it can get rough. I saw this play out with one of my companies that was expanding internationally (the reason why the company had raised money). The world was going to be our oyster and, before the reality that our go-to-market strategy wasn’t as effective as everyone had hoped set in, we had burned through a good chunk of capital.
Find investors you don’t have to lie to
How should you choose between being honest (and hearing “no” a lot) vs. amping up the pitch and risking the anti-patterns above? I give two answers to the CEOs I work with at my startup advisory firm FastIgnite.
First, I strongly advise startups to go to venture firms where the decision process is more collaborative and less “salesy.” One of the main reasons a VC will push an entrepreneur to over-promise is his need to sell a deal internally.
Second, pitch investors with a track record of valuing a team’s ability to execute, over any specific strategy or execution plan. While most firms pay lip service to this cliché, few do many investments this way. Here are some examples from my experience in the past few months:
* On the smaller side, Betaworks and First Round Capital get this. Their portfolios and their philosophy show it. I look forward to working with them some day.
* Among VCs, General Catalyst has repeatedly backed companies like Brightcove, m-Qube, and Visible Measures very early — with the understanding that many important questions will have answers only after months of execution. I’m actively partnering with them at FastIgnite.
* Surprisingly, at the very high end, a private equity firm like Warburg Pincus can be a great place for the right early-stage entrepreneur. Last year, a Warburg entrepreneur-in-residence incubated Better Advertising, a company where I’m a co-founder and acting CTO. Better Advertising’s market and business model required a backer with staying power that exceeds most other investors’.
The firms above practice a form of agile investing by (1) not forcing entrepreneurs to over-plan for an uncertain future and (2) following the principle of minimizing wasted effort. Ultimately, it’s the investors’ responsibility to reward honesty with trust and cash. And I think that’s a win-win. I’m looking forward to discussing this with you in the comments.
“Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future.”
Niels Bohr, Nobel Prize winner
By penalizing entrepreneurs who are humble and honest about how their companies will grow, many investors cause entrepreneurs to over-promise (and later under-deliver) when they’re raising money.
The histories of some of the best-known technology companies demonstrate the power of luck, timing, the mistakes of incumbents, and solid execution.
Execution is the main tool under a startup’s control but it’s often under-valued by investors.
So it’s not surprising that most entrepreneurs come to pitch meetings armed with very precise statements about a very uncertain future and a list of proven strategies guaranteed to make their company successful. While sitting through these pitches, I sometimes wonder which is worse: the entrepreneurs who know they’re spinning tall tales or the ones who “got high on their own supply.”
VCs and entrepreneurs collaborate to lie about the future
Instead of bringing entrepreneurs back down to earth, some investors push them further into orbit. Some VCs ask a seed-stage, pre-product startup for a detailed five-year financial plan. When I was a partner at Polaris Ventures, I saw many of these spreadsheets built “for fundraising purposes.” We didn’t ask for these spreadsheets — entrepreneurs had usually built them after meeting other, less early-stage, investors.
I find the process of planning — and understanding how a founder thinks about a business — educational and valuable. But pushing the exercise to the point of assumptions layered upon assumptions is not just wasteful, but dangerous, because it sets the wrong expectations.
After a few pitches, entrepreneurs realize that the distant future is safer territory than the immediate. It’s easier to boast about 30 must-have features your product will have in three years, than to show the three must-have features in the current prototype. It’s easier to talk about how you’ll recruit world-class CXOs when you’re big and successful, than to show a detailed plan for bringing in an amazing inbound marketing specialist, when everyone on the team is getting paid below-market rates to conserve cash. The examples go on and on.
I’ve co-founded four companies. The two that most quickly and easily raised money did it with nothing but slide decks. Both were funded by Polaris, which has a lot of experience with very early stage investing. We didn’t waste time over-planning the future in those two companies.
And for good reason. Both startups ended up quite different than the fundraising presentations promised — for solid, market-based reasons that were invisible during diligence. Plinky acquired a new product line and became Thing Labs. 8th Ring failed quickly and cheaply, only seven months after funding. The CEO and I decided the execution risk was too high. And, in retrospect, we were right: our only competitor had an unexciting exit a few years later.
Over-promising causes startups to throw away money
Over-promising is not a problem when it comes with over-delivery. But the overwhelming majority of startups fail to meet the promises they’ve made during fundraising. After years of observing this pattern, I’ve come to believe that over-promising can actually cause under-delivery. Entrepreneurs over-promise to raise money easily and set themselves up for pain down the road.
How? The reasons have to do with information signals, expectation setting, and the psychological contracts between entrepreneurs and investors. It’s very hard to pitch one story today and then change it the day the money hits the bank, especially if you’ve drunk the Kool-Aid.
An overly rosy pitch leads to expectations and fateful commitments that downplay the variability of the future. Decisions are made based on assumptions rather than tested hypotheses. The burn goes up earlier. The sales team is hired much too soon. In venture funds, over-promising also spreads from the investing partner to the rest of the partnership. It can also spread from the company to its customers and partners, further extending the reality distortion field.
If you’re Apple and you’ve got Steve, that’s awesome. For everyone else, it can get rough. I saw this play out with one of my companies that was expanding internationally (the reason why the company had raised money). The world was going to be our oyster and, before the reality that our go-to-market strategy wasn’t as effective as everyone had hoped set in, we had burned through a good chunk of capital.
Find investors you don’t have to lie to
How should you choose between being honest (and hearing “no” a lot) vs. amping up the pitch and risking the anti-patterns above? I give two answers to the CEOs I work with at my startup advisory firm FastIgnite.
First, I strongly advise startups to go to venture firms where the decision process is more collaborative and less “salesy.” One of the main reasons a VC will push an entrepreneur to over-promise is his need to sell a deal internally.
Second, pitch investors with a track record of valuing a team’s ability to execute, over any specific strategy or execution plan. While most firms pay lip service to this cliché, few do many investments this way. Here are some examples from my experience in the past few months:
* On the smaller side, Betaworks and First Round Capital get this. Their portfolios and their philosophy show it. I look forward to working with them some day.
* Among VCs, General Catalyst has repeatedly backed companies like Brightcove, m-Qube, and Visible Measures very early — with the understanding that many important questions will have answers only after months of execution. I’m actively partnering with them at FastIgnite.
* Surprisingly, at the very high end, a private equity firm like Warburg Pincus can be a great place for the right early-stage entrepreneur. Last year, a Warburg entrepreneur-in-residence incubated Better Advertising, a company where I’m a co-founder and acting CTO. Better Advertising’s market and business model required a backer with staying power that exceeds most other investors’.
The firms above practice a form of agile investing by (1) not forcing entrepreneurs to over-plan for an uncertain future and (2) following the principle of minimizing wasted effort. Ultimately, it’s the investors’ responsibility to reward honesty with trust and cash. And I think that’s a win-win. I’m looking forward to discussing this with you in the comments.
Friday, January 29, 2010
OPTIONS
We work one of two ways:
Priority – If you want us to “Clear The Decks” put our heads down and get to work you'll honor us by paying a 1% fully earned, non-refundable commitment fee for our consulting services. The minimum fee is $2,500 and the maximum fee is $25,000 per project for six months of service. You may renew after that time.
When you hire us to work on a priority basis we thoroughly study your submission package to make sure that it complies with our recommended Road Map to Funding Success. Funding has always been about presentation. Those who present well are funded. Those who don't present well are not funded.
The key ingredients to funding success, in our experience, have been:
1.
A powerful Executive Summary of one to four pages.
2.
Bio's of key personnel.
3.
A detailed use of funds broken down monthly for the first year and quarterly thereafter.
4.
A 5-year proforma and written Exit Strategy.
Non-Priority – If you think that you've “nailed it” when preparing the four key ingredients to funding success, and you aren't in any hurry at all to fund and aren't quite ready to pay consultation fees then we'll take a look at your project when we can get to it. After we look at it we may need to send it back because you don't meet our requirements. (Priority Clients get major help from us in cleaning up their submission.) We'll return your calls and emails when we can: after all, priority clients come first.
We reserve the right to review each submission once, beyond that our consultation fee will be required. You had better complete the submission request correctly the first time or you better get familiar with our websites mentioned above. If you submit for free we can't spend a lot of time. It's not fair to us, our families, or our Priority Clients.
In our experience we can fund 1/3 of the files that cross our desks, 1/3 are DOA Dead on Arrival, and the final 1/3 are broken and need to go through some form of remediation which can take hours, days, weeks, months, or years.
We DO NOT GUARANTEE FUNDING. We work on a BEST EFFORTS BASIS.
With 33 years of Financial Services experience we may be uniquely qualified to serve you and those whom you choose to refer.
--
Venture Capital Intl., Thomas Duffy, CEO
Cell: 203.775.9999
Fax: 203.648.4942
Priority – If you want us to “Clear The Decks” put our heads down and get to work you'll honor us by paying a 1% fully earned, non-refundable commitment fee for our consulting services. The minimum fee is $2,500 and the maximum fee is $25,000 per project for six months of service. You may renew after that time.
When you hire us to work on a priority basis we thoroughly study your submission package to make sure that it complies with our recommended Road Map to Funding Success. Funding has always been about presentation. Those who present well are funded. Those who don't present well are not funded.
The key ingredients to funding success, in our experience, have been:
1.
A powerful Executive Summary of one to four pages.
2.
Bio's of key personnel.
3.
A detailed use of funds broken down monthly for the first year and quarterly thereafter.
4.
A 5-year proforma and written Exit Strategy.
Non-Priority – If you think that you've “nailed it” when preparing the four key ingredients to funding success, and you aren't in any hurry at all to fund and aren't quite ready to pay consultation fees then we'll take a look at your project when we can get to it. After we look at it we may need to send it back because you don't meet our requirements. (Priority Clients get major help from us in cleaning up their submission.) We'll return your calls and emails when we can: after all, priority clients come first.
We reserve the right to review each submission once, beyond that our consultation fee will be required. You had better complete the submission request correctly the first time or you better get familiar with our websites mentioned above. If you submit for free we can't spend a lot of time. It's not fair to us, our families, or our Priority Clients.
In our experience we can fund 1/3 of the files that cross our desks, 1/3 are DOA Dead on Arrival, and the final 1/3 are broken and need to go through some form of remediation which can take hours, days, weeks, months, or years.
We DO NOT GUARANTEE FUNDING. We work on a BEST EFFORTS BASIS.
With 33 years of Financial Services experience we may be uniquely qualified to serve you and those whom you choose to refer.
--
Venture Capital Intl., Thomas Duffy, CEO
Cell: 203.775.9999
Fax: 203.648.4942
Thursday, January 28, 2010
The purpose of Energy Restructure is to connect with the memories in your body that are keeping you stuck in emotion.. Even though you think you have let go, your body holds on in a physical way.
I use nine layers which are;
distraction, resistance, completion, withholding,love,nurturing,freedom,protection,truth.
Once you have identified and moved through this block you will be relieved on all levels.
All of a sudden your past will not haunt you and affect your life in a negative way.
Expect a miracle and you will get a miracle.
Retrain your thinking and actions take on a love for life.
for more info call me 860-350-4440
I use nine layers which are;
distraction, resistance, completion, withholding,love,nurturing,freedom,protection,truth.
Once you have identified and moved through this block you will be relieved on all levels.
All of a sudden your past will not haunt you and affect your life in a negative way.
Expect a miracle and you will get a miracle.
Retrain your thinking and actions take on a love for life.
for more info call me 860-350-4440
Friday, January 22, 2010
idea
it only takes one idea, one second in time, one friend, one dream, one leap of faith, to change everything, forever.
Just one!
http://tduffyllc.com
Just one!
http://tduffyllc.com
Thursday, January 21, 2010
advances
People pay advances to Solicitors (without any guarantee of success)..you pay advance fees to Hospitals ( not knowing if the Surgery will be successful)...you pay advances for other services ..not knowing the outcome... yet when it comes to making a token payment for an ( over valued ) business plan then suddenly seekers of capital dole out sob stories...of how some broker took a ( measly) advance and never delivered....Thanks to Google making search free..Project promoters believe that all that the broker does is to search a VC/PE on Google and forward the Business plan...presto the Investor flies down with a cheque book.. So why should he be paid a fat fee at all...
The hours of high-level discussions spent by the Intermediary with the Project promoter carries zero value.. the days and weeks of search and interactions with various investors understanding their preferences/ expectations is treated as free..because the promoter never saw him spend the time..
Most of the people who swore that they will not pay upfront..either did not have the cash to start the engagement or their business plan was only good on paper..it could not pass muster with investors...
Admitted there are several phony promoters as well as intermediaries..just because some project promoters conned investors does not mean PE/VCs will put a blanket ban on funding..
so too it is necessary for project promoters to whet the credentials of the Intermediary .. I believe if they can't judge the capabilities of a Consultant (for the 25 fee) then the project they are promoting is at higher risk..as the investments are 98% more..
Project promoters tend to think they are infallible, they cannot be questioned and their valuation expectations cannot be challenged..Investors should toe their line and not see any 'risk' in the business.. the financial intermediary is expected to sell the highly inflated forecasts ( and the NPV of the Free Cash flows) presented in the Excel sheet. If he reasons then the fee is in jeopardy.
Just because financial intermediaries are small and cannot fight legal battles, project promoters shamelessly circumvent them once a probable lender is identified by the intermediary. Thereafter promoters will do every trick under the sun to deny the intermediary a fee ( making noise about the terms, etc yet going to the same investor through devious route).
This debate can go on endlessly. However serious Consultants don't take up Assignments without an upfront fee.What works for Deloitte or PWC also works for Smaller credible entities.
Promoters should know that they can't build businesses by getting free advice. If not upfront, they could pay a retainer for 3 months or adjust the upfront/ retainer on success. If the deal fails at least they would have learnt some lessons with regard to the weakness in their plans or the investor expectations.
The hours of high-level discussions spent by the Intermediary with the Project promoter carries zero value.. the days and weeks of search and interactions with various investors understanding their preferences/ expectations is treated as free..because the promoter never saw him spend the time..
Most of the people who swore that they will not pay upfront..either did not have the cash to start the engagement or their business plan was only good on paper..it could not pass muster with investors...
Admitted there are several phony promoters as well as intermediaries..just because some project promoters conned investors does not mean PE/VCs will put a blanket ban on funding..
so too it is necessary for project promoters to whet the credentials of the Intermediary .. I believe if they can't judge the capabilities of a Consultant (for the 25 fee) then the project they are promoting is at higher risk..as the investments are 98% more..
Project promoters tend to think they are infallible, they cannot be questioned and their valuation expectations cannot be challenged..Investors should toe their line and not see any 'risk' in the business.. the financial intermediary is expected to sell the highly inflated forecasts ( and the NPV of the Free Cash flows) presented in the Excel sheet. If he reasons then the fee is in jeopardy.
Just because financial intermediaries are small and cannot fight legal battles, project promoters shamelessly circumvent them once a probable lender is identified by the intermediary. Thereafter promoters will do every trick under the sun to deny the intermediary a fee ( making noise about the terms, etc yet going to the same investor through devious route).
This debate can go on endlessly. However serious Consultants don't take up Assignments without an upfront fee.What works for Deloitte or PWC also works for Smaller credible entities.
Promoters should know that they can't build businesses by getting free advice. If not upfront, they could pay a retainer for 3 months or adjust the upfront/ retainer on success. If the deal fails at least they would have learnt some lessons with regard to the weakness in their plans or the investor expectations.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
SERVICES AVAILABLE
Primarily I'm a CFO to startups & growing companies - outsourced & part time. A typical company who is at the stage of needing me is either post funding and/or generating revenues, and I'm handling things such as investor relations, cash flow management, dashboard reporting, actuals vs. budget, playing bad cop on holding people accountable to the budget, growth strategy, constantly refining the financial model, etc.
Secondary, I truly enjoy helping out the true seed/idea/early stage startups who have the great idea in place, but need to get it down on paper, whether its a business plan, financial model, or both. The guys who don't know where to go next. That's what the original post was all about - looking to find any startups in need who want/need expert help to bring them to the next level and really light the fires to get things in motion.
While I used to be involved in raising capital, it's not something I actively do currently. For the few companies I CFO for, yes I do, but just as a stand alone project I don't. Reasons are many, mainly it is very time consuming, and very seldom does a hired gun/fund finder lure in investors. Investors want to talk to principles of the company, hence focusing on that endeavor when I'm onboard as the CFO and truly actively involved in growing the company, not just playing match maker.
That said, if you are a early/seed stage startup in need of a business plan/financials, let me know what you are about, if you have anything currently, and I'm happy to send along some samples and start the discussion. Just email me, tom@tuffyllc.com
Secondary, I truly enjoy helping out the true seed/idea/early stage startups who have the great idea in place, but need to get it down on paper, whether its a business plan, financial model, or both. The guys who don't know where to go next. That's what the original post was all about - looking to find any startups in need who want/need expert help to bring them to the next level and really light the fires to get things in motion.
While I used to be involved in raising capital, it's not something I actively do currently. For the few companies I CFO for, yes I do, but just as a stand alone project I don't. Reasons are many, mainly it is very time consuming, and very seldom does a hired gun/fund finder lure in investors. Investors want to talk to principles of the company, hence focusing on that endeavor when I'm onboard as the CFO and truly actively involved in growing the company, not just playing match maker.
That said, if you are a early/seed stage startup in need of a business plan/financials, let me know what you are about, if you have anything currently, and I'm happy to send along some samples and start the discussion. Just email me, tom@tuffyllc.com
Monday, January 18, 2010
sales
The Salesperson of The Future. Will They Truly Evolve and Be Different or Is it Just About Living It?
During a recent interview, I was asked, “What does the future hold for the work force, especially for salespeople? How will the salesperson of tomorrow change or be different to adapt to the times?”
Of course, my visceral reaction was to come up with something so transformational and insightful that it would reshape the landscape of professional selling and salesmanship. But after I paused and thought more about this question at a deeper level, I realized this may not be truly possible. After all, when it comes to selling, outside of the apparent changes in technology that continues to shape the Sales 2.0 evolution, what has changed over the years? Is there really a new definition for professional selling? If we were to look at the role, responsibility, skill set, behavior, attitude and overall disposition that makes a sales champion, is the anatomy of the top salesperson from 50 years ago to today and well into tomorrow really all that different?
While I believe there are some inherent changes we will see within the workforce when it comes to redefining the role of the traditional salesperson, the real difference will be evident in those companies who truly embrace and implement these changes and actually model this definition of sales mastery, as opposed to those who simply know about it but don’t do anything measurable to change. The economy over last two years has certainly done a wonderful job validating and exemplifying this ever widening gap. Consequently, this exposes the real opportunity for us and the timeless distinction between knowing it and doing it.
We are a society that is knowledge rich but execution scarce. While we are wealthy in wisdom and information, we are often lacking in seeing new ideas, strategies and activities through to completion and implementing the new behavior, thinking or technology to the point that it produces the desired change we’re looking for. After all, intention without action is still a diversionary tactic. (The real evolution will take place with the sales manager, who needs to become a sales coach to ensure these changes are, in fact made, but that’s a different blog and a different book ;-)
Regardless, I do have my view of tomorrow’s salesperson and this is the transformation I envision that salespeople must not only understand and embrace but put into practice so that it truly becomes part of their DNA.
The salesperson of tomorrow will continue to evolve beyond their traditional role and become more embedded into their customer’s business and the decisions that affect every facet of their operation.
The true sales professional will be relied upon as a valuable resource and a trusted, consultative adviser throughout the entire selling process; and beyond. This doesn’t mean focusing solely on relationship selling because those salespeople who are doing so are the ones who are struggling today. Great relationships don’t always equate to more sales. While additional time must be spent fostering stronger relationships with key clients, this isn’t about calling them just to ‘check in’ but having a more strategic set of timely questions that will help you better understand how the current economic climate has affected the way they do business and make purchasing decisions.
This will help us accurately connect to what the true meaning of value is to our customers, as opposed to what we generically assume it to be and as such, enable us to deliver on this at a much deeper, more significant level.
We need to take a closer and more holistic look at ourselves from the inside out while challenging our customers, the media and status quo. Therein lies the opportunity to elevate yourself and become the champion you know you can be.
During a recent interview, I was asked, “What does the future hold for the work force, especially for salespeople? How will the salesperson of tomorrow change or be different to adapt to the times?”
Of course, my visceral reaction was to come up with something so transformational and insightful that it would reshape the landscape of professional selling and salesmanship. But after I paused and thought more about this question at a deeper level, I realized this may not be truly possible. After all, when it comes to selling, outside of the apparent changes in technology that continues to shape the Sales 2.0 evolution, what has changed over the years? Is there really a new definition for professional selling? If we were to look at the role, responsibility, skill set, behavior, attitude and overall disposition that makes a sales champion, is the anatomy of the top salesperson from 50 years ago to today and well into tomorrow really all that different?
While I believe there are some inherent changes we will see within the workforce when it comes to redefining the role of the traditional salesperson, the real difference will be evident in those companies who truly embrace and implement these changes and actually model this definition of sales mastery, as opposed to those who simply know about it but don’t do anything measurable to change. The economy over last two years has certainly done a wonderful job validating and exemplifying this ever widening gap. Consequently, this exposes the real opportunity for us and the timeless distinction between knowing it and doing it.
We are a society that is knowledge rich but execution scarce. While we are wealthy in wisdom and information, we are often lacking in seeing new ideas, strategies and activities through to completion and implementing the new behavior, thinking or technology to the point that it produces the desired change we’re looking for. After all, intention without action is still a diversionary tactic. (The real evolution will take place with the sales manager, who needs to become a sales coach to ensure these changes are, in fact made, but that’s a different blog and a different book ;-)
Regardless, I do have my view of tomorrow’s salesperson and this is the transformation I envision that salespeople must not only understand and embrace but put into practice so that it truly becomes part of their DNA.
The salesperson of tomorrow will continue to evolve beyond their traditional role and become more embedded into their customer’s business and the decisions that affect every facet of their operation.
The true sales professional will be relied upon as a valuable resource and a trusted, consultative adviser throughout the entire selling process; and beyond. This doesn’t mean focusing solely on relationship selling because those salespeople who are doing so are the ones who are struggling today. Great relationships don’t always equate to more sales. While additional time must be spent fostering stronger relationships with key clients, this isn’t about calling them just to ‘check in’ but having a more strategic set of timely questions that will help you better understand how the current economic climate has affected the way they do business and make purchasing decisions.
This will help us accurately connect to what the true meaning of value is to our customers, as opposed to what we generically assume it to be and as such, enable us to deliver on this at a much deeper, more significant level.
We need to take a closer and more holistic look at ourselves from the inside out while challenging our customers, the media and status quo. Therein lies the opportunity to elevate yourself and become the champion you know you can be.
how to run your million dollar business
The power of our thoughts and how it relates to what we can achieve is astounding. I am going to briefly touch on the things that helped me take a thought of owning a business to creating a multi-million dollar company. It all started off with a dream, a dream of leaving my job at the time to move into something exciting and new. As one never to sit still for very long, I was ready to see if I could make it in the business world. I had worked in many great companies and management roles, and knew people really well so I thought why the heck not!
What I didn’t know was that being an Entrepreneur and small business owner can be tough work! But I was going to find out about that very quickly! So here is the quick version…. Started with a bit of money, got investors, had a vision, had a solid system, build the company with mediocre employees, then learned how to have great employees and really build a team environment. We were the first in the areas we chose and filled a need, took action and advertised like crazy and tried new things. We showed the customer we cared, valued our staff and investors, and had TONS of ups and downs until we got it right! It took many years to build it up to what it was and the biggest hurdle and success was finally selling it and letting it all go.
Now this business after year 2 was making great money, and investors were happy, however there were times when things were tight and economics, unforeseen construction, renovations, staff turnover really caused downturns in the business. Trust me there were many struggles as well as many great opportunities for money to be made. The main problem for my partner and I was that it was something we no longer wanted. We realized that it was not our passion and that the industry had a stigma that would take many more years to change. The industry was being regulated and we were what seemed to always be proving that we were indeed a legitimate company helping people and really valued our integrity and ethics in the business. Our vision was to help people and make money however this was not the business that would complete that for us. So regardless of the financial gain we decided to sell and move on to do it again in what was our individual passions.
So what are the lessons learned that you as a small business owner can take away from all of this? Let’s look at it in a list form for easier learning;
1. I was a small business owner with BIG Thinking!
So let’s look at BIG thinking. I had a vision for what I thought a business should look like and I worked towards putting in place all the right things to make it happen. The right backing, finances, business plan because we were going for financing, and we looked at what the competition doing, who were they serving and where was the need. We had a vision of being a million dollar company right from the start and kept that vision strong in our minds.
2. I had a Solid Systems.
Then it was onto how would we run the company? How is it to be structured? Should it be a partnership or a corporation? What systems could we use that would ensure that we did not lose our shirts. We looked at what kind of system we could run under and developed a back end database program to track and take care of our clients. We made sure we had a solid policy manual (which was also developed further over the years) that would explain how we wanted the company ran for our employees so that they understood what we were asking of them. Then we ensured we gave solid, consistent training and that each office was a replica of the next. Call it a cookie cutter method if you will.
3. We took Smart, Deliberate, Quick Action when needed.
Being able to adapt to changing market and not wallow in problems is vital for an entrepreneur. Working smart, having good systems and taking deliberate action was an important factor to being able to keep up with the giants in the industry. We advertised and marketed like crazy and did some amazing things like huge billboards and pre-event marketing that had clients lined up at the doors on opening day.
4. We were able to solidify great relationships.
We created communication with the competition where we shared ideas and information within limits. We created additional product sources and had great relationships with who we were working with, and those relationships helped give us credibility in the industry. We kept the philosophy of win/win ever present in our minds.
5. We stopped trying to do it all on our own. Let go of Ego.
When we started to learn that in order to run a successful company we needed to trust, and let our employees do what they were best at doing, that is when things began to fall into place. We had to leave our egos at the door and understand that we had taught them, and that even though they needed us still, we had to loosen the strings in order for them to flourish and show how much they valued the company, and what they were doing. We used the skills of each employee and they grew better for it.
6. We showed we cared, and added value to our customers.
We encouraged our customers, showed them we cared, gave referral bonuses, talked with our customers, advertised and made them feel like they were not alone. We heard more stories about people’s lives then I will share here, but what it did was let people from all walks of life know that they were valued as people.
7. We understood the numbers.
We had done our business plan and knew what we needed to grow. We had a balanced framework with our product, our marketing and our financial operations. Whenever we lost touch with that again, it showed. Understanding where you stand, and what you need to achieve your end goal is important and really the key.
8. We were great problem solvers.
Being a great problem solver is important. Issues come up in any business and knowing what you will do and seeing your end result helps make it easier to predict how you will react and what steps you can take to rectify the situation.
9. We were always learning and watching our industry.
We knew what was changing in the industry, we focused on what was working, and we made sure if we could that we were the first. We showed value to our customers even though our price may have been different than others.
10. We had perseverance.
We stayed our course, and were committed to the business. Sometimes this was a difficult thing to do but in the end overall it was a success because we did have perseverance.
Now, did we always do the right thing? No absolutely not! But we did have the ability to see the mistakes and attempt to fix them. Did our employees always love us? No not always, but we did care about people and did our best to create a team environment where they felt included and valued and when we let that slip, it showed in performance from the team. The things we learned from this business have been incredible for future success and have allowed me to now help others in their journey for fulfillment in their lives. For more on this subject, you can find it in my 10 Complete Secrets
What I didn’t know was that being an Entrepreneur and small business owner can be tough work! But I was going to find out about that very quickly! So here is the quick version…. Started with a bit of money, got investors, had a vision, had a solid system, build the company with mediocre employees, then learned how to have great employees and really build a team environment. We were the first in the areas we chose and filled a need, took action and advertised like crazy and tried new things. We showed the customer we cared, valued our staff and investors, and had TONS of ups and downs until we got it right! It took many years to build it up to what it was and the biggest hurdle and success was finally selling it and letting it all go.
Now this business after year 2 was making great money, and investors were happy, however there were times when things were tight and economics, unforeseen construction, renovations, staff turnover really caused downturns in the business. Trust me there were many struggles as well as many great opportunities for money to be made. The main problem for my partner and I was that it was something we no longer wanted. We realized that it was not our passion and that the industry had a stigma that would take many more years to change. The industry was being regulated and we were what seemed to always be proving that we were indeed a legitimate company helping people and really valued our integrity and ethics in the business. Our vision was to help people and make money however this was not the business that would complete that for us. So regardless of the financial gain we decided to sell and move on to do it again in what was our individual passions.
So what are the lessons learned that you as a small business owner can take away from all of this? Let’s look at it in a list form for easier learning;
1. I was a small business owner with BIG Thinking!
So let’s look at BIG thinking. I had a vision for what I thought a business should look like and I worked towards putting in place all the right things to make it happen. The right backing, finances, business plan because we were going for financing, and we looked at what the competition doing, who were they serving and where was the need. We had a vision of being a million dollar company right from the start and kept that vision strong in our minds.
2. I had a Solid Systems.
Then it was onto how would we run the company? How is it to be structured? Should it be a partnership or a corporation? What systems could we use that would ensure that we did not lose our shirts. We looked at what kind of system we could run under and developed a back end database program to track and take care of our clients. We made sure we had a solid policy manual (which was also developed further over the years) that would explain how we wanted the company ran for our employees so that they understood what we were asking of them. Then we ensured we gave solid, consistent training and that each office was a replica of the next. Call it a cookie cutter method if you will.
3. We took Smart, Deliberate, Quick Action when needed.
Being able to adapt to changing market and not wallow in problems is vital for an entrepreneur. Working smart, having good systems and taking deliberate action was an important factor to being able to keep up with the giants in the industry. We advertised and marketed like crazy and did some amazing things like huge billboards and pre-event marketing that had clients lined up at the doors on opening day.
4. We were able to solidify great relationships.
We created communication with the competition where we shared ideas and information within limits. We created additional product sources and had great relationships with who we were working with, and those relationships helped give us credibility in the industry. We kept the philosophy of win/win ever present in our minds.
5. We stopped trying to do it all on our own. Let go of Ego.
When we started to learn that in order to run a successful company we needed to trust, and let our employees do what they were best at doing, that is when things began to fall into place. We had to leave our egos at the door and understand that we had taught them, and that even though they needed us still, we had to loosen the strings in order for them to flourish and show how much they valued the company, and what they were doing. We used the skills of each employee and they grew better for it.
6. We showed we cared, and added value to our customers.
We encouraged our customers, showed them we cared, gave referral bonuses, talked with our customers, advertised and made them feel like they were not alone. We heard more stories about people’s lives then I will share here, but what it did was let people from all walks of life know that they were valued as people.
7. We understood the numbers.
We had done our business plan and knew what we needed to grow. We had a balanced framework with our product, our marketing and our financial operations. Whenever we lost touch with that again, it showed. Understanding where you stand, and what you need to achieve your end goal is important and really the key.
8. We were great problem solvers.
Being a great problem solver is important. Issues come up in any business and knowing what you will do and seeing your end result helps make it easier to predict how you will react and what steps you can take to rectify the situation.
9. We were always learning and watching our industry.
We knew what was changing in the industry, we focused on what was working, and we made sure if we could that we were the first. We showed value to our customers even though our price may have been different than others.
10. We had perseverance.
We stayed our course, and were committed to the business. Sometimes this was a difficult thing to do but in the end overall it was a success because we did have perseverance.
Now, did we always do the right thing? No absolutely not! But we did have the ability to see the mistakes and attempt to fix them. Did our employees always love us? No not always, but we did care about people and did our best to create a team environment where they felt included and valued and when we let that slip, it showed in performance from the team. The things we learned from this business have been incredible for future success and have allowed me to now help others in their journey for fulfillment in their lives. For more on this subject, you can find it in my 10 Complete Secrets
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Mr B
There was a one hour interview on CNBC with Warren Buffet, the world’s second richest man who has donated $31 billion to charity.
Following are some very interesting aspects of his life:
1. He bought his first share at age 11 and he now regrets that he started too late! Things were very cheap that time… Encourage your children to invest.
2.He bought a small farm at age 14 with savings from delivering newspapers. One can buy many things with few savings. Encourage your children to start some kind of business.
3.He still lives in the same small 3-bedroom house in mid-town Omaha , that he bought after he got married 50 years ago. He says that he has everything he needs in that house. His house does not have a wall or a fence.
4. He drives his own car everywhere and does not have a driver or security people around him.You are what you are…
5. He never travels by private jet, although he owns the world's largest private jet company. Always think how you can accomplish things economically.
6. His company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns 63 companies. He writes only one letter each year to the CEOs of these companies, giving them goals for the year. He never holds meetings or calls them on a regular basis. Assign the right people to the right jobs.
7.He has given his CEO's only two rules: Rule number 1: do not lose any of your share holder's money. Rule number 2: Do not forget rule number 1. Set goals and make sure people focus on them.
8.He does not socialize with the high society crowd. His past time after he gets home is to make himself some pop corn and watch Television. Don't try to show off, just be your self and do what you enjoy doing.
9.Warren Buffet does not carry a cell phone, nor has a computer on his desk.
10.Bill Gates, the world's richest man met him for the first time only 5 years ago. Bill Gates did not think he had anything in common with Warren Buffet. So he had scheduled his meeting only for half hour. But when Gates met him, the meeting lasted for ten hours and Bill Gates became a devotee of Warren Buffet.
11.His advice to young people: "Stay away from credit cards & bank loans and invest in yourself and remember: Money doesn't create man but it is the man who created money. Live your life as simply as possible. Don't do what others say - listen to them, but do what you feel good doing. Don't follow brand names; just wear those things in which you feel comfortable. Don't waste your money on unnecessary things; rather just spend on those things you really need. After all, it's your life so why allow others to rule your life?"
"The HAPPIEST people DO NOT necessarily have the ‘BEST’ THINGS. They simply APPRECIATE the things they have”
Let us choose a simpler and smarter way to live
Following are some very interesting aspects of his life:
1. He bought his first share at age 11 and he now regrets that he started too late! Things were very cheap that time… Encourage your children to invest.
2.He bought a small farm at age 14 with savings from delivering newspapers. One can buy many things with few savings. Encourage your children to start some kind of business.
3.He still lives in the same small 3-bedroom house in mid-town Omaha , that he bought after he got married 50 years ago. He says that he has everything he needs in that house. His house does not have a wall or a fence.
4. He drives his own car everywhere and does not have a driver or security people around him.You are what you are…
5. He never travels by private jet, although he owns the world's largest private jet company. Always think how you can accomplish things economically.
6. His company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns 63 companies. He writes only one letter each year to the CEOs of these companies, giving them goals for the year. He never holds meetings or calls them on a regular basis. Assign the right people to the right jobs.
7.He has given his CEO's only two rules: Rule number 1: do not lose any of your share holder's money. Rule number 2: Do not forget rule number 1. Set goals and make sure people focus on them.
8.He does not socialize with the high society crowd. His past time after he gets home is to make himself some pop corn and watch Television. Don't try to show off, just be your self and do what you enjoy doing.
9.Warren Buffet does not carry a cell phone, nor has a computer on his desk.
10.Bill Gates, the world's richest man met him for the first time only 5 years ago. Bill Gates did not think he had anything in common with Warren Buffet. So he had scheduled his meeting only for half hour. But when Gates met him, the meeting lasted for ten hours and Bill Gates became a devotee of Warren Buffet.
11.His advice to young people: "Stay away from credit cards & bank loans and invest in yourself and remember: Money doesn't create man but it is the man who created money. Live your life as simply as possible. Don't do what others say - listen to them, but do what you feel good doing. Don't follow brand names; just wear those things in which you feel comfortable. Don't waste your money on unnecessary things; rather just spend on those things you really need. After all, it's your life so why allow others to rule your life?"
"The HAPPIEST people DO NOT necessarily have the ‘BEST’ THINGS. They simply APPRECIATE the things they have”
Let us choose a simpler and smarter way to live
Thursday, January 14, 2010
internet deal flow
The world clearly has changed. Long gone are the days of Rotary Club and Elks Lodge America, and of Tuesday afternoon tea. Replacing them is the brave new world of social and virtual networking, of Linked-In, of Facebook, and of Twitter. And from a standpoint of access to and diligence of great deal flow, this is an extremely good thing.
Let's compare how deals can be and are identified and diligenced today to how it was done 20 years ago. Back in the good old 20th century, opportunity flow was limited to that which could be introduced to you directly by people you knew, usually in your local community or in your immediate circle of family, friends, and business colleagues. Oh what a simpler, more innocent time that was! But it was also a parochial and limited one.
There was first the limit of geography and introduction. If you were far from the major entrepreneurial and finance centers (New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, and Los Angeles), the likelihood of crossing paths with the "special deals" was very, very limited. Back then, opportunity flow really was limited to the "old boys club," and what you knew was far less important than who you knew.
Compare that to today. Sites such as Linked-In, Facebook, BizBuySell, RaiseCapital.com, The Funded, The Private Equity Exchange, Second Market and even Twitter are treasure troves of startup, small business, and emerging technology deals and ideas. This is to say nothing of the World Wide Web itself, where all of the serious entrepreneurs and private companies (a number that runs into the millions) have websites that explain, in various degrees of succinctness, what they do, where, why they do it, and how they make money. And if they can't, with a click of a button, you move on.
And there was enormous information friction 20 years ago. Getting quality information back then was time-consuming, expensive, and prone to omission errors. There were no websites, where you could quickly get that critical feel for the "realness" of a business' growth prospects. There was no ability to "Google" someone and to find out about that bribery conviction 10 years ago – conveniently omitted from conversation and the business plan. There was no Linked-In and Facebook to identify the various "degrees of connection" that confirm resume and background representations.
Now to this you may say, “But heck in a Norman Rockwell America this stuff wasn't needed,” because, back then, you did business like men: face-to-face with guys you knew from the club.
To this I say two words: Bernie Madoff. Mr. Ponzi himself could never have gotten away with what he did if he traveled amongst the modern "technocrati." His M.O. of secrecy and opaqueness would have screamed suspicion immediately to any one even basically versed in online networking. This brave new world is one that if you have nothing to hide, then you ain’t opaque. And it is a better world for it.
Finally, you may say, “Well Jay, if this new world of ours is so abundant and so filled to the brim with such incredible money-making deals, why are we all getting killed in the markets? Couldn't we all kind of go for some of those 1980's-esque returns about now? If this new world of ours is so great, why is everything so bad?”
To this, I refer you to Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of the paradigm-changing treatise, "The Black Swan." At the risk of over-simplyifying Taleb's big idea, the good old days were a world of "Mediocristan," or in the inimitable words of Garrison Keiller, one where “all of the children were above average.” There were business successes and failures for sure, but they were of more of a gradual and tepid form. The 21st century, in contrast, is a world of Extremistan - characterized at the macro level by outrageous bubbles and busts, and at the micro level by a quite small number of enterprises and business models that are responsible for the significant majority of an investment class's return.
Our contention is that, as we move into the 2nd decade of the 21st century, more and more investors will both be able, and prefer, to hunt for these future supernovae via online social networking and deal exchanges and the Internet itself. From here, most but not all of the traditional deal diligence rules apply. In future blog posts, we will explore which ones do, which ones don't, and how to assess and price private company deals in the current environment.
Let's compare how deals can be and are identified and diligenced today to how it was done 20 years ago. Back in the good old 20th century, opportunity flow was limited to that which could be introduced to you directly by people you knew, usually in your local community or in your immediate circle of family, friends, and business colleagues. Oh what a simpler, more innocent time that was! But it was also a parochial and limited one.
There was first the limit of geography and introduction. If you were far from the major entrepreneurial and finance centers (New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, and Los Angeles), the likelihood of crossing paths with the "special deals" was very, very limited. Back then, opportunity flow really was limited to the "old boys club," and what you knew was far less important than who you knew.
Compare that to today. Sites such as Linked-In, Facebook, BizBuySell, RaiseCapital.com, The Funded, The Private Equity Exchange, Second Market and even Twitter are treasure troves of startup, small business, and emerging technology deals and ideas. This is to say nothing of the World Wide Web itself, where all of the serious entrepreneurs and private companies (a number that runs into the millions) have websites that explain, in various degrees of succinctness, what they do, where, why they do it, and how they make money. And if they can't, with a click of a button, you move on.
And there was enormous information friction 20 years ago. Getting quality information back then was time-consuming, expensive, and prone to omission errors. There were no websites, where you could quickly get that critical feel for the "realness" of a business' growth prospects. There was no ability to "Google" someone and to find out about that bribery conviction 10 years ago – conveniently omitted from conversation and the business plan. There was no Linked-In and Facebook to identify the various "degrees of connection" that confirm resume and background representations.
Now to this you may say, “But heck in a Norman Rockwell America this stuff wasn't needed,” because, back then, you did business like men: face-to-face with guys you knew from the club.
To this I say two words: Bernie Madoff. Mr. Ponzi himself could never have gotten away with what he did if he traveled amongst the modern "technocrati." His M.O. of secrecy and opaqueness would have screamed suspicion immediately to any one even basically versed in online networking. This brave new world is one that if you have nothing to hide, then you ain’t opaque. And it is a better world for it.
Finally, you may say, “Well Jay, if this new world of ours is so abundant and so filled to the brim with such incredible money-making deals, why are we all getting killed in the markets? Couldn't we all kind of go for some of those 1980's-esque returns about now? If this new world of ours is so great, why is everything so bad?”
To this, I refer you to Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of the paradigm-changing treatise, "The Black Swan." At the risk of over-simplyifying Taleb's big idea, the good old days were a world of "Mediocristan," or in the inimitable words of Garrison Keiller, one where “all of the children were above average.” There were business successes and failures for sure, but they were of more of a gradual and tepid form. The 21st century, in contrast, is a world of Extremistan - characterized at the macro level by outrageous bubbles and busts, and at the micro level by a quite small number of enterprises and business models that are responsible for the significant majority of an investment class's return.
Our contention is that, as we move into the 2nd decade of the 21st century, more and more investors will both be able, and prefer, to hunt for these future supernovae via online social networking and deal exchanges and the Internet itself. From here, most but not all of the traditional deal diligence rules apply. In future blog posts, we will explore which ones do, which ones don't, and how to assess and price private company deals in the current environment.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
market research
One of the things I learned back then was to be wary of
certain research results. Why? Because I learned that it's
pretty easy to purposely skew research questions to get the
results you want.
Which is why a lot of new products fail, even though the
research said they should have succeeded.
While there are no certainties when conducting or reviewing
marketing research, one thing is clear. When data from
multiple sources continue to say the same thing, than that
data is typically true.
Such is the case when it comes to Internet Marketing.
Countless research studies have proven beyond a doubt that
virtually every company can profit from improving their
online presence. Consider these recent statistics from
eMarketer and Cornell University:
* 87% of all Internet users utilize search engines to find
information on goods and services online.
* 63% of all Internet users have used the Internet
specifically to research a product or service before buying
it.
* 49.9% of companies marketing their businesses online
realize ROIs exceeding 100%. (that means they make over $2
for every dollar they invest online!)
* 37.1% of B2C and 37.9% of B2B companies who have tried,
have successfully marketed their businesses using Facebook.
The research is pretty clear. Getting your company found in
the appropriate places online can skyrocket your growth and
profits.
But, like with anything else, internet marketing is a bit
complex. And, more often than not, business owners don't
realize success right away.
It's sort of like riding a bicycle. Once you know how to do
it and get the hang of it, it's smooth sailing. But, the
first few times, particularly if you don't have anyone
watching out for you, you'll fall down.
In fact, I've fallen down quite a few times. Over the past
ten years, I have invested over $5 million of my own money
into internet marketing. But, while I've gotten knocked down
a few times, I've also enjoyed a ton of success. And I've
learned a whole bunch of valuable lessons.
And, right now, I'm putting together the final touches on
my internet marketing course so I can teach you these
lessons.
While I'd love for you to buy the course, even if you don't
buy it, I feel obliged to get at least some of this
extremely valuable information in your hands. That way you
can start using internet marketing techniques to grow your
revenues and profits (and not get hammered by a competitor
who is a savvier online marketer).
So stay tuned. Over the next couple of weeks, I will be
sending you a few emails with some of the information from
my upcoming internet marketing course.
To Your Success,
certain research results. Why? Because I learned that it's
pretty easy to purposely skew research questions to get the
results you want.
Which is why a lot of new products fail, even though the
research said they should have succeeded.
While there are no certainties when conducting or reviewing
marketing research, one thing is clear. When data from
multiple sources continue to say the same thing, than that
data is typically true.
Such is the case when it comes to Internet Marketing.
Countless research studies have proven beyond a doubt that
virtually every company can profit from improving their
online presence. Consider these recent statistics from
eMarketer and Cornell University:
* 87% of all Internet users utilize search engines to find
information on goods and services online.
* 63% of all Internet users have used the Internet
specifically to research a product or service before buying
it.
* 49.9% of companies marketing their businesses online
realize ROIs exceeding 100%. (that means they make over $2
for every dollar they invest online!)
* 37.1% of B2C and 37.9% of B2B companies who have tried,
have successfully marketed their businesses using Facebook.
The research is pretty clear. Getting your company found in
the appropriate places online can skyrocket your growth and
profits.
But, like with anything else, internet marketing is a bit
complex. And, more often than not, business owners don't
realize success right away.
It's sort of like riding a bicycle. Once you know how to do
it and get the hang of it, it's smooth sailing. But, the
first few times, particularly if you don't have anyone
watching out for you, you'll fall down.
In fact, I've fallen down quite a few times. Over the past
ten years, I have invested over $5 million of my own money
into internet marketing. But, while I've gotten knocked down
a few times, I've also enjoyed a ton of success. And I've
learned a whole bunch of valuable lessons.
And, right now, I'm putting together the final touches on
my internet marketing course so I can teach you these
lessons.
While I'd love for you to buy the course, even if you don't
buy it, I feel obliged to get at least some of this
extremely valuable information in your hands. That way you
can start using internet marketing techniques to grow your
revenues and profits (and not get hammered by a competitor
who is a savvier online marketer).
So stay tuned. Over the next couple of weeks, I will be
sending you a few emails with some of the information from
my upcoming internet marketing course.
To Your Success,
Sunday, January 10, 2010
points
There are however a few points that you have overlooked. Although it is definitely true that lenders have been lending on property for as long as anyone can remember, their attitude towards loaning money follows the market as it travels up and down in fairly regular cycles which are almost predictable except for the depth of the necessary and automatic corrections. At this time, we are experiencing, as you stated, the near lowest part of the most recent cycle in which values will reach the bottom of the curve (hopefully within the next 6 to 12 months) at which point it becomes the ultimate buyers market and everything is uphill from there. The problem is that this current state of affairs only adds, in the minds of all lenders, more risk to the equation. Therefore, it becomes necessary to add more security to the loan scenario to counterbalance the increased risk. As I stated before, any asset or property value becomes secondary collateral as the lender will consider it only at its lowest predictable or "fire sale" pricing. Something worth $10M today will serve as $2M in collateral and subtract from that the costs and time involved in foreclosing on the property upon borrower default. Its not worth their effort to take it on and add it to the books when they expect your project to fail anyway. This may change but not for a long time and for that matter it may never adjust back to the way it was in the past due to the beating most lenders took during the recent downslide. Live and learn.
Angels, private equity and venture capital aside, it is preferable for borrowers to deal with banks and financial institutions that are licensed and regulated. This also lowers the risk to the borrower by eliminating the need of taking on a contracted "partner" that will in most cases, eventually own part or most of your company. The stakes are high for the borrower when utilizing this type of lender and we all know it. Granted they have their function and are appealing to those who find it necessary to use their services, but if most borrowers had a choice, they would go to a bank or financial institution for obvious reasons.
When I stated that the borrower was required to place 20% down on their project, I did not mean that they would be haphazardly handing over to some unknown entity or throwing it into some bottomless void watching as it floated down into the darkness. All borrowers must exercise rational thought and caution when and if they decide to put up the required depository funds. In my humble opinion, the deposit needs to be secured by something of equal or greater value and must include an ironclad contract which ensures its return within a predetermined time period. Also, if it's my investors funds that I'm using as a deposit for my project, not only do I need the above, but I would need the deposit to generate, at the very least, what it's costing me to use the deposit funds from my investors. If it costs me 10% annually, the deposit would ideally yield the 10% plus another 5% for inflationary adjustment.
Lets review:
1. The borrower needs a licensed and regulated bank or financial institution as a lender in order to retain 100% ownership in their project with no outside interference in the decision making process.
2. The borrower needs to secure their 20% deposit by exchanging it for something of equal or greater value with an annual yield of a minimum of 15% to satisfy their investors cost of funds and an inflationary adjustment.
3. The borrower needs an experienced, reputable, licensed law firm to handle the transaction in a professional and expeditial manner and to work hand in hand with the borrowers law firm to result in a successful conclusion.
4. The borrower needs a 10 year term at 5% annual interest (I thought I would throw that in to make it seem more difficult)
Angels, private equity and venture capital aside, it is preferable for borrowers to deal with banks and financial institutions that are licensed and regulated. This also lowers the risk to the borrower by eliminating the need of taking on a contracted "partner" that will in most cases, eventually own part or most of your company. The stakes are high for the borrower when utilizing this type of lender and we all know it. Granted they have their function and are appealing to those who find it necessary to use their services, but if most borrowers had a choice, they would go to a bank or financial institution for obvious reasons.
When I stated that the borrower was required to place 20% down on their project, I did not mean that they would be haphazardly handing over to some unknown entity or throwing it into some bottomless void watching as it floated down into the darkness. All borrowers must exercise rational thought and caution when and if they decide to put up the required depository funds. In my humble opinion, the deposit needs to be secured by something of equal or greater value and must include an ironclad contract which ensures its return within a predetermined time period. Also, if it's my investors funds that I'm using as a deposit for my project, not only do I need the above, but I would need the deposit to generate, at the very least, what it's costing me to use the deposit funds from my investors. If it costs me 10% annually, the deposit would ideally yield the 10% plus another 5% for inflationary adjustment.
Lets review:
1. The borrower needs a licensed and regulated bank or financial institution as a lender in order to retain 100% ownership in their project with no outside interference in the decision making process.
2. The borrower needs to secure their 20% deposit by exchanging it for something of equal or greater value with an annual yield of a minimum of 15% to satisfy their investors cost of funds and an inflationary adjustment.
3. The borrower needs an experienced, reputable, licensed law firm to handle the transaction in a professional and expeditial manner and to work hand in hand with the borrowers law firm to result in a successful conclusion.
4. The borrower needs a 10 year term at 5% annual interest (I thought I would throw that in to make it seem more difficult)
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