Monthly Archives: February 2009 - Page 2

Start-ups – If Your Goal is Investment Or Acquisition by a Big Company You Are Patenting Wrong

Posted by on February 11, 2009 Comments Off

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Creative Commons License photo credit: sergeant killjoy

Do you treat your patents as a fence or a tollbooth? If you wish for your start-up technology company to obtain investment from or acquisition by a bigger player, you had better understand the difference.

Most start-up technology company entrepreneurs and CEO’s understand that patents can be key to establishing the value of a new business idea. Typically, entrepreneurs and CEO’s such as yourself will engage patent attorneys to build an IP portfolio that protects the start-up’s technology and products to the fullest extent possible. The motivation for this effort and expense is, of course, to to protect your start-up’s idea from use by others. As management of a start-up you may be seeking to build an ongoing business around the patented technology, but often the goal of building a solid patent portfolio is to make your business an attractive target for investment or acquisition by a larger company. Read more »

Differentiating Between Recession and Expansion Using Income Levels Approach

Posted by on February 11, 2009 Comments Off

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Recession is often defined as a state of the economy when the gross domestic product is very low. There is a need for income earners to be able to tell the difference between recession and expansion by watching the levels of their personal incomes. Some widely-embraced market indicators are very deceiving.

Sometimes you need to look no further than the trend of your own incomes as a business owner or even an employed person. Recession needs to be differentiated from expansion for the right business decisions to be made. Read more »

The Economic Meltdown You Are Not Hearing About

Posted by on February 11, 2009 Comments Off

Chicago (www.photo.org.es)-50
Creative Commons License photo credit: A. www.viajar24h.comThe number one issue on the plate for nearly everyone is the economic meltdown that occurred in 2008 and is carrying through to 2009. Although we here bad news in the media, most don’t describe the really ugly things occurring.

The Banks

2008 was a bad year for banks. Given what you hear on the news, most of us would think things were calming down. They are not. If anything, they are worse. For instance, are you area that regional banks are failing at a rate of more than one a week? How about the fact the federal government cranked $165 billion dollars into the 8 biggest American banks, but they still lost $418 billion in value? The latest estimates place the total capitalization of all banks in the US at 1.8 trillion dollars. That’s not bad until you realize the latest estimate of bad debt in the industry is 3.6 trillion dollars. Read more »

Obtaining Venture Capital For Business Startup

Posted by on February 11, 2009 1 comment

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Creative Commons License photo credit: A. www.viajar24h.com

If you are an inventor or an entrepreneur, obtaining venture capital funding is most likely a major concern for you and your business. During the dot com boom, venture capitalists were fueling the growth, research, and ventures of many new companies. Now that the dot com boom has cooled, those worried about obtaining venture capital for business startup may have a more difficult time securing funding for their budding business.

Venture capital money can come in many different forms. There are actually companies that specialize in researching new companies to invest in, in order to earn a modest return on their investors money. These companies receive thousands of requests for funding monthly and may decide to fund one to two small start-ups a month. Some venture capital companies specialize in specific projects such as real estate or a technology based company. Many large, corporate construction projects are funded via some sort of venture capital agreement. Read more »

How Venture Leasing Added Millions To A Startup’s Equity Value

Posted by on February 11, 2009 Comments Off

La Belleza de la creacion
Creative Commons License photo credit: Kenn!Craig Berman beamed noticeably after completing his board presentation. Berman, CEO of a startup that develops nanotechnology applications for the defense industry, had just closed a $ 20 million equity round. Berman finalized the round at an equity valuation that made the whole board blush. Only six months earlier, Berman’s team faced a daunting technical delay that set the company back three months. With only four months of cash remaining from a previous equity round, the delay would cause Berman’s company to burn cash faster and to fall short of an important benchmark.

The prospect of raising additional equity earlier than expected and at a much lower valuation than anticipated was a chilling thought for Berman and his board.

Just as things appeared to be headed downhill, the company’s CFO broached the idea of obtaining $ 1.5 million in venture leasing. Roughly $ 600,000 of this financing would be used to finance existing equipment. The balance could be used for upcoming acquisitions of computer workstations, servers, software, and test equipment. Read more »

Will The Sub-Prime Debacle Derail Venture Lending?

Posted by on February 11, 2009 Comments Off

Mari and the Volturi
Creative Commons License photo credit: liqueneThe unraveling sub-prime mortgage market has spewed its wreckage across a vast cross section of the financial markets. Investors and lenders continue to smart from massive losses on investments and loans tied to this market. As some scramble to assess the implications of the sub-prime meltdown, many investors and lenders have either abandoned higher risk asset classes or are approaching them with great caution.

Residing in a far corner of the financing panoply is a financing vehicle known as venture lending. This form of financing is used by start-ups supported by venture capitalists as a means of funding working capital and equipment acquisitions. A less expensive form of financing than venture capital, start-ups use these loans to extend the runway between equity rounds and to avoid ownership dilution.

Venture lending is in the midst of a strong rebound that started in 2003. This segment is recovering from a sharp decline that followed the bursting of the ‘New Economy’ bubble earlier in the decade. During the late 1990s, prior to the bubble burst, equity investments in start-ups topped $100 billion. Read more »

Making Your Business a Success in a Down Economy

Posted by on February 9, 2009 Comments Off

Grammy Party at The Hard Rock Cafe Chicago
Creative Commons License photo credit: gingerbydesign

The first thing many businesses do during a down economy is to cut their marketing budget. While cutting back makes sense in some areas of a business, cutting the funding for marketing services is often a mistake. A business always needs to work toward increasing its visibility to customers, especially in a down economy. Becoming less visible can drastically hurt a business, so working with marketing firms because more vital than ever.

Keep Profits Coming in

Regardless of what happens within the economy, there is still always a need for goods and services and there will always be consumers who need to buy. While there may be fewer of them willing to pay higher prices, there will always be buyers. Without marketing services, your business doesn’t have the means for reaching these buyers to let them know you offer the exact product or service they need.

The best way to make sure you can always accomplish this is to continue your marketing services, even during a down economy. While you may be able to come up with a few ideas you can execute on your own, a professional firm has the experience needed to make sure your business stays in the spotlight. If you don’t currently work with marketing firms, consider consulting one, especially during tough economic times. Read more »

Private Lending Money – Tips on Marketing Your Private Lending Credibility Kit

Posted by on February 9, 2009 Comments Off

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As a real estate investor, you know how important an effective private lending credibility kit is to the success of your business, especially if you are just starting out. Instead of being at the mercy of conventional lending institutions to approve your loan, a private lending credibility kit will set you up for success in the world of private lending.

Thanks to the power of the Internet, there are several tools you can use to increase the chances of reaching your prospects and getting your credibility kit in front of many potential private lenders.

In addition to creating a website there are several unique ways to get your private lending credibility kit in front of hundreds if not thousands of potential private lenders. Read more »

Beat the Bad Economy With a Home Based Business

Posted by on February 9, 2009 Comments Off

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Creative Commons License photo credit: Randy Stewart

More and more people are getting involved with home based businesses as a way of supplementing their income in a bad economy. With the internet opening the market for anybody, anywhere, to offer up a product or service for sale, a home based business has the potential to be very successful. However getting any home based business off the ground takes a lot of work, dedication and-this a rare word you hear in business anymore-passion. Luckily there are a few tips that can help you:

Have a clear vision of what your home business is going to be before you begin – A home based business should be something you have clearly mapped out in your head before you ever begin. You should know what service or product you have to offer, and why it will be profitable. Furthermore, a home based business should be something you are passionate about, enjoy doing, and are willing foster and promote until it gets off the ground. Read more »

Survival Tips For an Economic Depression

Posted by on February 9, 2009 Comments Off

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Creative Commons License photo credit: the tony santos

t is not the end. Dark clouds of recession are certainly hovering around the financial horizon. The economic indicators point towards a downtrend in business, which means problems for real estate investors, businesses and job seekers. Gas prices have hit an all time high. It is certainly time to prepare for a rainy day.

Banks are reeling under subprime losses. Real estate seems so unreal. The U.S. Government is finally seeing red in their economic predictions. What options do individuals, investors and regular employees have in this economy? What should small businesses do to prepare for the recession? Certainly none of us can afford to take things lightly. Read more »

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