photo credit: Logan Antill
There are many risks involved when Early-Stage companies begin seeking loans from a bank; however, in order to understand the risks involved, one must understand what a bank really is. A bank is defined as a financial institution that accepts deposits and channels the money into lending activities. The Federal Reserve regulates institutional banks such as Bank of America, Wachovia, local banks etc. Due to these regulations, banks assure fair lending practices, protection of assets for those who have deposited money with them, and rates that can be charged to a borrower. Most people believe that debt financing only comes from banks like this, or institutional lenders, and that equity financing comes from private or institutional investors. With Angel Investing, however, there are many ways to participate.
Private investors can provide capital in a debt vehicle. This allows private investors to play the role of a bank, but without the fiduciary restrictions of operating under Federal Reserve Regulations. Continue reading ‘Financing Options for Entrepreneurs and Angel Investors’
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Acquisition/Investment in Indian Companies by Foreign & Domestic Investors – Six Steps Mantra
Joint ventures, strategic alliances and acquisitions are the flavor of the day that enable fast growth focused companies to have rapid inorganic growth and expansion in new sectors. However, prior to engaging in a joint venture relationship or acquisition of an operating Indian company (“Investee company”), either by way of private placement, or secondary market, or subscription of substantial equity share capital, it is advisable for the Investor to carefully and stringently undertake the following six step mantra to avoid future surprises and heartburns:
(i) Due Diligence/Operations Audit: Extensive legal and financial due diligence of the Investee company is advisable to assess Investee company’s track record in compliance with Indian laws, statutory obligations and regulations applicable to it. The due diligence exercise (which usually takes between three (3) to four (4) weeks depending on availability of documents) not only enables the Investor to assess potential liabilities, evaluate unknown and potential, disclosed or undisclosed liabilities but also enables the Investor to assess the feasibility and viability of the proposed acquisition and rationalize enterprise valuation. If required, Investor can demand creation of an escrow account for safe deposit of a part of the acquisition cost, parked for an agreed period to mitigate against any future liabilities of the Investee company. Continue reading ‘Acquisition/Investment in Indian Companies by Foreign & Domestic Investors – Six Steps Mantra’
photo credit: A. www.viajar24h.com
You’ll almost certainly need to raise money to start up your company, unless you already have sufficient capital yourself. The typical costs of starting up are in obtaining premises, manufacturing your product if you have one, buying materials, stock or equipment, marketing and fees for external consultancy such as legal help, accountancy etc. Then when you’re off the ground, you’ll need working capital to keep you afloat in the gaps between paying your own invoices and receiving payment from customer invoices.
Again, your business plan is essential at this stage of setting up your business. In it you will already have scoped out what your money needs are and how you plan to raise the capital, and you’ll be using it to persuade potential investors and lenders of the benefits of funding your company. Your financial calculations in your business plan therefore need to be thorough and accurate and presented with confidence.
Everyone expects that they’ll be able to stick to their plans and only need to borrow the absolute minimum, but more often than not something unexpected crops up to throw a spanner in the works. Continue reading ‘How Do I Obtain Capital To Invest In My Business Start Up’
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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. Continue reading ‘Start-ups – If Your Goal is Investment Or Acquisition by a Big Company You Are Patenting Wrong’
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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. Continue reading ‘Differentiating Between Recession and Expansion Using Income Levels Approach’
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. Continue reading ‘The Economic Meltdown You Are Not Hearing About’
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. Continue reading ‘Obtaining Venture Capital For Business Startup’
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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. Continue reading ‘Making Your Business a Success in a Down Economy’
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. Continue reading ‘Beat the Bad Economy With a Home Based Business’
photo credit: jking89
Unless you happen to be planning to establish a charitable, non-profit organization of some type, the main reason why you may be interested in starting a business is to make a living or build wealth from the endeavor. For many people, the desire to “be your own boss” and escape from the shackles of traditional employment is part of the motivation, but the bottom line usually comes down to wanting some form of business financial success so that you are not living from paycheck to paycheck.
One of the most important things that you will do in your quest to enjoy business related financial success is to have a clear, detailed, and realistic business plan that will lay out a map for your progress in your new business. A well-done business plan will include financial projections, working capital management objectives, cash flows analysis, industry and competition analysis, a profile to target customers or a specific audience, and an outline of organizational and asset management ideas. Continue reading ‘Business Financial Success Comes With Proper Planning’
