The Five ... You Must Answer to Get ... HelpBy William ... November ... ...
The Five Questions You Must Answer to Get Financing Help
By William Cate
Published November 1999
[http://home.earthlink.net/~beowulfinvestments/] [http://home.earthlink.net/~beowulfinvestments/globalvillageinvestmentclubwelcome/]
1. What do you have?
Is your company making money? If you are a startup company, you
will find it hard to raise money. The industry in which your company
operates is important. If you are in a fad industry, your odds of finding
money are better. Where are you selling your product or service? The larger
your market, the better your odds of finding money.
2. How is the company structured?
You must be incorporated somewhere. I think that a company with an
international market for its products or services should incorporate in a
tax haven. Your management team must have a relevant education and work experience to make your company succeed.
3. What do you want?
You want money. How much money? Do you need all the money now or can the investment be spread over time. You are more likely to find money if the investment can be spread over time. The reason is the investors have the opportunity to see their initial investment produce positive results
before they risk more money on your company.
4. If you had what you wanted, what would you do?
Expanding the company's market is your best answer. Poor answers
are R&D, raise managements' salaries, or paying down debt. If your company
isn't growing, why should anyone invest?
5. What are you willing to pay for help?
Concisely answer what you are offering an investor to risk their
money on your company. Do you intend to rely on professional help in
raising the money? Then, concisely answer what you are willing to pay the
professionals for their help.
If you are unwilling to pay the current cost of investment, you
won't find an investor. If you aren't willing to pay for professional help,
you won't find professional help.
The trick is to summarize your answers into a 300-350 word email
message. I'm willing to read your summary without charge. Most people in
the finance business will review a clear, concise, and short email and
reply with a "yes" or "no." Please don't send me your investment package
unless I indicate an interest in your company.
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* Liquidity
If your potential investors can't sell their stock, they won't
invest. You have better odds of beating the Bank at Monte Carlo than
finding serious money for a private company. In Monte Carlo, your odds of
winning at Roulette are 1-in-36. In Vegas, they are 1-in-37.
Your odds of finding a Venture Capitalist are 1-in-2,500. Your odds
of finding a Vulture Capitalist are about 1-in-100. My best guess is that
your odds of finding an Angel are about 1-in-300. It will cost $30,000 to
$100,000 to prepare a business plan and present it to these groups. Is it
worth the risk?
According to Money (1/1/98), your odds of raising $200,000 for a
SCOR company are about 1-in-4. The costs of raising this money will be
between $15,000 and $100,000. If the potential costs are over $50,000, it's
a losing bet. You are making the same statistical mistake that a poker
player makes drawing to an inside straight.
With liquidity, your odds improve. It may cost $1.25 million to do
an IPO (Initial Public Offer). However, it's an even money bet that the
underwriter will do the IPO. If your IPO financing exceeds $2.5 million,
you've made a statistically sound bet.
Your odds of succeeding with a Spinoff/Offshore Private Placement
exceed 9-to-1. This means the odds are over 90% in your favor. The reason
that the spinoff works is the 1934 U. S. Securities Act is clear that any
company with 500 American resident shareholders must be a reporting
(public) company. While the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
can delay the review process, they can't stop a public company from paying
a stock dividend to their shareholders. The reason the European Fund
Managers risk money on spinoffs is that they are buying the stock at a
substantial discount to the trading price. They can't lose because they are
assured liquidity.
It's your money. You can risk it on an IPO. You can risk it on a
spinoff. You can waste it trying to find an Angel or VC. If you want to
risk it on a spinoff, contact me.
To contact the author: Visit the Beowulf Investments website: [http://home.earthlink.net/~beowulfinvestments/] Or, visit the Global Village Investment Club Website:
[http://home.earthlink.net/~beowulfinvestments/globalvillageinvestmentclubwelcome/]
Five Myths About Inflation
A classic definition of inflation is any increase in the money supply. Understanding inflation is vital to anyone seeking investment profits or attempting to build a successful company. As with most basic issues of the global economy, inflation is surrounded by myths and misinformation.
Recession Planning
The clouds of a 2006 Recession are starting to form on America's horizon.Politicians know that Recessions or Depressions are bad for their reelectionchanges. Bad economic times tend to create unemployment among the nice folksholding office at the time of economic stress. You can expect the Governmentto do everything possible to delay a Recession until after the November 2006election. However, the American economy is currently caught in an upwardmoving inflation and a Recession would still the fires of a runawaycurrency. The Real Estate Bubble may be about to burst. And, America'sfinancial institutions appear to be in increasing trouble over failedderivative bets.
African Aid
Africa, like everywhere else in the world, has its fair share of honest, intelligent; hardworking people who want to see their families have a better standard of living. Unfortunately, most of these people are living below the poverty line. The reasons that Africa, with all of its natural resources, is an economic basket case are complex. They start with the 16th Century Africans' failure to adopt an effective immigration policy. The result was the European immigrants divided up the continent without regard to historic tribal boundaries. The modern result has been tribal wars waged with modern weapons from the Sudan to Rwanda.
