Last week I attended the BOSS 2011 Conference put on by the Barefoot Executive, Carrie Wilkerson. Was an incredible experience!!! While I was there I participated on the "Power of People: Buzz, Publicity and Social Media panel and also conducted a breakout session on Financing and Funding. As you can see I am multi-talented speaking on two such diverse topics. Not sure that is so much true as much as that I have just been around a long time. I spent the first 15 years of my career focused exclusively on financing both bank and investment funding. In the past five years I have continued to counsel on funding but my focus has shifted more to helping people build awareness of their business using social media. FYI...the social media is a lot more fun.
The funding presentation was pretty much technology free done on a flip chart. Given how bad I write and spell I promised that I would put together some slides for those that participated in the session and post them here and I thought I could share with them with all of you too.
I'll let the slides speak for themselves but the basic premise is that there is a funding continuum that dictates what kind of funding you should be seeking based on where your business lies on the continuum. Having said that the type of business you have also dictates what kind of financing you can obtain. Traditional businesses with normal growth models need not look to private equity investors as they will have difficulty reaching the level of scalable growth needed to support the return needs of investors. Likewise, high-growth technology businesses may have difficulty dealing with banks due the business's need for growth capital and the lack of collateral. The key for early stage businesses is to have a great product, plan and strategy that will allow them to move further down the continuum closer to they type of funding they are seeking. The attached slides touch on each stage of the Funding Continuum with some insights on working each stage of the process.
Let me know your thoughts / questions and we'll figure out how to get you some money.
Michael - Nice presentation. Even better if you add nontraditional financing. Check out "Thinking Outside the Banks" from Consultant Financing - Ron Hutcheson. When investors and banks are not possible, an entrepreneur may need to reach out for help from one of these lenders until he/she qualifies for banking assistance. You can reach Ron rhutcheson@smartfundingsolutions.com
Posted by: Gloria Pobst | October 14, 2011 at 11:28 AM
I enjoyed it - I liked slide 22 about the NDA - some of my clients love them and I always caution them about using it.
#21 - the Don'ts - I'd like the second comment to start with a Don't - otherwise it's confusing. Did you mean to say "Don't wait to get your value proposition in early etc....?
Posted by: Sarah O'Connell | October 20, 2011 at 08:33 AM
The major benefit of using your bank to make use of money is that they know what sort of spending patterns you have, and if you have built a relationship with them they are likely to be more generous than other lending institutions.
Posted by: Shane Adams | November 04, 2011 at 01:19 PM
Thousands of small business owners have financed their business with a 401k small busines financing strategy.
Posted by: Cliff Bell | March 21, 2012 at 11:32 PM
There are many sources of financing that fit into the funding continuum.The key is to really understand your needs and have a smart funding strategy. The most appropriate sources of funding is an important decision that needs to be made. Where is the money coming from and what is the impact on taking that money needs to be considered.
Posted by: Michael Bowers | March 22, 2012 at 08:05 AM