From the category archives:
When a small business goes through the process of raising money from investors, it’s far from painless. It is one of the most stressful events in the growth of a company. If the owners aren’t prepared for what fund-raising entails, they run the risk of losing control of the company they are fighting so hard [...]
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Continue ReadingMany companies – even small companies – have communications problems between their finance and sales departments. Even if each “department” consists of only one person, they still have a hard time talking to each other. The problem can be even worse at smaller companies that don’t have sophisticated feedback or [...]
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Continue ReadingAs a business owner, you know that life is full of contradictions. A bank will lend your company obscene amounts of money…exactly when you don’t need it. But what happens when your business desperately needs financing? It’s the hardest thing in the world to get. Suppliers tell us they “value [...]
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Continue ReadingCutting budgets and slashing spending has become all the rage lately. State governments, the federal government, even foreign governments have come to the realization that you can’t keep spending money you don’t have forever. Deficit spending requires a number of willing partners. Trading partners, foreign central banks, and institutional investors [...]
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Continue ReadingWhen it comes time to pitch your company to investors, most business owners play it safe. They have their traditional PowerPoint presentation that includes the Mission, Vision, Product description, management team experience, sales strategy, financial projections and competitive advantages. That’s fine, but it isn’t enough to convince investors to write [...]
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Continue ReadingI was recently introduced to the concept of Minimum Viable Product or MVP. If you work in the software development industry, you most likely have heard of MVP. But for everyone else this will be an eye-opening experience. When I first heard the term Minimum Viable Product, it definitely sounded [...]
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Continue ReadingThe United States Postal Service (USPS) operates on a scale unimaginable to most business owners. The USPS is the second largest civilian employer in the country. On a given day, USPS delivers 584 million mail pieces and generates $224 million in revenues. Yes per day. Last year, revenues exceeded $67 billion.
Go to the [...]
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Continue ReadingAccording to the latest data from the Bureau of the Census, there are roughly 5.9 million businesses in the U.S. Virtually all of these can be considered “small.” Only 18,469 (or less than one-third of one percent) have more than 500 employees. Even getting to several dozen employees is a feat worth of recognition: [...]
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Continue Reading“The problem with employees is that they think like employees and not like owners.” Is it realistic to expect employees to act like owners? As an owner, the personal stakes for you are very high. A successful business can make you a millionaire many times over. Your personal reputation is on the [...]
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Continue ReadingThe acquisition of The Huffington Post by AOL has generated hundreds of expert views on the matter. Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transactions, in general, show mixed results. Despite making sense on an Excel spreadsheet, many M&A transactions are plagued by problems: systems integration issues, differences in cultural communications, lack of post-merger direction, [...]
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I can teach you proven strategies for growing sales and for raising money from investors. I founded EcoFin Media, Trans 24/7 and Proximo International.
