Business Owners Toolbox Blog Discussions and articles to help the small business owner solve the challenges they face as they grow their business.

August 13, 2012

Raising Seed Capital or Licensing a Formula

Filed under: Entrepreneurship,Finances,Innovation — Tags: , , , , — Mike Van Horn @ 10:33 pm

Question on HighTable.com from Amar S. How do we find partners to help fund and license our concept? I am part of a two physician team that has a formula for an appetite-suppressing meal replacement bar. The concept allows us to take any soup and turn it into a bar. Our initial focus will be to produce vegan/vegetarian, allergy-free, low carb, low fat, high protein and kosher bars. We have a great idea, but we are having trouble finding established companies to partner with for development.

My answer. Amar, the farther along you can develop your idea, the easier it will be to attract interest from potential backers or licensees, and the more control you’ll be able to maintain. Very few established companies are interested in helping you develop such a product from an untested idea.

You say you have a formula, a concept. If I were an investor, I would be more interested if you had produced some initial batches, conducted tests with them, and tried them out with the kinds of people who would be your consumers. What did they like and not like? If it’s for weight loss, did they have any results? What about packaging and shelf life?

As a potential investor, I would want to see what processes you used, what equipment, how it would scale up, what sets it apart from similar products. How would the production costs pencil out against the likely retail price point, after backing out all the distribution channel costs? Does it require testing and approval from any regulatory agencies? How are the processes and products protectable? Are there pieces you can patent?

Where and how would it be sold? Would it be a grocery item? Health food or natural food stores? Sold online? How would it be marketed initially?

You’ve been in a service and consulting business. Now you’re looking at a manufacturing and distribution business. It takes a different mindset and skill set. You might say, “We just want to sell or license the concept to a big player, then wash our hands of it.” But even if you find a taker, you’ll realize the least return from this approach. You’ll lose control, and somebody else will make most of the money.

I’d look for three things first:

1. Raise some seed capital to do the things I outlined above. At the earliest stage, this money usually comes from your savings, family, or a true believer. (For example, a client of mine who produces gluten-free products has been approached by a VC who has celiac disease. BUT, she has been in operation for several years, and has a track record of growth.)

2. Partner with a person experienced in taking such products to market, with operational, marketing, fund raising experience. Not that he/she is an expert in all three areas, but has been there in the trenches

3. Find an attorney who can advise you how to protect your formulations and processes through patents, trademarks, etc.

May 14, 2012

Financing for soap making business

Filed under: Entrepreneurship,Finances — Tags: , , , — Mike Van Horn @ 11:10 pm

My wife needs financial help to restart her handmade soap business, hopefully a grant. We have the building, need to upgrade computer and software, get raw materials, build a web presence. Asked by Scott Coe on LinkedIn.

MVH: My first question: do people and stores want to buy her soaps? If so, can she hand-make some samples? Could she use the samples to make some sales, collect some deposits, then use that money to buy more raw materials and make the soap that was ordered? If she prices properly, she should have enough gross profit to buy the next batch of ingredients and make more soap.

This is customer financing and it’s not that unusual. It requires having buyers who believe in your products. But people may be more willing to do this than to loan or give her money.

This is pure bootstrapping, and you don’t want to do this if you can raise capital in any other way.

You didn’t say how much you need to raise, and that makes a big difference. But if you can’t even afford some raw materials, it seems premature to worry about upgrading your computer and software. Use pencil and paper. Spend no overhead before its time!

Websites can be put up very inexpensively–free here on WordPress, plus hosting for less than $100 per year. It just takes time and gumption. Or spend a few hundred on a virtual assistant to do the initial set up. Most internet and web things are time-intensive, not money-intensive, but hiring a dollop of skill helps a lot.

The more capital you raise, the faster you can grow.

The more you can demonstrate demand, the easier it is to attract capital.

So hit the pavement and make sales.

I’ve never seen anybody get enough money from a grant to launch a viable business. Just enough to go broke.

The likely sources of financing for this venture:

— Your own savings

— 2nd mortgage on your house

— Family, even though it’s very risky even asking them

— A bank loan with a personal guarantee

— A private backer who strongly believes in her skills and concept

A product like this might be a candidate for crowd funding. Google this.

Financing a new restaurant

Filed under: Entrepreneurship,Finances — Tags: , , , — Mike Van Horn @ 10:55 pm

Where can I get financing for my start-up restaurant? Asked on LinkedIn by Tom Leach.

MVH: Restaurants started by inexperienced restaurateurs have one of the highest mortality rates in business. Thus nobody wants to invest in them, not even your mother! Certainly not a bank.

financing fine diningOne of my clients who runs a very successful restaurant, and who now has financiers offering to invest in his new locations, got his start by buying the restaurant where he worked out of bankruptcy for a very small sum. So then he had a restaurant with a location and a lease, all furnishings and equipment and permits, an established clientele, and employees including a chef. Financed totally from his savings built up while working there. He made it work by improving operating efficiency and customer service.

The likely sources of financing for this venture:

— Your own savings

— 2nd mortgage on your house

— Family, even though it’s very risky even asking them

— A private backer who strongly believes in your skills and concept

— A bank loan with a personal guarantee

December 19, 2011

How to Start a Business

Filed under: Entrepreneurship — Tags: , , — Mike Van Horn @ 5:22 pm

My answer to a question by Brent Russell

Anybody can start a business. It’s pretty easy. Having a profitable business? That’s harder!

First, have something that someone else wants to buy.
Sell it to them for more than it costs you.
Sell enough of it so that the surplus between cost and revenue (i.e., the Gross Profit) is enough to:
— cover your other business costs, like marketing and admin, and
— make you a living.

After you’re sure you’ve got this part down, then start the business officially. Get your business license, tax ID, insurance, rent an office, etc. But spend no overhead before you have to.

When to hire help. To justify hiring, the employee must help the business bring in enough additional revenue so that his/her wages (including payroll taxes) are covered by the Gross Profit from the additional sales. Your employee can do this in several ways:
— Sell more of your products or services
— Do billable work for your customers
— Free you up from admin stuff so that you can sell more
— Bring an essential skill to the team so that everybody’s productivity is raised

Where to get start up or growth capital. First, where you won’t get it from: VCs, bank loan, the government.

Most small business start up capital comes from
— your savings
— personal loan, or 2nd mortgage
— family or friends (very risky)
— initial contract that pays some money up front (very savvy if possible)
— charge it on your credit card (very stupid)

Where your initial sales come from. Knowing you have potential sales out there is the reason to start a business. So if you don’t know the answer to this question, you shouldn’t be starting a business.

 

August 8, 2011

Alternatives to Bootstrap Financing

Filed under: Entrepreneurship — Tags: , , , , — Mike Van Horn @ 11:03 am

Bootstrap financing may be unavoidable initially, but it’s a huge barrier to healthy growth, and you should get outside growth capital as soon as possible. Besides bank loans, what other sources are there?

• Borrow from yourself, even from your retirement fund. To do this, you must be as hard on yourself as any banker would be. You’ve got to demonstrate to yourself just as you would to  a banker that your business plan is sound and profitable and will pay back this loan in a timely fashion.

• Friends and family. Same thing goes. Before taking your rich uncle’s money, be able to demonstrate convincingly that this is a good business to invest in. He won’t give it to you otherwise.

• Leasing equipment and fixtures. Leasing can be very expensive but it’s worthwhile to shop different options to see where you can get the best deal. It’s best to have the advice of someone who is familiar with this type of financing.

• Vendor financing. Companies that want to do business with you and are convinced you are a good credit risk will extend you terms that will allow you to purchase goods from them. Use them to make money and then pay for these goods out of the resulting sales revenue.

As a last resort . . .

• Credit card. Financing via our credit card is an expensive trap. You’re playing with fire–or dynamite. Yet, sometimes we must do it. There’s a way to make it work if you are an excellent manager. If you have a good credit score, you will get offers for low cost balance transfers into a new account. Sometimes at 0% for a time. If you manage very well, you can replace one loan with another loan before the interest rate increases to a higher level. This is a dangerous game to play but it can be done successfully.

April 5, 2011

Bootstrapping. How did you start your company?

Filed under: Entrepreneurship — Tags: , , — Mike Van Horn @ 2:48 pm

LinkedIn question from Marie-Dolores Anderson. She selected my response as Best Answer!

My answer: I bought my training/consulting company–for something like $1,000–from the guy who wanted out. I worked from home. I did shoe leather marketing. I traded for services, such as printing. People paid me in advance.

As a result, I was profitable from the beginning, and never had significant debt.

This turned out to be a problem, however. Since I relied on organic growth rather than rustling up growth capital, I grew slower, and was eventually overtaken by VC-backed competitors. I still have a good business, but not as large as I had hoped.

So bootstrapping, while often necessary, is limiting. Get past this strategy as rapidly as possible.

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