So is business a form of warfare? If it is who are the pawns and who are the kings? Let’s look at the facts and past the 1980s clichs that chant: Greed Is Good and Business Is War as those chanting these phrases are often on the sidelines and not gifted enough to be on the field and playing and have no choice but to live vicariously through those they are jealously watching.

Everyone wants to be a player but in this industry you need a lot more than drive you need connections and capability. By connections I mean global political, global corporate, international finance and more. By capability I mean nerves of steel, the ability to bath in acid and swim with sharks and eat class for breakfast. This is one of the most stressful industries I know of with a burnout rate that is off the charts and any other global consultant that I know has struggled with their demons to stay on the top of their game. Business, by all categorical definition is War.  Read more...

So many companies dream of going public both as a growth and exit strategy but unfortunately few succeed with this process. The third party audit, sponsoring of the S1 and 211 by a market maker and SEC comments stage is just one of the obstacles involved with taking a company public. The attempt at going public and actually achieving a symbol are two entirely different things and if you are lucky enough to achieve a symbol there’s a completely separate area of expertise needed to keep your stock trading and to preserve a company’s longevity in the marketplace.

Here are some things you need to keep in mind when gearing up to take your company public. Forget everything that you’ve read and heard and pay attention to what you’re about to read because this is the straight forward, objective reality of the process. First, do not hire an attorney to take you public as they will take you on a long drawn out process to get as many billable hours as possible, instead, hire a consulting firm whose sole business model is to take companies public and take advantage of the relationships that they have with attorneys. This is the first rule: hire a consulting firm that offers a complete A to Z turn-key solution for taking a company through the process of going public, achieving a symbol and preserving the trade with a solid, ongoing post public investor relations strategy.  Read more...

For many professionals, entrepreneurs and business owners the current reality of their intercompany and inter industry promotion and prominence is a far cry from where they originally envisioned themselves to be. What is the factor that thrusts some people and companies forward in the professional sense and why are some straggling behind like desperate, obsolete room size computers in a hand held PC world?

Its actually quite simple and it all comes down to a decision… a decision to step up and dominate in a no holds barred, bare knuckle fight to the finish. You need to understand and be comfortable with the reality that not everyone will make it. Most of your colleagues and professional friends are not psychologically or professionally built to last, meaning, they are not willing to do ‘whatever it takes’ to get to that next level.

Here is how it’s done: First, decide on what you want, who you want to be and where you want to go in your career. Second, surround yourself with people that have the above characteristics your are seeking to acquire. Chances are, most of these characteristics will be spread out over several different people as opposed to one or two professional who demonstrate your future self so find 10+ people to become well associated with and begin to pattern them. Don’t just pattern the outward and obvious characteristics but absorb the aura of their overall presents (calm, cool, collect and maybe even arrogant and rude at times).  Read more...

Take Your Company Public: A Must Read Before You Do Anything! As a consultant in the business of structuring companies, setting up strategic alliances for clients, writing business plans and PPM’s and taking companies public on the OTCBB, I must admit I’ve seen my share of scams and swindling of uninformed clients. One sad issue that permeates the industry is clients who believe that their only option is to give up substantial equity while paying hefty fees to consultants who take your company public.

Here is the reality. When you are investigating the industry to find a consulting firm to work with to facilitate your ‘go public’ process, the first thing you need to do is make sure you are hiring a ‘turn-key’ solutions consulting group; meaning they need to offer everything soup to nuts in house because the second your consultant outsources anything, accountability is lost.

Next, on the issue of paying fees and also giving up equity, it should be either or, not both. If a company tells you that they want you to pay them in both upfront fees and in equity, you should laugh and walk away. In actuality the best deals for the client are those that are simply fee based, not equity based.  Read more...

In these monetarily gloomy times businesses are looking outside the box for a localized injection of economic stimulus. Banks are hording their bags of government bailout money while the small business owner is forced to fend for themselves. Nothing but doom and gloom seem to infest all aspects of present and near future financial forecasts.

There is, however, a fiscal niche being carved out as we speak by wealthy, aggressive and eager angel investors. Angel investors, private investors, micro ticket investment partnerships and other alternative financing groups are spearheading a global rally to buy into promising mid-size companies from all industry genres. The elements of a viable company prime for investment are solid and realistic growth potential, talented ‘who’s who’ executive staff with the right educational and professional pedigrees, minimal debt, a solid business plan laying out every minute intricacy that could affect growth, financial return and the exit strategy.

Another crucial element that is often overlooked but is a mandatory prerequisite for the SEC regulated exchange of cash for equity is a Private Placement Memorandum. A Private Placement Memorandum takes advantage of three powerful Regulation D Rule exemptions (Rule 504, Rule 505 and Rule 506) these are technical documents that spill the beans to the potential investor. In a PPM all the financial and industry risks are put on the table as well as stock prices, a breakdown of fund raising benchmarks and what the money will be used for etc.  Read more...

Many entrepreneurs and executives want to move forward with the process of going public merely for the ability to raise capital through the sale of stock. They usually don’t think of the strategies necessary to keep the momentum going such as how much equity to give up initially, how much equity to sell ongoing, how to capitalize off of the use of the securities as collateral for loans and lines of credit and so on.

One of the most profound strategies companies can use to retain company equity while capitalizing off of their public entity is to put up portions of their securities as temporary collateral for loans and to use securities to grow through acquisition of strategic alliances.

Stock should be looked at as cash and designated for appropriate purchasing strategies. Stock monetized through collateralized lending can work wonders as long as the exit strategy is in place and secure. Your attorney should be well versed in this activity and audit the contract for convertible aspects which could strip the transaction of its advantageous nature.  Read more...

If you are going to start raising capital for your start-up or established business you’ve most likely been advised to have a Private Placement Memorandum written for your company so you don’t get in trouble with the SEC for selling securities without the proper structure.

The Offering Circular section of your document is crucial. Most likely you won’t be authoring this document on your own as it is wise to outsource this necessity to a trained consultant or attorney who specializes in PPM docs but you should be familiar with the basic anatomy of an Offering Circular so you can understand the PPM as a whole.

Here is a general breakdown of the sections of your Offering Circular, they are as follows (there are a few technical sections left out to streamline and simplify this explanation):  Read more...