1 September 2008 by admin.

Heard from a friend raising capital worried that our economic silliness will choke off his new idea for a chicken processing plant.

Au contrariar mon frair.

Look, folks that invest other people’s money (OPM) have to have a place to put said money. If the stock market is being finicky, and interest rates mirror Japan’s…where else can a brother put his money?

Venture capital, weirdo funds tracking the mating habits of marsupials, and the bottom of a very comfy mattress—that’s where.

This doesn’t mean the VC community is just giving it away. All the business and strategy fundamentals remain the same.

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1 August 2008 by admin.

PMV is working with Technology Ventures Corp. again this year on the New Mexico Equity Capital Symposium (NMECS09, 6 & 7 May 2009 in ABQ).

TVC is having two events in October to famialiarize entreprenuers with the Symposium and TVC in general: Thursday 2 October 2008 in Albuquerque, and Thursday 23 Octover 2008 in Los Alamos. Details at http://techventures.org/NM-ECS

For 15 years TVC has lead New Mexico’s tech entreprenuerial efforts, now TVC has gone national, as it was awarded a contract to work with U.S. DOE labs in the Office of Nucelar Energy across the country: INL, ANL, BNL, ORNL, SRNL.

More info at http://www.techventures.org

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13 June 2008 by admin.

Make your business travel easier and much less stressful by bothering to fill out the form and pay a hundred bucks to be pre-screened for air travel.

I use Clear (http://www.flyclear.com).

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13 June 2008 by admin.

Wanna get blown away? Read John Medina’s “Brain Rules.”

Also search for videos of his talks on You Tube.

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1 June 2008 by admin.

America is at a permanent state of war: on al Qaeda, terrorists, inflation, drugs, poverty, illiteracy, stupidity, recession…we are at a permanent state of war on ourselves.

I’ve decided to make peace with myself first. Maybe it will rub off.

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25 May 2008 by admin.

In the movie The Fifth Element, Chris Tucker’s character Ruby Rhod uses the term “green” for just about anything he likes, or thinks is popular, or is cool, etc.

Now, so does much of America.

So what is “green?” Given there is much debate on the subject, I offer my own definition.

“Green” is better. Full stop.

Green is not a certification, nor destination, but a journey to do better socially, economically, and environmentally. What is green now, will look anything but in the future.

When I was a kid, and gas prices shot up because some very attractive gentlemen in Near Asia wanted to flex their economic muscles, the idea of an automobile that could reach speeds of over 100 mph and get 50 mpg was a fantasy. Now, those same benchmarks, look less than novel.

So is such an auto “green?” It was; it is no more.

Green means constantly striving to do better.

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12 April 2008 by admin.

The economy is just a symptom of the general malaise in the U.S.

Since markets are to a great extent driven by emotion, the war, the political mess in Washington, and the coming election are the reasons our economic engine has slowed…we’re all, in the words of the Oracle, “waiting for something.”

As with the Internet bubble, Americans went out and took risks, this time on housing. The American can-do spirit means we’ll fall for just about any reason to get excited and start taking risks. The collapse of the housing market and the sub-prime loan mess has given us all pause…now it seems we’re just waiting for a reason to start taking risks again.

The Iraq war, a conflict that has now out-lasted any other conflict in our short history, has droned on and on with no end in sight. While wars usually create an economic spark, that can only last so long. The inability for Congress to get much done (but plenty of time to focus on baseball and steroids) shows just how dysfunctional our political leadership is right now.

So here we are, waiting around, keeping our money safely tucked in our mattresses, hoping for change in the Fall.

Rothschild is quoted as saying “buy when there’s blood on the streets,” but I believe only those willing to take enormous risks will follow such advice. Families with kids, a mortgage, car loans, and college expenses can’t afford such ultra-risky behavior. It’s up to the rest of us to crank up the economic engine.

I’ve been talking about a “green” bubble for a couple of years now. More on that next.

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12 April 2008 by admin.

Read the WSJ story on American Apparel and its CEO Dov Charney in today’s edition. Go ahead and substitute “idiot” for “eccentric” whenever you read Mr. Charney’s name. American Apparel is a mess, and a now public mess (through a reverse merger) because Mr. Charney won’t follow standard business practices…you know know, like GAAP…oh, and he sleeps with members of his staff (four sexual harassment lawsuits) and continues to open new stores even though same store sales are down, and to top it all off, the company has had to restate earnings several times.

This is a classic case of the product genius getting in the way of making his own vision a success. What Mr. Charney needs is adult supervision. He seems to have his shareholders over a barrel by threatening to leave whenever any approach to bringing normalcy to his firm is introduced.

At some point his shareholders, then his customers, are going to give up.

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8 April 2008 by admin.

It’s been a while since my last post. I really need to put action into words and update this site more often. Since my last post, I’ve (among other things) been to Japan, reviewed a dozen (much much too long) business plans, and participated as a judge in a university business plan competition.

It’s not surprising, but the plans submitted by students for a school (albeit MBA level) competition are no worse, and in many cases much better, than the “professional” plans we review each week.

It’s a waste of time and an insult to the reader to ignore major aspects of how you intend to grow your business—such as a real revenue generation plan, and every investor’s favorite, the dreaded Use of Funds.

Saying you’ll use our capital to “grow your business” isn’t enough. A detailed cash flow analysis, month by month for the first two years, and quarter by quarter for the following three years, is the very least you can do. You are asking potential investors to trust you with their money…

As I’ve said over and over, you don’t have to have majority shares to control your company: the person with a plan, that runs the company TO THAT PLAN controls the company.

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18 February 2008 by admin.

Investors are never in a hurry.
All investors work at their own pace and in their own style. Some will decide right after reviewing an opportunity that they want to invest, and diligence is a matter of proving their instincts are correct. Other investors will take months…to say “no.” It’s totally groovy to ask a potential investor how they prefer to review opportunities; asking such an open-ended question will elicit all kinds of good information.

They get paid to judge risk.
Professional investors are essentially risk managers. They spend a lot of time asking themselves “what is the best (and worst) that can happen if I commit funds to this venture?” Everyone has personal bias, but that bias is based on previous experience with similar circumstances. Make the bias work to your benefit by asking potential investors what kind and size of deals they have completed in the past.

Fund size, focus, resources, age of fund, and current deal flow will dictate interest level: It’s called “timing.”
You can show an investor your business plan, but ultimately, if they aren’t investing–for whatever reason– don’t waste anymore time on them; move on to other prospects.

VC’s are NOT stupid, arrogant, lazy, worthless, dishonest, mean, living off their spouses, and just trying to get to the golf course.
Well, most of them aren’t. Someone thought enough of them to trust them with their money. Misconceptions about investors, especially VCs, are legion. Do thorough research about a potential investor before approaching them. It will save you a lot of time and effort.

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