Category Archives: Articles

Enrichment Program Prompts Greater Interest in Venture Acceleration Fund

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By Sandy Nelson for Finance New Mexico

Tall Foods co-founders Andrea Romero and Adam Wachtor

Co-founders Andrea Romero and Adam Wachtor of Tall Foods, a 2017 VAF recipient.

Every early stage business needs capital to grow, but a company that lacks collateral to procure traditional debt financing and is too immature to interest equity investment can idle for years in a financing limbo.

In Northern New Mexico, the Venture Acceleration Fund (VAF) helps promising early stage startups get back in gear. And the VAF Enhancement Project now offers additional technical assistance to current and aspiring VAF recipients. Continue reading →

Pilot Program Allows Accion Greater Flexibility in Business Lending

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By Sandy Nelson and Taura Costidis for Finance New Mexico

Reduced risk for lenders

Nonprofit lender Accion is partnering with the U.S. Small Business Administration to offer a type of business loan — the Community Advantage loan — that allows more entrepreneurs to have their loan requests approved.

Accion is the only Community Development Financial Institution in the state to participate in this pilot SBA program that began in 2012. And Accion offers the loan in all five states where it does business: New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and Texas. Continue reading →

Equity Investors Have Much to Offer New Mexico Entrepreneurs

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Raising business capital

By Sandy Nelson for Finance New Mexico

While New Mexico hasn’t attracted the type of venture capital that flocks to entrepreneurial hot spots like San Francisco and other West Coast cities, equity investors are pumping money into promising startups all over the state. Those investors might be venture capitalists, but they’re more likely to be angel investors, family members and friends, and crowdfunders.

In 2016, according to the National Venture Capital Association, 11 New Mexico companies received capital funding from venture capitalists — small potatoes when compared with VC investment in more than 2,650 companies in California and 84 in Arizona. Continue reading →

New Mexico Capital Connector Responds to a New Environment

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By Paul Braverman for Finance New Mexico

Meow Wolf spider sculpture

Spider sculpture at Meow Wolf; photo courtesy Creative Startups

When the educational and networking nonprofit Coronado Ventures Forum (CVF) launched in 1994, most professional equity investments in New Mexico were being made in lab spin-off companies — those formed to commercialize technology developed at one of the state’s two national laboratories. CVF brought California-based venture capitalists to New Mexico to impart knowledge and best practices to neophyte investors and entrepreneurs.

Twenty-three years later, the organization is still focused on education and building the state’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, but like many of the entities it helps, CVF has stayed relevant by responding to a changing environment. Continue reading →

WESST Workshop Helps Businesses Orient to Customers With Disabilities

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By Sandy Nelson and Taura Costidis for Finance New Mexico

Disabilities Welcome montageBusiness owners who don’t consider the impact of dollars spent by people with disabilities are missing a market opportunity. Complying with the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) can raise a business’s costs, but the rewards of making a business accessible to members of America’s largest minority community more than compensate for the investment.

More than 58 million Americans live with some type of disability, and that number is expected to grow as the last of the post-World War II baby boomers reaches 65, according to Julie Ballinger, a disability rights consultant affiliated with the Southwest ADA Center — one of 10 ADA centers nationwide. Continue reading →

Successful Elevator Pitches Are Part Prep, Part Improv

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By Sandy Nelson, Finance New Mexico

Whether it’s made on an elevator or on the ground floor, the 30- to 60-second business pitch that’s named for the place it’s often made should sound unrehearsed and authentic even if it’s the product of exhaustive thought and preparation — which it should be.

The “elevator pitch” is a concise summary of a product, service or idea that is so intriguing or compelling that the listener wants to hear more. It’s the hook that catches the attention of the potential investor, client or collaborator. Continue reading →

Continuous Improvement Helps Belen Manufacturer Go Global

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By Claudia Infante, Projects Coordinator, New Mexico MEP

Sisneros Brothers Manufacturing embodies the entrepreneurial notion that finding the right niche can transform talent into business success.

Avenicio Sisneros, founder of the Belen company, began as a cabinetmaker in the 1950s but shifted to making and installing sheet metal ducting for houses in 1987. With him were sons Martin, Alex and Philip.

Demand quickly grew beyond the residential market, and the company began manufacturing and installing ductwork for larger commercial customers. By 1990, Sisneros Brothers abandoned installation altogether to focus on manufacturing custom sheet metal ductwork for a wide variety of customers. Continue reading →

Mind Your NTTCs: Avoid Penalties by Verifying Document Accuracy

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By Paul Braverman for Finance New Mexico

In 2009, Gregg Hull was running a shipping company in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, when he got news that would strike fear into the most lion-hearted soul: The New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department would be auditing his finances for the past three years.

In a recent interview, Hull related the surprise he felt when the auditors focused on transactions involving Non-Taxable Transaction Certificates (NTTC). Surprise turned to despair when the audit expanded to six years, and to shock when Hull was told that he owed the state $120,000 in taxes that he had failed to collect. The amount threatened to shutter his business. Continue reading →

Supplier Financing Leverages Trusted Relationships

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Desert Blends of Taos; photo courtesy of the company

By Finance New Mexico

Vendors who supply products to retailers don’t always have the capital needed to fill a large order. If the vendor can’t get the money — or can’t spend all its capital delivering a big order it has to wait 90 days to be paid for — it misses a chance to increase its profits and expand demand.

This is a common situation for many startups and small businesses that can’t borrow from traditional banks or even nonprofit community development loan institutions because the business principals have no track record, uneven credit histories, scant collateral or unclear citizenship status. Continue reading →