Tag Archives: entrepreneur

Partners Team Up to Host Entrepreneurs’ Discovery Day

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Monica Abeita

Monica Abeita, Regional Development Corp. for NNM Connect

New Mexico innovators will pitch their discoveries to a panel of experts — and get a shot at up to $10,000 in funding — at the next HD3 Discovery Day on Dec. 8 in Santa Fe. The event takes place at the Railyard District headquarters of the High Desert Discovery District (HD3), a nonprofit entity that helps entrepreneurs give their discoveries a better chance at success in the marketplace. Discovery Day is a collaboration of HD3 and the Northern New Mexico Connect program’s Los Alamos National Security Venture Acceleration Fund (VAF).

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Entrepreneur Alert: It’s Time to Prepare for Technology Summit

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Betsy Gillette

Betsy Gillette, Director of Market Research & Planning, TVC

Technology Ventures Corporation exists to help innovators find investors for technology-based products they hope to bring to market. In January, 2012, the Albuquerque-based company will select up to 20 entrepreneurs with the most commercially marketable ideas and help them prepare business plans to pitch in April to funders at TVC’s Deal Stream Summit, formerly called the Equity Capital Symposium.

Most of the scientists and engineers who become clients of TVC are sophisticated about technology but novices when it comes to selecting target markets, appraising market needs and attracting venture capital funding. Entrepreneurs interested in being coached by TVC should prepare now by developing the marketing aspects of their business plans. The more realistic they are about the need for their product, market size, customer base and branding, the more likely they are to draw investors.

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Funds Connect Growers to Burgeoning Industry

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Monica Abeita

Monica Abeita, Regional Development Corp. for NNM Connect

Economic developers Robert Naranjo and Lucia Sanchez were pleased to see boutique wineries spring up along the high road to Taos. But when they discovered that grapes were being sourced from outside the immediate area, they jumped into action. With funding from Northern New Mexico Connect and the county of Rio Arriba, Naranjo and Sanchez helped organize local micro-growers – those with one quarter- to two-acre plots – into a grape growers association. Barely a year later, the group has received advice from multiple experts, pooled funds to order root stock in bulk and planted thousands of vines. In two years, when the vines reach maturity, the association plans to begin selling their combined harvest to local wineries.

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Identify Specialty Before Looking for Investors

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Holly Bradshaw Eakes

Holly Bradshaw Eakes, Principal, The Holly Company Business Consultants

The greatest challenge an entrepreneur may face is finding capital to launch a business, especially when the business idea is related to high-cost startup such as that found in the technology sector. For an entrepreneur with realistic plans for rapid business growth and the potential to scale to larger markets, trading partial ownership for capital may be the only option.

Venture capitalists currently fund about one out of every thousand startups. With the odds stacked against obtaining equity capital, an entrepreneur must identify the investors most likely to invest in his business. Determining which source to pursue depends largely on industry focus, business stage and the amount of money needed. A handful of equity investors have offices in New Mexico and actively pursue investments in the state.

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Venture Capital: It’s More Than Money

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Kim Sanchez Rael

Kim Sanchez Rael, General Partner, Flywheel Ventures

Jim Collins, author of Built to Last and Good to Great, and an old friend of mine, has written that the critical questions in life are who-decisions, not what-decisions.  “The primary question is not what mountains to climb but who should be your climbing partner,” he writes.  As professional investors, our evaluation of each potential investment opportunity emphasizes the entrepreneurial team more than market strategy, technology or financial projections. When evaluating the pros and cons of bringing on an investor as a partner in your business, your considerations should be similarly weighted toward who-decisions.  Professional investors should provide assistance and value in many areas beyond financial resources.  Here are some key areas to consider when selecting an investment partner:

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Get Insight from a Debt Schedule

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Leslie Hoffman

Leslie Hoffman, V.P. of Lending and Client Service, ACCIÓN New Mexico ∙ Arizona ∙ Colorado

The last few years have been a bumpy ride for many small businesses. Sales may have slumped. Costs could have gone up. Small business owners have weathered this economic storm with a courageous combination of resilience, creativity, clarity and passion. Those who have been able to keep their doors open understand that important fundamentals about how to manage money in a small business are as true today as they’ve ever been.

Financial institutions do not want saddle people with loan payments they cannot afford. Community-based lending organizations, such as ACCION New Mexico •Arizona •Colorado, are in the business of helping people understand their financial health and providing access to healthy business credit.

That credit is a tool, and like all tools, performance must support its cost. Lenders do not want credit to become overwhelming and prevent a small business from reaching its goals. Continue reading →

Budgets Matter to Business

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Bobbi Hayes

R.A. Bobbi Hayes, CPA, CITP, CFE, CFF, CCIFP, Partner, Accounting & Consulting Group LLP

Business owners striving to make it through the tough economy need to know how cash flows in and out of their business. A good place to start is with a budget – a basic tool used to forecast when cash will be collected and when expenses must be paid.

Many owners of small and midsize businesses don’t take the time to create a budget, or they neglect to update the one they have. In this slow economic recovery, every dollar is precious and it’s more important than ever to know where money is going. Financial institutions also want to know; banks are beginning to require that borrowers include a budget with their loan requests.

Since a business budget is such a valuable tool, understanding how to create a good one is vital to obtaining successful results and improving a business’s chance of survival.

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Veterans Get Help in Business

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Lloyd Calderon, Director, New Mexico Veterans’ Business Resource Center, and Director, VBOC

When Freedom Construction of Edgewood was hired by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to upgrade the electrical system at Conchas Dam, the job was the first federal contract the company had been awarded. One of the reasons Freedom’s owners, Mark Beasley and Steven Tenorio, got the $1.1 million job is because they know what many veteran-owners of businesses do not: Federal laws set aside 3 percent of federal contracts for businesses owned by veterans who were disabled during the course of their military service.

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Entrepreneurs Beware the Valley of Death

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Richard T. Meyer

Richard T. Meyer, SCORE

Business owners know it takes money to make money; production expenses must be paid before products are sold and revenue is received. Entrepreneurs with a business idea have an even greater need for up-front cash. They must have enough capital to cover negative cash flow in the early months or years of new business creation and growth. Without adequate initial investment, they risk falling into the so-called valley of death – the deep and wide gulf that separates a company’s need for capital and investors’ willingness to supply it.

Also known as the grand canyon of capital need vs. availability, the valley can be shallow or deep depending on the amount of money needed to develop the idea or product. Continue reading →

Don’t Risk Business Success With a Poor Presentation

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Bay Stevens

Bay Stevens, DTM, District Governor, Toastmasters Int'l District 23

Entrepreneurs looking for startup capital, expansion funding or customers are often the best spokespeople for their business or idea. Knowledge of their business plan or product is deep, and they are passionate about their business.

But not all entrepreneurs are good communicators. And when it comes to speaking in front of a crowd, few are born with the skills needed to keep an audience engaged. Fortunately, effective public speaking can be learned.

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