Tag Archives: entrepreneur

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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Be Ready When Banks Step Up Lending

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Paul Goblet

Paul F. Goblet, Financial Advisor, NM SBIC

Tight credit markets of the past few years have made it difficult for business owners to obtain loans to expand their business. Getting a loan is still as hard as ever, even though most financial institutions have plenty of capital to lend. With the interest rate charged banks by the Federal Reserve Bank at almost zero, it’s surprising so little capital is moving around.  Loans, as a percentage of deposits, are very low.

Credit will loosen eventually because banks can’t survive long-term without making loans. Stung by losses when loans defaulted, banks are understandably more conservative; but they need interest revenue from loans to grow.

Recent financial activity suggests money might be starting to flow again. Continue reading →

Grant Expands New Mexico Education Success

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Monica Abeita

Monica Abeita, Regional Development Corp. for NNM Connect

When Taos-based Imagine Education received a Next Generation Learning Challenge Grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates and William and Flora Hewlett Foundations this summer, the award was not just a triumph for middle-school students struggling to learn math. It also marked an achievement for theNew Mexico programs that grow the state’s economy by helping small New Mexico businesses.

Imagine Education’s founders credit economic development initiatives with helping them win the grant, one of nineteen awarded nationwide for innovations in teaching literacy and mathematics. The grant will allow Imagine Education to pilot its educational math game, Ko’s Journey, in ten middle schools nationwide.

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Consider Strategy Before Seeking Equity

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Tom Stephenson

Tom Stephenson, Managing General Partner, Verge Fund

Once an entrepreneur decides that equity capital is the best way to finance his business, the next questions are how much and when should it be raised? One approach is to determine from the business plan how much cash shortfall is projected early on and raise that amount. But raising money in multiple rounds is often a better choice, allowing the entrepreneur to retain a greater portion of ownership.

If a business plan calls for $3 million in total financing to achieve profitability in three years, a startup raising that money all at once will give up a large portion of the company — perhaps as much as 75 percent. New companies are high risk; if investors put in less at the beginning, they will be willing to bet more money on a promising venture later, taking fewer subsequent shares of the business in the process. Continue reading →

Businesses, Like Life, Have Stages

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Paul Goblet

Paul F. Goblet, Financial Advisor, NM SBIC

Few businesses follow a predictable path and timeline from one stage of life to the next. Some linger for a long time as startups, while others dash directly from startup to rapid growth. Knowing the life cycle of a typical business can help an entrepreneur know where to find capital to reach the next stage.

The seed or startup stage starts with an idea or a prototype for a product or service. At this stage, entrepreneurs either tap friends, family members or other personal contacts for funds, or they seek angel investors, SBIR grants, micro loans or very early stage venture capital.

When a company is preparing its product or service for a market launch, it’s in the early stage of life. Continue reading →

Investors Bring Benefits Beyond Capital

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Les Mathews

Les Mathews, Mesa Capital Partners

Business owners who obtain outside equity – whether from family, friends or institutional investors – quickly learn money has strings attached.

Most outside equity providers want to get repaid over a reasonable period of time and at a very good rate of return. In exchange for providing capital, they obtain a piece of the company, thereby becoming business partners.

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SBA Seeks Feedback at Event

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John C. Woosley

John C. Woosley, District Director, SBA NM District Office

Janice Lucero was convinced people would pay a little more to renew their driver’s license or car registration if they could do it quickly from a convenient location with friendly service. Lucero turned her conviction into MVD Express, a $5 million company that serves 22,000 customers a month from its 11 New Mexico locations. Lucero’s success and community involvement led the U.S. Small Business Administration to name her the New Mexico Small Business Person of the Year. The award earned Lucero a trip to Washington D.C. where she’s in the running for national recognition.

The New Mexico district of the U.S. Small Business Administration will honor Lucero and other small-business leaders from 11:45 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. June 2 at the state’s Small Business Week Award Celebration luncheon at Embassy Suites Albuquerque Hotel, 1000 Woodward Place N.E.

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Small Businesses, Labs Celebrate Collaboration

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Monica Abeita

Monica Abeita, Regional Development Corp. for Northern NM Connect

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the New Mexico Small Business Assistance program, created by the state Legislature in 2000 to provide technical help from Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories to small businesses throughout the state.

At the 2011 NMSBA Innovation Celebration, held April 7 at the Indian Cultural Center in Albuquerque, laboratory officials recognized 12 small businesses that have participated in the program. The businesses are in both urban and rural communities of New Mexico, and include agricultural companies, medical technologies and an irrigation district.

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Looking for Equity? Seek the Right Specialist

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Tom Stephenson

Tom Stephenson, Managing General Partner, Verge Fund

Specialization is common within the equity investment world, with investors generally focused on specific stages of business development. A “seed” stage investor, for example, has a different specialty than a firm that provides expansion capital.

An entrepreneur who knows the terms used to describe development-related types of equity financing is more likely to seek the investor right for her venture and increase the chance of obtaining funds.

Most investor specialization terms fall close to the following:

Seed-stage venture capital refers to investments made in firms with products under development or recently introduced to the market. Continue reading →

SBA’s Entrepreneur Training Expands in NM

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John C. Woosley

John C. Woosley, District Director, SBA NM District Office

Merlin Herbert believes anyone can run a business if they have the right training. Herbert, the owner of a 19 year-old Bloomfield-based welding company, participated in the e200 Emerging Leaders training program in Gallup last year. “The training helped me become a better manager,” he says.

An initiative of the U.S. Small Business Administration, the e200 Emerging Leaders Program is a national curriculum that provides business owners in underserved markets with training, networking, resources and motivation to grow their business and create jobs.  Now in its fourth year in Albuquerque, the program will be offered in Farmington this year for the first time.  The training, which is valued at over $8,000, is free of charge and will be conducted from April through November, 2011, in both locations.

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