Reading List: Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good: The Rebirth of Silicon Valley and the Rise of Web 2.0 by Sarah Lacy
The book focuses on the entrepreneurs who created the applications and companies that led the successful transformation. PayPal, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and others are featured in a more personal way that should interest those who did not know these stories beforehand.
Today, more than 50% of the U.S. market and more than 70% of the UK market is controlled by institutions investing the money of regular people.
Who’s Got Money – A Different Approach
Now is not the time to take your lender’s word on the safety of your financial relationship. It is time for your company’s finance people to meet with other bankers and get them familiar with your company—just in case your current banker pressures you to refinance elsewhere.
Who’s Got Money?
If businesses can find loans from banks these days, the loan rate and fees are higher. The covenants and advance rates are also tighter, a far cry from the “covenant-light” loans that were made in 2005 and 2006.
Standing Out in a Crowd – Leadership
In any job, you ultimately earn your credibility— and your ability to do business—through the development and packaging of your ideas.
Reading List: No Man’s Land: What to Do When Your Company is too Big to be Small and Too Small to be Big by Doug Tatum
Tatum makes the case that every company hits rough patches at between $10 and $50 million of revenues.
Value of a Good Business Plan
If there is a pretty good chance that you will need to raise money or attract partners in the future, start preparing now by keeping a file of stories that express who you are as a company, data that gives perspective on your market, and documents that will help paint a picture of the great opportunities that await your company—and, by extension, your potential partners.
Keep your Bank at Bay
Having trouble with a bank or financial partner can cause any CFO or CEO to lose sleep. A line of credit or a loan can be the very lifeblood of liquidity to a business.
Prepare for Down Financial Cycle
We have seen the tightening of the financial markets. M&A markets have slowed. Private equity deals are getting more conservative. Banks are tightening credit standards. And some banks have started calling loans that they were happy to have six or twelve months ago. Many financial players have overplayed their hands, and the pain of correction will be felt by many of their clients.
Getting the Financing You Need
For a variety of reasons, lenders and investors don’t always coach you through their approval process. The biggest reason for this is that lenders are especially afraid of lender liability, or of being accused of influencing (unsuccessfully) their borrowers’ business decisions. Thus, they shy away from imparting their ideas to customers and prospects to avoid [...]
