Fri, 6 August 2010 Subscribe To The Looney Executive Emerging Growth Series! Back To The Looney Executive Web SIte!
Turnarounds ... Restructurings ... Reorganizations .. Oh My! Alphonso Spence, CEO of Trinity Corporation, is a man you want on speed dial if you're having business difficulties. In addition to teaching business at two colleges, he's completed some real interesting turnarounds of distressed firms. He joins The Looney Executive to discuss the signs and remedies for troubled businesses. In part I of our discussion Alphonso lays out some of the typical red flags of trouble. A couple of key, and obvious, signs include:
Also, Alphonso cites competition, or rather the inability to respond to it, as another key factor. And of course Jennifer Vallarautto, CEO of Office Out Of The Box, returns to offer you tips on saving money and working with your office technology. So click the link below or POD button above to listen now!
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Fri, 18 June 2010 Subscribe To The Looney Executive Emerging Growth Series! Follow The Looney Executive on Twitter! Back To The Looney Executive Web SIte!
Find A Niche And Be King ... Or Queen! So it's just another day in Silicon Valley. "Mature Entrepreneurs" are cashing out ... Growth Entrepreneurs are chirping about their new ventures and reading their press clippings ... Would-be entrepreneurs are meeting at coffee houses, student unions, Meet-up groups, and in private homes to discuss the new new thing! But what about Middle America? Detroit ... Dayton ... Cleveland ... St. Louis. How do these and similar markets generate excitement and buzz about entrepreneurship? Well Dave Gasper has some definite thoughts about that. Dave is the CEO of Initial Point Corp., an entrepreneurship consultancy based in Dayton, OH. As a successful serial entrepreneur and Angel investor, Dave has unique insight into what it takes to create a dynamic environment that fosters tech entrepreneurship. In Part I of our discussion, Dave says that entrepreneurs need to find a niche and own it. He also says that technologists and business builders need to do better at connecting with each other And by the way, did you know that one of the first search engines was developed in Dayton, OH? Neither did I! Last, but definitely not least, Jennifer Vallarautto returns in our new segment "Out Of The Box Ideas With Jen". She offers up some tips on making tech work together and Voice over IP technology ... Good Stuff! So click the link below or POD button above to listen now! Comments[0] | |
Fri, 14 May 2010 Subscribe To The Looney Executive Emerging Growth Series! Follow The Looney Executive on Twitter! Back To The Looney Executive Web SIte!
Even savvy investors make big mistakes. And Jim Butz, an angel investor based in Carlsbad, CA, is no different. He's picked a dog or two. And from his mistakes he's learned a key rule of investing: By the way, that's not the same A team that includes Mr. T and 3 other army renegades. But it does mean your team must be top notch to attract equity investments. In Part II of our discussion on venture debt, Jim dishes on valuation, emerging tech in Southern California, and the time he got so mad that he went across the table at a group of, uh, confused entrepreneurs! When Jim's not California Dreamin', you can reach him at his consulting company Resonnect or Startup Coast, his educational web site for entrepreneurs. Oh, and one more thing. Jennifer Vallarautto, President of Office Out Of The Box, offers up a great tip in our new segment "Out Of The Box Ideas With Jen".
So go ahead and click on the link below or the POD button above to hear the interview.
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Fri, 30 April 2010
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Uh Oh ... Chongo! That's a well-known line from a late 1960's show called Danger Island. It's what someone said when a character named Chongo got into trouble. And Jonathan Aberman is saying that right now about early stage venture investing in the U.S. Jonathan is Managing Director of Amplifier Ventures, an early stage VC firm in McLean, VA. In Part Deux of the interview, Jonathan gives his perspective on how the federal governemt should collaborate with experienced company builders to kick-start early stage investing and innovation. Oh yea, we even flashed back to the 1980's with a discussion about how former bond King Michael Milken used "junk bonds" to finance growth firms. Finally, we're introducing a new segment called "Out-of-the-Box Ideas With Jen". Jennifer Vallarautto, President of Office-Out-of-the-Box, presents interesting tips and ideas for businesses. Uh Oh Chongo! You're not listening yet. So go ahead and click on the link below or the POD button above to listen to our latest show! Comments[0] | |
Thu, 8 April 2010 Subscribe To The Looney Executive Emerging Growth Series! Follow The Looney Executive on Twitter! Back To The Looney Executive Web SIte!
So What's Your Exit Strategy? Uh, I mean, how we will make money and when? According to Jim Butz, that's what investors really mean when they ask about your exit strategy. Jim is the co-founder of Resonnect, a consulting company based in Carslbad, CA. He's also an investor with California Capital Partners, a venture debt firm near Los Angeles. In Part I of our discussion, I started off thinking we'd discuss angel financing. But Jim initially focused on his bread and butter ... venture debt funding. It's an alternative and less expensive form of financing that's a hybrid between equity and debt (it's mostly debt by the way, with a little equity kicker added!). But it's definitely not for early stage firms with no profits to repay the debt. Jim also gives an overview of how VCs make their money. But maybe the most intriguing item is his story about an investment in a pet pharma company. And the specialist vets treating the sick pets take only cash money homey! Oh by the way, Jim runs a web site called Startup Coast. It has all sorts of great stuff for tech entrepreneurs. So click the Direct Download link below to hear Jim's financing wisdom!
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Thu, 25 March 2010 Subscribe To The Looney Executive Emerging Growth Series! Follow The Looney Executive on Twitter! Back To The Looney Executive Web SIte!
A Dinosaur lumbering through the forest! That's how Jonathan Aberman describes the increasing concentration of venture capital into the hands of massive sized venture funds. This means that the big funds get bigger, slower, and more risk-averse ... as the smaller funds are being choked off from funding sources. This is one symptom of how U.S. innovation is being slowed by the trickling of early stage capital to entrepreneurs. Jonathan Aberman is the Managing Director of Amplifier Ventures, an early stage VC fund based in The Washington, DC region. In Part I of his interview, Jonathan provides some ideas to jump-start early stage investing. His prescription, also described in detail in his free whitepaper, include:
Jonathan also gives a real good overview of the various stages of company financing. And he points out that some existing government programs already provide a bit of early stage financing. For more details, you can find Jonathan's blog post and white paper - What the Government Should Do About the Decline in the Venture Capital Industry - at AmplifierNetwork.com, the social networking site of Amplifier Ventures. In the meantime, delay no further Looney Executive. Listen now to our interview with Jonathan Aberman to learn about the current state of early stage investing!
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Fri, 12 March 2010 Subscribe To The Looney Executive Emerging Growth Series! Follow The Looney Executive on Twitter! Back To The Looney Executive Web SIte!
Want another way to make some dough? I'll assume your answer is a definite yes! For many entrepreneurs, taking a technology from concept to product is the standard business practice. But there's another fast-growing model you should consider that could also be quite lucrative. It's called licensing. Jeff Matsuura, world renown IP expert and author lays out a step-by-step approach to creating a licensing business model. As an attorney with the Alliance Law Group, Jeff has worked on numerous licensing projects. And he lays out 3 key components to successful licensing:
According to Jeff, even though you're not manufacturing the product, you still need to have a robust marketing effort to find licensing partners! Jeff also says that Ocean Tomo is an intellectual property marketplace that
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Thu, 25 February 2010 Subscribe To The Looney Executive Emerging Growth Series! Follow The Looney Executive on Twitter! Back To The Looney Executive Web SIte!
Be Prepared To Do Lots Of Research (Pun Intended)! According to Jeff Shick, the process of technology commercialization can be a lucrative venture avenue for tech entrepreneurs. Whether it's commercializing technology from a federal government lab, or perhaps licensing technology from a university, there are numerous ways to exploit un-commercialized technology. But it takes lots of market research to, uh, be successful in commercializing tech research. Jeff is the Director of Manufacturing and Technology for the Ohio Small Business Development Centers. Operating in Central Ohio, he travels around assisting tech entrepreneurs with commercialization and licensing issues, among other things of course. In our discussion, Jeff offers up some tips on how to successfully navigate tech commercialization:
Jeff also discusses the federal government small business innovative research program (SBIR) and provides some resources that will help you to discover potential tech commercialization opportunities and partners. Listen now to hear Jeff's tips and advice on tech commercialization. Happy Deal Hunting!
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Fri, 12 February 2010 Subscribe To The Looney Executive Emerging Growth Series! It's an age-old dilemma folks. Where do you get the initial funds to build your product? Like many other entrepreneurs, Troy Miller believed in his idea so much that he raided his retirement account for those initial funds ... $80,000 to be exact. A good idea? Well, only time will tell! Troy is the founder of ATM Central Development, a Columbus, OH based developer of healthcare applications. His key product is an application that professes to save hospitals $$$thousnds$$$ on the front end and potentially $$$millions$$$ over the course of a few years. Sounds like an easy pitch to me! In our Looney Executive interview, Troy dishes on issues such as:
And much more! Troy is also an elected city councilman with definite ideas on tech public policy. Unfortunately, we didn't get to that compelling discussion. But we'll bring him back again ... I promise! Now don't waste any more time. Listen to Troy's interview now! Important Links
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Fri, 29 January 2010
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