Investors love it when entrepreneurs draw little or no money from their startups. It extends the cash available for research and other necessary fixed costs and gives the fragile, young company more “runway” to get to breakeven. What are you worth to the business? But when forecasting the ultimate viability of a business, many times […]
Dave Berkus
What Is Your Biggest Error In Company Planning?
The biggest error in planning may not be spreadsheet calculation error. Or cost estimation. It is most often missed assumptions about the market, the competition, the speed of adoption, or other critical metrics you’ve researched, or selected, or even just guessed at to create your plan. Sources for your data Where did you get the […]
What’s the most important thing in a young business?
Cash is everything to a new business. How many times do we have to say this? The days of being able to trust that there will be an investor or lender on the other end of a call or email whenever needed ended with the 2000 and 2008 bursts of those respective bubbles. It’s entirely possible […]
So, do you have that entrepreneurial DNA?
My immediate family members were entrepreneurs from as far back as I can trace. Dad was a jeweler, then a furniture store owner. Mom wrote books and articles from her college days until she could no longer see the keyboard. One grandfather owned and maintained his apartment houses. The other was a grocer, then a […]
The Thrill of the Deal: Remember When…
You’ve worked for months to get this deal to the closing, anticipating the wire transfers to the shareholders that will come any minute. This could change your lifestyle and give you that much needed pause in your life you have been looking forward to. How it happens today All the documents are signed in a […]
What Use is An Investment Banker?
Many CEOs have asked me if I felt an investment banker adds value if the buyer has already been identified. How investment bankers behave Investment bankers sometimes slow the process by requiring a cloud-based “data room” and “deal book” to be prepared containing considerable information about a company to help a buyer. Deal books are expensive […]
Beware: A Million Things Can Kill the Deal
So, you’ve found the buyer, received a letter of interest, signed it, and exclusively tied your company up for a period to complete the deal. Everyone on the board is anxious to close this. You’ve committed time to do whatever is needed. You’ve informed your top management of the pending but still secret deal and […]
What Would Happen to the Business if You Die, Leave or Are Disabled?
Yes, we’re invincible when young When we are young and early in our business lives, we feel infallible to the degree that we do not think of what might happen if we die while in office or decide to leave the company for any reason. Such thoughts just do not occur to most of us […]
How to Make the Most Useful Dashboard
The need for real time information From sports car to aircraft to super tanker, successful operation depends upon the pilot’s understanding and urgent timely use of a dashboard. Real time information is critical to real time decision-making, and increasingly in the modern business world, decisions are made by management without extended meetings or discussion with others. […]
What Happens When Selling Your Company for Less Than Expected
Sometimes the end game or sale of the company is not a happy event. Especially when outside investors, venture capitalists, or angels have put in substantial money and the sales price is less than the value of their investment. Most experienced VC and angel investors have found themselves in such a situation, since it is […]
