Notes on Raising Capital

Generate traction and revenue. investors portfolios last on average about 10 years. Don't loose control of the company by giving it away. There is more syndication going on (spreading the risk). Investors invest in a management. Capital efficiency means I am lean, this is key.

Business to Business is a market that gets allot of attention. "Nice to have" is a copycat. Be significant. 


Intellectual Property (I.P.) is a very important asset for your company. 

a Light IP is an app made with other existing tools. 

Women are 12% of all easy state investments.

Disrupt!!

NETWORKING is the #1 way of raising capital. Who do I know?

 Los Angeles wants revenue and content, Silicon Valley wants tech and New York wants eyes.

What investors are looking for?
1. Management Team
2. A unique Idea in an empty space.
3. A breakthrough idea
4. Scaleability, it has to scale.
5. Defensability. Patents, Intellectual Property, Trademarks, Corporate Structure (Corp, LLC) 

How to Pitch Investors?
Prepare with:
10 Slides
20 Minute
30 point type

In reality, expect to get 3-6 minutes. Sound-byte it. Turn a 30 second pitch to a 60 second "tell me more".

Investors care about the deal. What is the valuation? How does the technology work? Why is it unique, and how can I prove it?

Assume my pitch will save their portfolio.

When choosing your investment partner, do your research! 

The Terms

What  are the terms? Whats your term sheet like?

Alternative forms of raising capital?
Strategic partnerships, revenue creating deals. (I'm a huge fan of this)

Take money as late as possible. Ask for enough capital to keep going.

Super angels make bets.

VC's grow their portfolio.

Searching for a Teen Inventor or Entrepreneur for a new docu-reality series

A major cable network is producing a docu-reality series about amazing teens and the parents who inspire and support them. We are searching for a teen inventor or entrepreneur who is on the cusp of success. Our series will be very inspirational and will focus on the talent and dedication of the teen inventor or entrepreneur as well as highlighting the involvement of their parents- with a special emphasis on the father- in their child's

success.

Requirements: 

The teen should be between the ages of 13-18 and their father or guardian should be very involved in their child's venture-whether they coach or tutor them, fund everything, or dedicate all of their free time to helping them.

Contact Name: Dominique Ferrari TV at Email: query-2as1@helpareporter.net

Google's Don Dodge Interview with Jennifer Reuting

Google's Don Dodge Speaks with Jennifer Reuting Author of Limited Liability Companies for Dummies and Founder of MyLLC.com and DocRun.

Start Up Resource: oDesk.com

Start Up Resources

 Odesk.com. I love shopping for developers! Founded in 2003, oDesk allows you to hire people and find gigs.Odesk is the largest online workplace, where you can hire, manage, and pay a talented workforce of on-demand professionals. You can find web developers, Ruby on Rails developers, open social developers, Joomla developers, Software engineers, someone to build you a website or fix code. I recently used odesk to have someone build me both an iPhone and an android application. You can also set your own price. 

Check out the video below to see how odesk can work for you.

MyLLC.com Joins Forces with Startup America Partnership

MyLLC.com, the nation’s leading document filing and business entity formation company specializing in LLC and Corporation formations in all 50 states, is proud to announce their alliance with the Startup America Partnership.

MyLLC.com

Start Up America Partnership

MyLLC.com, which has long been renowned for its education-based platform, intends to assist the Startup America Partnership through offering free advice, and discounts on business filings and business structuring to emerging and existing entrepreneurs from coast to coast.

Along with some of the world’s largest corporations such as Microsoft, HP, Cisco and Google, and non-profits including the National Center for Women & Information Technology and The National Venture Capital Association, MyLLC.com will serve as a valuable supplemental resource for entrepreneurs from the earliest stage of business development. “Since our inception, it has been our primary mission to educate entrepreneurs about the critical need for proper structuring and filing of their businesses, in order to ensure that their startups, their visions, and their labors of love are strategically and thoroughly protected,” says Greg Monterrosa, Vice President of MyLLC.com.

The Startup America Partnership, launched on January 31, 2011 with initial launch funds from the Case Foundation and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, was conceived as a means to encourage and support the innovation of American entrepreneurs. The Partnership will work hand in hand with the White House to contribute funds, develop new programs, and assist entrepreneurs as part of President Obama’s strategy to stimulate economic growth by creating quality jobs.

“MyLLC.com is thrilled to be a part of the Startup America Partnership,” says Monterrosa. “As a rule, MyLLC.com never misses an opportunity to promote high-growth entrepreneurship across the country. We know that every business in the world started with one person’s vision -- just one idea. It is our obligation as an educational company to ensure that the visionaries behind these ideas are well-informed about the proper formation and structuring of their companies so that they remain sustainable and continue to create jobs well into the future,” he adds.

In addition to its new alliance with the Startup America Partnership, MyLLC.com’s founder Jennifer Reuting is the author of the best-selling book Limited Liability Companies for Dummies™, now in its second edition. MyLLC.com also has partnerships with the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) and works in conjunction with the University of Southern California’s E-Club to help educate emerging entrepreneurs.


###



About MyLLC.com: MyLLC.com®, the authors of Limited Liability Companies for Dummies™ offers customers: complete entity formation, entity dissolutions/withdrawals, foreign qualifications, corporate compliance, free name checks, trademark searches and registrations,, registered agent services, and corporate supplies such as corporate kits, stock certificates and embossing seals. These services are available in all 50 States as well as the District of Columbia. For more information visit http://www.myllc.com/ or call 888.886.9552.



The Startup America Partnership is a movement - by entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs - to help inspire and celebrate entrepreneurs, their firms and the people that join them. Launched January 31st at the White House in response to President Obama’s call to celebrate, inspire, and accelerate high-growth entrepreneurship throughout the nation, the Partnership is bringing together an alliance of major corporations, funders, service providers, mentors and advisors working to dramatically increase the prevalence and success of high-growth enterprises in the U.S. AOL co-founder Steve Case chairs the partnership and the Kauffman and Case Foundations are founding partners, providing initial funding and strategic guidance. For more information on the Partnership, visit http://www.startupamericapartnership.org/ and follow at www.twitter.com/startupamerica and www.facebook.com/startupamerica.

Casting QVC Hosts

QVC, America’s largest multi-media retailer is in search of new  full-time program hosts to add to it already existing on-air team to work in the West Chester, PA headquarters. QVC is in search of men and women with a background in hosting television, internet broadcasts, radio or live events. Candidates must be

energetic, upbeat, intelligent and enthusiastic with a natural curiosity. You must have a passion and drive for sales as well as be a quick thinker and good listener. Hosts should be friendly, credible, entertaining sincere and sophisticated with a sense of style and fashion. This position is full time with variable hours, so all potential candidates must be willing to relocate to the suburban Philadelphia headquarters.

 If interested please email a cover letter expressing interest and qualifications along with a resume, photo and any links to previous on air work if available to QVChostcasting@gmail.com

Hard Copies can be sent to:

Sean De Simone Casting P.O. Box 20357 New York, NY

10009 ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS PREFERRED.

Please include your current location in the subject line and please make sure to include a telephone contact number.

George Harris for Mayor of Las Vegas Video

One of the best politial ads I've seen in a while. George Harris is running for Mayor of Las Vegas. Vist his campaign at http://mayorgeorge.com/

What is the Internet?

This is a clip from the TODAY show that dates back to 1994. They are not sure what to call the "@" symbol. Bryant Gumbel asks "What is the Internet? Do you write to it like mail."

Taco Bell Meat: Where's the Beef?

Think twice about that 4th meal. Taco Bell just got hit with a class action lawsuit in Alabama for allegedly only using 36% meat in their "seasoned beef" whats the other 64% its not beef, that's for sure! According to CBS News

The firm tested the "meat mixture" and found that it contained ingredients like water, wheat oats, soy lecithin, maltodrextrin, modified corn starch and an anti-dusting agent.

According to the complaint,

10 Year Old Jared Sawyer Jr Delivers the Word

Jared Sawyer, Jr. of Decatur, Georgia preaches at Simon Temple AME Zion Church. What a great boy. He really inspired me tonight. God is Love.  

Los Angeles Ranks Second Nationally for Small Businesses

According to Buffalo Business First, new federal data shows that Los Angeles ranks second nationally with 331,479 small businesses.

The U.S. Census Bureau counted 339,782 private-sector businesses in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, the latest year for which official statistics are available. The vast majority were the 331,479 businesses that had 99 or fewer employees.

Business First separated companies into three groups:

• Small businesses (1 to 99 employees)

• Medium businesses (100 to 999 employees)

• Large employees (1,000 or more employees)

Fifty-one metros have at least 25,000 small businesses, led by 526,063 in the New York City area, which sprawls across Downstate New York into parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Beastie Boys Adam Yauch Beats Cancer

Just 18 months after getting diagnosed with cancer, Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch has been given a clean bill of health!! Way to go Adam, you are an inspiration to allot of people out there. With that said, the hip-hop icons are forging ahead with their comeback album Hot Sauce Committee, Part 2, due out Spring of 2011..

"It's a good thing," the Beasties' Mike D told the BBC of Yauch overcoming his health battle. "We're really happy about it." Despite the news, the group is still mulling over plans to tour: "We're still going to have to see how Adam is doing."

Much respect to the Beastie Boys! Looking foward to the new album.

Jimmy McMillan for Governor of New York

Here is Jimmy McMillan, he is runing for Governor of New York. with " The rent is to Damn High party. Go out there and vote New York! Jimmy McMilan 2010!

'The chicken came first, not the egg', scientists prove

Eggs came after chickens... and that's a fact

But now they believe they have cracked the conundrum of what came first: the chicken or the egg.

British researchers say the chicken must have come first as the formation of eggs is only possible thanks to a protein found in the chicken’s ovaries.

‘It had long been suspected that the egg came first but now we have the scientific proof that shows that in fact the chicken came first,’ said Dr Colin Freeman, from Sheffield University, who worked with counterparts at Warwick University.

‘The protein had been identified before and it was linked to egg formation but by examining it closely we have been able to see how it controls the process,’ he added.

The protein – called ovocledidin-17 (OC-17) – acts as a catalyst to speed up the development of the shell.

Scientists used a super computer called HECToR, based in Edinburgh, to ‘zoom in’ on the formation of an egg.

It showed OC-17 was crucial in kick-starting crystallisation – the early stages of forming a shell.

The protein coverts calcium carbonate into calcite crystals which makes up the egg shell, creating six grammes of shell every 24 hours.

Prof John Harding, also of Sheffield University, said the discovery could have other uses.

‘Understanding how chickens make shells is fascinating in itself but can also give clues towards designing new materials,’ he said.

Next challenge: Why did the chicken cross the road?

you can read the article here

EthnoLA: Revisioning Community and Culture - Hammer Museum

EthnoLA: Revisioning Community and Culture - Hammer Museum

EthnoLA: Revisioning Community and Culture

An evening of films by students of the UCLA Center for EthnoCommunications program, highlighting the diverse experiences of people across Los Angeles County. This retrospective screening offers a look at a multiethnic skateboard crew in Long Beach; the Bus Riders’ Union and one of its elder organizers, Grandma Kim; the issues students face in a low-income high school; South Asian motel owners; and the struggles of Latino truck drivers who work the port of Los Angeles.

Co-presented with the Center for EthnoCommunications, a program of the UCLA Asian American Studies Center, this program is one of the events commemorating the 40th Anniversary of ethnic studies centers at UCLA.

Google wants to photograph your business

Google has taken it to a whole new level. In between attempting to photograph every book ever made, and every street, they'd now like to photograph your business (for free). No, really.


Do you own a business? Apply today for a Google photo shoot of your business. Pictures from the shoot will be added to your Place Page. and example of a Place page can be seen here.

To request Google to come out to your business to take pictures, you can go to

https://services.google.com/fb/forms/googlemapsbusinessphotos/



Their photographers are currently working in select cities in the US, Australia, and Japan.

Entrepreneurial Notes..

Every problem is an opportunity for you to discover creativity. So we can stand back and assess the problem and have something God given rise up and create a solution. Problems are exercises in creativity.

Don't Be a Wuss

In tough times, its the boldly innovative companies that are most likely to thrive. -Doug Hall


I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where its been. -Wayne Gretzky

Twitter Auto Pilot

I sat in a meeting this morning where the term twitter auto pilot came to play. Got me wonder if this would work for affiliate marketing, and how this would affect social sites being bombarded with spam. I found a site called The Twitter Traffic Machine but the homepage didnt offer much information unless you pay. I'm going to write some code and see what happens. I'll keep everyone posted.

you can follow me on twitter @ www.Twitter.com/Gregmetro

life

is a beautiful thing when we do what we love.