Easily Find And Secure: Angel Investors, Private Investors, Institutional Investors And More! Raising capital for a start-up, corporation in expansion mode or a company in virtually any position presents it’s challenges and roadblocks. There has been no period in recent history that can simulate the difficulties that current entrepreneurs and executives are having when trying to achieve the procurement of venture capital. The standards have become more stringent and the cross-collateralization of personal and corporate assets as security for loans has virtually become a mandatory prerequisite for any type of funding, equity or loan based.
When initiating the process of raising capital one should take into consideration the use of a combination of funding options such as but not limited to: traditional venture capital, bank institutional, institutional equity investment, hedge fund lenders, private money lending, angel equity and loan investment, a private placement memorandum as the mechanism for raising capital distributed in shares, international equity based funding, the reality of taking your small business public on the OTCBB and many other concepts of capital raising that can be placed into a simultaneous strategy.
It’s a common mistake among entrepreneurs and executives to place all of their attention and time into one singular aspect of the above funding concepts. Instead, you should pick a multi pronged approach and go after multiple genres of financing for your business. Some avenues will yield success, some will not but you are more likely to achieve incremental funding successes as oppose to one gargantuan, be all and end all finance victory.
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We get calls all day, every day from companies that talk about ‘wanting’ real corporate publicity that will transform their company but few have the stomach for what it really takes and even fewer have the financial dedication it takes to obliterate their competition and take their rightful place at the top of the food chain.
Of course it’s important to cater to the traditional media (TV, radio, newspaper, industry journals, etc) but the genre of publicity that wins every time is viral publicity consisting of video, social and news bookmarks, article submissions, press release submissions and photo/logo sharing sites. The reality is online publicity is where you’re going to completely annihilate your competitors and claim your rightful position.
When you take into consideration the ultra powerful medium and stealth of viral publicity, all other promotional genres cower in comparison. Online your pre public or post public company will claim instant viewers and a cult-like following that TV and radio can’t even remotely compare. Billions of searches take place every day and it is the viral publicists job to do what SEO and traditional publicists can’t do and that is get solid search engine ranking while simultaneously bringing in powerful results that are targeted and strategically placed.
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Regulation D, Under Sections 4(2) and 3(b) of the Securities Act of 1933, the SEC adopted Regulation D to coordinate the various limited offering exemptions and to streamline the existing requirements applicable to private offers and sales of securities. The Regulation establishes three exemptions from registration in Rules 504, 505, and 506.
Rule 504, which provides an exemption for non-reporting companies unless they are “blank check” issuers or certain “shells”, stipulates that: The sale of up to $1,000,000 of securities in a 12-month period is permitted provided that there is no general solicitation, the securities sold are restricted securities and cannot be resold except pursuant to a registration statement or exemption, and a notice must be filed with the SEC within 15 days after the first sale. Rule 504 does not provide an exemption under any state laws. In certain limited circumstances where an offering is conducted under state accredited investor exemptions, securities offered under Rule 504 may be freely transferrable. Unlike Rules 505 and 506, Rule 504 does not mandate that specified disclosure be provided to purchasers. Nonetheless, the business person should take care that sufficient information is provided to meet the full disclosure obligations which exist under the antifraud provisions of the securities laws.
Rule 505 was adopted by the SEC to provide small businesses more flexibility in raising capital than under Rule 504 – but without the uncertainty of determining the quality of the purchasers that generally is involved in using Rule 506. Rule 505 provides issuers a limited offering exemption for sales of securities totaling up to $5 million in any 12-month period.
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Discovering the ‘thumbscrews’ of investors is crucial to getting them to take action. In over a decade of dealing with global investors there are several elements that I’ve discovered to be universal truths about the mind of the private investor (angel investor, accredited investor).
When talking to an investor for the first time, it’s more important to listen than to speak. It’s more important to ask questions than answer them. It’s more important to discover their needs and wants than to exclaim your own. Your first conversation with an investor should be all about piercing the armor and finding the trigger points that prompt a reaction that gets to the center of their ‘childlike’ state.
What I mean by this is, investors, just like anyone else, has insecurities that are rooted in their childhood and what they are outwardly today, is typically a polar opposite of what they are on the inside. For example, an arrogant, chest beater seems proud and obnoxious on the outside but the reality is that they are over compensating for an insecurity that is rooted in an individual or collection of childhood incidents.
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So many companies dream of going public to raise massive amounts of capital, as set up for an exit strategy, to make acquisitions with stock and for many other reasons. While your intentions may be pure and with genuine motives, you’re entering shark infested waters of boiler rooms, crooked attorneys and underbelly consultants who have made careers off of taking well intentioned executives just like you for a 24 month rollercoaster ride while they take every penny you have as your company shrivels up like week old road kill.
Just and honest consultants in the ‘public offering’ industry are as rare as the illusive white elephant. This industry exists in a cesspool surrounded by rose gardens; from afar it looks amazing and an image of a dreamland but get up and close and the sludge and odor are enough to make you run and hide. So what do you look for in a consultant? The best consulting firms are the ’boutique firms’ with minimal overhead that keep a low profile and are made up of 3 or 4 ‘partner’ consultants.
These firms typically have the experience of working with the large consulting groups but for one reason or another have decided to leave and go out on their own. The great thing is, these small groups typically have massive contacts and process your entire public offering in-house. Offering a complete turn-key solution that is managed in-house offers a huge advantage because there is accountability and you can actually build a relationship with the people that are making your dream of a public offering come true.
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The non-fiction form has undergone a transformation in the past decade. Many more books today are published that blur the line between fiction and non-fiction. And in other cases, the standards for literary excellence in non-fiction writing have risen; no longer is non-fiction thought primarily as a way to transfer knowledge gleaned from research or insight or interview. Non-fiction today describes a robust category of high quality writing on a diverse set of subjects that is meant to be both informative and entertaining.
The traditional publishing path of the past has been described similarly by many sources. Write a book, send query letter and/or book proposal to agents, get picked up by an agent, get sold by agent to a small-to-medium-size publisher, pray that your book takes off and garners attention from a big publisher who pays you a six-figure advance in return for the rights to your book.
Nathan Bransford, a literary agent with Curtis Brown, discusses going from small presses to big publishers. I agree with many of his points on the difficulties of being recognized by a big publisher. His advice is very similar to my premise, if your book is really good, well edited, designed, printed, distributed, and promoted, it will succeed.
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Being seen as an expert in your field will create a competitive advantage for you and your business. One of the ways to create expert status is to appear in the media as an expert in your field. Here’s how! Make a list of all of the topics you can discuss as an expert or analyst and include sub-categories for each one. For example, a Workplace Expert can create a topic list that includes how to deal with gossip in the workplace, the dos and don’ts of asking for a raise, workplace etiquette, tips for traveling with the boss, harassment, climbing the corporate ladder, handling burn-out. Create five talking points for each of your expert topics you listed. Talking points are statements in sentence format that present a concept or commentary. Example of talking points on the topic of “tips for traveling with the boss” are: “Do not drink alcohol and if you do, never become intoxicated” or “Being on the road with the boss is not a time to ask for a raise” and so forth. Under each talking point create several lines of discussion or commentary.
Next, create an expert BIO that showcases the reasons why you are knowledgeable in your field. Include your accomplishments and any media placements such as appearing on radio or TV or in newspaper or magazine as the guest or expert. List all of your education, credentials and any special awards or recognition you received along with the organization that recognized you. Now, start to create your media contact database so you have a plan of how to get booked on the media when the time is right, such as when the conversation around your area of expertise becomes hot. Make your connections in advance. Introduce yourself to your media contacts, but not before you are ready.
Get positioned with the media in advance so you will be set up and ready to go when a story or news events emerges that is perfect for your commentary. An example is about a career or workplace expert who can comment on the industry events from workers losing their jobs to the unemployed going back to school. If a news event happens, such as a new jobs report or unemployment report coming out, your expertise, commentary and analysis will be in demand.
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The arrival of satellite tv has seen the virtual explosion of TV stations, broadcasters, production houses and content producers. This is because cable Television and direct to house systems have indeed pushed the frontiers of television broadcasting beyond all imaginable limits and on to a global scale. It’s no wonder that TV networks worldwide employ the usage of a Green screen.
One of the widespread techniques which are utilized in tv program production is that of employing a Green screen in the backdrop of the studio where a particular programme is getting taken. This really is part of the technique of chroma key that deals particularly with the removal of certain images in the background of the shot and superimposing this with another picture, that is more ideal for the production. For instance, it’s possible to work with a screen that’s green in color behind the broadcaster who’s reading out the weather news. When audiences watch the programme, the green or blue screen as the case might be, is actually replaced with a weather map or scenes of certain cities or satellite images.
A Green screen is especially useful for chroma key uses, on account that the normal human skin tone has very little elements of green in it. This helps in the better quality of image superimposition plus the alternative of background, without interfering much with the basic picture of the broadcaster who is standing in the foreground. If there had been any green hue or tone in human skin, elements of the body would seem invisible when utilizing the other coloured screen, making the effect quite strange and extremely inappropriate and out of place.
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Acne troubles a lot of individuals irrespective of age. By definition, it is a skin condition that results from excessive production of oil in the oil glands of the skin that is made visible through pimples, blackheads, whiteheads, and cysts.
For acne-clouded skin, a special attention must be applied so as not to aggravate the skin’s condition. Although it’s not the single solution, but a facial spa is always a good choice.
The gains of a facial spa are never a question. For one thing, we all need the masterly hands of aestheticians from time to time to aid us in taking care of our skin the right way. However, one should understand that no facial could produce identical marvels to the skin to all patients. Be certain then of the facial spa that you’re getting.
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Green Screen Studios is an inexpensive video and filmmaking technique in which 2 frames are melded into one. It’s also commonly called Chroma key or sometimes color keying. A prominent use is in TV weather circulars where the weather person seems to be standing in front of a large graphic display. What happens in truth is that the weather person stands in front of a blank Green Screen Studios. Different graphic displays are then digitally added to the blank green portions to complete the illusion.
Green is a preferred color because it is so different from human skin color that good separation is achieved . It is also the color to which digital cameras are most sensitive. The other available color blue is less advantageous because it’s a common color in both masculine and feminine clothing and requires brighter lighting. Plenty of the more moderen Star Wars flicks make in depth use of color keying techniques. Green Screen Studios is also far less expensive than having your characters or props in front of an actual projection or television screen.
Any project that involves green screen production should require the same kind of homework in sourcing an appropriate Green Screen Studios as a sound stage for a flick or a recording studio for music. The taping or filming of your characters or your props in front of a Green Screen Studios and the subsequent keying out of the green background needs talented and accomplished technicians.
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