January 9, 2009
Small-business owners who need quick access to capital have a burgeoning industry eager to fund them: merchant cash advance providers. The decade-old industry has ...
January 6, 2009
Working with outside investors to finance an early-stage company by issuing stock can be stressful, time-consuming, and complex. For the most part, founders will focus...
December 23, 2008
Over the past year, the economic downturn and the frozen credit markets have harmed small business owners' access to get loans and credit lines. While the severity of ...
December 12, 2008
With Facebook growing at a torrid rate, the private company has had to raise several rounds of capital as well as issue shares to its employees. As a result, the ...
December 2, 2008
Landing venture capital is tough for startups (BusinessWeek, 2/1/08), even in a good economy. But given the ongoing financial crisis, how hard is it for early-stage ...
November 18, 2008
If you run an independent company and are looking for ways to raise capital, consider selling shares to your customers via a private placement. A private placement is ...
November 11, 2008
Shawn Cressman, president of Cressman's Lawn & Tree Care, the business his father started 33 years ago in Bethlehem, Pa., has occasionally engaged in bartering with ...
November 7, 2008
The past few years have been relatively easy for founders of startups to raise venture capital. VCs were willing to take bets on new markets—and make large ...
November 4, 2008
Given the state of the financial markets, how hard is it for media startups to get equity financing right now? It's the morning of Oct. 30 in Midtown Manhattan, and ...
October 31, 2008
When San Francisco e-mail marketer VerticalResponsegrew to $6 million in revenues and 30 employees last year, company founder and CEO Janine Popick was overwhelmed ...
October 24, 2008
Back in 2002, Scott Chatel's business remodeling brownstones and apartments in Brooklyn and Manhattan was so good that he set a goal to increase annual sales from $2 ...
October 17, 2008
Meet the new breed of angel-backed entrepreneur. Donna Myers, president of software provider TowerCare Technologies, is in the process of securing $2 million in angel ...
October 17, 2008
I recently received an e-mail from an early-stage software company that has landed $1 million in funding from angel investors (BusinessWeek.com, 10/10/08) over the ...
October 10, 2008
Bank of America (BAC) has taken a hit on small business lending—and that could mean still tighter credit for entrepreneurs. In a conference call with analysts on...
October 10, 2008
Is your company looking for an equity investment under a few million dollars? You might first think of approaching venture capitalists, but I suggest you try angel ...
October 9, 2008
Do you know what's in your company's business credit report? If you've ever had a line of credit with a bank or supplier or a lien or court judgment against your ...
October 3, 2008
The breakdown in the credit markets clearly isn't limited to the financial industry itself (BusinessWeek, 10/02/08), and some businesses (BusinessWeek.com, 9/26/08), ...
September 26, 2008
How directly will small business lending be affected by the ongoing financial crisis and forthcoming bailout? The evidence is mixed. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson ...
September 19, 2008
When a venture capitalist invests in an early-stage company, the structure set forth in the term sheet (BusinessWeek.com, 8/15/08) is usually in preferred stock. These...
September 12, 2008
Blacks and Latinos start businesses at a lower rate than whites and Asians, and their companies are less likely to be profitable, less likely to hire employees, and ...
August 28, 2008
When I raised the capital for my first company, I didn't use a lawyer. My main reason was the cost. Why spend $400 an hour? How could somebody be worth that much? And ...
August 22, 2008
In my last column, I looked at some of the key issues of negotiating a term sheet and offered advice on how founders should handle them (BusinessWeek.com, 8/15/08). In...
August 20, 2008
The 30% interest rate on their small business credit card shocked James and Heather Hills enough to stop using it entirely in April. The couple had turned to credit ...
August 15, 2008
A term sheet is a document prepared by venture capitalists that sets forth the key terms of a proposed investment. The temptation for the entrepreneur is to focus ...
August 8, 2008
Sure, there are generally accepted ways to determine what an established private company is worth (BusinessWeek SmallBiz, 4/16/08). But for a relatively unproven ...