Tag Archives: james scott

Today, companies are truly moving forward or crumbling, there is no in between. I hate clichs but this is reality. By now, unless you’ve been living in a cave you’re highly familiar with the successes, failures and genius of global securities guru Warren Buffet and monopoly mastermind Bill Gates. They’ve changed the face of business and all who come to the scene now seem to be some morphed hybrid of the two as neo consultants and corporate strategists draw their inspiration from all or a portion of ideologies and processes originated from these two men.

The internet and boiler-room stock promoters are constantly selling unsophisticated investors the dream of Penny Stock Elixirs and Alchemical shortcuts to Wealth. They ask you to make a few sacrifices here and there and in the end your dreams of massive liquidity, a butler pockets loaded with cash will come true.

When I turn on the TV I’m bombarded with images of senate hearings, global finance leaders, hedge fund CEOs and of course the do nothing politicians we pay to protect us. And when I see them now, I no longer see them as humans like you and me. They are an entirely separate specie. Worse than vampires they feed off of the existence of you, me and our children.

The Catastrophic Annihilation of intellect by ‘no child left behind’ and political correctness make our children sitting ducks to the debilitating and mind numbing triggers of our self proclaimed ‘betters’. Sly as foxes and cunning as the crow your local politicians work hand in hand with the gods and monsters in the imperial system of numbers on a screen (fractional reserve lending). When you take a loan from an institutional lender and sign on the line or when you vote for that regional senator or politician and don’t stay on top of their agenda you are pinning the hands of our children behind their backs and marching them, one after the other, off the cliff to their doom.

What happens when politicians perpetually fail the people of a nation? What happens when lying, steeling, cheating and other grotesque displays of a primitive mind become mainstream with those who have been elected to govern our nation?

Those who are able to achieve higher yields on their investments typically don’t have a broker and don’t listen to the advice of a financial planner. After all, if either of them knew what they were talking about they wouldn’t be hustling others into allowing them to learn the trade game off of other people’s money.

If you are considering going public you are coming from one of two positions: you are either coming from a position of liquidity where you have the capital to spend $200k to go public on the OTCBB or you are coming from a position of weakness and you don’t have liquidity.

When an investor is looking at your business they are obviously looking for the basics: an executive team that has worked with other companies in your industry at the exact stage you are at now with a solid track record of success, an active advisory board that is eager to help and has a solid comprehension of your industry, a board of directors that acts as your company’s strategic think tank and action center where the tough issues get dealt with and questions get answered. Investors also want to see that you are in a growth industry and that all involved have the discipline to step out of the emotional ups and downs of a start up or company seeking capital and look at the business objectively.

If your company is about to start taking steps for a public offering you will most likely want to bring in employees that will help season your business plan and private placement memorandum for your initial rounds of capital. The human resources section of your PPM is crucial and on your business plan your ‘key executives’ portion is critical.

Most companies who are on the venture capital trail are not set up properly to attract investors. When an investor looks at your business plan and private placement memorandum they are looking for certain things. Of course funding sources look for the obvious, a solid business model, positive cash flow, industry genre with solid future growth, recession proof business (if there even is such a thing) and minimal debt.

I’ve been involved with more mergers and acquisitions and IPOs than I can even count. I’ve been called many names when I’m getting involved with corporate turnaround consulting but the most common of these terms are: arrogant, cocky and hardheaded. I take these names as a feather in the cap and a notch on the belt because the worst thing that can happen is that a company or board of directors hires a wimp or pushover. Having swagger when walking into a negotiation session or presentation makes all the difference. Refuse to lose and have the contacts to back up your moves.

Investors who are able to achieve higher yields on their investments take a different approach to growing their portfolio than most. Of course they use a broker and/or investment adviser for information on transactions but will typically make their investment decisions based off of their own collective research.

Our firm takes small companies and industry genre leaders public in the United States. We specialize in the OTCBB, A to Z facilitation as well as NASDAQ IR and strategies consulting. We work with global corporate entities from Greece to China, from South America to Europe. I say this not to boast or market myself but to give you some comfort that what you are about to read is based purely on experience and absolutely objective and if you are about to take your company public or trying to turn-around or restructure your public entity, this information will be of tremendous help to you.

The US is a game preserve and the entrepreneur is the endangered species being hunted by political poachers. Don’t expect a solution by government bureaucrats that use band aids intended to provide a temporary and sub-modest patch up, only problem is this band aid is suppose to close up a bazooka shot to the chest so don’t wait on resolutions that will have a lasting effect.

Selling Shareholder Offering: The Key To Raising Fast Capital For Pre-Public Companies. As a consultant who has taken many companies public on the OTCBB (Over The Counter Bulletin Boards), consulted on even more and turned around and structured more companies I can even count, there are a few common threads inherent in all of them.

OK, so you’ve just spent 5 months to a year in the process of going public. You’ve paid fat fees to auditors, consultants and lawyers, now you’re public…now what? How do you make a success of your new public company? Obviously you have solid executives at the helm and a board of directors advising you on various strategies and setting up new strategic alliances. You’ve eyed up companies to purchase as growth through acquisition is one of the main reasons for being public but how do you keep your stock selling and stable? How can you make it so your company stands head and shoulders above all other priorities of your market maker or broker dealer? You need to make their phone ring by pounding the pavement via public relations and pure publicity.

I consult in the turnaround sector with public companies on the Pinks, OTCBB, London Exchange, Frankfurt Exchange and every exchange in-between and everyone seems to have the same issue: there stock isn’t trading at the price they desire and they are dying to find a way to fix the problems that are hindering their trade. It usually comes down to a few basic elements. Use each of these elements with caution as this industry is full of predatory organizations and consultants and can be dangerous to amateurs. If you’re a newbie, that’s ok. Do what you can but know when you are in over your head and turn the remaining process over to people that swim with sharks for a living.

Where Are All The Good Investor Finder Services? Companies raising capital whether trying to get a loan, raise equity capital with a private placement memorandum or go public on the Pink Sheets, OTCBB or any other platform has no doubt been told to find a good investor finder. Sure there are multitudes of membership databases like ‘Angel Funding Project’, one of the industry’s largest and many others but where are the ‘investor finders’ that everyone’s CPA and CFO are talking about?

With global economics the way they are it would be redundant to rant and rave about the downsides of corporate fund-raising. Quick infusions of cash from venture capital firms and institutional lenders are on hold and it is what it is but companies are becoming creative and corporate attention is steering away from the problems and toward the solutions.

If you are taking your company public, expanding your corporation, doing in house cleanup to get rid of dead weight or just filling a C level or VP level position at your company your hiring method should be clear, concise and strategic. You need to take into consideration every intricacy that the individual being interviewed has to be exposed. You need to pay attention to what is said, not said, gestures, verbal intonations and the overall presence of the individual. Here are a few things to take into consideration when hiring an executive. These are elements outside of the resume.

Think back to when you were a child and your imagination was developing? You’d hear a bump from your closet or your eyes would play tricks on you as you swore you could see something slithering under your bed when the hallway light was turned off or when you’d creep, with back to the wall to the bathroom in the middle of the night and you could feel the energy of something staring at you from the opposite end of the hall’s expanse, you look up and sure enough you’d see a cast shadow made visible by the glow of a full moon peering through the window.

Yep! Quite a mouthful but let it sink in. The self proclaimed economic elite make rules and mistake that affect all of us, there only accountability is a quick senate hearing where they are interrogated for show and afterwards have champagne and cocktails in chambers and laugh off the comments of the day and plan their future hunting events in the Congo. I don’t find it comical that our domestic economy and power position is rapidly being exchanged for that of the third world or some obscure island nation whose major export is sand and debt.

Real corporate success is made up of multiple elements.

Do you have stock but don’t want to sell it? Do you need cash now and want to use your stock as collateral for a loan but don’t want to lose your investment? Do you have bad credit but need cash now? If you answered yes to any of these questions it sounds like you’re a good candidate for a non-recourse stock loan.

Business Owners: Build A Corporate Structure That Investors Love! Ok, you’ve decided to go after investment capital but you’re not sure where to start. Here are the basics that you should pay close attention to before putting your company in front of investors.