Venture Northwest

Today I had the opportunity to attend Venture Northwest. I commend the Oregon Entrepreneurs Forum and the Venture Northwest committee for putting together a great conference. The event was well organized and attended, and thanks to great sponsors and a solid group of select entrepreneurs, the presenting companies really shined.

Look Alive! (Entrepreneur.com)

Recharging your sales motivation ...

"Every entrepreneur knows how important a sense of urgency is to keeping the business growing and keeping prospects moving through the sales cycle. Yet sometimes, no matter how much activity you’ve created, sales seem to slow down or stand still."

1. Start making calls.
2. Don’t take no for an answer.
3. Remember, leverage is power.
4. Rewrite your goals.
5. Don’t let the naysayers bring you down.

[Press] Interviewing Dos & Don’ts (Entrepreneur.com)

For those who may only infrequently speak to the media, here is a quick refresher ...

To prepare for the interview:
· Research the reporter and the publication.
· Prepare at least three key points you want to get across.
· Anticipate tough questions.
· Expertly answer friendly questions.

During the interview:
· Think about sound bites and anecdotes.
· Avoid extensive promotion.
· Be cordial and complimentary.
· Avoid “off the record” comments.

TV and radio interviews
· Be succinct.
· But don’t be fast.
· Have one key message.
· Build a bridge.

Raising Money From Informal Investors (Entrepreneur.com)

By Asheesh Advani, President and CEO of Circle Lending (backed by Venrock and Intel Capital).

• Don’t give pro-rata rights to your first investors.
• Avoid giving too many people the right to be overly involved.
• Beware of any limits placed on management compensation.
• Request a cure period.
• Restrict your share restrictions.

Microfinance at a Crossroads: How Best to Create Value for the World's Poorest Citizens (Knowledge@Wharton)

Although reliable statistics are hard to come by, there is evidence at all levels that microfinance is growing dramatically. As of the end of 2004, according to the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report, more than 3,000 microcredit institutions reported reaching over 92 million clients, two thirds of whom "were among the poorest when they received their first loan."

Creating value: The debate over public vs. private ownership (McKinsey Quarterly)

Some excerpts...

"In the 1990s a lot of value was generated through what you could broadly call financial engineering. Today the markets are fairly efficiently priced, and financial engineering is no longer a differentiating factor. Everyone can do it, and everyone has the same tools."

"When we acquire a business, we spend a lot of time on due diligence so that when we sit on the board, we have a detailed understanding of what the company does. That enables us to be very good sparring partners for the management team in further driving value."

"In a private equity context, for example, we can make decisions very quickly. We don't have to wait for the next planned board meeting, we don't need to communicate anything to a wide range of investors, and we don't need to tell competitors anything if we don't want to—just a very short communication between the owner and management and it's done."

"We should remember, though, that private equity companies can also mismanage a business."

"In private equity, the people who sit on the board are the ones who have actually acquired the business, and when you acquire a business you tend to go through three to four months of very intensive due diligence to understand it better. So when you join the board, you've already spent an extensive and very intensive period of time learning the business and working with the management team to develop a business plan."

"Clearly, we're very cash flow driven, rather than earnings driven, because for the first few years we have to repay the loans we take on to buy a business. So we have rolling daily cash flow forecasts in every business, and with today's technology, that's quite possible to implement in pretty much any business. Yet again and again we're amazed at how unsophisticated some of the cash-flow-monitoring mechanisms are, even in large businesses."

New Tech Hot Spot Is Still the Old One (WSJ Startup Journal)

"The trend shows how the San Francisco Bay Area continues to possess a unique mix of venture-capital money and skilled workers that tech firms -- especially those that get to a point where they want to grow quickly -- can't afford to pass up."

Giving ideas wings (The Economist)

"For all its obscurity, the market they operate in is huge. Mr Sohl (UNH) estimates there are up to 350,000 business angels in America who invest around $30 billion a year in some 50,000 ventures, an average of $600,000 per investment. In contrast, venture-capital funds in America invest on average $6m in each venture, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers."

"Business angels have a long history. America's National Venture Capital Association believes that over the past 30 years they have put more than twice as much money into new ventures as have venture-capital funds."

"In America, according to one estimate, angels introduce about two-fifths of the new investment opportunities seen by venture-capital firms."