Limited Liability Company Formation Documents
If, after consultation with your professional team, you decide to form a limited liability company, you will need to file Articles of Organization with the state and draft an internal …
Corporation Formation Documents
After consulting with your professionals, you will most likely need to form an entity to raise capital. Most entrepreneurs will form either a corporation or a limited liability company. This …
Business Plan
As part of your business strategy, planning, and feasibility analysis, you will commit your plan to paper. The document produced is typically called a business plan. The purpose of a …
Glossary
A Accounts payable. Amount owed to creditors for goods and services. Accounts receivable. Amount due from customers for merchandise or services. Accredited investor. A person with a net worth exceeding …
Conclusion
Some small businesses never stop raising capital. In financing emerging businesses, it always takes longer and requires more money than you think. Start-up businesses fail for as many reasons as …
Sequence
One of the more difficult tasks for the entrepreneur is to prioritize the company's interface with its professionals. New companies must normally conserve their cash resources as they build the …
Other Consultants
Your company may have the occasion to employ other consultants in its lifetime. You should perform some measure of diligence on the consultants. Legitimate consultants will gladly provide you with …
Attorneys and Accountants
Most likely, your first two professionals will be an attorney and an accountant. Attorneys and accountants serve at the pleasure of their clients and you can replace them at anytime. …
How to Choose Professionals
T Attorneys and Accountants t Other Consultants t Sequence At some point in your entrepreneurial career, you are going to choose professionals to represent your company. Choosing these individuals is …
Corporate Governance for Limited Liability Companies
Like corporations, limited liability companies (LLCs) are creations of the state. In contrast to a corporation, an LLC has a great amount of flexibility in how it is governed and …
Corporate Records
State corporate statutes allow shareholders access to corporate records unless there is a justifiable reason not to do so. Therefore, it is advisable to keep adequate books and records, including …
Corporate Governance for Corporations
Corporations are entities that are created under state law. There are no federal corporations. As such, state laws control most aspects of how a corporation is governed, including provisions for …
Bank Accounts
In order to open a bank account for your new company, you will minimally need to obtain a federal tax ID number for your company (a single member LLC without …
Signing Documents
When signing invoices, receipts, contracts, or other documents on behalf of the company, always put the corporate name, followed by the individual's name and title. Note the following examples. ABC, …
Money and Accounting
As part of their duty of care, the officers and directors of a corporation and the managers of an LLC are responsible for making sure that the company has sound …
Annual Reports
A large majority of states require corporations (and about half of the states require LLCs) to make an annual filing with an agency in their state of formation and any …
Initial Reports
Many states require an initial report to be filed with the state within thirty to ninety days of the formation of a company. These reports are mailed to the registered …
Registered Agents
All companies are required to have a registered agent. A registered agent is authorized to accept service of process for the business, and is the designated point of contact with …
Corporate Governance
T Registered Agents t Initial Reports t Annual Reports t Money and Accounting t Signing Documents t Bank Accounts T Corporate Governance for Corporations T Corporate Records T Corporate Governance …
Declining Money
Believe it or not, there are times when you should decline the money. In the case of larger investors, you should perform your own due diligence on the potential funder. …
Learning to Close and When
If you grew up in an average middle-class family, you probably had little occasion to seriously ask for money. When you did, it was probably awkward and unpleasant. Most of …
The Presenter
The third area to focus on is the actual presenter—his or her communication skills and appearance. If you have not spoken in public quite a bit, seek out opportunities to …
Content
When talking about the content, provide an adequate snapshot of the company, its management, the market, and the return on investment. It is useful for the presenter to tell about …
Presentations and the Language of Capital
T Content t The Presenter t Learning to Close and When t Declining Money Your success in raising capital may rise or fall on the quality of your presentation to …
Angel Networks and Entrepreneurial Forums
A source for angel networks exists at the Access to Capital Electronic Network (ACE-Net) which is a nationwide secure database accessible via the Internet at Http://acenet. csusb. edu. In addition, …
Valuation
The subject of valuation has elements of science and art. There are for - mulistic models for valuation that are quantitative and other models that are qualitative. The qualitative general …
What They Look For
Here are some of the factors that angels and venture capital firms may use in evaluating your business. Even if you are not seeking venture capital funding, you should consider …
Venture Capital
Venture capital sources are easier to identify than angels, but harder to close. Many firms and individuals call themselves venture capitalists, but they are in fact brokers who present deals …
Friends, Angels, and Venture Capital Sources
^ Friends and Family } Angels } Venture Capital ^ What They Look For ^ Valuation ^ Angel Networks and Entrepreneurial Forums Investors in your small business can take many …
SBA Opportunities: The SBA is a financing Source for prospective franchise owners if the franchise ^ system meets the SBA Eligibility Guidelines. Business Opportunities
Business opportunities are a close cousin to franchising and multilevel marketing (MLM) opportunities. A business opportunity typically involves the sale or lease of products or services to a purchaser to …
Franchising
Franchising is a well-known means of expanding your business while transferring operational responsibilities to franchisees. The originating company, known as the franchisor, builds its brand under one or more trademarks …
Licensing
Some businesses develop a proprietary product, but do not necessarily want to pursue manufacturing and distribution for that product. In that case, your company may wish to pursue a licensing …
Licensing and Franchising
} Licensing ^ Franchising } Business Opportunities There are ways of growing your business that use neither equity nor debt financing. Those methods include licensing your product or franchising your …
Follow-up and Closing an Offering
Once you have made a sale of securities to an investor, there are essential record keeping requirements. The following are some guidelines for keeping accurate records of your securities offering. …
Regulation A Offerings
Regulation A offerings are small public offerings—limited to $5,000,000 during any twelve-month period. In addition, Regulation A offerings allow an unlimited number of investors, permit general solicitation of investors, and …
