Access to Capital

A series of intensive small business workshops will be held across South-east Queensland during the year in an effort to break down barriers for inventors and small businesses.

With recent research indicating it takes approximately 3,000 raw, unwritten ideas to produce just one successful new innovation, Ideas2Market helps to cut those odds by providing crucial early assistance. An initiative of the Queensland Government’s Department of State Development, Trade and Innovation and delivered by the Australian Institute for Commercialisation (AIC), the Ideas2Market program provides direct, straight-forward and practical concepts to apply to up-coming businesses.

AIC Chief Executive Officer Rowan Gilmore said the Ideas2Market program had been specifically designed to help improve the future prospects of both budding new inventors and small business owners alike. “Ideas2Market provides practical checklists and useful tools that can be applied to business planning time and time again,” Mr Gilmore said.

By attending the Ideas2Market program participants learn how to condense and prepare a concise, bite-sized pitch that can be marketed to investors, customers and future business partners,” he said. More than 270 entrepreneurs, inventors and small businesses have attended 10 Ideas2Market half-day programs Queensland-wide in the last 12 months, indicating a continued demand for the program in the marketplace.

Go and check out the site at www.ausicom.com and find out how you can benefit by getting great information about how to bring your ideas to market. If you are interstate then send a request to your local State Department and get these courses rolling out across the country.

Good Luck with Commercialising your Ideas. Getting good education is one of the best places to start.

Regards

Andrew Winter

AccessToCapital

Andrew Winter is an Experienced Business Development Consultant specialising in helping companies grow through establishing and implementing sound capital raising strategies.

AccessToCapital has a range of experts available in Capital Raising and Business Development to assist growing businesses.

Recently we sent out a request to all of our valuable subscribers asking them specifically what they might like us to address on the site. What a response! There were so many and we are so grateful for all the feedback. However it only highlights the need for sites like this to provide as much education as possible to everyone in business or with a business idea who plans to raise capital in order to grow or expand that business.

One recurrent theme is that there are alot of budding designers and clothing manufacturers out there looking to get a start. Good on you all. In Australia we have a great talent pool of established and recognised designers in this area.

But I have to say that it is in industry that we do not know a whole lot about at AccessToCapital. So along came Llew Wetham to the rescue. Llew is from a company called TCF and can be found at www.tcf.net.au. The Textile, Footwear, Clothing and Automobile Parts Industry provide a very specific area of expertise for Llew and his team. So I am happy to say that we have posted a couple of documents to the File Cabinet for those of you that are in that industry please feel free to download them.

In addition we have put a link on our site to the site at TCF so click straight through and again feel free to make contact with Llew and his team if you want to get some good advice on what paths are available for you in the Government Grant sector of this very specialised industry.

Coming up over the next few weeks and months we are going to be loading up more and more articles and documents that might be of value. However before I sign off today let me share a blog site with you called http://bplans.typepad.com/ This is a blog dedicated to all things business plan. I am a subscriber to the newsletter from www.bplans.com which is the site that sells Palo Alto Business Planning Software. There is alot of great information about business planning and some excellent books that are recommended.

In keeping with this demand we have posted a number of Business Planning Tools and Worksheets in the File Cabinet as this was again a very strong request from our subscribers.

Best Wishes

Andrew Winter

AccessToCapital

Andrew Winter is an Experienced Business Development Consultant specialising in helping companies grow through establishing and implementing sound capital raising strategies.

AccessToCapital has a range of experts available in Capital Raising and Business Development to assist growing businesses.

Hello and welcome to 2006. We are certainly generating alot of interest and enquiry via our site here at AccesstoCapital so I hope you keep coming back and interacting on a regular basis. I would like to thank both Sylvia and Acland for their recent comments. We continue to watch the progress of the Dragon’s Den contenders and Acland was very kind to shed some “behind the scenes” light on the process.

We will be posting regular documents to the File Cabinet so make sure you know how to get in and how to access any of the documents. If there are things you would like to know more about then please contact us and we will be more than happy to help. Use the ClickCalling button and give us a free call from the site. ClickCalling is the commercialised product of Brisbane based company called NasComms and is going to be a global winner very soon.

So down to business. I recently had a high quality meeting with a prospective client and one of the issues that was referred to was: “But how do I know how much to ask for and how much my company is worth?” The only true answer to that question is: Let the Market decide!

There are so many different valuation models and these are mostly relevant to existing, proven businesses who can rely on at least 3 years of trading and can clearly identify what a financial growth model will look like for their business. But many small or new businesses do not/ can not facilitate this. So they have to rely on a great deal of judgement and a sense of market indication.

Investors are strange by their nature. That makes us all strange as we are all investors in one way or another. I know a property developer who will only operate in one state of the country no matter how good the opportunity is. If the market slows then he will simply sit tight instead of looking outside his given market to see what other markets might be moving contrary to the one he is in. That is part of the individual risk strategy and part of the valuation strategy. The investor is comfortable in that market and will dictate the price he pays based on his existing system and buying habits.

As a potential new business developer I asked the prospective client this question:
If I gave you $1million dollars over the next 12 months what would your business look like in 3 years time? This was a question that was able to elicit a very clear response. Based on that response we are able to develop a draft strategic growth plan and therefore develop a foundation stone that is fair and reasonable to offer an equity position in the market for the business idea.

Once this offer is then made to the market one of two things will happen: It will succeed or fail to attract investors. Now, as in any marketing excercise, you are testing the market and you can therefore change and adapt your strategy based on the feedback of the market. But you have to start somewhere and asking yourself that initial question will begin to help you find out how much you need for your business (your business plan needs to validate that amount) and how much it may be worth in 1-3 years time.

Now the technicians out there are going to challenge me on this statement but hey that’s what makes the world go around:
If you say to me: With $1million in my business today then we will be making $250,000 per annum in 3 years time Net Profit After Tax NPAT then I would suggest to you that the business is worth 10 times the $250K or $2.5Million. So $1million is worth giving up 40% of your business. But that is a guide only and any investor is going to ask you to validate and substantiate any figures you use based on your planning methodology.

So now that a stand has been taken I look forward to those comments and feedback that will help educate others about the process. For those that want to investigate the matter further I have enclosed a Valuation Guide by Ashley Gill in the File Cabinet.

Best of Luck for 2006

Regards
Andrew Winter

Andrew Winter is an Experienced Business Development Consultant specialising in helping companies grow through establishing and implementing sound capital raising strategies.

AccessToCapital has a range of experts available in Capital Raising and Business Development to assist growing businesses.

For the last two weeks now I have taken a great deal of interest in a new television show called The Dragon’s Den. This show is a pitching contest where the owners and developers of business ideas present their case to a group of diverse and successful Australian Business people.

Now this isn’t a new concept. The Dragon’s Den show originates from the UK and variations of the same are conducted around the country behind closed doors with no cameras. These are called private equity or angel investor meetings.

My concern mainly is that under the pressure, the lights and the glare and probing of the Dragons I have to ponder the question: “Why give up so much for so little.” I have been more impressed with those business people who have stood firm and avoided the Dragon’s Den challenge. My applause to the girls at LustyThreads.com who once again pulled of another great PR campaign and from what I hear the phone’s were ringing hot the next day.

But back to business then. OK so without doubt there have been some businesses that should not and could not get funding. That’s life and barring a few exceptions they have recieved very polite ‘by your leave’s’ from The Dragon’s Den panel. There have been a few though that had to give away some serious chunks of their business in order to get their hands on the investment capital.

It comes down to a question over funds, networks, skills and experience. In the case of the Dragons a succesful pitch could result in all 4 key ingredients being injected into the business. This is the missing piece of the value equation. But here is the catch. There are 5 Dragons in the Den. In two episodes they have collected 50% of 2 businesses and 80% of 1 business. If there are 10 episodes then it stands to reason that by the end of the series there will be 15 businesses that the Dragons have to collectively add value to, along with the cash of course. Whilst at the same time they still have to operate their own businesses.

So beware your delivery to the Dragons Den. Most expectant business people I speak to these days have this built in pre-concieved idea that the money, the skill, the experience etc all has to come from one person, one source. This is far from the case. Seperate your shopping list. It’s easier to find money in small stages in smaller amounts of capital. It’s easier to buy top quality business advisers who have been there and done that than to try and find the right one who also wants to invest half a million dollars at the same time.

As a Business Owner seeking to raise capital consider the options. Do your homework and at all times if it looks like a Dragon, talks like a Dragon and acts like a Dragon then the chances are, cameras or no cameras, you are standing in The Dragon’s Den.

Good Luck

Andrew Winter

Andrew Winter is an Experienced Business Development Consultant specialising in helping companies grow through establishing and implementing sound capital raising strategies.

AccessToCapital has a range of experts available in Capital Raising and Business Development to assist growing businesses.

In this podcast Andrew Winter from Access To Capital talks about Structure, Form and Process. When raising capital you need to consider the total Strategic Plan for your business and the people affected by that plan.

Issuing shares then, is as much about being investor friendly as it is about being investor ready. Andrew explains why the value of restructuring in order to raise capital and issue shares is fundamental to success.

Click on the button below to listen to the streaming audio.

To download the above audio recording in mp3 format to your computer: PC users: right click on the MP3 link below. Select “Save Target As”. Mac users: click and hold on the MP3 link below. Select “Download Link to disk”

MP3

For your copy of the free internet resources mentioned during the podcast please click here.

To subscribe for free to the Access to Capital Podcast please cut and paste the following URL http://feeds.feedburner.com/AccessToCapital into iPodder or if you have the latest version of iTunes on your computer simply click here

The Commercialising Emerging Technologies (COMET) program may be able to help.

COMET has been extended until June 2011 as part of the Australian Government ’s Innovation Statement, Backing Australia’s Ability – Building Our Future through Science and Innovation. This will provide an additional $100 million in funding providing assistance to more than 1,000 firms.

COMET helps customers commercialise innovation in a number of different ways.

Today Andrew Winter talks to Ian Crebbin a highly experienced adviser and consultant at AusIndustry who is constantly working to bridge the funding gap for companies looking to take a new product or service to the market.

Click on the button below to listen to the streaming audio.

To download the above audio recording in mp3 format to your computer: PC users: right click on the MP3 link below. Select “Save Target As”. Mac users: click and hold on the MP3 link below. Select “Download Link to disk”

MP3

For your copy of the free internet resources mentioned during the podcast please click here.

To subscribe for free to the Access to Capital Podcast please cut and paste the following URL http://feeds.feedburner.com/AccessToCapital into iPodder or if you have the latest version of iTunes on your computer simply click here

Few Business Owners/Managing Directors of SME’s in Australia have a great deal of understanding of structure, form and layout of an organisation. Often we hear the words “investor ready” and this is very true and is a critical component. But so is Investor Friendly.

There is no “failure to provide a market” at the SME level, merely a failure to educate the entrepreneurial public of its existence. In addition Business Owners need to understand how they could use shares as a type of ‘currency’ for their business being able to swap them for financial capital, intellectual capital or human capital.

We are often told in Australia that there are no investors available to pursue equity capital for the SME sector. In reality it is the opposite. The investors are out there waiting to be educated and waiting to be given an investment opportunity that has the makings of a successful growth business. In order to find them however takes hard work and a solid marketing plan. If you dont believe me then look at these figures for the Newcastle Stock Exchange over the last two years:

In November 2003 there were 13 Listed Securities on the NSX with a market capitalisation of $97.2M. Not quite two years later in September 2005 there were 45 Listed Securities with a market capitalisation of $321.6M. Now this doesn’t happen without investors so the fact is the opportunity exists.

Australia is a nation of gamblers. We are also a nation of investors. You dont need to have the hottest thing on the market to attract business investors but you do need to be able to take good advice. If you cant then stick to what you are doing and do it well and you may just get lucky. However if you want your business to grow and be bigger than you are then start to think about how you will differentiate it from all of the other business investment opportunities you are competing against.

In closing let me put it this way: If I were an investor and I had two different types of businesses wanting my capital investment and one said: “I just want to get some money to get started in business and then I would be happy to just progress from there. I really dont want to share my ownership or control beyond that. ” and the other said: “I have a 3-5 year business plan to continue growing, raising capital for expansion and ultimately listing on the Newcastle Stock Exchange or even the ASX.” As an investor I am immediately attracted to the second option because I have a growth plan and exit strategy to sell down my initial investment once the company is listed.

Now neither scenario may succeed. That is the nature of business investment. But regardless of the product or business model I am investing in the latter of the two offerings is more attractive to me because it will be supported by a structure and layout that is Investor Friendly. This is a key failure in the business community when trying to enter the private equity market for the first time.

If you want to know more about the Newcastle Stock Exchange go to the free resources section where you can access some valuable information about the NSX.

Andrew Winter is an Experienced Business Development Consultant specialising in helping companies grow through establishing and implementing sound capital raising strategies.

AccessToCapital has a range of experts available in Capital Raising and Business Development to assist growing businesses.

“I cannot say whether things will get better if we change. What I can say is they MUST change if they are to get better.”
G.C.Lichtenberg
1742 - 1799

During the first Access to Capital Podcast, Andrew Winter and Bob Watson, Managing Director of Support2business Ltd, have a back to basics discussion on business finance and business funding.

Click on the button below to listen to the streaming audio.

To download the above audio recording in mp3 format to your computer: PC users: right click on the MP3 link below. Select “Save Target As”. Mac users: click and hold on the MP3 link below. Select “Download Link to disk”

MP3

For your copy of the free internet resources mentioned during the podcast please click here.

To subscribe for free to the Access to Capital Podcast please cut and paste the following URL http://feeds.feedburner.com/AccessToCapital into iPodder or if you have the latest version of iTunes on your computer simply click here

My Odeo Channel (odeo/7037b7a8f625bcd3)

It is illegal for any person (or company) to ask a number of people to invest in a shared business venture, property or other investment without following the fundraising rules set down by the Corporations Act 2001, or without utilising the exemptive relief such as that provided by properly licensed and accredited Advisors.

A Accredited Member of The Small Scale Offerings Board assists Small to Medium Enterprises (SME’s) to raise capital through the issue or sale of equity or debt securities. An Adviser provides the SME with two main facilities - the legal exemption to issue or sell securities or scheme interests and the appropriate framework for doing so without breaching the share hawking provisions of the Australian Corporations Act 2001.

Offers to issue (alot) or sell (transfer) securities or scheme interests in SME’s can be made through The Small Scale Offerings Board (a registered entity and trademark of Quantum Business Securities) and through investor meetings conducted by an exempt Accredited Adviser.

Each SME listed on the Bulletin Board is restricted to a maximum 20 investors in 12 months on their share register, with issues or sales not exceeding $5 million in value.

The Bulletin Board identifies investors and potential investments for investors. It operates as a business matching or introduction service, but is not an established market for the sale or purchase of securities.

If you have a business that is looking to expand the Company’s shareholder base beyond the 20/12 rule, then you could look at the Bulletin Board as a springboard to acquire as many investors as allowed (under The Act), prior to having the Company graduate to a stock exchange listing. A stock exchange provides the Company with a share price quotation. It facilitates unrestricted seller offers and buyer bids on the issued capital of a company. Todays Bulletin Board stocks are tomorrow’s potential stock exchange listings and the types of investments that astute investors will be seeking to acquire.

Everything man ever created started as a thought, an idea. The universal subconscious mind can produce the ideas and solutions you need to solve any problem or develop a world-beating product or service - you only need ask your mind and it will comply. Innovation is the lifeblood of growth but the best idea or product cannot be developed and grown without the capital. Cash is still as intrinsic to the successful outcome as the idea.

With many larger companies continuing to downsize, the importance of nurturing smaller growth enterprises has never been more crucial to our economic future. That is a Global consideration.

Andrew Winter is an Experienced Business Development Consultant specialising in helping companies grow through establishing and implementing sound capital raising strategies.

AccessToCapital has a range of experts available in Capital Raising and Business Development to assist growing businesses.