Welcome to my blog

Small company finance is one of the most difficult processes in the  world; and one of the most fun. Entrepreneurs frequently come to us  with stars in their eyes and dreams of becoming the next Google, Microsoft or Intel. More often than not, we have to shoot their dog and tell them that their business can't be financed in the private placement market.

It's a hard fact of life, but private placement investors invariably want to see an investment proposal that will allow them to earn from four to ten times their investment within a few years. They also want to see a clearly defined exit mechanism that will allow them to take their profits if things go well and cut their losses if things do not work according to plan.

The media makes the IPO process look easy. The reality is that the process is extraordinarily difficult and takes an immense amount of time and effort. The dirty little secret is that many companies that actually make it through the IPO process ultimately fail to reach their business goals.

I plan to use this blog to record my thoughts on the challenges entrepreneurs face in getting private and public financing transactions structured, documented, sold and closed. I also plan to record my observations on the regulatory process and dealing with the SEC. In addition to talking about the great times when a plan comes together without a hitch, I'll also discuss the problems, delays and inevitable failures that are all part of the process. I don't know whether anybody but my wife will ever read what I have to say, but sometimes the mere act of putting thoughts down on paper crystalizes thinking and illuminates the next right step.

A broker friend of mine who works with a lot of small companies is fond of saying there are five essential elements for an entrepreneur that wants to raise money in a private placement and then do a shell merger or IPO. He says the first is PERSISTENCE, pauses for far too long, and then says on second thought the only thing that matters at all is persistence.