Marko is the CEO of America EB5 Visa, whose mission is to connect international investors with EB-5 issuers.
At Riverside Management Group and its wholly-owned subsidiary, BCW Securities LLC, he is in charge of EB-5 capital-related activities.
Marko is also the co-Founder of CBP Invest LLC, a global immigration company, advising clients in second country citizenship in countries like Grenada, Turkey, USA, Canada, to name a few.
As the founding partner of BH Capital Management (BHCM), a real estate investment company, Marko specializes in opportunities in development and investment as well.
Marko has been on Wall Street for over 30 years. Previously, Marko was a managing director at BNY Mellon, leading the firm’s financial institutions derivative sales business globally.
In talk with Marko
How many hours a day do you work on average?
15
Can you describe/outline your typical day?
Prayer, learning, work, leisure, indoor cycling
How has being an entrepreneur affected your family life?
Very positively. My family comes first, no matter what.
What motivates you?
Challenging situations. The more difficult a predicament I could be in, the more motivated I become.
How do you generate new ideas?
I read a lot. I follow attorneys, regional centers, developers, industry trade organization blogs and formulate solutions for potential client problems.
What is your greatest fear, and how do you manage fear?
As a devoted, practicing professional within the Jewish faith, my biggest fear is to fall into the trap of my evil inclination. We all have this, and our challenge is not to deny its existence but arm ourselves with adequate knowledge and faith to fight it.
How did you come up with the name for your company?
I wanted it to be simple and deliver the message. When people ask me what we do, I tell them to read the name of the company. Our new company is called CPB Invest. This one is a little less obvious than America EB5 Visa. It stands for Citizenship by Property Investment.
How did you raise funding for your venture?
I have not borrowed any funds yet. Our entire global enterprise is self-funded.
How do you build a successful customer base?
I make use of social websites. I work with solution partners all around the globe.
How does someone get you excited and willing to commit?
I do not like to be sold. As long as I hear that someone is proposing a reciprocal relationship, I am always willing to listen.
As a serial entrepreneur, how do you see the market growing in your country?
Our product is solid. We expect tremendous growth in the next couple of years. COVID-19 restricted international travel. Now that it is almost behind us, we expect exponential growth in our business.
How do you advertise your product/service?
We do not advertise but publish a lot. We believe in delivering content to our potential clients. When customers see the value-add service, we provide they come to us organically. As mentioned above, our solution partners refer business to us as well.
To what do you attribute your success?
Dedication. Belief in the mission of the enterprise. Above all, the help I receive every day from the Almighty.
What was the reason to start an IT company? Are you from the same background?
We are not an IT company. We are an immigration and investment consulting company.
What do you look for in an employee?
Dedication. They should love their work. They need to be motivated and be a self-starter. Most importantly, they need to consider themselves as if they are the “owner” of the company rather than an “employee” of it. That is why almost our entire compensation structure is success-based. The better the company does, the better all the stakeholders, including the employees, do.
What made you choose your current location?
Even though we are a New York City-based company, we conduct most of our business virtually. So, location is not of great importance.
What kind of Corporation is your business?
We are an LLC.
Do you work locally or internationally?
Both locally and internationally.
What’s your company’s goals?
The mission of our company, America EB5 Visa, among other things, is to help foreign nationals to obtain a green card through the proven EB-5 program.
What are your responsibilities as the business owner?
Primarily business development and customer support.
Does your company help the community where it is located?
Absolutely. We take an active role in a few religious and educational organizations in our jurisdiction.
Have you ever turned down a client?
Yes. If we believe that the client has very little to no chance of getting approved or does not have the necessary funds or commitment to go through the process, we turn down the client.
If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?
Believe in what you do. Do not settle for mediocracy. Whatever you decide to do, aim to be the best at it, and do it as if it is your hobby.
Using the power of your brain to turn up the volume on the TV might be the sort of thing couch potatoes dream of, and it could soon be within their grasp. That is, according to neurotechnology startup NextMind, with the help of their new $399 brain-to-computer interface (BCI) wearable.
NextMind has announced that the device, which comes in the form of a small, round gadget that can be clipped on to the back of the head, will start shipping to developers and partners this month.
The concept behind the technology is similar to that of the electroencephalograms (EEG) that are currently found mostly in hospital rooms. Like EEGs, NextMind’s device records the brain’s electrical activity and “reads” the signals to understand what information is being sent to the body.
After capturing and translating brain activity, the technology transforms it into a digital command for compatible devices. If the user’s brain sends a signal to change TV channels, for example, the wearable can directly trigger the action – with no need to use a remote control or even move their hand.
NextMind’s CEO Sid Kouider unveiled the device last November, and explained that the wearable’s eight electrodes measure the activity in one specific area of the brain – the visual cortex, which processes the information sent through our eyes.
“When you face several objects, the eyes project an image of these objects in the visual cortex,” he said. “If you mentally decide to focus your attention on a specific object, it will be magnified in the cortex. The NextMind device can decode which object you are selecting, and send back the information to the display in real time.”
This is how users can trigger commands such as play, pause, or turn up the volume, in this example on a TV display, simply by focusing their attention on the relevant part of the screen.
Another potential application of NextMind’s device is gaming: instead of using a controller, gamers could fire at opponents by just focusing on their target. Add a VR headset and it is easy to see how BCI could provide another degree of immersion to the whole experience.
But this type of application of NextMind’s technology is still a thing of the future. Although Kouider demoed how the device could be used to control a TV set or a game, the company has called for developers to come up with new brain-controlled environments and applications.
It still remains to be seen whether the new wearable will withstand the limitations that BCIs currently face – namely, the skin, hair and bone between the visual cortex and the device that weakens the strength of the electrical signals.
“There are many obstacles but it’s all about one thing: improving the bandwidth of the signal you can record from the brain. NextMind created a new device with two main innovations.
The first one was improved sensors, using a “new material with increased sensitivity that can capture signals much better”. But most importantly, the technology incorporates more sophisticated neural networks, which, combined with organic neural activity, can effectively interpret our brain data in real time.
NextMind’s hardware looks like a great tool for gaming and the consumer market. However, while it might gather slightly higher bandwidth than previous consumer EEGs, as long as the electrodes are placed outside the brain, there’s only so much you can get.
The think most of the improvement comes from the algorithms that interpret the signals, which over the past years have been getting better, despite the limits of the hardware.
As Schaefer pointed out, no further details of NextMind’s technology were disclosed. But Kouider seems confident: “This is just the beginning for us, as we look forward to the future and further evolving this technology.”
He is dreaming big while NextMind’s device can currently only decipher visual intent – where our mind focuses when presented with objects that we can see – believes that one day the technology could also read visual imagination.
In other words, that the wearable could project what we imagine – the “real-life cinema inside your mind”, onto a platform.
The idea is not an impossible feat, said Schaefer, but only to a certain extent. You can probably reconstruct what a user is imagining, but only from a limited number of options – say, a flower, or a racket. This is why gaming, where you have a defined space, would be an interesting application.
But if have no idea what you’re imagining, and put a headband around your head, skeptical that could reconstruct what you are thinking exactly.
In the meantime, there is a lot to look forward to: NextMind’s call for partners to “play around” with BCI could lead to unexpected advances. Developers, to your tool kits.
Tell us about yourself
Katarina Strandberg – Swedish Business lawyer in love with investments and building companies. Love people with grit and passion, love to solve problems and team up with great persons for great results. Learning and training are always a core of my every day.
How many hours a day do you work on average?
“Smiles” it depends how you define work, but up to 14 hours
Can you describe/outline your typical day?
Very varied, from standing on stage, writing guest articles and doing workshops to sitting in complete isolation with focus on producing top quality legal documents such as shareholders agreements and finding legal and business solutions.
How has being an entrepreneur affected your family life?
It has
i) made me a very happy and inspired mom and its clear that this positive energy that you can really create your own life as impacted my children in a positive way,
ii) it has given me great freedom, even if I work a lot I can most often choose where and when I preform.
What motivates you?
Solutions, building and scaling – seeing positive results – interactions and meeting great people, gaining their respect and confidence and getting to connect people.
How do you generate new ideas?
I train. Thai fighter. It´s 100 % focus mind and body.
What is your greatest fear, and how do you manage fear?
My greatest fear is to die without enough passion in my life.
How did you come up with the name for your company?
The Swedish Villa.
It was all to the credit of my amazing co-founder Leila Falkenberg. She did it as a reference to the Swedish childrens story about Pippi Longstocking and her creative and inclusive house Villa Villekulla.
How did you raise funding for your venture?
Through outreach and network with business angels, and through presenting us as founders in a very honest, passionate and transparent way.
How do you build a successful customer base?
First and foremost by word of mouth, networks and recommendations, and of course through digital communication about our experts, and showing the results the
Experts produce which has made international brands, big and small, turn to us trusting us to really deliver as a loyal creative partner.
How does someone get you excited and willing to commit?
Showing a great work ethics, doer mentality where you find solutions and act on them directly without “busy-work”.
As a entrepreneur, how do you see the market is growing in your country?
Very-very exciting and positive! Sweden as a great eco-system, great understanding for sustainability and a great stable and safe society why it is good for risk spreading for international investors to look to Sweden and that creates even more synergies.
How do you advertise your product/service?
Nr 1 is organically and transparent through our social media channels. Linkedin and instragam are what we focus on.
To what do you attribute your success?
My and Leilas dedication, hard work and non-stopping respect and admiration for each other as persons and professionals in our different fields. We focus and love competence and doing a great job on each and every project.
What was the reason to start an IT company ? Are you from the same background?
I would say we are a hybrid – IT and personal service in one. And that is one of our Unique Selling Points. We saw a need for that, where we function as digital nomads and can provide the top creative unique services to every corner of the world in a transparent, result oriented and cost efficient way.
What do you look for in an employee? The most important thing to us is that they fit into our corporate culture!
Hard worker, in love with responsibility and delivering great results – need to like accountability. Action, solution, and positive are features that are a must.
What made you choose your current location?
As digital nomands our key point is that we can sit from anywhere and to the best work ever – so the location should be less relevant for us. We do however love to travel and meet clients and organizations in person when Mr Covid so allows again.
What kind of Corporation is your business?
Service, B2B, within marketing and communication. We take the side of the brand and help them procure the right talent and projects for their specific needs. We are brand advisors and we have put together a unique community of top level creative experts is all areas of marketing and communication so that the client always gets the best without having to hire or pay a non-transparent hug project fee to an advertising agency.
Do you work locally or internationally?
Internationally
What’s your company’s goals?
To peacefully disrupt the marketing industry by making creativity king again. And to show that sustainability and financial results go together.
What are your responsibilities as the business owner?
Oh where do I start. First and foremost, to show what we stand for. Secondly to be transparent and show us and what we do. We are part of many international NGO communities and contribute through also our professional experts work communicating for the brands their social responsibilities.
Does your company help the community where it is located?
Yes! We are dedicated to diversity and inclusion.
Have you ever turned down a client?
Yes!
If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?
Be ready for challenges and mentally focus on grit and focus. Hard work pays off. Never feel sorry for yourself always see the possibilities and work for them.
For Industry News chk https://www.entrepreneursface.com/ Resouce section
Being reduced their aircraft manufacturing time by over 25% and lowered error rates to nearly 0% by equipping their production lines with AR-based technology!
Augmented Reality (AR) is increasingly becoming a technology to reckon with in several industries and sectors, more so in the manufacturing sector. Every stage of the production or manufacturing process, beginning from research and product development to end-of-life management, is reaping the benefits of a melange of AR offerings that bolster the manufacturing process.
Why AR in Manufacturing?
‘If you want to see your product in the environment it will be used in, AR can do that for you faster, and less expensively than building a prototype’ – Matt Huybrecht.
Hard-ware based products are increasingly being manufactured through cutting-edge technological processes that leave little to no room for error. Organisations across the globe need to ensure that quality is preserved to stay ahead, or at least on par with the competition.
AR bridges the gaps in technology that can potentially lead to errors, and results in quality production, optimised planning, quicker turnaround, lesser wastage, and a host of other tangible and intangible benefits. Augray has enabled hundreds of organisations to enhance and improve their end-to-end manufacturing processes by enabling AR-based technologies. Here is a sneak peek into what AR can do for your business.
Visualisation and Prototyping
creating multiple prototypes for the purpose of visualisation and functionality testing of often expensive, labour intensive, and time consuming. AR makes this process of visualisation extremely efficient with respect to economics and labour. By creating a digital twin or a virtual model, engineers, designers, and product developers can visualise the product without having to build a physical prototype. This considerably reduces the time spent in design and development and subsequently shortens the time the product takes to reach the market.
With the power of AR, products can be translated from the drawing board to visual and even physical prototypes (through rapid prototyping or 3D printing) within days or weeks instead of months.
Complex Assembly
Every large machine requires hundred if not thousands of parts to be assembled with utmost accuracy and precision. In the case of aircraft, ships, large automobiles, and power generation machinery, tens of thousands of components need to be assembled, and the wafter thin error margin literally leaves no room for errors. In such a scenario, manual assembly and inspection would require the expertise of multiple technicians to ensure that precision. However, when the process is enabled with AR, the makes the process of assembly skill agnostic and ensures that all components are fitted in accordance with requirements and norms.
For instance, aircraft companies and automotive manufacturers now use AR-enabled goggles to ensure that seats are fitted in the right place. When these devices are used, an alarm is raised even if the technician deviates the positioning by a millimetre. This ensures that the technician does not waste time in refitting seats by ensuring that they are assembled the correct way at the first instance.
Supply Chain and Logistics
Small and medium scale establishments that do not have a separate division for procurement and stock-taking more often than not find themselves in a soup when they require a particular component but find it short in supply. On the other hand, in the case of fast-moving goods, organisations often find they have ingredients or perishable components in excess and stand to lose if these constituents are not processed at the right time.
AR-enabled organisations can simulate the process and predict machine failure, downtime, and shortage of demand. This enables the organisation to plan the supply chain, enabling the organisation to optimise machine run time, minimise wastage, reduce manufacturing lead time and most importantly, achieve shorter sales processes.
Product Life Cycle Management
The entire product life cycle can be simulated using AR. Multiple-use cases can be modelled to test the efficacy and life of the product, enabling organisations to play the end-of-life of the product even before the product actually hits the market. Additionally, with the combination of AR and 3D printing, organisations need not even produce spare parts for retired products in the long run. Users can purchase, retrospectively modify, or even reverse engineer parts to suit their needs long after an organisation has stopped producing a product.
This opens up a new space in which organisations can monetise their offerings while simultaneously catering to the needs of the customers.
AR in every step of Manufacturing
The novel, cutting edge AR-based technologies are undoubtedly changing the face of modern era manufacturing by making processes swifter, more sustainable and efficient. Augray has borne witness to this paradigm change in Industry 4.0.
The possibilities that AR offers in enhancing Manufacturing is immense and boundless. Necessity, the mother of invention, has made it mandatory for organisations to embrace this change of offer the best value for themselves and all their stakeholders.
Virtual reality is showing some effective industry use-cases as well, from real estate applications to tourism. On a recent trip to Israel, I witnessed the Jerusalem Visitor’s Bureau using VR to immerse tourists in how the city looked 5,000 years ago. These types of innovative VR experiences are unveiling in industries worldwide.
Although augmented reality technology is less mature than virtual reality due to the limitations of AR technology, lack of standardization and a higher price tag, it is already being utilized in industries including manufacturing, healthcare and logistics. Augmented reality experiences are typically delivered through headsets, such as Meta, ODG, Vuzix and HoloLens, and are showing early signs that the technology is set to transform commercial and industrial markets. However, there is still work to be done before these technologies can reach mainstream adoption.
Follow deeptechknowledge.com for more technology updates.
We always want a guarantee.
We want to know for sure that if we tried to do something, we would like it; if we devoted our limited time to it, we would end up somewhere good.
We had no idea what we wanted to do with our life, and we felt certain this was a phenomenal failing—because if you don’t know right now what you need to do to make your life count, life will pass you by before you’ve ever had a chance to do something meaningful or valuable. At least, that’s what you thought back then.
So we must sit around thinking, analyzing, trying to identify something big enough or good enough, terrified that maybe we would spend the rest of our days feeling purposeless, useless, on the fringe; doing the same thing in our professional life as we would always do in our personal life: feeling like we were on the outside looking in.
When you’re sitting amid a vast expanse of possibilities, in the pressure cooker of expectations and impatience, it can feel almost paralyzing.
What step do you take when you have a hunch but no solid sense of direction? If it’s only a hunch, then maybe it’s the wrong direction.
And what if you go in the wrong direction? Then you will have wasted time, and time is finite. And everyone else is so far ahead. Everyone else seems happy and successful. Everyone else is climbing the ladder, earning more money, making a difference, mattering.
What if you never matter? What if you never do anything important? And worst of all, what if you never have more than a hunch about what’s important to you?
What if you never feel a spark, a purpose, that elusive “why” that so many people write about?
What if you never care about anything so strongly that it becomes the bliss you have to follow?
Sitting in a café over a decade ago, searching Craigslist for jobs and gigs, you must have felt a sense of panic and urgency. You needed to figure it out, and fast.
You are blinded by the fear of never finding what you are looking for, and that made the looking awfully ineffective.
You thought there was something wrong with you for being so uncertain, so resistant, so unable to identify and commit to any path.
In retrospect, you see there was nothing wrong with you, or where you are in life. And there was nothing wrong with living in the maybe, looking for new possibilities.
You weren’t ineffective because you didn’t yet feel a strong internal pull. You were ineffective because you consistently marinated your brain in anxious, self-judging thoughts.
Your biggest obstacle wasn’t that you felt lost; it was that you felt you shouldn’t be. You felt you should have known, right then, not only what you wanted to do but also how you were going to do it.
Because without knowing those two things, you felt adrift and incredibly out of control. How can you let yourself ease into the moment if you can’t be sure it’s leading to a better one?
If someone were to walk into that café and approach their younger self, she would probably ignore immersed as she was in her frantic searching.
But if you somehow had the power to command her attention, you would tell her a few things that maybe, just maybe, could relieve her constant worrying and provide both peace of mind and focus.
You’ll never be effective if you’re convinced tomorrow needs to be better than today, because this belief stems from resistance to the present—and the present is where your power lies.
If you’re looking for purpose from a place of inadequacy, you will likely be too overwhelmed by the need to do something big, that matters to the world at large, to identify what matters to you personally and start taking tiny steps toward it.
Instead of looking for a guarantee that tomorrow will be valuable, know that today is valuable—that you’re not wasting time because you don’t yet feel a sense of purpose. You’re using time well by starting (or continuing) the process of discovering it.
There’s simply no shortcut to “figuring things out”—for anyone. Instead of being hard on yourself for not having clarity, be proud of yourself for moving forward on a foggy road when you could easily find a cloudless, well-beaten path to follow…to certain dissatisfaction.
There’s no set timeframe for doing anything.
You truly can do things in your own time without having to worry about being “behind.” Sometimes it’s the things we do that feel like “stalling” or “getting off track” that end up being the most helpful for our growth.
And besides, what story will be more interesting to flash before your eyes in the end: one that unfolded in ways you never expected, with unique twists and turns; or, one that followed a specific, predetermined timeline with predictable steps from milestone to milestone?
The best way to find direction is to trust your instincts instead of forcing yourself to do things because you think you “should.”
Your intuition is a powerful compass, and even if you think you aren’t making progress, if you’re following your instincts, you are.
There are always going to be opportunities that look good on paper, and that little, scared voice within may tell you that your life will only matter if you take them.
Other people may also tell you this, if not directly, indirectly; or, you may assume they’re thinking this, when really, they’re too immersed in their own confusing journey to pass judgment on yours for long.
But sometimes the best opportunities are the ones you don’t take, leaving yourself open for choices that better align with your own values and priorities.
I know this may sound as impossible as growing another lung, but try not to worry so much about what other people might think. They may have expectations, but they aren’t living inside your mind, or feeling your instincts.
The only one who can make wise decisions for you is you. And even if it makes you feel anxious at times, you will eventually thank yourself for being brave enough to follow your heart, not someone else’s head.
When it comes to creating purpose, there truly is no “wrong” decision.
You may think you only have one purpose and that you need to push yourself to find it. And you can continue thinking this, if you’re okay with feeling chronically pressured and scared.
Or, instead of aiming to discover the one thing you’re supposed to do with your life, you could focus on discovering the one thing you want to try right now, knowing that you can change direction any time. And that changing direction won’t be something to be ashamed of; it won’t mean you failed at discovering your purpose before. It will mean you had one purpose then, and now your purpose has evolved.
It will mean you are brave enough to let yourself evolve, repeatedly undertaking the sometimes terrifying process of discovering what else you can do.
Maybe that in itself can be a purpose—to live life in that vulnerable, uncertain place where you’re not boxed into one way of being; unencumbered by the need to define yourself and your place in the world; free to roam when it would feel much safer to tether yourself to one role.
Ten years ago you thought you were a failure because you hadn’t done anything that felt important. You now know it was all important, and not just because it brought you to this site.
All those steps were important because those steps were your life. And your life is valuable and worth enjoying regardless of what you do professionally.
Ironically, adopting this mind-set makes it so much easier to create meaning in life, because suddenly it’s not about what you have to do. It’s about what you want to do. It’s about where your heart’s pulling you in this moment.
And that’s what it means to find direction—to follow those pulls, without a guarantee, knowing that the goal isn’t to end up somewhere good but to learn to recognize the good in this very moment.
This moment isn’t merely the bridge to where you want to be. This moment—this crucial part of the process—is a destination in itself, and now is your only opportunity to appreciate it, and appreciate yourself for living it.
Now that the new year has arrived, many eager new entrepreneurs are ready to hit the ground running with their start-ups and hopefully experience a year less challenging than the previous one. Whenever launching a new business, it’s important to consider what business tools and core essentials small businesses need in order to thrive in today’s “new normal.”
Helping Entrepreneurs incorporates and form limited liability companies, so I generally tend to share advice on legal must-haves for small businesses, like business formations, trademarks, and tax IDs. However, It’s not going to so that this time around.
Let’s assume you have obtained these items already. Whatever others tools see necessary to help your small business actively grow and succeed in the next normal?
Started with these businesses toolset and core business essentials
Business website
Amid they Covid-19 pandemics, websites are among one of the most important tools for startups. A websites provided your businesses with much-needed visibility, allowing customers to find you online and learn more about your business during the pandemic.
A small business website also provides a way to communicate with your customers. Of a customer can’t reached you throughout your social media platforms, visiting the website allows them to connect through a phone call, sending an email, or filling out a contact form.
Therefore, are a few times options available for buildings a small business website. Sometimes entrepreneurship do it themselves with the help of a website-building software service. Many of These services gave variously website templates to choose from, depending on the type of business; they also have stock photography options and offer customer support in the event you get stuck.
Of you don’t feeling comfortable doings it yourself, consult a professional website developer for assistance.
Strong domain name
A domains named goes hand-in-hand within a small business website. This is the name of your company URL. Moreover, 370 million domains named have been registered at the federal level.
Your domains named, especially within this may registrations already in file, should be as close to or as specific as your business name as possible. Many smaller businesses trying to aim forms an exactly match, especially those within a business model that relies on the internet, and to create a domain name that is memorable, short, and easy to spell and pronounce.
Thus is also a greater opportunity today created keyword-rich domains names. Consider keywords that pertain specifically to your business and your geographic location. If you’re a Pizza Shop based on Portland’s, Oregon’s, for examples, you may consider using “pizza” and “Portland” to better optimize your domain name for SEO purposes.
What about the domain extension? Most businesses try to choose a dot-com (.com) extension when possible. However, this’ll extensions is nothing always available, and depending on your industries, it may not be a preferred extension. If a dot-com option isn’t available, try dot-us (.us) or dot-co (.co) instead. Then, conducted a named searching on your domain name to make sure it is available for use.
If it’s free, file a domain name application to register the name.
Employee collaboration software
As this year’s begins, many of us are stills working remotely and uncertain as to whenever we may be able to return to a traditional office. Fortunately, workings from homes for the betterment part of the year has allowed most to transition into this workflow and learn how to use collaboration software and business tools that allow for the best possible productivity.
Prepare your team to collaborate together with proper collaboration software. Some options may include project management software like Trello and Asana. Management of documents and shared filed across teams with the help of Google Drive, Microsoft Teams, and Dropbox. Take notes and share them with Evernote.
Keeping in mind-set that while some collaborations tools are free to use, others may require signing up for premium plans depending on the size of your team. Investment in the proper collaborations toolset for your team members to ensure the best possible WFH readiness and security.
Flexible business plan
Once of the highest tools entrepreneurship need to succeed at any stage in business is a business plan. In the times of Covid-19, this’ll can be a tricky document to put together. Businesses plans oftentimes evaluates a business from three to five years out into the future and require additional details, such as sales forecasts and projected profits and losses, that maybe nothing be fully fledged out within a startup.
However, do you created a businessman plan in an uncertain time? Considering drafting a business’s plans that acts as a hybrid between a traditional business plan and a lean startup plan. This types of businesses plans will give your enough room today evaluate the followings areas of your startup:
• Business description and value. You should be able to articulated what your business does, its industry, and how it earns money. Then, shared the values that this business can bringing within its market. What kinds of problems can these offerings and services solve for customers?
• Strategy. This sections should have offered furthermore insights into the business and its offerings. How do these offerings and services work? If you are still in development stages, when will the business be ready to launch? Strategic goals that the business plans to reach should be outlined along with projected timelines. If the businesses had partnerships or additionally resources it is using today reach these goals, outline these details as well.
• Customers. This section takes a deeper dive into the target market of the business. Who is your customer base? What do these customer demographics look like? However, will your businesses be able to captured, engage with, and retain this market? However, do they businesses planning to reach emerging demographics over time?
• Company overview. Used this sections to detailed the leaderships in the company. Includes the biographies off each membership and their responsibilities in the startup. You may also share additionally informational about the business including its location and entity formation.
• Financial plans. Ones of the most critically parts of a business’s planning is its financial projections. Businesses plans are generally written to attraction investors that’s are interested in investing capital into the company. Used this sections to shared existing cash flow projections in the start-up as well as the expenses budget, sales forecast, and break-even analysis.
As well gradually entered the next-generation normally, you may find that your startup is able to transition out of a flexible business plan and move towards a more traditional format. If that happens, great! If not, keep with the flexible plan. In either cases, remembering that all businesses plans are easy to revised and edit over time. You’re maybe editing your plan for the futures, but keep the flexibility that’s gave it room to grow during an unprecedented time.
If 2020 taught us anything when it comes to gardening, it’s that you should buy your seeds early. Last spring saw seed companies inundated with unprecedented demand, as gardening grew in popularity as a pandemic pastime.
While seed sellers are already starting to get busy this year, time is still on your side. If you plan ahead, you can get the seeds you want and start your garden as soon as the winter frost subsides.
Not exactly sure where to begin? Here’s our guide to buying seeds for the upcoming growing season.
Take Inventory and Make a List
You wouldn’t go to the grocery store without knowing what you already have and what you need. It’s the same thing with seeds for your garden. And while it might be tempting to focus on what you want to put in the ground in the spring, it’s important to think ahead about cool weather crops for the fall, such as greens and root vegetables. Check out our list of seven crops you can plant for a fall harvest, if you’re in need of some inspiration.
Know Your Environment
Make sure you know what your growing conditions are like. Does your garden have a space for full sun or is it mostly in a shaded space? This will determine what you put on your list. For example, vegetables such as tomatoes, peas and cucumbers thrive in full sun while leafy greens can handle shadier spots. Lots of root vegetables can grow with at least a half a day of sun.
It’s also important to know your hardiness zone. If you’re not sure what it is, go to the USDA site and enter your zip code to find out. Descriptions on seed packets will sometimes include the ideal hardiness zone. If you opt to purchase your seeds at your local garden center, what you’ll find is a selection that’s appropriate for your region.
Understanding Seed Varieties
If you’re a new gardener, sometimes, the terminology for types of seeds can be overwhelming. Here’s a breakdown.
Open pollination: Open-pollination seeds come from varieties that are pollinated naturally with wind or insects. These are seeds that can produce plants that look and taste like their parent plant, meaning that you can save seeds from these varieties year after year. One benefit of using open-pollination seeds is that they can slowly adapt to growing conditions and climate over the years.
Hybrid (H1): Hybrid seeds are the product of professional plant breeders. They are made using controlled pollination methods (as opposed to open pollination) by crossing two varieties with favorable characteristics such as disease resistance, higher yields or improved flavor. Hybrid breeds might have characteristics that allow your plants to thrive, but you can’t save these seeds and grow them again because they will produce plants with traits different from their parent.
Heirloom: Heirloom varieties are older plants that have survived for more than 40-50 years. These seeds have been saved to preserve genetic diversity and cultural traditions. Heirloom seeds have either a unique appearance, taste or resilient traits that have led to their endurance.
Organic: This is a USDA designation for seeds of plants that were grown organically without synthetic fertilizer, pesticides or fungicides. Although these seeds are usually more expensive, if you plan on gardening using organic practices, you might produce better yields.
GMO: These are plants that have been altered in a lab using gene modification. This tends to involve using genetic traits from another species to add desired characteristics. There are very few GMO seeds available for home gardeners, but it’s still a good term to understand in case you come across some.
Know Your Sources
Make sure that you are purchasing your seeds from a trusted, well-known source. If you’re a new gardener and you’re looking online, sometimes, it’s hard to tell.
Here’s a list of common places where you can replenish your seed stock online. A majority of these stores also have print and electronic catalogs for the 2021 growing season.
Clear Creek Seeds: This is a family-owned business, based in Oklahoma, that started in 2010. Its speciality is heirloom, non-GMO, open-pollinated vegetable and herb seeds.
Fedco Seeds: Fedco is a co-operative seed company, based in Maine. It has existed since 1978 and is known to be the best source for cold-hardy selections, specifically the northeastern climate. In addition to seeds, it also sells bulbs and trees. About 30 percent of the seeds in its stock are certified organic.
Seed Savers Exchange: Seed Savers Exchange has existed since 1975. It is a nonprofit organization and one of the largest non-governmental seed banks in the United States. Seed Savers Exchange is based in Iowa and has a collection of more than 20,000 different varieties of heirloom and open-pollinated plants from which to choose.
Seeds of Change: This is an organic seed and food company that was founded in 1989. It has a wide range of crops marketed in categories such as container friendly, annuals, biennials, hardy varieties, full-sun crops, partial-sun crops, edible flowers and heirlooms.
High Mowing Organics: High Mowing Organics began in 1996. Today, the organic seed company sells more than 600 types of heirloom, open-pollinated and hybrid seeds. This includes vegetables, herbs and flowers.
Sow True Seed: This North Carolina seed source has a collection of more than 500 types of GMO-free vegetable, herb and flower seeds. This includes heirloom, open-pollinated, organic plants and what it calls “small farmer grown” varieties. The company also has a number of growing guides and a page to help you determine what you should plant each month, according to your USDA hardiness zone.
Renee’s Garden: Renee’s Garden seeds offer heirloom, certified organic and specialty crops, specifically marketed for the home gardener. The seeds are selected from a number of growers around the world.
Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company: Baker Creek is a Missouri-based company, known as one of the top sources—if not the top source—for rare heirloom seeds. The company was started in 1998 and sells around 1,000 heirloom varieties in its seed catalogue. This collection includes 19th-century varieties from Europe and Asia.
Botanical Interests: Botanical Interests began 25 years ago in the state of Colorado. It carries more than 600 specialty varieties for home gardeners. This includes heirloom, organic and open-pollinated crops. The company staff say they test all their seeds to ensure they are varieties with high germination rates.
Southern Exposure Seed Exchange: This company, based in central Virginia, offers heirloom and open-pollinated varieties that specifically grow well in Mid-Atlantic and Southeast climates. It has roughly 800 varieties of vegetable, flower, herb and cover crop seeds.
Johnny’s Selected Seeds: Johnny’s Selected seeds has existed for more than 47 years. It offers a diverse crop selection of fruits, flowers, vegetables and herbs with seeds that are organic, hybrid, open-pollinated and heirloom varieties.
Territorial Seed Company : This is an Oregon-based company that has been around for more than 40 years. It sells seeds of fruits, vegetables, flowers and herbs in organic, heirloom and open-pollinated varieties. On its site, it has also created a number of growing guides and garden planning activities for those who need it.
Sustainable Seed Company: Sustainable Seed Company is located in Utah. The company was founded in 2008. It sells more than 875 non-hybrid, organic vegetable, flower and heirloom seeds, as well as specialty crops such as cotton, grain and tobacco.
If you’re looking for some additional guidance, master gardeners at your local extension service will no doubt be able to answer your seed questions and can offer a helpful perspective that is unique to your area.
Use a Critical Eye
Check the date on the packaging or in the online description to make sure the seeds you’re buying are for this year. While seeds can last for many years (with the exception of onions, leeks and parsnips), it’s important to know that their ability to germinate declines as they get older.
It’s also important to be mindful of shipping fees. This can increase the final cost of your bill substantially, doubling or tripling it in some cases. Another small detail that new gardeners often miss is the number of seeds that are included in each package. So be aware of what you’re buying, as you might end up with way too much seed.
Customers services can be challenging, especially whenever it’s through an e-commerce website; however, it is essential to establish trust and, in turn, increase business.
Therefore, are advantages and disadvantaged to selling on-line, but the biggest disadvantage is the inability to interact face-to-face with customers, which may result in poor customer service.
Whenever selling on-line, it’s important to learning how to make customer service personable; the goal is to sell great service, not just a product.
While e-commerce sites can be extremely convenient, they may come up short in certain areas. Most notable is the inability to provide the same personal customer service you would find in a brick-and-mortar store.
If you wanted to surpass the competitions, though, your business can still find ways to improve online customer service.
The value of customer service
Whether you realized it or not, customer’s services play’s a Major role in most of the purchases you make. Thinking about whenever you’re looking to buying a particular item that multiple brands sell for roughly the same price. Whatever sets there one your selection apart from the ones you pass up? Whole brands equity and familiarity oftentimes play a role, it often comes down to how quickly you’ll get the product, what support it comes with and how comfortable you are with the brand.
Each of These aspects fall’s under customer’s services and indicates the importance of selling services to customers instead of just products.
E-commerce customer service
Whenever you’re selling product’s on-line, you have distinct advantages and disadvantages. Whole the prospect typically outweighs the cons by far, your inability to interact with customers face-to-face is usually viewed as a negative.
However, e-commerce site’s can stills offer good customers services; it just takes a little extra work. Here’s are a few times tips to helping you improvement the way you interaction with Customers through yourself online storefronts.
1. Ask for feedback.
Your need to development the habit of asking for feedback. While it mighty not always be positive, it is always helpful. If you truly wanted to offer the best customer services, knowingly what your Customers think about your brand, businesses, products and services is of the utmost importance.
2. Offer options.
The facts that a customers is shopping for your product’s online is proofed in itself that they enjoy having variously options. When it comes to customers service, make sure you give then the same opportunity to chosen. Instead of giving the person a boring contacting form, offer choices such as live chatting, Skype support and toll-free numbers to call.
3. Be clear.
According to Magic Dust, a full-size ice internet marketing and web design firm, “Unhappy customers are unfortunately inevitable in any kind offer business. To avoid any conflict, included as much information on orders as possible.” This means providing detailed information on such matters as shipping and return policies, warranties, guarantees, and other information that couldn’t affect the customer’s experienced.
4. Invest in quality site search.
Much of your customer services relates to how you design your e-commerce site. Top keep Customers happy and convert shoppers, invest heavily in high-quality site search functionality. This will help to keep customers satisfied, and you will avoid unnecessary interactions that’s waste your timeline.
5. Provide valuable follow-up.
We’ve all receives those annoying emails from companies after we’ve purchased one thing from their site. Don’t be that company! Instead off sending lazy promotional for months after a purchase, shooting out valuable deals and offers immediately after they buy. People aren’t more likely to convert when you are still fresh in theirs mind. Additionally, good deals and free offers show you card about keeping them as a customers.
6. Offer free shipping.
One of the best e-commerce customers service tactical is to offer free shipping. It costs your a couple of extra dollars, but it goes a long way in impressing customers and persuading them to make that first purchase and maybe others down the roadside.
7. Improve customer interactions.
Although your team has the skill set necessary to interact with customers, they also need to relate to the customer. For instance, try to identifying common ground with the customer, such as shares interests. This step helps your team’s members to understand conflict and humanized the rep-staff relationships for the customer.
8. Follow up after the problem has been solved.
It is essential that Customers feel as though you were on their side when a problem occurred, so follow up to make surely the problem was full-time resolved and that the customer is satisfied with the service. You can do this through and email or a feedback survey – the goal is to let the customers know you are on their sides.
9. Actively listen to the customer.
Whenever talking with Customers, it’s important to clarify and rephrased what they are saying to make surely you understand them correctly. Showing empathy and deflecting their feelings will also help to turn the conversational in the right directions.
10. Be available.
Part of the personality touch that is necessary for customers satisfactions is making sure your Customers can reach you. For instances, if you’re in different times zones, be available on their time; this will help to build their trust and reminded them that the businessmen isn’t programmed.
Customers service may not be most companies’ favorited activity, but it should’ve be a major point of emphasizes. When you’re looking for ways to improvement your e-commerce site, analyze your customers service and look for areas wherein you can improvement.
Attracting customers to the shopping portals by just establishing an on-line Presence is nothing enough. Rather, ones shouldn’t put efforts to booster the e-commerce holiday sales so that the store gets identified by the visitors in the festive season.
The holidays seasons is the mostly make rewarding time for the e-commerce store owners in terms of increasing overall sales. But it turned out to be difficulties as they need to toil hard for converting the visitors into conversions. The times has arrived today be prepared for the Christmas, where website owners can capitalize on targeted customers who are hungry for big deals.
Today, mostly of the peoples’ expression their love on festivals by sending gifts and wish cards to their loved ones. And for that, they’re consideration online shopping the best and easiest option. The Holiday season is the perfectly timed when e-commerce stores can earn customers and conversions at the same time. Allows they needed to do is to implement proven e-commerce SEO strategies that are best suited to provide optimum e-commerce conversions.
Here’s are sometimes widely implementer tips that help e-commerce webmasters to increase conversion rates during festive days.
Easy tips to boost holiday sales
1. Engage Broadly with Mobile Customers
At present, desktops e-commerce had become a good choice for the users. On the others hand, Mobile e-commerce is growing at a higher pace. Stats say that’s the e-commerce holidays sales during last year’s Holidays increased by 59%. This is because of the wide usage of mobile devices. Surprisingly, approx. 50-60 % of search queries usually comes from Mobile services.
Technology’s is getting improves day-by-day which encourages people to take advantageous of it. If you are in a dilemma of how to optimize an e-commerce website, engaging more with mobile users is the initial step you can start with. To starting with, makes sure that your websites is mobile responsive. Connecting officially without these smartphones users is a great way to earn more customers during the festive season.
2. Sending Automated Holidays Sale E-mails and Website Push Notifications
Spending pre-sale promotional e-mails to targeted customers is a powerful strategy which anyone can utilize to increase the chances of getting more conversions.
Similarly, if you wished to spread awareness for yourself upcoming e-commerce festive, you first need to target the audience via attractive emails and festive alerts. There promotional campaigns created a sense of urgency and instil a fear of missing out something important which compels the users to click and view the deal.
3. Recovery Abandoned Carts with Festive Special Discounts
Accordingly, to stats, 99% of audiences don’t make purchased at the very first time when they visit the store. As a result, they chosen to abandon the cart. It might be scary but true somewhere. But now, there are chances that you can bring back the users who abandoned their carts by sending festive sale offers to their selected items. It cannot be possible that you could be at the right place with the right offer. Hence, you should be ready to retarget the visitors whenever possible. Festive days are the high time when you succeed in this venture. Check out this article where they have beautifully explained why users abandon their carts.
4. Given Landing Page a Complete Festive Makeover
Guidelines your web designers to create a theme bases festive backgrounds which is embellished with bright banners. It’s up to you how you’re want to decorated your landing page so that customers get attracted and feel like making a purchase. Fascinating visitors Through the exquisitely designed offer page provided better e-commerce website optimization during Holidays. This not only attracted customer’s and created a joyous mood, but also results in betterment conversions.
5. Created Convenient & Festive Targeted Products Navigation
Many time’s, people are not able to find the product they are looking for. This is the reasons which can result in low visibility of your store’s product’s. A simple and smooth products navigation is there key to generated enhanced conversions. It directs visitors to the most relevant products they are searching form and that too without seconds. When you are renovating the banners and landings page layout for grabbing the highest festive seasons opportunity, make surely to concentrated more on building easy product navigational. Suppose, you wanted to redirect the customers towards the Christmas combos like dress, tree, and chocolates then make that page more fascinating and easy to access for users.
6. Initiated Provision for Thank You Gifts
Facilitating loyal customers with “Thank You” gift is the techniques which never fails whenever it comes to increasingly holiday sales & conversions of an e-commerce sites. It is truest that when you regard your customers with additionally points or cashback offers, they come back to your website again. Higher are the changes that they make more purchases in the hopes to get better reward points next time. Gift cards are the best ways to grab potential customer’s. In this context, creating a distinct message of how your product can turn out to be a perfect gift is the techniques which you need to integrated to increase Holiday sales.
7. Acquired Customers Before the Sale Starts
Peoples follow a tendency to be preparedness for everything before time. They applying the same logic when it comes to gift shipping. Users buy products sooner to preparedness and deliver gifts to their friends and family in advance. If you don’t prepare your store in advance for the upcoming holiday, no one will recognize that your store is also providing mega festive offers to the customers. There are many shoppers who visit e-commerce stores before the festive season just to check which one is giving the best deals on products. This definitely increases the conversion rates of an e-commerce website.
Final Thoughts:
When festive sale arrives, people are supposed to shop like crazy. This is all because of the bumper deals and offers e-commerce stores offer on all products. E-commerce website owners often think that it is easy for them to earn optimum profits during the holiday sales. Remember, there are e-commerce pioneers who keenly execute SEO for an e-commerce website. And these pioneers always win the race of getting excellent conversions during festivals. Now, it is your turn to implement the above-mentioned tricks to earn better than the others.
A Guide to Venture Capital Financings for Startups:
Startups seeking financing often turn to venture capital (VC) firms. These firms can provide capital; strategic assistance; introductions to potential customers, partners, and employees; and much more. Venture capital financings are not easy to obtain or close. Entrepreneurs will be better prepared to obtain venture capital financing if they understand the process, the anticipated deal terms, and the potential issues that will arise. In this article we provide an overview of venture capital financings.
To understand the process of obtaining venture financing, it is important to know that venture capitalists typically focus their investment efforts using one or more of the following criteria:
Most venture capital financings are initially documented by a “term sheet” prepared by the VC firm and presented to the entrepreneur. The term sheet is an important document, as it signals that the VC firm is serious about an investment and wants to proceed to finalize due diligence and prepare definitive legal investment documents. Before term sheets are issued, most VC firms will have gotten the approval of their investment committee. Term sheets are not a guarantee that a deal will be consummated, but in our experience a high percentage of term sheets that are finalized and signed result in completed financings.
The term sheet will cover all of the important facets of the financing: economic issues such as the valuation given to the company (the higher the valuation, the less dilution to the entrepreneur); control issues such as the makeup of the Board of Directors and what sorts of approval or “veto” rights the investors will enjoy; and post-closing rights of the investors, such as the right to participate in future financings and rights to get periodic financial information.
The term sheet will typically state that it is non-binding, except for certain provisions, such as confidentiality and no shop/exclusivity. Although it is not binding, the term sheet is by far the most important document to negotiate with investors—almost all of the issues that matter will be covered in the term sheet, leaving smaller issues to be resolved in the financing documents that follow. An entrepreneur should think of the term sheet as the blueprint for the relationship with his or her investor, and be sure to give it plenty of attention.
There are varying philosophies on the use and extent of term sheets. One approach is to have an abbreviated short form term sheet in which only the most important points in the deal are covered. In that way, it is argued, the principals can focus on the major issues and leave side points to the lawyers when they negotiate the definitive financing documents.
Another approach to term sheets is the long form approach, where virtually all issues that need to be negotiated are raised, so that the drafting and negotiating of the definitive documents can be quicker and easier.
The drawback of the short form approach is that it will leave many issues to be resolved at the definitive document stage, and if they are not resolved, the parties will have spent extra time and legal expense that could have been avoided if the long form approach had been taken. The advantage of the short form approach is that it will generally be easier and faster to reach a “handshake” deal (and some VCs prefer a simple short form of term sheet because they think it will be more appealing to entrepreneurs).
In the end, it is usually better for both the investors and the entrepreneur to have a long form comprehensive term sheet, which will mitigate future problems in the definitive document drafting stage.
The valuation put on the business is a critical issue for both the entrepreneur and the venture capital investor. The valuation is typically referred to as the “pre-money valuation,” referring to the agreed upon value of the company before the new money/capital is invested. For example, if the investors plan to invest $5 million in a financing where the pre-money valuation is agreed to be $15 million, that means that the “post-money” valuation will be $20 million, and the investors expect to obtain 5/20, or 25%, of the company at the closing of the financing.
Valuation is negotiable and there is not one right formula or methodology to rely upon. The higher the valuation, the less dilution the entrepreneur will encounter. From the VC’s perspective, a lower valuation (resulting in a higher investor stake in the company) means the investment has more upside potential and less risk, creating a higher motivation to assist the company.
The key factors that will go into a determination of valuation include:
While each startup and valuation analysis is unique, the range of valuation for very early-stage rounds (often referred to as “seed” financings) is often between $1 million and $5 million. The valuation range for companies that have gotten some traction and are doing a “Series A” round is typically $5 million to $15 million.
The founders of a startup typically hold common stock in the company. Angel investors or venture capitalists will usually invest in the company in one of the following forms:
Venture investors will want to make sure that the founders have incentives to stay and grow the company. If the founders’ stock is not already subject to a vesting schedule, the venture investors will likely request that the founders’ shares become subject to vesting based on continued employment (and then become “earned”). Standard vesting for employees is monthly vesting over a 48-month period, with the first 12 months of vesting delayed until 12 months of service are completed, but founders can often negotiate better vesting terms.
The key issues that the founders negotiate in this regard are:
In our experience, some vesting in early-stage startups is typically required, but the founders will usually get credit for time spent with the company, as long as a meaningful amount of equity is still subject to vesting.
The makeup of the Board of Directors of the company is important to venture capital investors as well as to the founders. VCs, especially if they are the “lead” investor in a round of financing, will often want the right to appoint a designated number of directors to be able to monitor their investment and have a meaningful say in the running of the business. From the founders’ perspective, they will want to maintain control of the company for as long as possible. Although circumstances vary, in general Board seat allocation usually follows share ownership, so if the investors have 25% or less of the company’s stock, they will usually accept a minority of the Board seats, and if after multiple rounds the investors own most of the company’s stock, they will often control the Board.
After a Series A financing round, typical Board scenarios might include:
In lieu of a Board seat, some investors may request Board “observer” rights, granting the investor the right to attend Board meetings in a non-voting capacity with the right to receive financial and other information provided to Board members.
The actual Board composition will be subject to negotiation, factoring in the amount invested, the number of investors, the level of control sought, and the comfort level of the founders.
A “liquidation preference” refers to the amount of money the preferred investor will be entitled to receive on sale of the company or other liquidation event, before any proceeds are shared with the common stock. VCs insist on a liquidation preference to protect their investment in “downside” scenarios; for happier scenarios in which a company is sold for an amount that would generate big returns for the investors, investors can always convert to common stock.
The liquidation preference is typically expressed as a multiple of the original invested capital, usually at 1x. So in the event of a sale of the company, the investor will be entitled to receive back $1 for every $1 invested, in preference over the holders of common stock.
In situations where the company is particularly risky or the investment climate has turned adverse, investors may insist on a 1.5x, 2x, or 3x liquidation preference (this was more common during the downturns of 2001-2002 and 2008-2009).
Venture investors will sometimes request that their preferred stock be “participating preferred.” This means that on a sale of the company, the preferred would first receive back its liquidation preference (typically 1x of the original investment), and then the remaining proceeds would be shared by the common and preferred according to their relative percentage share ownership.
For example, if the pre-money valuation of the company is $5 million, and the VCs invest $5 million into the company with a 1x liquidation preference, here is what the founders/common holders would receive on a $50 million sale of the company:
Participating preferred is relatively rare. In addition to claiming it’s “not market,” founders can try to resist participating preferred on the theory that it will hurt the Series A investors down the road if later financings also incorporate that term. If founders are forced to accept participation, they can often negotiate for the participating feature to go away if the VCs have received back some multiple (for example, 3x) of their investment.
After a financing is completed, venture investors will often hold a minority interest in the company. But they will typically insist on “protective provisions” (veto rights) on certain actions by the company that could adversely affect their investment or their projected return.
The types of actions where a veto right may apply include:
Investors will normally receive a right to purchase more stock in connection with future equity issuances, to maintain their percentage interest in the company. These participation rights often go only to so-called “Major Investors” who own a certain amount of stock, and typically terminate on a public offering. As with anti-dilution protection, these rights are typically designed to apply only to bona fide financings, and usually are drafted not to apply to employee equity, equity issued in acquisitions, or “equity kickers” issued to lenders, landlords, or equipment lessors.
Venture investors will want to ensure that the company has a stock option pool for future equity grants, typically 10% to 20% of the company’s capitalization, with later-stage companies having smaller pools. The options are used to attract and retain employees, advisors, and Board members.
VCs will almost always insist that this option pool be included as part of the pre-money valuation of the company, and it is standard to do so. However, founders should realize that any increase in the option pool will come at their expense, reducing their percentage ownership of the company. If the size of the pool becomes an issue in the term sheet negotiation, it is a good idea for the founder to produce a grounds-up “budget” for future options, estimating the options that will be needed for future hires until the next round of financing.
Venture investors will also typically expect that future option grants will be subject to a “standard” four-year vesting schedule: one year of employment required before any vesting for 25% of the options (referred to as the “cliff”), and then monthly vesting with continued employment for 36 months after the one-year cliff vesting.
Occasionally, VCs request a provision allowing them to cash out of their investment through a redemption feature (assuming the company has the cash). A typical redemption provision would say that the investors may, by majority vote at any time starting five years after their investment, elect to be redeemed (repurchased at their original purchase price), with payments made over a three-year period in equal installments. Redemption rights are uncommon, and even in the rare case where they are put in place, they are almost never triggered—but they can give leverage to a VC that wants liquidity.
Series A investors will not typically push for a redemption feature, knowing that such a provision may show up in future rounds of financings to the detriment of the Series A investors.
Venture investors will typically get the right to obtain certain financial information, as well as inspection rights with respect to corporate records. The term sheet will typically specify that annual, quarterly, and often monthly financial statements are to be provided, as well as an annual budget or business plan. These rights often are restricted to “Major Investors,” and are typically not a source of controversy or much negotiation.
The term sheet may specify that the company will be obligated to maintain directors and officers liability insurance, covering the officers and directors of the company in connection with litigation with respect to duties they are performing for the company. The term sheet will specify the dollar amount of coverage (often $2 million to $10 million).
Venture investors occasionally also require the company to maintain “key man” life insurance policies on the lives of the key founders, policies that will provide the company with cash in the event a founder dies. The idea behind this kind of policy is that the cash generated in the event of a tragedy can give the company time to rebound and hire new talent to replace the deceased founder.
It is common for investors to have a right of first refusal on any stock to be sold by the founders. This will usually require the founders to first offer the shares to the company, and then to the investors (on the same terms as on the proposed sale) before they can be sold. Such a right will allow the company and the investors the opportunity to keep the founders’ shares within the existing shareholder base. Founders are usually able to negotiate exceptions from the right of first refusal, for transfers to family members or trusts for estate planning purposes, and, less often, for the sale of small (5%-15%) stakes.
The investors will also expect to get “co-sale rights” with respect to founder stock sales. This will give the investors the right to participate (on a pro rata basis) in a sale by the founders of their shares. (These rights are typically exercised when the founder has negotiated a very high price for his or her stock, too high to warrant a purchase pursuant to the right of first refusal.)
Drag-along rights give the company the right to force all shareholders to participate in and vote for a sale of the company if the sale has been approved by specified groups. For a Series A financing, the drag-along is typically triggered if approved by the Board of Directors, holders of a majority of the common stock, and holders of a majority of the preferred stock. The idea is not that one group can force another to sell, but rather that if all major constituencies of the company want to sell, all shareholders are required to participate in the sale. This prevents small shareholders from creating a roadblock to an acquisition by objecting or exercising appraisal or dissenters rights under applicable law.
In later-stage deals, drag-alongs may be structured to give the venture investors alone the right to invoke the drag-along right.
Typical issues involved in drag-along rights include:
Drag-along rights present a number of complicated legal and drafting considerations. But they can be important to ensure that 100% of the company can be sold without delay.
Registration rights entitle the investor to require a company to list (“register”) its shares with the Securities and Exchange Commission SEC) in a public offering so that the investor can sell the shares. Registration rights are divided into “demand” rights and “piggyback” rights.
Demand rights require the company to pursue the registration of its shares, likely also including the shares held by the demanding shareholder. Piggyback rights give the shareholders the right to include some or all of their shares in a registration statement the company is already filing with the SEC.
As a practical matter, registration rights are seldom if ever exercised, and an early-stage startup should not waste a lot of time negotiating the terms (they will often be renegotiated anyway by later-stage investors).
Venture investors will usually include a binding provision in the term sheet preventing the company from entering into or negotiating with any other party regarding an investment in the company, for a designated period. This is a reasonable request, as the investors will be investing time, legal fees, and resources to complete the transaction. The company will want the exclusivity period to be as short as possible. The typical period agreed to is 30-45 days.
The investors will also ask that the company promptly notify the investor of any inquiries or proposals by third parties with respect to financings or sale of the company, and furnish the investor the terms thereof.
Venture investors will typically insist on a binding provision in the term sheet that the existence and terms of the term sheet, and the fact that negotiations are ongoing with the investors, are strictly confidential and may not be disclosed to anyone without the investors’ consent, except to the company’s directors, officers, and attorneys. The company will need to notify any party that it properly discloses the term sheet to that they are subject to the confidentiality obligation.
In the unlikely event of a dispute between the company and the venture investors over the term sheet or the definitive investment documents, it is often beneficial for both the company and the venture investors to resolve the dispute through confidential binding arbitration (and not through public litigation).
The term sheet will likely provide that all past, present, and future employees and consultants are subject to a Confidentiality and Invention Assignment Agreement. The purpose of this Agreement is twofold: (i) to obligate the employee or consultant to keep all confidential information of the company confidential and (ii) to ensure that any intellectual property developed by the employee or consultant will be deemed solely owned by the company.
This obligation in the term sheet is non-controversial (although it sometimes turns up in diligence that past employees or consultants who have developed key intellectual property have not signed these agreements, and that can cause significant investor concern).
Term sheets will typically include a commitment from the company to reimburse the reasonable legal fees of the investors plus any due diligence or out of pocket costs incurred, payable at the closing of the transaction. This obligation is typically “capped” at a specific dollar amount, but if the deal takes longer or requires more legal work than was expected, the cap is often revised to take that into account.
Entrepreneurs should anticipate that the venture investors will perform significant due diligence before they consummate an investment. Some of this will be done by the VCs, and some by lawyers for the VCs.
The types of diligence will include:
Venture capital financing can be crucial to the success of a startup. By understanding the key issues in venture financings, entrepreneurs can increase the likelihood of a successful outcome.
Remotely team’s have fewer opportunities to socialize, making it difficult to get to know one another or new members. Thus can’t leading too feelings of isolation and disconnection from our colleagues, and it may even lead to team conflict and reduced productivity.
Virtually team-building exercised cannot help remote teams to overcome these difficulties, and to drive a sense of community and shared understanding.
On this’ll articles, we’ll explore why virtual team-building exercises matter, and how they can benefit your team. We’ll also look at five team-building exercises that you can try with your team.
Virtual Team-Building FAQs
What are virtual activities?
Virtually activities requirements team members to take part remotely, using technology such as virtual meeting software, online chat, or instant messaging.
Whatever don’t I needed to get started with virtual team-building exercises?
Reliable video conferencing technology’s, and the skills to use it. Ideals forward activities that’s will help to build teamworking skills. And, most importantly, good facilitation skills. Aim today keeping the exercises moving so that people stay engaged.
What are some virtual team-building challenges?
Your maybe sometimes encountered problems with the technology or with your internet connection. Virtually teams buildings can’t also take longer to produce the desired results.
Why Virtual Team-Building Is Important
Team’s can’t finding it difficult to build rapport when they never meet “in real life.” But developing and nurturing good working relationships is important for individuals to feel abled to communicated openly, solve problems, and collaborate well. Virtually teams buildings cannot also reduce feelings of isolation and loneliness in remote teams.
Wholesale something’s people’s questionnaire the values of team-building exercises, studied have shown that they’re improvement teams’ effectiveness and help to build trust. These exercises can be equally effective for virtual teams.
Settings up a Virtual Team-building Exercise
Started by defining yourself purpose and objectives. Form examples, do you wanted to improved project managements or negotiation skills? The outcome of your team-building exercise needs to meet your objective, and promote individual and team growth.
Whenever settings up yourself exercised, consideration how much time you have for each activity. Collaborative problem-solving exercises will take longer than quick “ice breakers.”
Thinking, too, about the participants’ culturally expe diverse citations and individual personalities. Introverts may find it harder to open up during team discussions. They may also be suffering from overstimulation if they’re working from home. On the other hand, extroverts may tend to take over.
Some people on your teams may not have met, so allow enough time for introductions. Where people don’t know each others, use short, fun Virtual Ice Breakers to get started. And consideration different ways people can contribute, so everyone has a voice.
Five Virtual Team-Building Exercises
Let’s look at something team-building exercises that your can Uses remotely with your teams. They are designed to improvement communication, build trust, development listening skills, and enable your people to understand one another better.
Exercise 1: Four Facts and a Fib
Thus exercises is ideally for a team whose members don’t know one another very well. It’s provided any informally platforms for individuals to share personal information and build trust.
People and Materials
Suitable for groups of any size. Each participant needs a pen and paper.
Time
Allows around’ 20 minute’s for completion, depending on the size of the group.
Instructions
Asked them participant’s to wrote down five “facts” about themselves, one of which must be a lie – but a plausible one. For example, “I once swam with dolphins,” not “I wrestled a shark!”
Allows participants’ enough times to write down their facts. Once-in-a-lifetime They’re are finishes, go around the group and ask each participant to read out their five facts.
As a group, guess which facts about each person are true and which is the lie. When each person has revealed their truths and lie, discuss the outcomes. Were any surprising? If so, were the truths more surprising than the lie?
Advice for Facilitator
Of these groups is nothing forthcoming at first, ask people directly which of the speaker’s facts they think is a fib and why.
Exercise 2: Escape Room
And Escaped Rooms is a themes challenge event where players collaborate to find clues, complete tasks, and solve a variety of puzzles. It can improve communication, collaboration and decision-making skills.
People and Materials
Escape Room games are typically suitable for teams of between three and six players, and require a significant amount of creative setup. On facts, it’s oftentimes easier to use an external supplier.
Kind Tool’s Clubhouse membership and corporate licensees can access our exclusive and original Escape Room game, “The Lost Labyrinth,” comprising a downloadable game pack and Game Master Guide. See our Escape Room article for details.
Time
There classic scenarios is to Escaped within a time limit – usually an hour.
Instructions
Theses vary from games too games, and can’t involve codebreaking, word games and math puzzles.
Advice for the Facilitator
Investment there time you’re need to understand and prepare the game properly. Of teams’ get stucked, have some hints prepared to keep the action moving.
Exercise 3: Blind Origami
The purpose of this activity is to highlight the importance of listening and asking for feedback.
People and Materials
Any number of people, in virtual pairs.
Phone (without video) or messaging app.
A sheet of Letter or A4 size paper for each person.
Time
Around 25 to 30 minutes.
Instructions
E-mail ones personal for information each pair a set of origami instructions. You can get these from many hobby websites.
The person with the instructions should guide their partner (the receiver) through the steps to create an origami structure, via messaging or videoconferencing software (but with the camera turned off).
There receiver can’t asked questions, requested clarification, and offer feedback during the call.
Whenever each groups had finished, participants can turn their cameras back on to see whether the receiver got the origami structure right.
Advice for the Facilitator
Rotated around’ they groups to seeing how they’re getting on. Whenever each groups had finished, asked the partners to switch roles and repeat the exercise with a different design.
One the secondary exercise had been done, ask participants how accurate each structure was. However difficulty wasn’t it to listening and follow verbal instructions? How good was the feedback provided? Used their answers too identifying areas where each pair could improve their listening and feedback skills.
Bringing everyone’s background onto the meetings to share some thoughts on listening effectively, and get them to think about some takeaways.
Exercise 4: Scrabble Scramble
Thus funny activity us designed today triggered creative thinking, encourage collaboration, and develop communication. It works best when you use a virtual meeting package like Zoom, which enables teams to split off into virtual breakout rooms.
People and Materials
This’ll exercises is suitable form group’s off approximately 12 or more. You’ll a bag of Scrabbled files, and participants will need pens and paper.
Time
Allow 20 minutes for completion.
Instructions
Assigned two or three-day letters chosen at random to each person.
Then split the group randomly into teams. The exercise will work best with six to nine people per team.
Asked each groups to created as many word’s as they can in 10 minutes using their letters. Beforehand Starting, outlined the rules below to the group:
• Each letters tile can’t been Uses only one in each word.
• Words must be three or more letters.
• Plurals of an already used word are not allowed. Form example, you’re can have “tree” or “trees” but you can’t have both.
• Property names area nothing allowed, e.g. place names or forenames.
Each teams can swap up today two if their letters before they start if they wish.
Teams’ get two-day points for three-letter words, three points for four-letter words, and so on. The longest-running word earns a bonus of five points.
Advice for the Facilitator
Makes clearly whet mentioned her or not teams are allowed to use a dictionary. Of appropriately, offers a prize for the highest team score and longest word. Asked the team’s to reflect on what they’ve learned. How did they work together to build words? Who took the lead? Wholesale has the best ideas, and how did they arrive at them?
Exercise 5: Lost at Sea
Thus activity emphasizes decision makings, collaboration, and critical thinking.
People and Materials.
Teams of about five or six people.
Flexible, but aim for 25 to 40 minutes.
Instructions
Given you these urn teams members a scenario where they’re stranded at sea with just a handful of objects. They have to rank the objects in order of how useful they’d be in helping the group to survive. They’re shoulder working individually firstly, and then as a team.
Divide participants into their teams, and provide everyone with.
Step 1: Ask team members to take 10 minutes on their own to rank the items in order of importance. They’re shoulder don’t this in the second column of their sheet.
Step 2: Given they team’s a further 10 minutes to confer and decide on their group rankings. One agreed, they’re shouldn’t listed them in the third column of their sheets.
Step 3: Ask each group to compare their individual rankings with their collective ones, and consider why any scores differ.
Step 4:Now’ reading out there “correct” order, collated by the experts at the U.S. Coast Guard.
Step 5: Haven’t they teams considered why they made the choices they did, and evaluate their performance against the experts’ choices.
Advice for the Facilitator
Ideally, team’s willing arrive attached a consensus decision where everyone’s opinion is heard. Of discussions see dominated bye a few people, draw the quieter people in so that everyone is involved. But explain why you’re doing this, so that people learn from it.
Supercharging Entrepreneurial Quests by Investing In Practical Skills
Each entrepreneur aspires to build a bigger and better business. But, for many, maintaining continuity to scale proves to be more daunting than they anticipated. As you work to more than survive in the competitive market, investing in practical skills can’t take the backseat. Among such additions in your library of knowledge and skills is accounting.
Taking an accounting course isn’t that challenging, especially with flexible online programs and a range of informative CPA Exam Review Courses that can significantly ease the process. For an entrepreneur, investing in an accounting course can offer a lot more than you may initially think likely.
Some of the top reasons you should consider adding accounting skills as you strive to supercharge your entrepreneurial pursuits include:
You have a great idea, but it can’t be transformed into a successful business without the right action plan. Idea remains an idea if you can’t continuously keep the idea going, making tweaks along the way to match your target consumers. A ongoing is facilitated by the right financial planning, a considerable pitfall that derails most entrepreneurs’ progress.
With accounting skills, you can comfortably review and understand what is coming in and out of your business. This means you can make the appropriate arrangements to stay afloat as you observe the trends and devise a strategy to ensure you don’t run out of finances.
Putting the resources in and outflows makes it easier for entrepreneurs to maintain continuity, invest in the right projects, and capture opportunities as they emerge without jeopardizing the progress.
Analysing the future, in a way, links back to cash flow management. Reading, reviewing, and understanding financial statements helps entrepreneurs establish their revenue and cost trends. This means an entrepreneur can devise pragmatic plans to turn their visions into successful projects, as it’s based on actionable information, not just instincts/gut feeling.
By revenue and cost projections, an entrepreneur can establish the possibility of successfully investing in a certain project — forecasts that can make or break your business undertakings.
Unlikely what comes to many people’s minds when accounting is mentioned, it’s not all about crunching numbers. Accounting entails a lot more that can help you fast track your entrepreneurial pursuits.
Accounting is even referred to as the language of business, owing to the contributions that help in navigating the complex business world. Through translating your financial records for actionable decision making, understanding various stakeholders and how to handle them, various dynamics such as effective financial assistance plans, to mention a much, accounting disciplines expose you to a range of skills that can supercharge your entrepreneurial undertakings.
With accounting skills, you’ll be a lot more responsible while managing limited resources, including time, finances, and energy, as you work to scale your business. The practical skills also make it easier to measure and reassess your progress, facilitating profitable investments that help entrepreneurs gain and maintain an edge in the competitive business world.
If you consider the best skills to acquire as an entrepreneur, accounting wins on many fronts, making it an excellent addition as you strive to build a bigger and more profitable business.
There is no dearth of start ups that work on a brilliant idea with a huge scope of scaling. In order to scale widear, we avail the process of incubation. A one stop solution for start ups to grow continuously. A path of innovation continuously provided for the growth and development of start ups.
From a common parlance, we know incubation to be a process wherein an individual or an organization supports the establishment and growth of a start up. Those supporting the start ups or new companies are called incubators.
Basically, incubators snatch the growth potential and measure the opportunity before funneling funds into any startups. In order to select a start up, high level of research is done in order to take any decision to fund the start up.
In a nutshell, the goal of incubation is to increase the success chances of business.
If you want advices on:
Assistance in building management teams
Developing business marketing plans, funds,
Professional services
Shared equipment
Managing finances
Ensure no wastage of resources at the initial level
Then this summit is a place where you should be.
We have prominent speakers from all around the globe having an experience in their field of knowledge for more than 5 years; every respective speaker will be giving meticulous advices on incubation and co working.
If you want your start ups to become the next silicon valley, then world leader summit is the place to be.
Our meritorious speakers includes:
Sir raja r choudhary from india- director of universal business school,he’ll be speaking on leadership in the new age of normal, we all know after this worldwide pandemic, we all need a plan to get our business going on a stable pace. Thus, even if someone has incubated an idea of start up in his/her mind, this is where it’ll get an opportunity to know how to lead its budding team to a master company.
Sheara emerson form sri lanka- an outspoken and ambitious women who is not afraid to let out her voices.Having a vast experience in management, she will be advising the budding and fresh start ups from scratch on how should they conduct themselves in their work places.
Sumeer walia from india- he is a person who thinks like a wise man and communicates in the language of speakers. A prominent speaker from the land of cultural diversity who has got the opportunity to interview personalities like dalai lama, owner of the famous giant- “keventers”, indian fashion designer and padma shri awardee wendell rodricks and many more. Hearing wise words from him on innovation and diversification for your business for a better place in a world will be an opportunity.
Faijia parween from nepal- a business enthusiast, a well and prominent speaker in her home country as well as marked her role globally. She has offered her meticulous words and experiences in various events and news channels in nepal which had made a lot of change. Ma’am will be speaking on networking and partnership which again is necessary for your start up top earn recognition and earn market recognition.
Pranay gupta from india- the co founder of 91spring board whose idea is to create biggest co working committee and the idea of which is put a lot of people together, an iim alumni who is known and accessible to his mentees anytime anyday, who encourages youth for their startups after giving them a work experience and further offer advice on their ideas too, one humble and honourable man with a vast experience and ample ideas will be talking about the loopholes about why start ups struggle to get proper funding in the current market scenario and all their idea which has potential but due to lack of resources shuts down.
This seminar provides you with utmost opportunity to interact and learn from these prominent speakers who are covering a wide variety of differentiated topics for your startup to grow.
So what’s there to wait for. Register now!
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