Venture Capital: Funding Option for a Startups


What is Venture Capital?

“Seed stage" venture investors help get a company off the ground; think $0-$1MM of revenues. "Early stage" venture investors focus on taking a company that has successfully proven its concept, and help them to accelerate their sales and marketing efforts; think $1-$10MM of revenues. "Growth stage" venture investors basically pour kerosene on top of a company that is already "on fire"; think $10-$50MM of revenues. Seed stage investors cut $100K-$1MM checks; early stage investors cut $1-$5MM checks; and growth stage investors cut $10-$50MM checks. And, at each stage herein, most investors have some type of industry expertise that they focus on. ” (What exactly is Venture Capital? By George Deeb, Contributor Forbes 2016).

VC includes private investors (individual and pool) , commercial investor pools, private and public company VC pools, and Angel Investors (individual and pool). Venture capital is the most risky form of investing, often without a return. You and your business have to convince investors that you are worth investing into. In short you need to get the “buy-in” so the investors see a minimized risk. When they decide to give, you are good to go. Sometimes there is an equity agreement involved but there should never be a repayment plan – then it is a loan and not an investment.

How has the Venture Capital market changed?

2018 was a record year for Venture Capital. Here is a closer look:
Contributor

Program Manager,
Small Business Development Center
     
The most important information is the yellow line; it represents the amount of transactions still under the rate of 2014. So, why was 2018 a record year? Because the amount of money was record breaking. Private Equity was at an all-time high.
Fewer transactions but higher volume is the message in the numbers. The individual amounts that were given were not only higher but also paid out later in the startup process.
So, to elaborate on the answer to the question of funding for startups, it depends on the trust level and experience of the founder (you and the team), proven market solution to a problem, expansive market research, product testing and most importantly time; does your Startup have the time for the investor to investigate and see how well you are prepared to enter the market. The most important piece however, is how well the founder is connected in the community. Most startups begin by raising money among family and friends, then “venture” out to professional equity pools. Here is a brief checklist how to prepare for outside (non-bank) funding:

1.      Nail your market (customer, value of the product, pricing, competitive advantage)
2.      Write up your business model (revenue drivers)
3.      Answer the question “How is your product/service unique?” If your product is not unique you might want to consider other capital funding strategies.
4.      Opportunity (predict revenue)
5.      Cost (founder investment-how much and how was it spend)
6.      List of who besides the owner invested
7.      How much do you need (use of funds)?
8.      How will the capital raised help you reach the next big milestone?

Upcoming Events /Announcements

Date: July 24, 2019
Time: 9:00 a.m. to noon
Cost: $20


Business Status: Existing and Startups with some accounting knowledge

Please Note:  This is Intuit's Online Version and focuses on the business owner to understand basics of Quickbooks Online (QBO) settings (setup), navigation and basic transactions. We will show how financial statements are built with QBO.

This session begins with Business Best Practices and continues with a presentation style overview of QBO settings, navigation and basic transactions.

The following topics will be discussed:
  • Best Practices to follow as a small business owner
  • Brief overview of QBO versions (handout)
  • Overview of QBO:
  • - Navigating
  • - Basic QBO Company Settings (set-up)
  • Building Your Financials:
  • - Overview of Chart of Accounts and the Products and Services List
  • - QBO Transactions Overview (Bank Feed and Customer, Vendor and other transactions in QBO)
  • Tricky Situatons in QBO – Overview of applying customer payments and using undeposited funds. Bank Reconciliation discussion and purpose.
  • Reports – Overview of reports available & demonstrate how to generate basis financial statements in QBO (Balance Sheet, Profit & Loss, Statement of Cash Flows)
  • Book vs tax differences. (Generating Accrual (Book) vs Cash (Tax) basis financials)

You may bring your own computer but not required as this class is presentation style. Outlet are limited in the training room.

This workshop is presented by a Certified QBO Trainer Leslie Blalock, CPA: , President and CEO of  Accounting Service Associates  is an Advanced QuickBooks Online Certified ProAdvisor with Accounting Service Associates based in
Naperville, IL.

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Success Story- Sushi Ukai

Pass the Fish – Sushi Ukai opens its Third Location in Glen Ellyn

The word "Ukai" means a traditional method of catching small Japanese trout by manipulating seabirds. 
Sushi Ukai offers a sophisticated twist on the traditional Japanese style of casual eating. From sushi, sashimi, classic sushi rolls, bento boxes, and cooked Japanese dishes, our menu is focused on pleasing our customers. Our elegant, Japanese decor and friendly staff will make your visit memorable. We take great pride in the freshness of fish. Our Executive Chef hand-selects fresh fish for our daily sushi 7 days a week. If Dong cannot get the quality he desires or the price he needs to make sushi affordable for you, he will not buy it. Only the best quality at the best price guarantees to fulfill his expectations for the customer. Miso and ‘Sweet and Sour’ Soups are made fresh daily.

The grand success of Sushi Ukai turned into an opportunity for a third location in Glen Ellyn. Dong’s wife Lily and his sister Anna have been working with the ILSBDC for a longer period. This time they needed help with the extensive built-out. In addition, they were looking for help in operations and management. A third location in a very different market and they wanted to understand their new clientele better. Ute Westphal, Director and Doug Voegtle, Program Specialist at IL SBDC at College of DuPage helped them to develop a marketing and branding strategy to encompass all locations but at the same time include specific action steps to catch the market differences.

“Ute and Doug helped us to understand how to structure our internet presence to reflect three locations. They helped us to train our staff for branding purposes and streamline our approach to Social Media and online customer management. We are happy to have an SBDC so close be since we will be practically neighbors in Glen Ellyn.”

Call in to order for Take-Out: 630-790-8899
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Follow Me to COD  

Saturday, October 5, 2019

This is the LAST year, so let's make it the BEST year! The sun is setting on the COD Food Truck Rally & Sunset 5K. To celebrate nine years of this very special event, we're offering a very special price. General registration has been rolled back to our inaugural price of $20. Due to the popularity of this event, we reserve the right to cap registrations at any time. So mark your calendar, put together a team, and sign up! As always, there is no need to register for the race to enjoy the 15+ food trucks.

For more information click here .
State Agency Proposed Rules Open for Comment
The following rules have been proposed by Illinois' agencies and are open for public comment. To read more about the rules and to submit comments regarding their impact on your business or industry, visit   www.ienconnect.com/regalert   and click on "Submit Comments."