We get calls all day, every day from companies that talk about ‘wanting’ real corporate publicity that will transform their company but few have the stomach for what it really takes and even fewer have the financial dedication it takes to obliterate their competition and take their rightful place at the top of the food chain.

Of course it’s important to cater to the traditional media (TV, radio, newspaper, industry journals, etc) but the genre of publicity that wins every time is viral publicity consisting of video, social and news bookmarks, article submissions, press release submissions and photo/logo sharing sites. The reality is online publicity is where you’re going to completely annihilate your competitors and claim your rightful position.

When you take into consideration the ultra powerful medium and stealth of viral publicity, all other promotional genres cower in comparison. Online your pre public or post public company will claim instant viewers and a cult-like following that TV and radio can’t even remotely compare. Billions of searches take place every day and it is the viral publicists job to do what SEO and traditional publicists can’t do and that is get solid search engine ranking while simultaneously bringing in powerful results that are targeted and strategically placed.  Read more...

Selling Shareholder Offering: The Key To Raising Fast Capital For Pre-Public Companies. As a consultant who has taken many companies public on the OTCBB (Over The Counter Bulletin Boards), consulted on even more and turned around and structured more companies I can even count, there are a few common threads inherent in all of them.

Most of the companies pursuing capital from angel investors, private investors, private equity firms or small groups of professionals looking for a quick in and out situation with rapid capitalization did three things that made all the difference in streamlining their raise.

First the executives structured their entity to attract investors which by default strengthened their corporate infrastructure. Now they are proposing investment opportunities from more of a position of strength.

Second they chose a team (in these cases they chose our consulting firm) with a proven track record of success with organizing companies for acquisition, merger and taking companies public.

The third element that is common in most successful enterprises which are seeking a first round of seed capital to fund their ‘going public’ ambitions is demonstrating confidence to the investor with a “selling shareholder offering”. Obviously this last element tests the skill of the consultants going back and forth with the SEC during the comments stage but this demonstrates confidence and organization by the company wishing to raise capital.  Read more...

Business Owners: Build A Corporate Structure That Investors Love! Ok, you’ve decided to go after investment capital but you’re not sure where to start. Here are the basics that you should pay close attention to before putting your company in front of investors.

First and foremost you need to perform an industry analysis that answers the questions pertaining to where you are in the industry and who are your competitors. It doesn’t matter what product or service you offer. You could be selling underwater sock fitting kits and there is a competitor and industry leader somewhere in the world. Don’t be so naive in thinking that there is no competition or that you are at the pinnacle of your industry. Show your audience that you’ve done your research and that you’ve identified the players in your market.

Next get your executive team together and it better be the who’s who in your industry. If you can’t attract the upper echelon of your industry genre then you need to do some serious PR on behalf of your individual executive team to show the public what they are made of. Brand them as the up and coming powerhouse executives in the industry. Publish their articles and knowledge on industry blogs and article submission sites. When a funding source initiates general due diligence you need to shine like a lighthouse in the fog. Each and every executive team member needs to have an image that screams power, success and investor security.  Read more...

Pre IPO Investing: How To Triple Your Investment. A Must Read For All Investors!

It’s no mystery that IPO investing can make you millions overnight and investors savvy in this niche investment process constantly triple and quadruple their investments day in, day out. How do they do it? How does an investor pick a company with a winning model where they can buy a pre public share for .50 cents and go public with a solid share price of $2.00+ per share? Here is how it’s done.

First the company that you are considering investing in must be either a stable market or an emerging industry with massive demand. There must be rapid domestic and international expansion potential. The company must be a lightning rod for top tier strategic alliances that will voluntarily spend publicity, branding and PR dollars announcing its alliance with this new company.

The corporate structure must be one that is conducive to streamline processes with little need for micromanagement while simultaneously no being so macro managed that no one is accountable. Each individual executive and board of directors member must have a solid track record of successful ventures, similar to the enterprise at hand. Each C and Executive level member must be completely submerged in the industry and should be able to hold a press conference, give an intelligent interview and by mere presence be able to give a skilled public face to the company when they are put on the spot.  Read more...

Becoming a publicly traded company is an exciting and rewarding experience. The following sets forth the method, steps, fees and estimated timetable to go public on the OTC Bulletin Board (OTCBB) ‘from scratch’, or through a self-filing and discusses the 1934 Exchange Act responsibilities after a company’s registration statement has gone effective (after the company has become publicly traded):

Prior to filing the registration statement, a company that wishes to go public must first obtain an audit of the Company’s financial statements for the past two fiscal years. For most companies, the financial audit can be completed in about a month and costs typically range between $5,000 and $25,000, depending on the complexity of the company financials.

A public company will also need shareholders. To that end, if additional shareholders are needed, the company going public will need to complete a self-underwritten Regulation D, Rule 506 offering in which the company sells shares of its stock to investors for real consideration. This is not a difficult task, so long as you have a properly prepared private placement memorandum (PPM) and you follow the relatively simple rules of Rule 506. The price per share and number of shares offered can be determined by the Company, but most registered broker-dealers that will eventually submit a Form 211 for an OTC Bulletin Board quotation prefer to have a minimum of 400,000 shares distributed among the investors.  Read more...

Corporate strategies’ consulting is, in its truest essence, a dirty business. Few understand this tiny, yet elite genre of consulting and even fewer are masters of its concepts. The same principles applied by this select faction of specialist should be applied by CEO’s and company executives in all industries.

First and foremost, executives must understand the idea of power. There are certain unbreakable laws necessary for the ascension of professionals to positions of influence and power within an organization or industry. Here are a few of the concepts applied by serious corporate strategies consultants that are mandatory prerequisites for the rise and maintenance of power in the corporate world.

The individual seeking to take a position of power must possess the ability to customize and facilitate a turn-key solution to transform the fate of a crumbling company. They must have the ability to construct an infrastructure that perpetuates growth and stimulates longevity and stability. Power, in a corporate sense, is purely economic without excuses of any kind that is driven by greed, self assured stamina and the inability to accept anything but a number one position in their specific industry genre.  Read more...

Structure your company should spearhead your capital raising initiative. Make sure that your corporate layout is conducive to creating and retaining investor and venture capitalist attention. You should have a solid and elite executive team composed of the best of the best that your industry has to offer and if you can’t attract those in the upper echelon of your business genre, you need to take an active approach to branding them as experts using on and offline PR campaigns labeling yourselves as industry experts who are innovating industry changing solutions. Create a stir, be controversial (but not offensive) and be ready to back up your stir with empirical evidence of your knowledge and success. You should have an advisory board and board of directors composed of industry specialists. Each individual should represent a forte that makes investors start to salivate when they are reading the bio section of your business plan. They should be able to contribute with contract negotiation, strong alliance introduction capabilities and more. When choosing professionals to fill the void of adviser and director positions you should think in terms of corporate ‘growth’ and ’stabilization’.  Read more...

If you own or run a company that is trying to raise capital in the current economic conditions you’ve undoubtedly been challenged by the limited funds available. Investors are more difficult to find and the individuals that are actually willing to part with their cash are even tougher to find. You’ve talked to friends, family members, your cpa and your attorney but trying to get them to invest is like drawing blood from a stone, it’s just not happening.

There is an easier way. Most broker dealers and market makers have an emergency number in their Rolodex that reads “Investor Finder”, these specialist consultants are brought in when there is nowhere else to turn for cash. A true Investor Finder has 1,000’s of investor contacts that they can call on to get funding for their clients and are constantly using online viral strategies to attract more investors to their database.

An investor finder usually is not a licensed securities broker/agent or attorney; instead they are traditionally consultants that are active in the investment banking facilitation aspect of the industry. Being that they are not licensed they do not accept equity payments or percentages; instead they work on a flat fee basis.  Read more...

Private Placement Memorandum authoring and the process of taking one’s company public are services that require extensive experience and the ability to look at a deal objectively and peripherally to evaluate all the angles to enhance the ability of the client to achieve funding in a timely manner.

Many times, when I’m hired to structure a company before funding, they will be under the impression that my evaluation is a mere formality and they are ready to go. Often I’m the bearer of bad news when I have to break it to the client that their company has more holes than Swiss cheese and 30 to 60 days away from starting the fund raising process.

They will often get a second and then third opinion and usually run into the same thing before they eventually find their way back to our firm. As they call around to consulting firms they perpetually experience the ‘hard sell’ by firms who ‘need’ the business because they lack the rewards and referrals that come with cultivating each client relationship because they take on and spit out deals so fast they hardly remember their client’s name during the transaction.  Read more...

For real estate investors, there are two things that are always in short supply regardless of the ups and downs in the economy: capital and quality inventory. Most investors that I have worked with not only need capital but strategies to go after capital that is not issued based solely on a credit score. Even if a real estate investor has good credit they still have the obstacle of too many inquires and too many open loans on their credit report and funding sources are spooked by these distractions and turn the applicant down even though all of their loans are current and they have a solid FICO.

If the above describes you or if you have limited or poor credit and you’re a serious real estate investor, here is how to get all the capital you’ll ever need. First put a solid strategy together. Start with your company infrastructure. Organize your company with a CEO, CFO, Board of Directors etc. After you’ve done this you want to set up your inter-industry strategic alliances which should be composed of other investors, bird dogs, electricians, roofers, general contractors etc. You want each of these alliances to have a purpose. They should be a portal for industry niche knowledge and consultation and also referral hubs. Let each of your alliances know exactly what type of investments you’re looking for and as they are sending you referrals, reciprocate by issuing them work in whatever specialty they are in.  Read more...