THE CIRCLE November 2008 Networking Event

The Circle hosted a networking event together with EMERGE, a networking group for young, hispanic entreprenuers. We had a great turnout, with out 160+ people in attendance. Check out the pictures from the event:

Community Banks New Financing Option For Start up Companies

When Amy Loera was looking for a loan to expand her family’s Mexican-restaurant business earlier this year, she applied at nine different banks. They all turned her down.

Many of the banks accepted her initial application but simply didn’t take things any further, she says. Some raised concerns about the nationwide downturn in the restaurant industry in refusing her request. And some told her that if she had applied a year ago, she would have had no problem.

So Ms. Loera turned to a local lender, Arrowhead Credit Union in San Bernardino, Calif., after a business acquaintance told her the credit union had given loans to other businesses in the community. She was approved for a $643,000 loan this summer. read more

Venture Capital Financing Slows Amid Economic Downturn

Silicon Valley technology startups are adopting a new business plan: deferral.

MerchantCircle Inc., a Los Altos, Calif., Internet startup, typifies the trend. Last month, company founder Ben Smith was in New York talking to media companies about raising $50 million, with which he planned to make acquisitions to fuel MerchantCircle’s growth. But as the financial markets tumbled this month, Mr. Smith canceled two trips to New York and a roadshow to Europe to raise the capital. For now, the fundraising is on the backburner.

“When we started the year we were pushing really hard for growth,” says Mr. Smith, who in 2005 founded MerchantCircle, which provides online advertising services for small businesses. “That’s just not as important anymore. Now it’s all about cash flow.” read more

10 Innovative Approaches to Rebuilding New Orleans

Three years after Katrina, the nation’s most expensive hurricane, which cost insurers an estimated $44 billion, came Gustav. As if New Orleans needed its rebuilding project to get any harder. And yet, there’s hope.

To underscore how far the city has come since 2005, alldaybuffet, a group of creative professionals focused on social innovation, created the New Orleans 100, a list of projects that are bringing new creative energy, attracting tourism, rebuilding homes, overhauling the educational system, and stimulating economic activity. Here are 10 of the most innovative ventures. read more

7 Ways To Surround Yourself With Successful People

When you read about the stories of successful entrepreneurs you always come across similar advice: “Surround yourself with successful people”

How do you actually go about doing that? Here are 7 strategies to help you get started. read more

4 Steps to Assessing Your Product’s Profit Potential

I’VE TALKED TO a lot of people who have found a promising market by coming up with a product or service that would solve a problem. But they’re paralyzed about taking the next step. What if they put in the time and effort — and possibly money — and it flops?

There’s one process they’re missing. Validating your market after you’ve come up with a niche business idea is a crucial step you can’t afford to skip.

Of course, there’s no way to guarantee success, but ask yourself the four questions below. If you can check off every one, you’ll know — as much as possible — that you’re onto a winner. read more

How Much Is Your Company Worth?

After a string of rough years and falling values for private companies, here’s some good news: Now just might be the best time to sell a business that we’ve seen in quite some time.

Why? Jay C. Jester, marketing director of Audax Group, a Boston-based private equity and mezzanine firm, explains that many private equity companies and venture capital firms raised money for investment funds with capital-deployment time limits several years ago, and now the clock is ticking ever closer to midnight. “There’s a ton of private equity with a fuse on it,” Jester says. “You’ve got pent-up supply and pent-up demand coming together. There’s activity in just about any sector you can think of.” read more

The Art of the Perfect Business Pitch

After seven years and hundreds of client-meetings, Ed Stevens, founder of Shopatron, a San Luis Obispo, Calif., tech outfit that enables companies to sell products online, has finally perfected the art of the sales pitch. If clients have questions, he has answers. If they want to see a presentation, he has PowerPoint slides. If they’re skeptical about his products, he provides studies to back up his claims. In short, he and his team — who now boast a client list that’s more than 550 — are prepared to handle any questions or requests thrown their way.

Stevens wasn’t always so well versed, however. When he first met with prospective clients, he never used PowerPoint presentations nor prepared brochures to leave behind after he left. In fact, he didn’t even bother to provide an overview of Shopatron’s benefits until 2007 — six years after the company launched. “That was a big mistake,” he says. “Even having a short three-to-four slide PowerPoint to go over in the first five minutes would have helped a lot.” read more

Five Survival Tips for Entrepreneurs

What do you do when sales are down and your credit’s been slashed? You rethink your business. Because of the ongoing credit crisis, banks are becoming even more reluctant to extend lines of credit to small-business owners. And the sluggish conditions aren’t expected to improve any time soon. That means business owners who rely on banks to finance everything from inventory and office equipment purchases to new store expansions are left scrambling for ways to stay afloat without a lifeline.

“Now’s the time to make tough decisions,” says George Cloutier, chief executive at American Management Services, a small-business consulting firm in Orlando, Fla.

Cutting costs can help free up much needed cash flow during a crunch, but when the economy is expected to stay down indefinitely, more dramatic measures may be in order, he says.

Here are five tactics to help keep your dwindling business capital flowing: read more

Dormroom Start-ups

It’s been a month since the academic year started, but for some college students, it’s not just about homework and studying for mid-terms — it’s also about running a successful business.

StartupNation.com recently completed its first [1] 20 best dorm-based business competition and found plenty of CEOs on campuses around the country.

These entrepreneurs showed inventiveness and practicality. They hail from the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma ([2] picking-up-pet-poo business) to Grand Valley State University in Michigan ([3] selling a 3D dorm-room modeling service to college Web sites so students can start decorating their space before stepping foot on campus). read more

Next Page »