Capital West Advisors, 9107 Wilshire Blvd, Suite #450

Date Published: September 23, 2008
Capital West Advisors increases investor network with 100 new Venture Capital firms and 15 new angel investor networks. Capital West Advisors now has a total of approximately 950 Venture Capital firm contacts and 100 Angel Network contacts. CWA has established these new contacts through a combination of networking, telephone introductions, and correspondence, with the intent of expanding its database to include any new VC firms that have been formed over the past year.

VC & Angel Network Identification: CWA identifies the venture capital firms and angel networks in our database, whose investment criteria aligns with your business model. Capital West Advisors will indicate how many firms and networks this amounts to. The average company will meet the investment criteria of 100-200 venture capital firms and 10-20 angel networks. After Capital West Advisors has identified the number of venture capital firms and angel networks that have the potential to show interest in the investment opportunity, you will be able to elect how many venture capital firms and angel networks you would like to submit your business plan to. CWA will price you according to a pricing plan that can be viewed at the company website: www.capitalwestadvisors.com

Date Published: September 26, 2008
The Market section of a business plan should include the following: A comprehensive market analysis that described the sales figures, information, and trends in the region (s) that the business will target, a target market analysis that analyzes the entire potential B2C market and/or B2B market, A thorough and detailed profile of direct competitors, a competitive analysis, demographic information (if there is a B2C element) and industry analysis. It is important that whoever develops the business plan has great access to comprehensive and professional market research reports that highlight key information, figures, trends, and market segment information & figures, according to industry experts.

The profile of direct competitors should profile the competing players within the industry that are targeting the same market that you will be targeting with a similar or same product or service. The competitive analysis should give a more macroscopic perspective of the industry in terms of the key players within the industry and number of players, and trend of companies to focus on particular products or services. The competitive strategy should take into account all of the market demand (sales figures & growth) and market supply (competition and sophistication of the key market players) and is critical to developing the competitive strategy and marketing strategy of your business model. Demographic information should take into account key demographic information of the target consumer profile, which would include age, gender, income, personal habits.
It is upon preference whether you elect to integrate the marketing plan (marketing overview, strategy, methods, and examples) within the Market section, but Capital West Advisors prefers to keep these 2 as separate sections.

Date Published: September 27, 2008
Not that a recession is the best time to start a business, there is always a glimmer of light in even the most dire of times. Please read the list below to gain insight on a few competitive advantages that new startups realize when entering the market during an economic contraction. Capital West Advisors assists companies with business planning and capital introduction services.

1. Less barriers to Entry

During hard times, many companies exit the industry because they feel that the best times have come and gone. Economic contractions are great opportunities for newcomers to enter an industry and bring fresh and more innovative business models that replace those that have exited. Because there are fewer players, you also have a chance at gaining more market share.

2. Financing equals perceived lower risk by the market

Although most banks have closed their doors to many different forms of small business financing, private investors are abundant and looking for sustainable business models that can make up for recent market losses. If you are able to gain financing during an economic recession, consider the fact that a risk averse investor believes that you may be sitting on a gold mine during an economic downturn. The other side of the coin is a situation during an economic growth period where you are pooled with hundreds of other companies and your investors had no faith in your business model to begin with.

3. You will be ready for the good times

Companies that have established their businesses during tough economic periods have adapted their business models to more rigid cost requirements while paying the bills. Proving such discipline places companies in an extremely advantageous position as the economy begins to recover and gross profits soar.
4. Lower costs of entry

Many vendors and exiting companies offer fire sale discounts on services and assets during times of economic contractions because wholesale businesses suffer and liquidity for capital assets decreases as a result of rigid lending parameters.
5. Return of the little guy

Remember those neighborhood initiatives fighting to protect their cities from being invaded by large low priced, high volume super stores? Well, those stores are consolidating their business plans due to oil prices and fuel price effects on centralized distribution networks. In other words, it is getting expensive to ship one hundred thousand two dollar bottles of pickles from New York to Alabama. The United States is beginning to see a changing of the guard from the large conglomerate “everything for as cheap as possible” stores to the return of Uncle Andy’s hardware store.

6. Cheaper Employees

Real Wages have declined in cost significantly since the 2001 dot com bubble crash. The major reason involves the fact that barriers to entry for jobs in many industries have decreased and some jobs have even been outsourced to countries where wages are as low as one dollar per hour.

Nothing is guaranteed in business during any cycle, but not everything is gloom and doom when the market takes a turn. If anything, you need to have solid business planning. Go to www.capitalwestadvisors.com to see a list of our business planning and capital introduction services.

Date Published: December 30, 2008
The Executive Summary section should include summaries of all sections of the business plan. It is important that each section is appropriately referenced and clearly conveyed . The executive summary should emphasize the elevator pitch, management summary, and market size.
Capital West Advisors has found that the executive summary should be tailored to the company’s growth stage. For instance, a start-up company should emphasize its management’s success launching and growing companies as well as the protection from potential aggressive competitors in the industry. A more mature company should emphasize historical cash flows and growth strategy.
Depending upon the stage of the company, key areas may be missing from the executive summary. This is acceptable provided that the plan clearly defines the strength of management, the product, and the market information that support the potential of the venture. However, it is generally not favorable if the key component of the key success factor is not indicated. For example, a plan that is fundamentally a marketing play should not seek financing without a stellar marketing advantage such as an experienced marketing team.
In conclusion, the Executive Summary section of the business plan is an opportunity to prove to investors that there is reason to read the full plan. Rather than waste this opportunity by merely showing employee resumes, which could be included in the Appendix, the section should be used to explain precisely how the team is uniquely qualified to execute the venture in its present state.

Date Published: 27th March 2009

Capital West Advisors has developed several hundred business plans on behalf of clients and every business plan is fully customized from beginning to end. Business planning
is a collaborative and expertise driven process: Capital West Advisors uses a team of at least one managing director, one associate, and one financial planner for every project. The following presents a specific breakdown of the components of each section within the business plan and the methodology that Capital West Advisors uses to develop each section.

Marketing Plan:
The Marketing Plan is an essential component of the Business Plan that describes the company’s overall marketing and sales strategy. Capital West Advisors will develop a comprehensive marketing strategy for your company to maximize the number of customers and obtain the highest possible returns on advertising. Typical marketing methods that Capital West Advisors implements include branding strategy, print advertising, radio advertising, television advertising, direct mail, public relations, promotional strategy, affiliate marketing, and Internet marketing. Capital West Advisors carefully develops the marketing and sales campaign in accordance with the overall branding & pricing strategies.

Operations Plan:
The Operations Plan develops and organizes each of the key elements that comprise the company’s daily operations. Although every business is different to varying degrees, these elements typically include facility layout, inventory control, maintenance, distribution, manufacturing, sales & billing, accounting, marketing, legal, insurance, and equipment requirements.

Financial Plan:
The Financial Plan and Corresponding Pro-Forma Financial Statements are crucial elements when negotiating with investors or applying for a commercial/SBA loan. CWA develops defensible financial assumptions to project the five-year Pro-forma Income Statement, Statement of Cash Flows, and the Balance Sheet.

It is very important that the financial statements have properly developed revenue, expense, and growth assumptions. Capital West Advisors develops these financial assumptions during the preliminary business plan along with preliminary revenue and expense projections. Once the client reviews the business plan, then we proceed to further develop the financial statements.

Capital West Advisors uses a monthly breakdown I Year 1, Quarterly in Year 3 and 4 and annually for year 5. Capital West Advisors has ultimate flexibility and will also, at times, develop both Year 1 and 2 on a monthly basis. Once the financial statements are complete, Capital West Advisors develops a comprehensive financial strategy that proposes capital requirements, stages of funding, and exit strategy.

The following are a few elements, which are particularly important for start-up and early stage companies seeking financing:

Management Team: The Management team is one of the most important elements of a business model from an investor’s perspective. We will often recommend to clients to place an Advisor (s), additional key executives or even an interim Chief Executive Officer. An interim executive placement is accomplished by typically first engaging interest by sharing your business plan with a prospective Executive and offering an executive agreement which becomes activated upon the successful placement of funding. Capital West Advisors has several Managing Directors and Project Managers that are available to serve in an advisory capacity. Capital West Advisors’ advisory services which can be very helpful from the perspective of business development and strengthen its position to raise capital; it can also bolster the strength and appearance of the Management team. Typically, the more capital that a company is seeking, the more stringent the Venture Capital firm or Angel Network’s requirements will be regarding the strength of the Management team. The elements that they look for in the Chief Executive Officer, are years of experience within the particular industry, a strong history of success within that particular industry. Other factors that will increase the importance of a strong management team, is a company’s business development cycle and the sophistication of the business model.

Existing relationship with Suppliers, Manufacturers, and Affiliate Partners: For a start-up company, it is typically important to the investor that the growth of the company will be turn-key upon funding. In other words, the company seeking financing should have key relationships in place that will allow for various operational elements such as manufacturing or product development, distributors that can help get the product, affiliate partners that can refer business, and any other suppliers that can be pivotal to that business.

Existing interest from potential customers or test survey’s for consumer goods & services

The following are important Company Features for Growth Stage & Mid-Stage companies:

A growth stage or Mid-stage company also needs to maintain all of the key core components as featured in the above Start-up and Early-stage section, but also must typically maintain one or more of the following:

Certain level of historical revenues (which can vary substantially) and sometimes they will require certain level of net income performance.

Economies of scope or economies of scale that can be realized through capital investment and a higher scale of operations.

New key relationships or management that will better position the company to obtain sustainable growth.

New contracts or interest from prospective customers, distributors, or new suppliers.

New Intellectual Property that can yield strong partnership or licensing opportunities.

New forms of marketing that can create new marketing channels or improve marketing performance.

Capital West Advisors represents over 100 Years of collective business planning, consulting, and capital introduction experience. Please visit our website at www.capitalwestadvisors.com for more information.

Date Published: September 11, 2009

Capital West Advisors has approximately 1000 Venture Capital firms and 100 Angel Networks in its database.
Identification: The first step in the capital introduction process involves identifying every Venture Capital firm and Angel network that is appropriate for the particular client that is seeking capital. In the event that the client is looking for $250,000 to $2.5 million, Capital West Advisors will typically submit the business plan to only Angel Networks and possibly a few venture capital firms; when a client is looking for $2 million to $25 million, Capital West Advisors will typically submit the business plan to only Venture Capital firms and possibly a few Angel Networks. After Capital West Advisors identifies the appropriate investment firms and networks, Capital West Advisors will submit the business plan, executive summary, and financial statements, and follow up as extensively as possible with each venture capital firm. Capital West Advisors follows up for up to 3 months with each and every venture capital firm and Angel Network to ensure that it has been For both Venture Capital and Angel Network introduction campaign. The follow-up process is the single most important component to the capital introduction campaign and requires an extremely extensive follow-up with each and every venture capital firm and Angel Network.

Submission

The process of submitting to Angel Networks is slightly different than the process of submitting to Venture Capital firms. Submitting to Angel Networks is a highly more extensive submission process which often requires the filling out of comprehensive 1-4 page applications in a high quality format. Venture Capital submission is typically done through email or website submission. The vast majority of Angel networks will invest in only a specific geographic region, which could represent a city, state, or tri-state region. There are approximately 8 out of 100 Angel Networks though that will invest anywhere throughout the United States. The majority of Venture Capital firms also have some type of geographic focus; however, it is typically a wider geographic focus and approximately 35% will invest in companies located anywhere in the United States; however, the majority of these ‘open-minded’ venture capital firms will still lean towards companies with a few hundred miles of where they are located.

When following up with Venture Capital firms, Capital West Advisors will typically make a very strong effort to get a particular Associate or Managing Director to review the business plan. At times, this could represent a number of individuals, but the majority of the time, there will be 1 or 2 particular Managing Directors that are appropriate to target based upon the particular business model and Capital West Advisors has relationships with and the specific contact information of many Managing Directors that is has developed over time. Capital West Advisors venture capital database represents a wide range of venture capital firms that invest in various stages of growth and industries. Capital West Advisors’ database contains the address, specific contacts at each Venture capital firm, email, website information, and every investment criteria factor, which include stage of company, investment amount seeking, industry, and geographical focus. The most popular industries that venture capital firms invest in currently are information technology, internet, software, healthcare, biotechnology, energy, media, and business services.

Follow-up Process

The process of following up with Angel networks is different than the process of following up with Venture Capital firms. The core focus when following up with Angel networks is to have them refer the business plan to appropriate investors, which can be inside or outside the network, getting the Angel Network to review the business plan, getting the Angel Network to invite you to meetings. For Angel networks there is typically 1 to a handful of important ‘gatekeepers’ of which Capital West Advisors maintains relationships with a strong proportion of these Angel Networks. Angel Networks typically represent a large conglomeration of accredited high net-worth investors who make individual investment decisions; it is often that 2 to several investors will collectively make a co-investment. It is also possible that 2 different Angel networks can make a co-investment.