8 Tips for Friends and Family Fundraising

This is a Guest blog post from Andre Averbug.

 

Startup fundraising is never easy and the current pandemic crisis makes it even harder. Typical early-stage investors, such as angel investors and venture capital funds, today might be more reluctant to take risks and bet on early-stage startups. In such situations, entrepreneurs often turn to friends and family (2F’s) to support their endeavors.

Asking people close to you for money, however, has its challenges and needs to be done in a planned, sensible way. Here are a few best practices to follow:

1. Select potential leads carefully – Make a list of potential investors among friends and family based on two key factors: net-worth and personality. In terms of the former, you should only consider people you know have the resources to support you. Don’t put people close to you on the spot if you don’t think they can afford to lose the investment. If the business fails, you don’t want to see them struggling financially, no matter the circumstances. Regarding the latter, only approach people you have a good relationship with and that you think have the right temperament. Make sure the person is reasonable and understanding. Remember they will become your partners (or lenders) and business partnerships are often hard to manage. Money comes at a very high cost if the person is difficult to deal with or might freak out at the first adversity and become a headache for you and your other partners.

2. Prioritize those who might help – From your list above, try to identify people who might be business savvy, well connected, and who can bring something else to the table besides money. For example, prioritize the uncle who is a corporate executive or entrepreneur, and might help you with mentoring and contacts in the industry, over a friend who might even be more well-off, but is a medical doctor or an artist with no business knowhow or networks.

3. Approach them professionally – Just because these are people close to you and that you know might be inclined to help, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be professional when approaching them. Quite the opposite. Show them you are serious about your business and that you are proposing a business partnership that runs parallel to your personal relationships. Only approach them when you know exactly how much money you need and for what: present them with a use of funds table. Make them a compelling presentation of your business case and bring (or send them) printouts of your business plan, Lean Canvas, or executive summary. They will appreciate your professionalism.

4. Think through instrument options – Make sure you understand all investment instrument options before you approach friends and family because you will need to explain it to them. For example, are you selling shares of your company (equity)? If so, at what valuation (make sure it is not overvalued to be fair to them)? Do you want a loan (debt) and, if so, under what terms, ideally? Are you considering convertible notes, where the investment starts as a loan and can be converted into equity at the next round of investment, at a discounted valuation? The latter, by the way, is likely the best option for early stage startups. [Note: I will be covering these instruments in a future post – stay tuned by signing up to receive notifications of new posts by email].

5. Make them comfortable to say “no” – Unlike professional investors like angels and VC funds, these people are listening to you specifically because they like you and want to help you personally. Therefore, you have the moral obligation to not take advantage of that (which you might do unconsciously) and you must put them in a comfortable spot. After presenting your pitch and explaining how much you need, for what, and under what terms, answer all the questions they have, and give them time to think. Don’t ask for an answer on the same day (unless of course it is a clear negative) and tell them to sleep on the offer and come back to you on a later day.

6. Consider a “2F club” – Depending on the amount of money you are asking and the number of people on your list, it might be a good idea to have more people invest smaller pieces. For example, instead of getting $50,000 from your big sister, get 5 x $10,000 from her and four other friends. This is good for diluting any one person’s risk and might also provide you with extra help. If you are going for equity, though, be mindful of having too many people as partners – i.e., too many voices at the table. Get help from a corporate lawyer or legal mentor to design an effective way for these people to become your partners, perhaps by having them all come in through a company of their own, with each owning 20% of it.

7. Tell what you expect (and don’t) from them – When friends and family invest, with their best intentions, they often want to help in many other ways too. They may want to opine on the business strategy, suggest hires, introduce you to this or that person, try the product before you launch it etc. If not managed properly, this situation can escalate to your aunt, who’s a dentist, wanting to participate in your biggest contract negotiation! Therefore, before the investment deal is closed, make sure you tell them the level of involvement you expect from them. You may simply not want them to get involved at all, which is fine, as long as this is part of the agreement and they are ok with it. In any case, keep in mind that, as partners, they do have the right to at least receive updates and participate in quarterly or biannual meetings.

8. Be 100% transparent about the risks! – Avoid problems in the future. These are people you care about and may know nothing about startup investing. They are doing this because they care about you too. Ensure they are aware that this is a risky endeavor and that they might lose their investment (equity) or that you may take a long time to pay them back (debt) if the business fails. Certify that they are ok with the risks and that they can afford losing their investment without major personal financial consequences.

Times of crisis call far stringent cost management measures and creative fundraising, including from friends and family. If you do it right, the 2F’s can be a good option to help you through these troubled waters.

 

Andre Averbug is an entrepreneur, economist, and writer. He has over two decades of international experience working in the intersection of economic development, entrepreneurship, and innovation. He has worked and lived in multiple countries across North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Central Asia.

Andre has started and run four startups, in Brazil and the US, and was awarded Global Innovator of the Year in 2009 by World Bank’s infoDev. He has extensive experience supporting companies as mentor and consultant, both independently and as part of incubators such as 1776 and the Kosmos Innovation Center, and programs like Shell LIVEWire, StartUp Weekend and WeXchange.

As an economist, Andre has worked in topics ranging from innovation ecosystems, entrepreneurship and MSME development policy, competitiveness, business climate, infrastructure finance, monitoring and evaluation (M&E), and country assistance strategy for the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES). He has also consulted for clients such as DAI Global, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), TechnoServe, among many others. He holds a master’s degree in economics from the University of London (UK) and an MBA from McGill University (Canada). Andre lives in the Washington, DC area.

He writes an awesome Blog called Entrepreneurship Compass and you can sign up here: https://entrepreneurshipcompass.com

 

 

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Impact of new Lease Standards on Tech and Life Sciences Companies

This is a Guest blog post from Ling Zhang., CPA.

 

When the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) met on May 20, 2020 to address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, they voted on a one-year effective date deferral of Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) Topic 842, Leases, which will result in a modified effective date for private companies and certain private not-for-profit entities for fiscal years beginning after Dec. 15, 2021, and interim periods with fiscal years beginning after Dec. 15, 2022, once the final standard is issued (expected June 2020). Private companies in technology and life sciences, particularly with significant operating lease activity under current lease accounting guidance, can take advantage of the delayed ASC 842 effective date to prepare for implementation.  

FASB originally issued Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2016-02 in February 2016. Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) Topic 842, Leases, along with several subsequently issued related ASUs, which amended the accounting guidance for leases.

GENERAL ASC 842 REQUIREMENTS

Under ASC 842, a company is required to recognize leases with terms greater than 12 months on its balance sheet. Specifically, lessees are required to recognize the following at lease commencement:

ASC 842 represents a change for operating leases that were historically considered “off balance sheet” obligations. FASB believes a balance sheet presentation of leases will provide a clearer view of a company’s future commitments with operating leases recognized on the balance sheet.

Under ASC 842, leases recorded on the balance sheet will be classified as either finance leases or operating leases, which will determine the presentation of the related expense in the income statement. Finance lease arrangements will result in depreciation and interest expense recorded each reporting period similar in manner to existing capital leases under legacy guidance. Operating lease ROU assets and liabilities will be amortized and accreted, respectively, to develop a straight-line rent expense presented as lease expense in the income statement.

SPECIFIC CONSIDERATIONS FOR TECHNOLOGY AND LIFE SCIENCES COMPANIES

The delayed ASC 842 effective date provides additional time for technology and life sciences companies to prepare for implementation. Specific considerations prior to implementation include:

1. Impact to Balance Sheet and Financial Ratios

Technology and life sciences companies should expect increases in balance sheet amounts (e.g., long-term assets and both current and long-term liabilities) for operating leases. Companies with significant existing operating leases may be surprised by the impact on reported balance sheet amounts. These financial statement changes may impact certain financial ratios, including current ratio, leverage ratio and debt service coverage ratios.

Example: How ASC 842 Can Affect Key Metrics

As many technology and life science companies use cash flow-based lending, the example below provides the potential effects on the balance sheet and the associated debt service coverage ratio. Some do not consider operating lease liabilities as ‘debt’ for purposes of calculating debt-based ratios and you can expect that there may be diversity in practice. Technology and life science companies should confirm with their lenders in advance their view of the treatment of ASC 842 operating lease liabilities with regard to covenant calculations.  Understanding the impact on key metrics early is advised. The following is an example showing the impact on certain ratios when operating lease liabilities are considered debt.

Balance Sheet Impact

Notice how the reporting of ROU assets and lease liabilities increases the total amount of assets and liabilities on the balance sheet after adopting the new standard.¹

Balance Sheet
	Prior to adopting ASC 842	After adopting ASC 842
Cash	$                    500,000	$                  500,000
Accounts receivable	750,000	750,000
Inventory	2,000,000	2,000,000
Total current assets	3,250,000	3,250,000
PPE	500,000	500,000
Capitalized software	1,500,000	1,500,000
Operating lease ROU asset	–	900,000
Total non-current assets	2,000,000	2,900,000
Total assets	5,250,000	6,150,000
Deferred revenue	$                 2,100,000	$               2,100,000
Accounts payable and accruals	550,000	550,000
Long-term debt, current	100,000	100,000
Operating lease liability, current	–	250,000
Total current liabilities	2,750,000	3,000,000
Long-term debt, net of current portion	400,000	400,000
Operating lease liability, net of current portion	–	650,000
Total non-current liabilities	400,000	1,050,000
Total liabilities	3,150,000	4,050,000
Equity	2,100,000	2,100,000
Total liabilities and equity	$                 5,250,000	$               6,150,000

1) In this example, it is assumed that the lease liability in an operating lease. However, if the lease liability was classified as a finance lease, the ROU asset could be included within PPE.

Debt Service Coverage Ratio Impact

Debt service ratio coverage is a common financial covenant found in debt agreements. As illustrated below, the ratio may significantly change with the adoption of the Standard.

Debt Service Coverage Ratio
	Prior to adopting ASC 842	After adopting ASC 842
Net income	500,000	500,000
Depreciation expense	50,000	50,000
Interest expense	20,000	20,000
	570,000	570,000
Interest expense	20,000	20,000
Current portion debt and capitalized leases	100,000	350,000
	120,000	370,000
Debt service coverage ratio	4.75	1.54

 

Many technology and life sciences companies may find that certain metrics and loan covenants are impacted due to the changes in the balance sheet as a result of adoption. Companies should give priority to their financial statement and disclosure changes for the purpose of maintaining compliance with their loan covenants. As previously discussed, companies should also engage in early communication with their lenders regarding the potential impact on financial covenants and whether the lenders will take these changes into consideration when analyzing the company’s performance.

2. Lease Population Completeness Considerations

During the ASC 842 transition, all leases should be identified. While many leases may seem straightforward, such as leases for real estate or equipment, others may be embedded within other service contracts. For example, a router that is utilized as part of an internet service arrangement may be considered a leased asset. By electing the package of three transition practical expedients, companies are allowed to not reassess the following:

• whether any expired or existing contracts are or contain leases;
• lease classification for any expired or existing leases; and
• indirect direct costs for any existing leases.

 

Embedded leases are commonly found in the following arrangements:

A lease exists if a contract conveys to a company the right to obtain substantially all of the economic benefits from use of the identified asset and the company directs the use of the identified asset. An identified asset must be physically distinct and specified in the contract. The existence of substitution rights may indicate a specific asset has not been identified. Under Topic 842, substantive substitution rights exist when a supplier has the practical ability to substitute alternative assets throughout the period of use, and the supplier would benefit economically from the exercise of its right to substitute the asset. When evaluating the existence of a lease, companies also need to assess if the use of the identified asset is significant. If another party’s use of the identified asset is more than insignificant, the contract does not convey control of the identified asset, therefore, the contract does not contain a lease.

 

The following are some examples where judgement and further analysis may be required to determine the presence of a lease component.

 

REVENUE CONTRACT WITH CUSTOMER – SUBSTITUTION RIGHT A: SaaS contract with hosting arrangement – identified asset without substantive substitution rights Facts: A software company enters into contracts with its customers to host software on the software company’s servers, each of which is designated to a specific customer. The contracts do not allow the software company to substitute the server for another one without consent of its customers.   Analysis: An embedded lease may exist (even without an explicit lease agreement) considering that the server is dedicated to a specific customer, and the software company does not have “substantive substitution” rights for the server.   B:  SaaS contract with use of equipment – identified asset with substantive substitution rights Facts: A company enters into a contract with a customer that includes SaaS services and the use of a designated computer medical cart through the term of the SaaS services. The company has the option to swap the medical cart with another one at any time.   Analysis: The Company can swap the medical cart with another one at any time during the term of the contract. Therefore, the “substantive substitution” rights criteria has been met, and the use of the computer medial cart is not considered a lease.

 

MEDICAL SUPPLIES PURCHASE CONTRACT – IDENTIFIED ASSET WITHOUT SUBSTANTIVE SUBSTITUTION RIGHTS Facts: A bio-tech company enters into a medical supplies contract, which requires the purchase of consumables and test kits for research and development purposes exclusively from this supplier for the term of five years. As part of the arrangement, the supplier also provides the equipment for testing at no charge. The equipment is installed and customized for the bio-tech company, and the contract does not allow the supplier to substitute another equipment without the approval of the bio-tech company.   Analysis: A lease may exist since the equipment is specified in the contract and designated to the bio-tech company; At the inception of the contract, the supplier does not have substantive substitution rights to the equipment and it is not feasible that the equipment can be easily substituted by the supplier.

 

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) SERVICE CONTRACT – IDENTIFIED ASSET WITHOUT SUBSTANTIVE SUBSTITUTION RIGHTS Facts: A technology company enters into a network services and security agreement with an electronic data storage provider. The services are provided through a centralized data center and use a specified server (Server No. 9). The supplier maintains many identical servers in a single accessible location and determines, at inception of the contract, that it is permitted to and can easily substitute another server without the customer’s consent throughout the period of use.   Analysis: Based on the facts above, the vendor can interchange the underlying asset without the customer’s consent. As the asset is interchangeable in nature and service and is not dependent upon the specific asset, there is no lease based upon the “substantive substitution” rights criteria.

 

ADVERTISING CONTRACT – SIGNIFICANCE OF USE Facts: A company enters into a marketing services agreement which encompasses a variety of marketing and advertising vehicles, one of which includes electronic billboards.   Analysis: Although this contract could be written as a marketing services agreement, the right to use one or more billboards may result in a lease if the billboard is specifically identifiable and dedicated to the company, and the company obtains significant use of the billboards throughout the term of the contract. Understanding if other parties have the right to advertise on the billboards and the significance of those other arrangements will be important to determining if a lease exists.

 

Considerable judgement is involved for each example when reviewing a contract for embedded leases. A slight alteration in facts and circumstances may result in a different conclusion. Keep in mind that if there is a specifically identified asset dedicated to a party, it is likely to contain a lease. Further, predominance and significance of the activity will impact lease related decisions and conclusions.

 

3. Negotiation of Future Arrangements

The impact of ASC 842 may be an important factor in evaluating whether to structure the acquisition of assets as lease arrangements or purchase arrangements going forward. Further, Topic 842 may have implications on other accounting standards such as revenue recognition. The consideration of future arrangements will be particularly important for companies with significant lease activities as many such lease arrangements may move on to the balance sheet under the ASC 842. Technology and life sciences companies should identify and perform an inventory of all existing leases, including embedded leases, in conjunction with forecasting needs for future assets. The company can then evaluate and plan for these future needs with a clear understanding of the trade-offs between lease and purchase arrangements.

 

4. Tax Impact

ASC 842 will have a noticeable impact on financial reporting for lessees, but the effect on taxes may not be obvious. The new lease standard does not change lease accounting for federal income tax purposes. Therefore, without a corresponding change in tax basis, deferred tax accounting may be impacted. Implementation of ASC 842 could result in new deferred tax assets, liabilities or additional book to tax differences in a company’s income tax provision. Under ASC 842, lease assets are subject to impairment, which is often reversed for tax purposes. Technology and life sciences companies should understand and plan for the potential tax impact.

 

5. Assurance Perspective

Technology and life sciences companies audited by an independent public accounting firm should maintain relevant documentation of the ASC 842 implementation process, as the independent auditor may require the documentation in order to complete the audit. Such documentation should include evaluation of lease classification as finance or operating, selection and application of the transition method, discussion of any practical expedients applied, basis for significant assumptions such as discount rate and the company’s lease identification completeness procedures, including evaluation of embedded leases.

 

6. Future Operations, Processes and Related Controls

To comply with ASC 842, companies will likely need to implement changes to their current control environments and business processes. Companies should establish policies and procedures to address ongoing considerations such as initial assessments of new contracts, appropriate interest rates and lease modifications, as well as develop methods to appropriately capture financial disclosure information. Significant judgement will be required to assess lease terms through an ASC 842 lens, specifically related to lease term, allocation of lease payments to lease and non-lease components, and remeasurement events.

 

CONCLUSION

By delaying the effective date for non-public business entities, FASB has created an opportunity for technology and life sciences companies to fully consider the impact of ASC 842 and prepare for the upcoming transition.

 

As a Senior Manager in the DHG Technology practice, Ling Zhang, CPA, works closely with client management and C-suite executives to provide audit, financial accounting advisory, and risk advisory services to multi-national publicly-traded corporations and private companies with revenues ranging from $10 million to $50 billion. She advises clients on SEC filings, complex debt and equity transactions, merger and acquisition, new accounting guidance implementation, internal control system design and implementation, and financial statements reporting and disclosures. She can be reached at ling.zhang@dhg.com.

Leadership Transformation in 2020 – Change is inevitable. Transformation is by conscious choice.

This is a Guest blog post by Bei Ma, Founder and CEO of The Pinea Group

Leadership Transformation in 2020

Change is inevitable. Transformation is by conscious choice.

 

Photo by Evgeni Tcherkasski on Unsplash

 

As Bill Gates recommended 5 summer books in his recent Gates Notes on May 18, 2020, he wrote: “The Ride of a Lifetime, by Bob Iger. This is one of the best business books I’ve read in several years. Iger does a terrific job explaining what it’s really like to be the CEO of a large company. Whether you’re looking for business insights or just an entertaining read, I think anyone would enjoy his stories about overseeing Disney during one of the most transformative times in its history.”¹

Yes, indeed. Robert Iger, in his 2019 book “The Ride of a Lifetime”, shares in great detail on how the ten principles that strike him as necessary to true leadership have transformed Disney. And the ten principles are: Optimism, Courage, Focus, Decisiveness, Curiosity, Fairness, Thoughtfulness, Authenticity, Relentless Pursuit of Perfection, and Integrity.

While each of these ten principles speaks the truth of leadership, we need more, we need more for an unprecedented year we are in at this very moment. The year of 2020 perhaps manifests every aspect you can imagine that life does not always go the way you expect it will.

We are still in the middle of the global pandemic. Period. The director of National  Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Fauci spoke at BIO Digital virtual healthcare conference on June 10 that the coronavirus pandemic has turned out to be his “worst nightmare” and warned that it’s not over yet.²

Millions of people still have no jobs or steady income despite an optimistic labor report of May by the Department of Labor. According to Business Insider, US jobless claims totaled 44 million, meaning more than one in four American workers have lost a job during the pandemic.³

Social reform is well likely underway with the “Black Lives Matter” movement amid nationwide protests. New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo says he intends to sign the package of bills passed by New York legislators for comprehensive police reform.⁴

In the business context, CEOs have been facing an ultimate leadership test. While business executives shall absolutely continue to incorporate and implement in their daily business life the ten principles of true leadership by Robert Iger: Optimism, Courage, Focus, Decisiveness, Curiosity, Fairness, Thoughtfulness, Authenticity, Relentless Pursuit of Perfection, and Integrity, leadership transformation is imperative. CEOs must make conscious choices for leadership transformation facing one crisis after another in the year of 2020 and onward.

In this article, we explore two actions, accompanying mindset and qualities that can help executives navigate such perfect storms and future crises and consciously make leadership transformation.

Leading with Compassion

Numerous studies show that in a business-as-usual environment, compassionate leaders perform better and foster more loyalty and engagement by their teams.⁵ However, compassion becomes especially critical during a crisis.⁶

Four months into the pandemic, the nation is seeing a historic wave of widespread psychological trauma driven by fear, isolation, uncertainty, anger, and distress. Nearly half of Americans report the coronavirus crisis is harming their mental health, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll.⁷

To an organization, collective fears and existential threats triggered by the crises call for a compassionate, empathetic, caring and highly visible leadership. If executives demonstrate that everything is under control with business-as-usual meetings and overconfident emails with an  upbeat tone, afraid of showing the genuine vulnerability, empathy to connect and compassion to support their people, reduce their stress and burden, absurdly, this might backfire and will certainly not create the confidence, innovation and creativity from people to enable them navigate through the crises and recover the business.

       “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people

       will never forget how you made them feel.”

       – Maya Angelou –

People feel it and will never forget when leaders act with genuine compassion, especially during the crises.

 

     Leading with Rooted Power

In routine emergencies, experience is perhaps the most valuable quality that leaders bring. But in novel, landscape-scale crises, character is of the utmost importance.⁸ Deliberate calm is the ability to detach from a fraught situation and think clearly about how one will navigate it.⁹

Crisis-resistant leaders, as the captains of their ships during a perfect storm, will be able to unify the teams with deliberate calm, clarity, and stableness, making a positive difference in people’s lives. The calmness comes from well-grounded individuals who possess rooted power of humility, hope, and tenacity.

Crisis-resistant leaders return to their roots, core values, beliefs, and principles during a perfect storm. They pose questions to themselves and teams about what the organization stands for, what the purpose is, and what should continue to do or stop doing, what need to be created as new practices or ways of working, new norms that are emerging.¹⁰

The rooted power of crisis-resistant leaders is originated from physical health providing energy and stamina; mental health providing optimistic and positive view; intellectual health providing acute decisiveness and clarity; and social health providing the trust and transparency.

Only grounded leaders with such rooted power can beat landscape-scale crises.

………………………………..

The crises and overwhelming consequences ask for leadership transformation. Besides the ten principles to true leadership¹, business leaders who make conscious transformation: leading with compassion and leading with rooted power, can support their organizations and communities, navigating through the perfect storms.

 

Reference

1. https://www.gatesnotes.com/About-Bill-Gates/Summer-Books-2020
2. https://www.today.com/health/dr-anthony-fauci-says-coronavirus-his-worst-nightmare-isn-t-t183838
3. https://www.businessinsider.com/us-weekly-jobless-claims-coronavirus-layoffs-unemployment-filings-economy-recession-2020-6
4. https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/10/us/new-york-passes-police-reform-bills/index.html
5. Jane E. Dutton, Ashley E. Hardin, and Kristina M. Workman, “Compassion at work,” Annual Review Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, Volume 1, Number 1, 2014, pp. 277–304; Jacoba M. Lilius, et al, “Understanding compassion capability,” Human Relations, Volume 64, Number 7, 2011, pp. 873–99; Paquita C. De Zulueta, “Developing Compassionate Leadership in Health Care: An Integrative Review,” Journal of Healthcare Leadership, Volume 8, 2016, pp. 1–10.
6. Jane E. Dutton, et al, “Leading in times of trauma,” Harvard Business Review, Volume 80, Number 1, 2002, pp. 54–61; Edward H. Powley and Sandy Kristin Piderit, “Tending wounds: Elements of the organizational healing process,” Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, Volume 44, Number 1, 2008, pp. 134–49.
7. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/05/04/mental-health-coronavirus/
8. Gemma D’Auria and Aaron De Smet, McKinsey & Company, Organizational Practice, “Leadership in a crisis: Responding to the coronavirus outbreak and future challenges”, 2020.
9. Helio Fred Garcia, “Effective leadership response to crisis,” Strategy & Leadership, 2006, Volume 34, Number 1, pp. 4–10.
10. Adapted from Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty Linsky, “Leadership in a (permanent) crisis,” Harvard Business Review, July–August 2009, hbr.com

 

About the Author

 

Bei Ma is the founder and CEO of the Pinea Group (Pinea). Pinea serves as a trusted partner specialized in cross-border fund raising, market access, clinical studies, regulatory pathway, licensing, and distribution to help medical devices, diagnostics, pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical organizations to achieve the best patient outcomes and commercial success.  Previously, Bei Ma served as Vice President of Global Healthcare Business Development at British Standards Institution (BSI) Group. Bei can be reached at 410.271.7267 and beimalong7@gmail.com; her LinkedIn profile is https://www.linkedin.com/in/beima/

How to Build a Company Culture That’s Sustainable in Any Market

This is a Guest blog post from Ines LeBow.

 

Herodotus, the ancient Greek intellectual who became known as “The Father of History” coined the phrase “Culture is King”. Companies rise and fall based on their culture, and challenging situations like we’ve faced here in 2020 test company culture to determine if it’s real or just a façade. In a recent article, I gave advice on how to “Pandemic-Proof Your Funding Pitch Deck”, but as an entrepreneur, are you really able to pandemic-proof your company culture? The answer is a resounding “yes”! In fact, you can create a culture that thrives in any market situation, including Covid and beyond.

 

Leadership-Driven Culture

 

How you, the entrepreneur, and the executive team lead at the outset of your business and through “normal” times sets the tone for your culture that will carry you through times that are trying. As Frances Hesselbein so succinctly put it, “Culture does not change because we desire to change it. Culture changes when the organization is transformed; the culture reflects the realities of people working together every day.”

 

For the leadership team that truly prioritizes the culture of their organization, there are a few core values that will be emphasized down the management ranks to the front-line employees and a call to have the actions of all personnel align with these values. The top core values include:

 

• Two-Way Communication – Consistent and ongoing opportunities for the executive team to interact with staff (both speaking and listening) and for all team members to interact with customers (again, both speaking and listening)
• Engagement – Fostering a sense of ownership and a common purpose throughout the organization to energize all employees and get them working toward a uniting vision
• Wellness and Balance – Setting policies that value employees’ work-life balance, mental and physical health, and general wellness
• Programs and Tools – Enacting programs and implementing tools that allow employees to thrive in personal and professional development, workplace collaboration, idea innovation, mobile and remote work setups, knowledge sharing, and more

 

 

The combination of forced and voluntary business shutdowns that occurred nearly overnight as a result of the Coronavirus response quickly led to 88% of companies that either required or encouraged their employees to work from home, according to a Gartner survey. Some companies were ill-prepared for this rapid shift. Many of the companies with the technical capabilities for hosting a truly remote workforce, however, lacked the type of culture that would keep employees engaged, communicating, and thriving when not in an in-person environment.

 

Having a great framework in place is essential and must include employees who come to a physical office location as well as employees who work from home, in the field, or from a remote office. As companies return to work, executives and board members are going to re-imaging how the company operates. The old approach of leasing large office spaces may alter significantly, causing companies to adopt a more aggressive mobile and remote work model. Re-thinking how these core values that contribute to the corporate culture can be dealt with is just as important to strategize over.

 

To learn more about creating an engaging culture or how to create an epic fundraising story for digital presentations to investors, contact me for a complimentary consultation by phone at 314-578-0958 or by email at ilebow@transformationsolutions.pro.

 

Ines LeBow is the CEO, Transformation Executive for ETS. She is a known catalyst for business operations, bringing 30+ years of hands-on experience. Ines has a long history of being recruited into senior executive roles to improve the execution of business operations and to drive revenue growth. You can see her LinkedIn Profile at http://www.linkedin.com/in/ineslebow, view the ETS website at http://www.transformationsolutions.pro, or email her directly at ilebow@transformationsolutions.pro.

How to Hire a Stellar Sales Team to Accelerate Your Recovery

This is a Guest blog post by sales and sales management expert Chris Tully.

 

 

If there is a silver lining to the pandemic-related economic shut down, it is that a lot of excellent salespeople are now available and hungry to contribute to your business. The opportunity here is to rehire your best performers and then build a stronger team than before.

To hire a stellar sales team to accelerate your recovery, you need a plan. Here are some things to consider that will help you create an excellent hiring plan.

 

1. Are your business goals different than before the shut down? 

In the past few months, you’ve had time to really think about your company. You may have revised your strategic business plan and reprioritized your goals. If so, take a look at your new focus and figure out, “what sort of sales power will get me there?”

As an exercise, picture your previous sales team. Imagine how they would – or would not – achieve your new goals, and what sort of salespeople you need going forward.

 

2. Are you clear about the sales role?

What is it that you really want your ideal salesperson to do day to day, and accomplish overall? What specific skills would that person need? Most importantly, be clear about the personal attributes of the ideal person to represent your business.

3. Are you willing to invest in a professional recruiter? 

Sure, LinkedIn Jobs, Indeed, and other free job posts or low-cost ads will get responses. But you and your HR people will spend an inordinate amount of time sifting through a lot of junk to get to the few gems. Unless you’re adding entry-level people, don’t cheap out – invest in a professional recruiter, particularly if you’re looking for experienced sales professionals with a proven track record.

Talent recruiters screen against your hiring profile, verifycandidates’ work history, and validate their self-stated strengths and accomplishments. Recruiters also help you find employed candidates who are not looking for a job but who may be perfect for your business.

 

4. Do you have your sales incentive structure worked out?

Although it isn’t a jobseeker’s market right now, people are still going to ask how they get paid. That’s completely reasonable. As the job market strengthens, candidates who know their worth are going to hold out for appropriate compensation. In addition to your hiring plan, you’re going to need an incentive plan to attract and retain the caliber of salespeople you expect.

 

5. What third-party tool are you using to assess candidates?

Third-party assessment tools are a must with hiring decisions. Let’s face it – salespeople are often chameleons. They are trained to probe for needs, listen actively, and position their products (themselves, in this case) in the best possible light to solve your problem.

You need some objectivity to balance those impressions, especially if you don’t hire that many people each year. There has been a lot written about the cost of a bad hire, which I won’t repeat here. Get some help!

These are three salesperson assessment tools that I recommend: 

• Objective Management Group (OMG) Sales and Marketing Assessment
• Asher Strategies’ APQ Sales Assessment
• Predictive Index Hiring Assessment (very helpful across multiple professions)

6. Do you have an effective on-boarding process?

It’s important to have a well thought-out plan to get new sales hires acclimated to their role in your company. For that, you need to a road map that new hires can follow (as well as trainers) so nobody gets lost.

 

7. Can you “hire slow”?

This last question is a trick one: the answer has to be “Yes.” You’ll want to take your time and think about the answers to all of the questions I’ve laid out, in order to hire superb salespeople. It’ll be so worth the time and effort when the right team propels you to reach – and exceed – your goals.

 

 

 

 

 

Chris Tully is Founder of SALES GROWTH ADVISORS. He can be reached at (571) 329-4343 and ctully@salesxceleration.com

“For more than 25 years, I’ve led sales organizations in public and private technology companies, with teams as large as 400 people, and significant revenue responsibility.

I founded Sales Growth Advisors to help mid-market CEOs execute proven strategies to accelerate their top line revenue. I have a great appreciation for how hard it is to start and grow a business, and it is gratifying to me to do what I am ‘best at’ to help companies grow faster and more effectively.

Let’s get acquainted. I am certain I can offer you an experienced perspective to help you with your growth strategy.”

CONNECTpreneur enters our 9th year with a bang

Recently, I was interviewed by the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation about The Big Idea CONNECTpreneur Forum, of which they are a sponsor. Following is the transcript of the interview. I have been a Board Member of this tremendous organization for the past 4 years.

CONNECTpreneur recently entered our 9th year. To date, we have hosted 47 events, the last 4 being “virtual” events. Over 20,000 business leaders, investors, and entrepreneurs from around the world have attended our events. Our website is connectpreneur.org. Please check us out!

 

THE BIG IDEA
CONNECTPRENEUR FORUM

IN CONVERSATION WITH TIEN WONG, CEO, OPUS8, AND
FOUNDER & HOST, CONNECTPRENEUR

Get to know CONNECTpreneur, a unique forum which attracts the region’s top entrepreneurs, investors, innovators and game changers. Organizers of the top tech and investor networking events in the region.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO MAKE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN BUSINESS LEADERS OF ALL STRIPES – CEOS, VCS AND ANGELS – TO EARLY STAGE COMPANIES?

Not just for early stage companies, but all businesses of all sizes, the old adage, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know,” still applies very relevantly. People want to do business with people. Early stage companies, in particular, have many needs: capital, talent, customers, vendors, partners, product development, marketing, etc. and having a large and deep network gives an entrepreneur a huge advantage in the marketplace, for obvious reasons. There is a proven correlation between the size and quality of one’s network, and one’s overall success — in entrepreneurship and most endeavors.

 

WHAT IS THE SECRET SAUCE THAT MAKES CONNECTPRENEUR A TOP TECH NETWORKING EVENT IN THE REGION?

It’s our ability to attract the region’s top entrepreneurs, investors, innovators and game changers. We pride ourselves on organizing the top tech and investor networking events in Montgomery County and the Washington region as a whole. We think that the reason that over 70% of our surveyed attendees rate CONNECTpreneur as the “number one” tech and networking event in the Mid-Atlantic region is because of the high quality and seniority of our attendees, which is unprecedented. Over 20% of our attendees are accredited angel investors or VCs, over half are CEOs and founders, and we intentionally keep the ratio of service providers as low as possible. This makes for more meaningful connectivity among the participants.

 

HOW DOES CONNECTPRENEUR SUPPORT FEMALE ENTREPRENEURS AND ENTREPRENEURS OF COLOR?

CONNECTpreneur is very intentional about providing a diverse set of presenters and speakers in our programming. Our community of entrepreneurs and investors is highly diverse, and our selection committee is very tuned in to the benefits of gender and cultural diversity. We actively work with and partner with local, regional, and national players who share our values of “double bottom line” ethics which value social impact as well as financial gain. Some of our partners include Maryland Tech Council, TEDCO, Startup Grind, Founder Institute, Halcyon and Conscious Venture Labs to name a few.

 

 

WHY IS MONTGOMERY COUNTY A GOOD LOCATION FOR AN INNOVATIVE STARTUP COMPANY? AND, WHAT’S YOUR BEST ADVICE FOR SUCCESS?

Montgomery County is a top tier County nationally for startups, and that’s evidenced by numerous awesome success stories. MoCo has a tremendously educated talent base, world class government institutions, top schools, and a large base of angel and high net worth private investors who can provide seed funding. The best advice for success is to understand thoroughly your customer and their needs and pain points very deeply. That way you can get to “product market fit” more quickly, de-risk your opportunity, and be more capital efficient. Too many companies get enamored with their product and design, or culture, or getting media coverage whereas the true essence of any successful business is to provide excellent products and solutions to its customers and sell into their markets like crazy.

 

WHAT ARE SOME UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS OF AN EARLY STAGE COMPANY THAT SPARK YOUR INTEREST TO EXTEND AN INVITE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE FORUM?

We are looking for presenting companies which have truly disruptive ideas, products and/or solutions which could be sold into huge markets.  And of course, the most important criteria are the quality, expertise, and coachability of the founding team. We have had presenters from all kinds of sectors including life sciences, cyber, telecom, blockchain, wireless, mobility, e-commerce, marketplaces, fintech, medical devices, IoT, etc.

Learn more about CONNECTpreneur at our website: connectpreneur.org

 

 

 

Next Mission: Co-founder, Seth Goldman, exits Honest Tea to focus on plant-based “meat,” a segment of the $300 billion meat category

This is a Guest blog post from Janice Mandel.

It made sense to sell to Coca-Cola in 2011 for greater distribution, scale and purchasing power. The Honest brand is selling billions of servings through McDonald’s, Subway, Chick Fil-A, and Wendy’s while supporting communities through fair trade and a healthful alternative. He says that his work with McDonald’s alone has removed 1 billion calories from the American diet.

CONNECTpreneur founder, Tien Wong (L), interviews Seth Goldman at George Washington University.

 

 

Seth said his company has been connected to Coca Cola for longer than it was an independent company: “The brand has its own life, its own momentum. The teams in Atlanta and Europe we’ve seen they’re doing the right thing with the brand. They are innovating the right way and it’s large enough that I can’t see anyone saying ‘Let’s make it sweeter or discontinue certifying it as organic or Fair Trade.’  I’m not putting a toddler out into the world. This is a 22 year old entity with its own personality and it’s strong enough to survive on its own.”

What’s Next?

Seth remains Executive Chair of the Board of Beyond Meat and says he will continue to support the alternative protein brand as it pursues its mission to transform the supermarket’s meat case into the protein case.

He summarized Beyond Meat’s approach: “Rather than define meat by its origin, which says meat always comes from animals, we’re going to define it by its composition. So when you look at it that way, meat is just an assembly of amino acids, which form the proteins; lipids that form the fats, 70% water and some trace minerals and carbohydrates.”

Although some are concerned that products such as Beyond Meat are “processed,” Seth says it is produced with the same equipment used to extrude pasta. And, the sustainability benefits are well worth pursuing.

“It will take 2 1/2 worlds to feed the growing population the same kind of protein diet we have in the United States, but we have only one,” Seth observes. The brand counts the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation among its early socially responsible investors out to feed the world responsibly.

Seth also remembers fondly another major “investor” without whom Honest Tea would not have been able to fill its first order for 15,000 bottles for Fresh Fields, which became Whole Foods. He’s referring to the bottle supplier in Pennsylvania who helped him respond to the cyclical nature of the beverage industry by agreeing to extend payment through each difficult winter.  Seth is proud of bringing the payments each spring, well before the seasonal 90 day payment terms were up. The weekend before his fireside chat at GW, Seth learned the bottle supplier who had believed in him since the beginning had passed away.

“I would not have been able to succeed without him,” he says.

Read more about Seth Goldman’s detailed account of his co-founding Honest Tea here.

About Janice K. Mandel

I’m a multimedia storyteller following evolving voice-first opportunities. Early adopter experience in New York City included: Sr. Editor, EIC/Intelligence, the first online, commercial database (1980s);Communications/Voice of Equinta.com, like Zillow but in 1999; and Reach networks — like Mosaic, only four years sooner. I’ve recruited speakers for VOICE Summit (https://voicesummit.ai) and conducted its microcast leading up to the event. Would love to do more microcasting in the future.

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