All Blog Posts Tagged 'capital' (30)

Spring Funding!

Business Working Capital Loan Vs Merchant Cash Advance

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Think of this as part two of my prior posting on legal documents ...

In two transactions recently, I’ve had the following experience.  (In each case, it was an investor and an operator, but it could just as well have been lender and investor, or lender and operator.)  As the parties drew near to the final signing of…

After many months, more than a few near-death experiences, and the usual bureaucratic hurdles and personality disorder symptoms, one of my clients is about to conclude a complete refinancing of its balance sheet -- paying off existing lenders, buying back the ownership of a departing minority shareholder, and replacing everything with new lenders, some new minority investors, and sufficient capital to continue a successful…

I recently sat through three very interesting meetings which focused, in very different ways, on the realities of control.  They pointed out, once again, a lesson which is worth understanding: one needn’t always own a majority of the stock, or equity, of a company to be able to control it, at least in key ways which influence its behavior and future prospects.  I’ll describe…

Georgetown Bagelry is very excited to have an ad in the Official 2012 Capital Pride Guide! Pick up a copy and bring in our ad to receive 50% off a Miami Burger!…

No, I’ve never read anything by Erica Jong, and there’s nothing zipless about this column -- nor, I trust, about the attitudes of the parties who inspired it.  (For those of less than a certain age, feel free to research Erica Jong’s Fear of Flying and the cultural touchstone it provided.)…

I spend much of my life with the investors, lenders, builders, and leasing companies who provide capital to this industry.  Let’s just acknowledge at the outset that, without them, the restaurant industry would not exist -- at least not in the grand scale, and immense variety, that we see it today.  Many thanks to them for making it all possible; after all (just to cite a few statistics which bear repeating) ... this…

In the past, I've discussed -- and some of you have commented on -- the differences in a seller's mind and approach depending on the desired outcome. The seller's expected level of involvement after the sale dictates (or should dictate, at least) his or her scrutiny of the buyer.

A simple…

Greetings from the just-concluded Restaurant Leadership Conference, where your humble servant was a panelist.  More about the panel later, but first some overall impressions.

Ron Paul of Technomic reported broad-based signs of strengthening performance for…

At the risk of repeating myself, I’ll say it again, as I’ve said it many times in the past to clients ... It’s not about the money, or at least it’s not only about the money.

Let me explain.…

A few weeks ago, The Economist contained a piece entitled “The Pivotal Moment: Bet on a boss who can twirl on his toes” (Dec. 4-10, 2010 edition, P. 84).  The piece was about the surprising discovery (?) of some seasoned venture capitalists that it was perhaps more valuable to invest in managers with the ability -- and agility -- to quickly shift their budding business’ focus, given the rapid rate of change in the world, rather than back a…

Somewhere recently (I believe it was in the Southwest Airlines in-flight magazine, but I’m sorry to say that I’m really not sure) I read one person’s wish that a commemorative stone be carved with “audi partem alteram” rather than his name.  He went on to explain that the Latin expression meant “hear the other side”.…

Regular readers of this column will know two things: I’m a former (reformed?) lender of many years’ experience, and I’m not too gentle with lenders in this space. I’m also a bit of a contrarian, and that side shows itself today.…

Two years ago, the Restaurant Finance Conference fell (choice verb?) just after the capital market cataclysm of September 2008. As I’ve noted before, the mood was so unsettled that man suggested Zombie costumes be issued. Last year, their was still considerable uncertainty -- and accompanying gallows humor -- but as one reader noted at the time, “we’re still here”; there was at least a general…

As I mentioned in a prior column, the annual Restaurant Finance and Development Conference is coming soon -- November 8-10, in Las Vegas. In case there’s not a link to it visible somewhere on your Fohboh screen, here’s where you can find out more about it (…

I’ve received several calls in recent weeks along the lines of the following:…

At least, that’s what they’d like to believe about themselves. With few, perhaps unexplainable, exceptions, the investors we’re interested in understanding make their investment decisions with an expectation that they will get more than their investment dollars back at the end of the investment. (This column is a follow-on to the recent discussion about growth…

Although I try to be positive in this column, it’s been pointed out to me that I do spend a fair amount of time decrying shortfalls, failures, and other (apparently) inexplicable behavior. In general, my “complaints” are aimed at those sectors of the capital markets which sometimes seem to conspire to make life more difficult for the smaller, independent operator, although…

A year ago, many articles were being written on the complete, and seemingly intractable, seizure in the capital markets. Lenders weren’t lending, and investors weren’t investing, for many reasons, but a central cause was their lack of certainty as to the value of their existing positions. The resulting lack of liquidity exacerbated the problem. (In simple terms, if no…

The subtitle for this week might be “Franchising -- Not For Dummies”. We’re continuing along the first few steps in the path I introduced recently, looking at some of the key success factors -- and pitfalls -- for franchisees and franchisors. This week’s focus is on the franchisor.…