What the Great Resignation Means to Your Business
If you intend to grow and sell a valuable business, the Great Resignation that kicked off in mid 2021 means everything. Everything that is if you care about the value of your business.
How to Add Value to Your Business
Business ownership can be a great personal asset not unlike real estate or other financial investments. Not only can a quality business yield cash flow during ownership, its value may appreciate over time until it’s ultimately sold or transferred to others. Business...
Business Broker Fees and Other Business Sale Expenses
When it comes to the sale of a business, there are a number of costs – both expected and unplanned – all business owners should understand before they agree to sell their business. A few of our Featured Advisors have weighed in, offering their expertise and perspective to explain the costs – from business broker fees and legal costs to hidden fees – as they relate to selling a business.
Starting a Business Checklist
Our Comprehensive Starting a Business Checklist includes the steps for Pre-Startup, Business Formation and How to Establish your Startup. It’s your roadmap to launch a new business while protecting your personal assets and income.
Employee Retention Tax Credit Guide July 2021 Update
Due to the wide media coverage over the availability of PPP Loans, the subsequent funding drought, and the numerous complexities involved in obtaining these loans, many business owners overlooked a different way to recover employee payroll costs if their business had been mandated to shut down by a governing authority or if their revenue had plummeted due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Employee Retention Credit, under the CARES Act Section 2301, offers a viable and alternative way to recover payroll costs for any type of employer, except state and local government entities, regardless of their size.
SBA Restaurant Revitalization Funding is Now Available
On Monday, May 3rd, 2021, the Small Business Administration (SBA) opened its application portal for the Restaurant Revitalization Funding (RRF) to certain restaurants, bars and other similar businesses that serve food and/or drink which have suffered a reduction in revenue in 2020 when compared to 2019 as a result of the pandemic.
Similar to the Paycheck Protection Program Loan (PPPL) program, this federally-funded program is intended to provide cash to businesses which have suffered revenue losses and if spent on the proper types of expenses within a specific period of time (the Covered Period), the loan may be fully-forgiven by the SBA.
SBA Expands PPP Loan Requests to Schedule C Filers
Up until now, the PPP Loan proceeds for Schedule C filers was based on the 2019 net profit (referred to as the net earnings from self employment) plus payroll costs if employees worked in the business. The Interim Final Rule (IFR) effective on March 3, 2021 allows a business owner to use either their gross income or net income as the basis to compute its PPP Loan request amount.
4 Things To Do to Prepare to Sell Your Business
What should a business owner do to prepare to sell his or her business some time in the near future?
Aside from right-sizing the business’s overhead costs to line up with its current level of revenue, and looking for opportunities the pandemic may be presenting, there are four things a business owner can do now to prepare to sell. And more importantly, doing these four things will mean that when a Letter of Intent is received from a buyer, the business will be very well-prepared to survive the due diligence stage of the sale.
What Happens to PPP Loan When Selling a Business
The Small Business Administration (SBA) issued a Procedural Notice on October 2, 2020 which offers business owners and lenders guidance on how Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Loans are to be handled when a business has a change in ownership.
This post summarizes the notice and includes an Infographic to assist business owners. It includes the following topic:
When does a Business Sale Require the SBA’s Approval
Does a Business Sale Require the PPP Lender’s Approval or Notification
Required Steps Pre and Post-Closing for PPP Borrowers
SBA Timeframe to Approve a Sale or Merger when a PPP Loan Transfers
Does the EIDL Grant Impose Additional Steps When Selling a Business
Disadvantages of Using A PEO
In a previous post, we discussed how a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) company works, its many benefits, and the tax implications you may face if you hire one.
As a recap, a PEO is a service that small or medium-sized businesses may use to outsource some of their human resource, payroll, benefits, taxes, recruiting, and other management tasks. As you might imagine, there are both pros and cons in hiring a PEO.
Here, we’ll discuss the disadvantages of using a PEO, along with the associated costs of a PEO.
Can A Non Profit Use A PEO?
In our PEO series, we’ve talked about what a PEO company is and who is the employer in a PEO relationship. Here, we’ll discuss PEO for nonprofits, and whether or not using a PEO for your nonprofit might make sense.
SBA Reopens Economic Injury Disaster Loan Applications
On June 15, 2020, the Small Business Administration reopened the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) applications to businesses with no more than 500 employees and non-profit organizations operating and suffering substantial economic injury as a result of the pandemic in all of the U.S. states, Washington D.C., and territories.
Independent Contractors, sole-proprietors (with or without employees), gig workers and freelancers are also eligible to apply for the EIDL.
7 Changes PPP Loan Flexibility Act Offers Business Owners
On June 5, 2020, President Trump signed into law the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act (PPPFA), which is the latest attempt to save struggling businesses from permanent shutdown.
The Flexibility Act offers business owners seven significant changes to the original Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Loan terms. The House and Senate were driven to make these changes due to the lengthy pandemic and the fact that many PPP Loan recipients have not been able to re-open their doors for business during the required eight-week ‘covered period’ set forth in the original PPP Loan Act.
The PPP Loan Flexibility Act will make it much easier for business owners to achieve full, or nearly full, loan forgiveness.
The new law provides business owners with seven significant changes to the original law and those include:
What is a PEO Company?
If you are wondering what a PEO is and whether or not this type of outsourcing may be a good option for your small or medium-sized business, this first article in our series of four posts will help you decide if it’s the right move for you.
In this post, we cover everything you need to know about a PEO company including:
• What’s the meaning of PEO?
• PEO payroll
• PEO benefits
• PEO tax implications, and more.
PPP Loans Out of Money — What To Do Now?
The Small Business Administration announced on Thursday, April 16th all federal funds set aside for the Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP) Loans have been allocated to those business owners who were persistent (and fortunate) enough to get through the application process and receive an official registration number from the SBA via its bank.
In simple terms, the PPP Loans are out of money to assist business owners.
Letter of Intent to Purchase a Business Guide
If you’re considering the sale of your business, or possibly the acquisition of another competing business, it’s important to understand the selling/buying process.
An often overlooked and important first step during the process of buying or selling a business involves the negotiation of certain terms the buyer and seller will ultimately agree to at the closing table once the due diligence phase of the process is completed.
If either party ignores the importance of the initial terms’ negotiations, they can often end up with a bad deal or no deal at all.
How to Overcome Customer Concentration Objection When Selling a Business
One of the greatest risks any buyer faces is what will happen to the business’ best customers post-sale. Will the top customers celebrate the founder’s great accomplishment or maybe decide it’s a good opportunity to negotiate better pricing or payment terms with the new owner? Or worse yet, will they be spooked by the new owners and find an alternative vendor?
Astute buyers measure this risk quickly. Typically, one of the first questions experienced buyers ask the business broker is about the presence or lack of a customer concentration.
For the business owner considering the sale of his business in the near future, having a clear understanding if a customer concentration exists is vitally important. In fact, the lack of a customer concentration is a great selling point.
What is the Value of My Business and How to Improve It?
Depending on the circumstances and objective of the owner, the value of a business can vary considerably. For instance, upon sale to unrelated party, an owner would expect to receive the maximum purchase price for their business the unrelated party is willing to pay. However, that same sale to a family member or employee may need to be structured so the cash flow of the business can support the purchase price.
For a closely held business, owners generally have little idea about the value of their business, or whether their business is generating an adequate return on investment, and what drives its value.
Can I Sell My Business For Less Than I Owe the Bank?
For many businesses, the ultimate goal is to sell the business. Can you picture it? Walk away from the daily stress and aggravation with a fat pile of cash. Hop a plane to your favorite tropical destination and spend the rest of your days lounging a white sandy beach, sipping pina coladas out of a coconut, without a care in the world.
Well, friends, the above scenario is the ideal scenario. I like sipping cold drinks on a beach as much as the next guy, and I hope that happens for you. But if you clicked on this article, you may be looking at a much different scenario.
And that’s what this article is going to cover: the less-than-ideal scenario.
DBAs, Trademarks & Other Tools To Help You Protect Your Business
In this post we will be addressing how to protect your business name and whether filing for a DBA, registering a trademark or copyright, creating a URL, filing a patent application, and registering your business in your state of operation is appropriate, and most importantly why.
Understanding the differences between the various methods used to protect your intellectual property allows you to be prepared to make the best decisions possible for your new business. By doing so, the fence around your valuable business will be strengthened!
Commercial Lease Assignment When Selling Your Business
v Have a Question? Add it to the bottom of this post! Commercial Lease Assignment Problems As part of selling your business, the lease can be one of the most overlooked barriers to completing the deal. The buyer and seller may have a “meeting of the...
Selling Your Business To a Competitor
Speaker: Holly A. Magister, CPA and Certified Financial Planner® This post is intended to help those who either own a business or advise business owners in the lower-middle market — defined as a business with gross revenue between $5MM and $50MM — and is...
Working Capital Adjustment
v Have a Question? Add it to the bottom of this post! When a business is sold, sometimes an adjustment to the purchase price is needed to make up any difference between available working capital at the time of closing, and the working capital needed to maintain...
Business Lending
v Have a Question? Add it to the bottom of this post! Business Lending from Banks Whether you’re a Main Street small business, an Entrepreneur growing a business from start-up, or a Middle Market Business about to embark on an Initial Public Offering (IPO),...
Growth Capital vs Working Capital
Sufficient cash, otherwise known as business capital, is necessary for any business to pay vendors and employees on time and to invest in real and intangible assets that enable growth. That’s why, as a business owner, it’s critical to understand what business...
Capital Sources For Your Business
Whether you’re growing a business organically or searching for ways to jump start business growth with a large cash infusion, don’t allow the large number of capital sources for your business become overwhelming. This post identifies several...
5 Steps to Deal with your Difficult Employees
Entrepreneurship offers the most even-tempered humans many challenges. One such challenge is managing difficult employees who are forever causing havoc. You know who they are. And so does your spouse! One of my favorite clients refers to her difficult employees as...
Sole Proprietorship vs LLC
v Have a Question? Add it to the bottom of this post! Understanding the differences between a sole proprietorship and an LLC (Limited Liability Company) is essential for any business owner – but especially important for a business owner trying to decide the best...
Business Bad Debt
Business bad debt refers to any debt created or acquired in a trade or business (or closely related to a trade or business) that becomes partially or completely worthless and can not be collected. Business bad debt is the result of a customer, another business, or an...
Business Debt Consolidation
Business debt consolidation refers to the practice of taking out a new loan to pay off any number of other business debts (generally unsecured debts). Multiple separate debts are combined into one new loan, often with more favorable loan terms and conditions....
Discount Rate
The discount rate can be defined in several ways. For purposes of this post, the discount rate will be defined as it relates to small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) and the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) valuation method. As it applies to a business investment...
How to Assess Your Need for a Business Loan
v Have a Question? Add it to the bottom of this post! As a small business, it is imperative that you understand your financial needs. Knowing your projected annual expenses, having a business plan in place, and assessing your need for funding sets the foundation for a...
Payback Period for Buying a Business
The payback period for buying a business is defined as the amount of time it takes to recuperate an investment, or to reach a break even point. Generally, the payback period is expressed in years. All other factors held equal, a shorter payback period is more...
Discount for Lack of Marketability
v Have a Question? Add it to the bottom of this post! The Discount for Lack of Marketability, or DLOM, is a discount applied to a company’s value when an ownership interest cannot be converted to cash quickly, and free of excessive expenses. Companies that would...![How to Protect Your Business Intellectual Property [Infographic]](https://186995.smushcdn.com/226520/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Screen-Shot-2016-12-01-at-2.34.09-PM.png?lossy=1&strip=1&webp=1)
How to Protect Your Business Intellectual Property [Infographic]
Protect Business Intellectual Property when you start your business and as you are growing your business! Learn about DBAs, patents, trademarks, copyrights and more in our business intellectual property infographic. Protecting the IP you develop in your business is...
What is a Seller Note?
v Have a Question? Add it to the bottom of this post! A seller’s note receivable is an alternative form of business capital. This type of debt financing is often used in small business acquisitions, where the seller agrees to accept a portion of the purchase...
Cap Rate
Capitalization Rate, more commonly referred to as Cap Rate, is the rate of return on a real estate investment based on the income the property is expected to generate. In other words, the Capitalization Rate is used to estimate an investor’s likely return on...
SDCF – Seller’s Discretionary Cash Flow
Seller’s Discretionary Cash Flow (SDCF), also sometimes referred to as seller’s discretionary income (SDI) or seller’s discretionary earnings (SDE), is a computation often used when valuing a small or medium-sized business. While larger, public companies are often...
Working Capital vs. Change in Working Capital
v Have a Question? Add it to the bottom of this post! There is a significant difference between “working capital” and “change in working capital.” Working capital is a snapshot of a moment in time which measures the level of assets a business has available to meet its...
Dry Powder Definition
The term “dry powder” is financial slang and refers to a company’s or investor’s highly liquid securities which are kept on hand to finance future obligations, purchase assets, or invest in opportunities. Such capital also may be kept on hand to provide emergency...
What is an Earn Out Payment?
An Earn Out Payment is additional future compensation paid to the owner(s) of a business after it is sold. The terms and conditions that yield an earn out payment are contained in an Earn Out Agreement which is part of the Agreement of Sale. Typically, this payment is...
Offering Memorandum Definition
An offering memorandum is a legal document that states the objectives, terms, and risks typically associated with private placements for public companies. However, an offering memorandum may also be used by buyers and sellers of private middle market businesses. This...
Middle Market
Middle market or “mid-market” companies or firms are businesses that typically earn between $5 million and $1 billion in yearly revenue. This group of businesses makes up the middle third of the U.S. economy’s revenue and employs 25% of its labor force, with large and...
Employment Agreement
An employment agreement is a formal contract between an employer and an employee which defines the conditions of employment. This agreement usually will specify major employment details and include everything from compensation to expectations for specific work to be...
Asset-Based Lending
An asset-based loan (also sometimes called “asset-based financing” or “commercial finance”) is a type of business financing secured by an asset (or multiple assets) of the company. Often, these loans are structured to function like revolving lines of credit, allowing...
Buy-Sell Agreement Definition
A buy-sell agreement is a legally-binding agreement between two co-owners that governs any situation in which one co-owner dies, chooses to leave the business, is incapacitated, faces divorce, bankruptcy, retirement, or sells his/her share of the company. The... Exclusivity Agreement Definition
In business, the term exclusivity refers to a party’s sole rights with regard to a certain business activity. This may include business relationships, pricing, products, or sales. Another application of this term in the business world involves relationships between...
Sandbagging Definition
v Have a Question? Add it to the bottom of this post! The term sandbagging refers to an intentional lowering of expectations. Sandbagging can apply to anything from sports to business, and is the practice of intentionally deceiving others in an effort to lower the...
Pro Forma Definition
Meaning ‘for the sake of form’, the term pro forma refers to a document that is often provided as a courtesy and satisfies predetermined minimum requirements in an effort to best predict the future outcome of a transaction within a business. One of the most common...
Registering a Business Name
Many business owners (starups and veterans alike) may find the requirements to register a business in their state surprising. When a business owner starts their business and chooses to form an entity, registering a business name occurs separately from the formation of...
How to Set Up Various Types of Business Entities
When you are starting or expanding a business, there are multiple business entity structures available. Separate business entity structures include C corporations, S corporations, Limited Liability Companies (LLCs), partnerships – both limited and general. And...
Liquidated Damages Provisions in the Sale of a Business
When things go wrong with the sale of a business the parties involved look for remedies in the liquidated damages provisions established in the purchase agreement. Such provisions are included when a purchase agreement has been signed in advance of an actual closing when the business is transferred and a purchase price is paid.
Important Agreements When You Sell Your Business
When working through a business sale, an inordinate number of resources on both sides of the table are dedicated to drafting and negotiating the Stock Purchase or Asset Purchase Agreement. This is true especially in the last one-to-two weeks before the closing. In fact, I’ve had clients remark that during their entire tenure as an entrepreneur, they never spent as much time speaking to their advisors as they did during the last week of their business ownership journey!
When Does Your Website Become Your Greatest Risk?
Do you have a website? Do you have images on your website? Do you know where those images came from? Truly, do you? If you didn’t create the images yourself or you didn’t license the images from their owner, you are probably violating copyright infringement laws. It doesn’t matter if you didn’t know; innocent infringement is still infringement!
To Sell or Not to Sell Your Business
To sell or not to sell, that is the question many business owners ask themselves at least once during their tenure as business owners. Sometimes, the decision to sell is easy if the owner is ready to retire or has decided to pursue a new career or business opportunity. However, in many cases, business owners struggle with this critical decision. Fortunately there are several steps you can take to make an informed and stress-free decision on whether to sell your business now, later, or not at all. In all cases seek the advice of several third party professionals such as a Business Attorney, Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Business Appraiser and/or Broker, and a Financial Advisor as well as consultants in your industry.
5 Key Questions When Preparing to Sell a Business
v Have a Question? Add it to the bottom of this post! As a business owner, you have worked long and hard to get your company to a point where it can be sold. You have likely worked long days and endured sleepless nights at some point during your journey. So selling is...![How to Calculate Debt Service Coverage Ratio [Tool]](https://186995.smushcdn.com/226520/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/iStock-502733644.jpg?lossy=1&strip=1&webp=1)
How to Calculate Debt Service Coverage Ratio [Tool]
Debt Service Coverage Ratio compliance often is required or necessitated by covenants in a bank loan agreement. A bank loan covenant regarding the debt service coverage ratio will specify the amount of income a business and/or its guarantor must generate relative to the debt principal and interest payments on an annual basis to remain in compliance with the covenant. The business owner, or his or her CFO or Controller, should monitor this ratio carefully on a monthly basis so the covenant is not unintentionally broken.
Employee Retention Strategies During the Sale of a Business
In a perfect world, when one business buys another, the staff of the purchased company would be able to transition into a role with the buying company. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. What’s more, the company being purchased may not know what is...
Indemnification Provisions of a Purchase Agreement
Indemnification allocates the risk of various post-closing losses between buyer and seller. For this reason, the indemnification provisions of your purchase agreement will very likely be among the most heavily negotiated provisions in your purchase agreement.
The Importance of Attitude in Buying a Business
People often overlook the attitude of the buyer and how greatly it can affect the outcome of the deal. Confidence is key.
Selling a Business to a Competitor? Pitfalls to Avoid, Precautions to Take
There are many pitfalls to avoid and precautions to be taken when contemplating the sale of your business to a competitor. In particular, selling a business to a competitor can have tricky antitrust implications that require much care prior to closing.
Employees Ownership Incentives — Implications When You Sell
Many entrepreneurs faced with the demands on cash of a growing business are tempted to sell equity to outside investors, or perhaps give away stock to retain a valuable employee. Diluting your stake in this way may solve the immediate problem, but it can have unforeseen consequences when the business eventually is sold. Stockholders’ personal circumstances evolve in different ways over the lifetime of a company, and whatever the original intention everyone may not be on the same page when you are ready to sell.
Surviving Due Diligence & Contract Negotiation
You have endured multiple meetings with potential buyers. You’ve written dozens of emails and suffered through several rounds of negotiations to secure the best price and deal structure. At last you have decided on the offer to accept. That’s the worst of it over then? Think again – you have yet to experience the joys of due diligence and sale contract negotiation.
How to Calculate Customer Concentration Risk
If a customer’s total revenue for the year represents 8% or more of all revenue for the same year, you have a customer concentration risk.
5 Ways to Prepare a Business for Sale at a Higher Price
The reasons for selling a business are many and varied; in the end, however, the desired result is the same – money. So how does one go about maximizing profit when selling a business?
Multiple Business Structures: Their Combinations & Tax Consequences
Check out the website of your favorite fast food chain and you will see most have multiple business entity structures noted in the fine print. For a large business, this practice has been commonplace for decades. It involves layering one form of a business entity either alongside or in conjunction with an operating business.
Employee vs. Independent Contractor: Which is Right For My Business?
According to the Fair Labor Standards Act there is a distinct difference between an independent contractor and an employee. This difference lies mainly in the way they are paid and the way taxes are withheld. Understanding the difference between them and times when both are appropriate to use can help business owners determine which is best for their situation.
4 Ways to Increase the Value of a Business
Often, business owners ask me one of those “quick questions” – what can I do to maximize the sale price of my business? The answer? Not as simple as you may think. But there are 4 factors that can increase the value of your sale price.
What is a Bank Workout Group?
The Bank Workout Group is a department in a bank that handles what is known as the bank’s special assets. Banks send their troubled loans to this department to handle negotiation and management of the bank’s forbearance agreements.
Is Selling A Business A Do-It-Yourself Project?
If you have ever endured the process of selling a business with the assistance of professional advisors who specialize in mergers and acquisitions, you will agree with me that this is not something to try at home!
What is a DBA: Definition, Benefits & Limitations
The DBA is often misunderstood, but it can be a valuable way to promote your business and gain some protections of your rights as a business owner. However, you need to make sure you know the limitations of a DBA to protect your intellectual property and trademark rights.
Copyright Law Explained
A copyright protects the particular ways by which people expressed themselves. A copyright gives an owner the exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish, sell, or distribute an original creative work.
The Importance of an Employee Handbook: Small Business Edition
One of the most common questions I get from small business owners is, “when do I need an employee handbook?” In a perfect world, an employee handbook would be part of the startup protocol, but that usually isn’t the case. In the midst of building a website, working on business development and actually putting together a sellable product, writing policies and procedures is not top of mind.
Do You Need a Design Patent?
In the recent Apple-Samsung case, the jury found that Samsung infringed six of Apple’s patents. While we think of Apple as having such technological superiority, three of the patents that Samsung were found to infringe were design patents. Unlike utility patents which cover any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof; design patents cover any new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture.
What is a Trade Secret and How is it Protected?
Proprietary information such as customer lists and recipes are intellectual property. However they are not formally protected in the same way as are trademarks, copyrights or patents. These and other types of confidential information can only be protected if they are treated as trade secrets.
How to Protect a Seller in the Buyer Due Diligence Phase
The many years of hard work and long days at the office may be about to pay off—you have just received an offer from a potential buyer to acquire your business. Just as you developed and followed a detailed business plan to build your business, now you need to develop a well-thought out plan covering the sale of your business, paying proper attention to the due diligence process.
Legal Structure of a Business
It takes a special kind of person to start a business: a rare combination of drive, ambition, creativity, tenacity and impatience for action. But even within the community of business experts and entrepreneurs there is a special breed of person known as a “serial entrepreneur.”
Inherent Business Risk That Impacts the Value of Your Company
One of the most crucial, yet subjective, aspects of any business valuation is determining the specific company risk premium of the business being appraised. The specific company risk premium varies with each company and is intended to be an adjustment to reflect a variety of circumstances inherent in the company and its industry.
Intellectual Property Definition & Why You Need to Protect It
Intellectual property is a concept that is not obvious to most people; you probably have heard of it, but what is it really? Intellectual property is the result of human ingenuity and creativity and the law provides mechanisms through which creativity can be protected. Intellectual property can be broken down into three parts.
Key Questions When Transferring Your Family’s Business
Anyone who owns a family business is intimately familiar with the blood, sweat, and tears associated with building and then keeping the business viable. Nevertheless, it is not unusual for the business entrepreneur to postpone consideration of various issues involved in transferring the business to the next generation, including determining the value of the business.
Managing Customer Concentration Risk
Your worst nightmare comes true! You get an email on Friday afternoon from your largest customer indicating that they are changing suppliers for “strategic reasons.” They represent 20% of your sales revenue and 35% of your profits.
Employee Documents Checklist You Need for Your Business
When you started your small or family business you more than likely developed a business plan. In this plan you laid out your purpose, vision, and strategy in great detail. As your business grew you created contracts, invoices, marketing materials, and other documents, all on paper, so that you had written evidence to signal agreements, to showcase your work, and to provide the necessary leverage should you ever have needed it.
Resolving the Equal Partner Deadlock When Selling a Business
It is a unique pleasure to find two equal partners or shareholders acting in harmony over selling a business. Unfortunately, when I say “unique”, I mean rarely ever. Please understand, it is not as if this never happens. It is just so unusual, that when faced with the situation, I find myself warning both parties before they proceed to sell their business.
The Application of Valuation Discounts
When considering your business valuation and business risks in the hopes of selling that business, there are many factors to consider. One important factor to understand is the application of valuation discounts. The valuation of a controlling interest versus a minority interest within a privately held business can have different values, depending on the circumstance.
What Is A Patent & What Are Patent Requirements?
A patent is a governmentally granted monopoly that gives an inventor the exclusive right to make, use, or sell their invention for a limited time, in exchange for disclosure of that invention. There are three types of patents: design patents, plant patents, and utility patents. Generally utility patents are being referenced when you hear the word ‘patent’ and these will be the focus of the rest of this article.
Look Carefully at what Pareto’s Law Applied to Business is Telling You
When applied in a business situation, Pareto’s Principle likely will reveal to the entrepreneur that thier business is serving (at least) two very different sets of customers/clients. And in trying to do so, he or she and their staff will suffer anxiety, frustration, and the loss of company profit.
The Importance of a Buy-Sell Agreement
For every entrepreneur, a smooth transition of business ownership will be of importance at some future point. The Buy Sell Agreement deals with a specific exit strategy case. An agreement by and between business owners, it establishes a mechanism for the purchase of ownership interests following the departure of an owner due to a triggering event (i.e., death, divorce, disability, retirement, etc.).
Indemnification Clause in the Sale of a Business
When you sell a business, typically you will find language in the Stock or Asset Purchase Agreement that defines exactly what the Seller and the Buyer agree to do or guarantee as part of the transaction. In other words, each may agree to make the other party not responsible. The term used to identify this particular form of guarantee is indemnification.
Defining the Indemnification Basket: Deductible Baskets & Tipping Baskets
The “indemnification basket” is one of the most important deal terms found in the Letter of Intent and ultimately in the Purchase Agreement and is often misunderstood by both the buyer and seller of a business. Buyers want the basket to be as low as possible and Sellers want it to be as high as possible. Baskets may be one of two types: a deductible basket or a tipping basket.
The Significance of Due Diligence Process when Acquiring a Business
Throughout the lifecycle of a business, it is important for a business owner to remain focused on increasing the profitability, competitive advantage and market reach of the business. An entrepreneur typically accomplishes these objectives by (i) reinvesting the profits of the business to increase its workforce, customer base and cash flow and (ii) using business profits (along with other financing) to acquire competing businesses. Such business acquisitions typically serve two purposes by eliminating competitors and increasing the growth rate, product and service offerings, and market share of a business.
The Importance of a Business Sale Non Disclosure Agreement (or NDA)
A typical entrepreneur invests a tremendous amount of time, effort and money in building a business. That is why it is so important for entrepreneurs to make sure employees and third parties who work with the business are prohibited from improperly using or disclosing any confidential or proprietary information of the business(e.g. customer lists, trade secrets and financial statements). Similarly, and in connection with the opportunity to sell a business, it is critical for the owner of the business not to provide any confidential information to a prospective purchaser until that party has signed a well-written non disclosure agreement.
Pivoting Your Business When Using Loan Alternatives
Many people discuss the importance of pivoting in the context of a startup business. And I agree, once a business launches, the entrepreneur must be mindful of what is working and what is not. That’s when it is time to pivot the startup.
Stay Bonus Plan Definition
What is a Stay Bonus Plan? A Stay Bonus Plan is a formal agreement between a business enterprise and one or several of its key employees. The purpose of this type of bonus plan is to entice key employees to remain (or stay) employed by the business enterprise during a...
Defining Special Assets Two Ways
Bankers and Entrepreneurs rarely see eye-to-eye. Recently, my observation of this unfortunate reality caused me to chuckle as I sat with one of my clients and her business banker. What made me laugh was how two extremely accomplished individuals could define the term “special assets” so differently.
Developing Ground Rules for Selling A Business With Partners
There are ways to improve the likelihood you will achieve a successful sale of your company if you take the time to develop ground rules with your business partners. The sooner you do so in the process of selling a company, the better.
5 Common Mistakes When Starting a Business
It never ceases to amaze entrepreneurs how certain seemingly simple decisions, made during the early years of their business startup, can become fatal errors down the road. After meeting with many business owners across a broad spectrum of industries it’s common to find them enduring the consequences of the same, or similar, errors over and over again.