July 2011 Grants.gov Stakeholder Webcast now Posted Online

The Grants.gov Stakeholder Webcast conducted on July 20, 2011 has been posted to the Internet. You can view the webcast by clicking here: Grants.Gov Webcast.

LOOKING FOR QUALIFIED PREPARED ENTREPRENEURS SEEKING FUNDING

Unfortunately, the majority of entrepreneurs that contact me seeking funding do not realize that you make one first impression with potential investors, and if you are not prepared, you destroy your chances of receiving funding.

Please read this advice before contacting me to improve your chances of receiving funding.

BEFORE YOU CONTACT ME…

Have a fully completed BRIEF (less than 20 pages, investors want to read a marketing “tease” not a novel) business plan which contains executive biographies of ALL upper management, describing their successful experience building profitable companies at their current and prior employers. You are trying to convince investors that your decision makers know how to raise cash, revenue and profit.

Have a fully completed “realistic & conservative” pro forma budget for at least the next three years with attainable projected numbers. Investors lose respect for “dreamers” who project unrealistic projected profits. Never proclaim your company to be a risk-free investment, all potential investments have varying degrees of risk, you will immediately lose credibility. Never say “I have a great idea.” Proclaiming you have an idea is like saying “I have an opinion,” everybody has one, show an investor what you are doing (or will do) to earn revenue, that is what an investor wants to see.

Have a fully completed draw-down schedule that explains a timeline of the money you are seeking in U.S. Dollars.

Have audited financial statements immediately available because you will be asked to submit them for review.

Research your industry, you will need to explain your company, your industry, how your company fits within the industry, know the amount of revenue and profits your industry has currently and projected industry revenue and profits.

Go to a bank, and ask about the funding process of applying for a loan (whether you seek a loan, equity, or a combination of both), so that you realize that you are expected to answer many questions about your personal and corporate finances. You will learn that ALL potential investors do not hand millions of dollars to strangers without performing due diligence beforehand to verify the accuracy of the submitted business plan, executive biographies, the credibility of your pro forma budget compared to other companies within the same industry, and a thorough background check (personal & corporate) of all upper management of your company. You will also learn that the applicant has fees related to applying to receive funding because investors will not research your company via due diligence at their own expense, they are in business to seek potentially profitable investments and unfortunately many investment opportunities submitted to them are not potentially profitable investments.

Be honest with all submitted paperwork and with answers to all questions. Sadly, this seems like common sense, but I have seen an alarming percentage of applicants destroy their chances of receiving funding by lying and committing fraud. All of my investor partners calculate that AT LEAST 50 to 75 percent of applicants are caught lying and committing fraud after submitting an application to receive funding. It’s one of the MANY reason investment companies hire THOROUGH due diligence companies to investigate all applicants before investing millions, sometimes billions, of dollars into applicants’ companies. Because of prior applicants who breach contracts and commit fraud, due diligence will always be used by banks and investment companies before they give money to applicants, if you want to blame anyone, blame the applicants before you who are caught committing fraud, as a result, applicants are not trusted as being honest until AFTER due diligence is completed. 

You are asking a potential investor to become your business partner either through a debt, or equity (or combination) investment. All relationships (business & personal) are based upon trust. Once you violate that trust by lying and submitting a fraudulent application to receive funding, your chances of receiving funding are zero. Due diligence is thorough. Banks and private investors consist of multi-millionaires and billionaires who did not become successful and wealthy by making moronic business decisions. Your credibility and opportunity to receive funding improves when investors perform due diligence and verify that you are honest, their trust in you and their desire to become your business partner increases if they can verify that you are honest. Due diligence is something you should embrace if you are honest because it increases your chances of receiving funding if an investor can verify that you are truthful and credible, it separates you from the applicants who lie and commit fraud.

Research the funding industry and what “credible” investment terms should be. If you are the C.E.O. of a start-up (pre revenue) company with no financial statements showing that you know how to manage a cash flow, collect accounts receivable, acquire other assets, revenue, E.B.I.T.D.A., and net profit and you are asking for millions of dollars in exchange for equity only, stop and think about how an investor will perceive you, your company, and your expectations. A company with no cash, no customers and no revenue is wasting everyone’s time asking for equity only because investors will not buy ownership in a company with no assets in exchange for millions of dollars, it’s illogical and not expected to be a profitable investment opportunity. If you are a start-up (pre revenue) company you need to expect to receive an offer for funding in exchange for debt and consider yourself fortunate if an investor wants the offer to be part equity in addition to debt, otherwise you’re wasting everyone’s time.

I had a client who did not receive funding because he expected to receive a loan at 4 % interest for a start-up (pre revenue) company with no financial statements showing that they knew how to manage a cash flow, collect accounts receivable, acquire other assets, revenue, E.B.I.T.D.A., and net profit. The client lost all credibility by not having done his research because he had unrealistic expectations. The investor laughed and told the client that if he could receive a loan at 4 %, the investor wanted to know with whom so he could borrow billions of dollars and make a fortune paying back a loan at 4 %. I routinely see unprepared applicants destroy their chances of receiving funding by being unprepared and not researching what they need to know before applying to receive funding. This feedback is designed to help you because applicants who do not receive funding routinely make some combination of the errors I just mentioned, learn from the mistakes of others so that your company does receive funding.

Send an e-mail to me at ifindfunding@gmail.com

Feel free to also follow me on twitter at Ifindfunding. I will "tweet" all updates.

I am also on facebook at Ifindfunding.blogspot.com/

Grants.gov Stakeholder Webcast on Grants Fraud Prevention 7/20/11

Please join us for the next Grants.gov Stakeholder Webcast on Wednesday, July 20, 2011 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET. This meeting will be a webcast only and registration is NOT required. *Please read below as RealPlayer software is required to view this webcast.

Agenda

• Introduction - Webcast Participants
• Grants.gov Status Update/Priorities
• Grant Fraud Prevention
• Conflicts of Interest
• Misuse of Funds
• Embezzlement
• Grants.gov Support
• Audience Questions

Instructions

Registration is NOT required. Click here http://videocast.nih.gov at 1:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, July 20,, 2011.

*Please note RealPlayer software is required. The free player software is at: http://www.real.com. Please test in advance for accessibility at: http://videocast.nih.gov/browsertest. RealPlayer uses RTSP at port 554 and this must be allowed through your firewall. For technical support, please contact the NIH Helpdesk local 1-301-496-4357 or toll free at 1-866-319-4357 or email helpdesk@nih.gov. Email your questions for the webcast panelists before and/or during the program to Grants.gov-webcast@hhs.gov.

Regards,

Grants.gov PMO

Grants.gov to actively reject submissions from organizations with expired CCR registration.

Please be advised that on August 9th, 2011, Grants.gov will implement a real-time registration confirmation with the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) system. (Per 2 CFR Part 25, all applicants must have current CCR status at the time of application and throughout the duration of any Federal award.)

Central Contractor Registration will now be checked at the time of every Grants.gov application submission. If your CCR registration is expired and you attempt to submit an application, you will receive a rejection email indicating that your CCR account is expired. Your organization will be required to go to CCR and renew the registration.

Applicants should verify their CCR status and renew registration if needed. You can check your CCR status at http://www.ccr.gov.

LOOKING FOR HUMANITARIAN COMPANIES SEEKING FUNDS

My funding sources are looking for humanitarian companies for profitable investments in companies that will improve society. Examples of requested industries are agriculture (organic, no GMO), alternative energy (yes to solar & wind, no to oil, coal & nuclear), education, et. al.

Before applying, have the entire requested information ready…

• Fully completed, brief business plan explaining how you will be profitable and improve society
• Fully completed, executive bios describing decision-makers’ experience creating profitable companies
• Fully completed, pro forma budgets for at least the next three years
• Fully completed, draw-down schedule explaining the entire amount of cash requested in U.S. Dollars

Criteria…

• They are looking to engage with liquid private and publicly listed companies
• They are seeking to take over and/or joint venture with E.B.I.T.D.A. positive companies internationally
• You will be asked to verify you are an asset rich company with multiple revenue streams by producing audited financial statements

E.B.I.T.D.A. is an acronym meaning earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation & amortization, and is an important number from your income statement that investors look at as one of many criteria when evaluating your company as a potential investment.

If you are contacting me to request funding, you need to be one of the executives of your business (preferably the C.E.O.), legally capable of signing a contract on behalf of your business, no third parties, please.

Please mention this EXACT blog post when applying (copy & paste the title of the blog post within your e-mail)

Send an e-mail to me at ifindfunding@gmail.com

Feel free to also follow me on twitter at Ifindfunding. I will "tweet" all updates.

I am also on facebook at Ifindfunding.blogspot.com/

PURSUING MINING, PROPERTY & CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES SEEKING FUNDS

My funding sources are looking for companies in the mining, property & construction industries.

Criteria…

• They are looking to engage with liquid private and publicly listed companies in the biotech & healthcare industries
• They are seeking to take over and/or joint venture with E.B.I.T.D.A. positive companies internationally
• You will be asked to verify you are an asset rich company with multiple revenue streams by producing audited financial statements

E.B.I.T.D.A. is an acronym meaning earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation & amortization, and is an important number from your income statement that investors look at as one of many criteria when evaluating your company as a potential investment.

If you are contacting me to request funding, you need to be one of the executives of your business (preferably the C.E.O.), legally capable of signing a contract on behalf of your business, no third parties, please.

Please mention this EXACT blog post when applying (copy & paste the title of the blog post within your e-mail)

Send an e-mail to me at ifindfunding@gmail.com

Feel free to also follow me on twitter at Ifindfunding. I will "tweet" all updates.

I am also on facebook at Ifindfunding.blogspot.com/

LOOKING FOR ENERGY & BIOENERGY COMPANIES SEEKING FUNDS

My funding sources are looking for companies in the energy & bioenergy industries.

Criteria…

• They are looking to engage with liquid private and publicly listed companies in the biotech & healthcare industries
• They are seeking to take over and/or joint venture with E.B.I.T.D.A. positive companies internationally
• You will be asked to verify you are an asset rich company with multiple revenue streams by producing audited financial statements

E.B.I.T.D.A. is an acronym meaning earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation & amortization, and is an important number from your income statement that investors look at as one of many criteria when evaluating your company as a potential investment.

If you are contacting me to request funding, you need to be one of the executives of your business (preferably the C.E.O.), legally capable of signing a contract on behalf of your business, no third parties, please.

Please mention this EXACT blog post when applying (copy & paste the title of the blog post within your e-mail)

Send an e-mail to me at ifindfunding@gmail.com

Feel free to also follow me on twitter at Ifindfunding. I will "tweet" all updates.

I am also on facebook at Ifindfunding.blogspot.com/

PURSUING BIOTECH & HEALTHCARE COMPANIES NEEDING FUNDS

My funding sources are pursuing companies in the biotech & healthcare industries.

Criteria…

• They are looking to engage with liquid private and publicly listed companies in the biotech & healthcare industries
• They are seeking to take over and/or joint venture with E.B.I.T.D.A. positive companies internationally
• You will be asked to verify you are an asset rich company with multiple revenue streams by producing audited financial statements

E.B.I.T.D.A. is an acronym meaning earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation & amortization, and is an important number from your income statement that investors look at as one of many criteria when evaluating your company as a potential investment.

If you are contacting me to request funding, you need to be one of the executives of your business (preferably the C.E.O.), legally capable of signing a contract on behalf of your business, no third parties, please.

Please mention this EXACT blog post when applying (copy & paste the title of the blog post within your e-mail)

Send an e-mail to me at ifindfunding@gmail.com

Feel free to also follow me on twitter at Ifindfunding. I will "tweet" all updates.

I am also on facebook at Ifindfunding.blogspot.com/