Re: IPO? Investor? Sell the business? or what?

In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Rich
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> I'm a programmer who started a business 2 years ago and its bringing in good
> living money. I'm doing pretty good considering that I don't market or
> advertise the business (all word of mouth).
> But I want to take it to another level. I have no extra money besides the
> money that I am using for living ($9k/mo at best - $3k/mo at worst). The
> problem is that I need money to expand, to grow, to hire programmers for
> some projects and so on. I don't have money to take a company public. I
> don't have good credit. I don't want an investor to tell me how to run the
> business. I can do some kind of equity deal and give away most of my
> business to someone who has the ability to put it in gear... I've already
> spent a lot of money and time looking at this option but I don't want
> someone else to be in total charge of making decisions. I want to make the
> decisions regardless of how much of the company I own - because I know my
> business and I feel that someone else wouldn't know the first thing about
> it... what options do I have?
> I have the business listed for sale. I'm just trying to get a handle on how
> I can run this thing in case it doesn't sell (Ross, I know you're reading
> this!)

The question is if you really have a business here.  The true test is
if you can go away for 30 days, and come back, and everything is
still running just fine.  If not, you really don't have a business,
but rather, you have a job where you work on your own.  It is kind
of hard to sell something like that, or even put a value on it.  You
are the business, so you are the major value.  Take you away, and
there isn't much left that someone would want to pay for.

Bringing in investors and venture people means giving up some level
of control.  But it isn't that bad if you can make a go of it.  Mostly,
they will insist on a board of directors, and a financial person to
keep the money under control.  But again, since you are the value, they
are going to insist that you stay with it.  In fact, that will end up
in writing.

Selling the product to another company might be an option.  You would
have to structure it where you came along as part of the deal for a
certain time, at least until the new owner was on their feet.

The remaining option is self-funding.  This includes credit cards
(easier if you had good credit), love money (what you can borrow from
relatives), and boot-strapping (plowing your revenue back into the
product).

-john-

-- 
====================================================================
John A. Weeks III            952-432-2708         [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Newave Communications                       http://www.johnweeks.com
====================================================================