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Posts Tagged ‘how to take your company public’

S1 Lawyer – How To Spot The Ones That Will Make Your Nightmares Come True

July 28th, 2010 James Scott No comments

I deal with S1 attorneys all day every day and most of them are entrepreneurial, hard working and interested in helping you in any way they can but there are also a lot of bad ones out there. If you are taking your company public the last thing you want is a broke as a joke s1 filing agent.

I recently had the misfortune of working with (for a very short time I might add) a New Jersey lawyer who had us all convinced by her pepper gray hair and fluency of legal jargon as a second language and quick calls to what she had us convinced where big shot investors who had millions to put into this and other transactions we brought her way.

During initial negotiations she and I sat down in a coffee shop and went over her equity position and fees in the transactions that she’d be working on for us and it was pretty simple and straight forward. I would have my team organize and structure the company and transaction and she would simply file the s1 in exchange for 2% to 3% equity. Pretty nice payday for minimal work and gaining equity in an average company producing $5m+ per year.

Ah yes, but when it sounds too good to be true it is and when it seems too easy of a negotiation…it is! When she sent us the contract she felt the need to add a few percentage points to the tune of 7%, making a total of 10% equity and she also was charging an extra $10k to fill in the blanks on your prototypical PPM doc. Why did she jack up the price? Her response was, “This S1 will have comments”. I almost died laughing. Of course it’s going to have comments with the SEC, that’s why it’s called the ‘comments’ stage.

We talked her into taking 2 payments for the $10k, half upfront and half on completion but we really should have dumped her right there. She didn’t want to keep her word on that either so I paid her the last payment before the fee was due and just got rid of her.

Turns out she never filed an s1 before and her whole act was a sham. She was desperate for cash and nickled and dimed us the whole time. I laugh about it now but it wasn’t funny when it happened. We lost over a month of transaction time because she couldn’t tell the truth.

The client was going public on the OTCBB with a valuation of around $5m, her suggestion was to raise capital pre public for $1 per share because the company would have a hard time qualifying for the NASDAQ if it started at anything less than $1. This company was years away from even considering the NASDAQ as an option but her in experience and need to prolong the deal to rape us for fees was so blatant and careless that she did everything she could to add as much confusion to the deal as possible so that no one knew what was going on, therefore she got away with a lot and was able to pick our pockets for weeks before we got rid of her.

The moral of the story is this: not all attorneys are rich. The truth is, most are very modest as far as their earnings. There is too much competition these days so there are predatory lawyers out there that will lie, double talk, triple talk and run you around in circles. All the while the clock is ticking and they are billing you like it’s going out of style. Watch your back with the dead broke S1 lawyer.

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Take Your Company Public – Over The Counter Bulletin Board

April 18th, 2010 James Scott No comments

There are many ways to use capital without using bank loans, lines of credit and other shady methods like shelf corps and bogus platform scams. If you are truly trying to raise capital for your company here are some simple breakdowns of your options with a quick definition for each one:

 PIPE: Private Investment In Public Equity this is used primarily by mutual funds and private investment firms where they buy discount stock in order to raise capital, there are two types of PIPEs traditional where common and preferred stock is issued at a set cap to raise money for the issuer and a structured pipe issues convertible debt.

 DPO: Direct Public Offering is when you sell equity shares directly to customers, suppliers and employees.

 PPM: Private Placement Memorandum is also known as an offering memorandum takes advantage of Regulation D rule exemptions 504, 505 and 506. This process came into existence with the’33 securities act and popularized in the late’80s, companies can raise money from the public via private placement; there is virtually zero interaction with the SEC after you file form d as long as you stay legal. (most popular form of fund raising).

 IPO: Initial Public Offering: extremely expensive, need SOX 404 audits, must have board of directors, quarterly financial reports to shareholders, report heavily to the SEC and 1 out of every 1000 companies that want an IPO actually qualify. I love participating in these but most companies just can’t qualify for one reason or the other.

 OTCBB: Over the Counter Bulletin Board is an electronic quote system that is the next best thing if you can’t go public via ipo, there is minimal red tape to startups and small businesses and is legitimized by the stringent ongoing reports to the SEC which keeps investor confidence high (these are extremely solid and I suggest this structure to companies when I am hired by their company or legal team as a consultant as a fast, easy way to raise big capital from the public otc)

 Pink Sheet: you can look at pink sheets as the Burger King, while the OTCBB is McDonalds, they are competing otc mechanisms. Pinks sheets are commonly referred to as penny stock and notorious for ‘pump em’ and dump em’ controversies and a lot of crooked people are involved with this platform. This is not a long term process that will allow one’s company to grow, pink sheets companies are typically short lived but it is cheap to set up but not a professional structure that could be upgraded in time to an IPO.

 Reverse Merger: a group funds the filing and creation of a public shell, they then sell that shell to a company that wants to go public, the established company merges it’s entity into the public shell. The sellers retain around 30% equity after they charge an upfront fee of 300k to 1m. 99% of reverse mergers are successful with the merger, but unsuccessful to bring them to trade and the entity basically just fizzles out.

Taking your company public is actually quite simple and inexpensive when you have the right consultant putting the structure together for you. There are countless ways to raise capital quickly and easily. It’s important that you understand your options before you waste time entering into the red tape infested banking system for a loan.

Want To Go Public With Your Company, call Princeton Corporate Solutions at 267-233-0183Take Your Company Public the easy way!

Regulation D and OTCBB: You Can Easily Go Public With Your Company

April 18th, 2010 James Scott No comments

Are you a business owner raising capital with a Regulation D Rule exemption (504, 505 or 506) also referred to as a Private Placement Memorandum, PPM or Offering Memorandum? If you are using this mechanism to raise capital then you’ll, no doubt, have to have a solid comprehension of the most distinct and important part of the Private Placement Memorandum referred to as the ‘Offering Circular’.

When your consultant or attorney is asking you for details on everything from business location to management, from dividends to risk details, you need to make sure that this information is complete and accurate. You’ll need to audit the documents after they are completed. A solid Offering Circular has kept countless companies from being sued by investors that didn’t get the investment return they were anticipating.

While the business plan is meant to grab the initial attention of the investor or funding source, the Offering Memorandum is meant to spell out the down and dirty details of the venture so that you are protected from lawsuits down the road, while simultaneously exposing the various ins and outs of your venture to give a ‘reality check’ to the investor before they hand over the cash.

The offering circular needs to be powerful yet very compact without the redundancies of using space to say the same things over and over again to pull the investors attention from the negative to the potential profit margins or management’s impressive pedigree. With all this said, yes it’s true the offering circular is one of the parts of a PPM spells out the technical aspects of the enterprise with a focus on inherent risk of investing but this can be done in a balanced way to also demonstrate the positive aspects of your venture by giving solid descriptions of your management team and, in place, distribution centers and contracts in place ready for capitalization.

When authoring the offering circular demonstrate the risks with a well balanced demonstration of the system in place to overcome these risks and dominate your market niche.

Go Public With Your Company, call Princeton Corporate Solutions at 267-233-0183Take Your Company Public the easy way!

Over The Counter Bulletin Board: How To Raise Capital Fast And Easy

April 5th, 2010 James Scott No comments

If you own or run a company that is trying to raise capital in the current economic conditions you’ve undoubtedly been challenged by the limited funds available. Investors are more difficult to find and the individuals that are actually willing to part with their cash are even tougher to find. You’ve talked to friends, family members, your cpa and your attorney but trying to get them to invest is like drawing blood from a stone, it’s just not happening.

There is an easier way. Most broker dealers and market makers have an emergency number in their rolodex that reads “Investor Finder”, these specialist consultants are brought in when there is nowhere else to turn for cash. A true Investor Finder has 1,000’s of investor contacts that they can call on to get funding for their clients and are constantly using online viral strategies to attract more investors to their database.

An investor finder usually is not a licensed securities broker/agent or attorney; instead they are traditionally consultants that are active in the investment banking facilitation aspect of the industry. Being that they are not licensed they do not accept equity payments or percentages; instead they work on a flat fee basis.

A good consultant in this genre can bring in 30 to 70 real investors per day and it’s up to the client to sell the opportunity from there. A typical lead from an investor finder will be an investor or investment firm that is responding to the consultant’s opportunity introduction email or snail mail mailing, they have read about the opportunity and they respond one of two ways, either they are calling into a phone room to be screened and qualified or they are contacting the client directly.

Many times the investor doesn’t know that they are part of the “finder’s” database but do recall signing up to receive investment opportunity updates, so either way the investor is solid and active. If you are trying to raise capital and need real results quickly and can’t afford to waste time begging for cash, you need to seek out a qualified Investor Finder consultant and make your fundraising efforts fast and easy.

Investor Finder Services, call Princeton Corporate Solutions at 267-233-0183Take Your Company Public the easy way!

Take My Company Public The Easy Way

April 5th, 2010 James Scott No comments

If you own or run a company that is trying to raise capital in the current economic conditions you’ve undoubtedly been challenged by the limited funds available. Investors are more difficult to find and the individuals that are actually willing to part with their cash are even tougher to find. You’ve talked to friends, family members, your cpa and your attorney but trying to get them to invest is like drawing blood from a stone, it’s just not happening.

There is an easier way. Most broker dealers and market makers have an emergency number in their Rolodex that reads “Investor Finder”, these specialist consultants are brought in when there is nowhere else to turn for cash. A true Investor Finder has 1,000’s of investor contacts that they can call on to get funding for their clients and are constantly using online viral strategies to attract more investors to their database.

An investor finder usually is not a licensed securities broker/agent or attorney; instead they are traditionally consultants that are active in the investment banking facilitation aspect of the industry. Being that they are not licensed they do not accept equity payments or percentages; instead they work on a flat fee basis.

A good consultant in this genre can bring in 30 to 70 real investors per day and it’s up to the client to sell the opportunity from there. A typical lead from an investor finder will be an investor or investment firm that is responding to the consultant’s opportunity introduction email or snail mail mailing, they have read about the opportunity and they respond one of two ways, either they are calling into a phone room to be screened and qualified or they are contacting the client directly.

Many times the investor doesn’t know that they are part of the “finder’s” database but do recall signing up to receive investment opportunity updates, so either way the investor is solid and active. If you are trying to raise capital and need real results quickly and can’t afford to waste time begging for cash, you need to seek out a qualified Investor Finder consultant and make your fund-raising efforts fast and easy.

Investor Finder Services, call Princeton Corporate Solutions at 267-233-0183Take Your Company Public the easy way!

Private Placement Memorandum: How to Get the Investors You Want

April 4th, 2010 James Scott No comments

Entrepreneurs are being turned onto Regulation D in droves. Regulation D Rule 504, 505 and 506 allow companies a more lenient fund raising process than those who choose to go public by other means. In the past year I’ve seen more PPM consultants pop up on the internet than ever before and I have to admit I’m concerned. As a veteran in this field I’ve seen it all, now we have a legion of self proclaimed Reg. D gurus who buy templates, add some text and tell their clients that they are delivering a customized offering memorandum; here’s where things go bad and a difficult situation gets even worse. You have this worthless document, now what?

You need to gain the confidence and capital of accredited investors without soliciting as dictated in Regulation D Rule 502c. Now you have a worthless document that you can’t solicit investment capital for (which your guru consultant never told you but took your cash anyway) so how are you suppose to raise funds for your company? First, you’ll find that you’ll eventually need to make your way to an actual PPM author, not a broker so that you can get a PPM that protects you from lawsuits and gives the investor a real breakdown of the upside and downside of your business.

Next you’ll need to find a “Investor Finder”, yes this is an actual term for an individual or corporate entity that is completely submerged in the accredited investor realm and is able to match your opportunity with friends that he/she has in their database of real, accredited investors. This is the second half of the PPM equation.

Don’t kid yourself and don’t allow yourself to be lied to; you’re going to need a seasoned professional to help introduce you to investors that have the capital to help you get to where you need to be. Friends, family and employees will commit to investing in your company until your PPM is completed and it’s time to make good on their commitment; all of a sudden little Johnny needs braces and Sally is in the hospital with pneumonia, this happens all the time. Now what? With a real Private Placement Memorandum and a solid Investor Finder you’re problems are basically over. Investigate where the author and I.F. stand in the Internet public domain and after you find a company that meets your needs, get moving and start raising capital.

The internet tells all when it comes to reputations, you’ll be able to tell the difference between a seasoned veteran and a startup consultant after on Google Search and a phone call. A PPM can make raising capital quick and easy if you have the right firm in your corner.

Private Placement Memorandum, call Princeton Corporate Solutions at 267-233-0183Take Your Company Public the easy way!

Over The Counter Bulletin Board: Here Is The Process

April 3rd, 2010 James Scott No comments

Becoming a publicly traded company is an exciting and rewarding experience. The following sets forth the method, steps, fees and estimated timetable to go public on the OTC Bulletin Board (OTCBB) ‘from scratch’, or through a self-filing and discusses the 1934 Exchange Act responsibilities after a company’s registration statement has gone effective (after the company has become publicly traded):

Prior to filing the registration statement, a company that wishes to go public must first obtain an audit of the Company’s financial statements for the past two fiscal years. For most companies, the financial audit can be completed in about a month and costs typically range between $5,000 and $25,000, depending on the complexity of the company financials.

A public company will also need shareholders. To that end, if additional shareholders are needed, the company going public will need to complete a self-underwritten Regulation D, Rule 506 offering in which the company sells shares of its stock to investors for real consideration. This is not a difficult task, so long as you have a properly prepared private placement memorandum (PPM) and you follow the relatively simple rules of Rule 506. The price per share and number of shares offered can be determined by the Company, but most registered broker-dealers that will eventually submit a Form 211 for an OTC Bulletin Board quotation prefer to have a minimum of 400,000 shares distributed among the investors.

In addition to the minimum number of shareholders requirement, a company must have free-trading shares, called the ‘float’, in order to go public. Upon completion of the private offering and the financial audit for the prior two fiscal years, an S-1 Registration Statement must be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) to register the shares sold in the private placement, thus creating the free trading shares. The completion of the S-1 process with the SEC will make the Company a 1934 Exchange Act reporting company, which is required in order to obtain a quotation on the OTC Bulletin Board. The SEC will review the S-1 and provide comments within 30 days from the filing date. Comments from the SEC typically relate to the terms of the offering, the Company’s business and its financial statements. It usually takes between 2 to 3 months for the SEC to approve a registration statement on Form S-1 and for the S-1 to become effective. However, the actual amount of time will depend on the level of review and number of comments given by the SEC and the corresponding response time by the Company in filing its amendments.

Shortly after filing the S-1 registration statement with the SEC, a market maker must be ‘engaged’ to file a Form 211 application with FINRA for the purposes of obtaining a quotation of its common shares on the OTC Bulletin Board. It is important to note that market makers cannot receive compensation for making a market in a stock, thus typically you must have connections to accomplish this. The timetable for approval of the Form 211 process is approximately 3 weeks to 5 weeks. However, the Form 211 will not be approved until the S-1 is approved by the SEC since the approval of the S-1 provides the “free trading” shares necessary to obtain the OTC Bulletin Board quotation.

The completion of the entire process to become a public company typically takes approximately 3 to 4 months from completion of the private offering and financial audit, however, the actual time could vary based on the factors discussed herein. If done right, with planning, hard work, the proper foresight, and a good firm guiding you through the process, going public is a truly exciting and rewarding experience.

Go Public With Your Company, call Princeton Corporate Solutions at 267-233-0183Take Your Company Public the easy way!

Over The Counter Bulletin Board – Take Your Company Public

April 1st, 2010 James Scott No comments

Take Your Company Public: Beware of Scams! Many entrepreneurs dream of taking their company public and expanding their venture into an international enterprise that begins to hemorrhage investment capital and profits from the get-go but then reality sets in as one begins to navigate the dingy, shark infested waters of the ‘go public’ market place.

There are consultants and boiler room penny stock misfits just waiting for you to stumble onto their site and in only a few minutes on the phone you’re reeled in and signing contracts and making wire transfers and equity disbursements and at the end of the grueling 3 to 6 month process, you’re broke, your company is in shambles and you just stand their staring off into space feeling like the boogie-man just slapped you around. Welcome to an industry where the weak are preyed upon like wolves on an injured lamb tangled in a fence.

If you are serious about going public there are some structures to stay away from because 99.9% of the time they fail. Pink Sheets and Reverse Mergers into a public shell are two formations to be very weary of. Pink Sheets are almost a completely unregulated trading platform and known by any savvy investor as the ‘red light district’ of the public trading industry. Pump ‘em and dump ‘em is the name of the game with Pink Sheets. Stock Price manipulation is as common with pink sheets as gross stench is to 5 day old road kill on a desert highway. If you are going to get involved with Pink Sheets find an attorney or consultant that can guide you around the scam artists, it’s difficult to make in on the Pinks but I have heard of a few companies making it.

The next cesspool in the trading industry is ultra popular (for newbie’s) and the number one ‘big mistake’ made by countless ‘go public’ rookies, the reverse merger into a public shell ouch! It even hurts to say it. I get calls on a daily basis from business owners who thought they were getting droppings of manna from heaven when a consultant suggested that they save $100,000’s and months of work by simply buying a public shell and merging their entity with it and abracadabra you’re big time and public and making millions. Sadly the reality is that this poor sap just spent $200k on an entity with liens and 15% equity distributed to a group of investors who pumped up the stock and dumped it before the ink on the contracts was dry. Now his dreams are shattered, he’s broke; his company will get stripped down and sold off in pieces like an unlocked car in the ghetto.

It’s sad when I see the same scams perpetrated on the uninformed over and over again. If you are trying to raise capital, find a consultant, objective broker dealer or attorney who will listen to your needs and before doing anything will give you the good and bad news about the various options. Taking your company public can be one of the most rewarding experiences of your career. You can purchase other companies with stock. You can use stock as collateral for quick loans to support growth. You can reward employees with shares in the company for meeting certain objectives. Go public, fulfill your dreams just use caution as you proceed.

Do you want to Take Your Company Public, then call Princeton Corporate Solutions at 267-233-0183 Go Public quickly, easily and affordably!

Over The Counter Bulletin Board: Let’s Get Started

March 27th, 2010 James Scott No comments

In these monetarily gloomy times businesses are looking outside the box for a localized injection of economic stimulus. Banks are hording their bags of government bailout money while the small business owner is forced to fend for themselves. Nothing but doom and gloom seem to infest all aspects of present and near future financial forecasts.

But there an investment niche being carved out as we speak by ultra aggressive and eager angel investors. Angel investors, private investors, micro ticket investment partnerships and other alternative financing groups are spearheading a global rally to buy into promising mid-size companies from all industry genres. The elements of a viable company prime for investment are solid and realistic growth potential, talented ‘who’s who’ executive staff with the right educational and professional pedigrees, minimal debt, a solid business plan laying out every minute intricacy that could affect growth, financial return and the exit strategy.

Another important document that is often overlooked but is a mandatory prerequisite for the SEC regulated exchange of cash for equity is a Private Placement Memorandum. A Private Placement Memorandum takes advantage of three powerful Regulation D Rule exemptions (Rule 504, Rule 505 and Rule 506) these are technical documents that spill the beans to the potential investor. In a PPM all the financial and industry risks are put on the table as well as stock prices, a breakdown of fund raising benchmarks and what the money will be used for etc.

A Private Placement Memorandum can be costly if you hire a law firm to custom author the package for you but there are consulting firms that will do this for as little as $4500.

If you are serious about raising funds for your company you need to add a Private Placement Memorandum to your list of necessary documents to hand off to the investors in order to get the cash you need in an expedient manner.

Want to find out more about Investor Finder Services, then visit Princeton Corporate Solutions site on how to choose the best Offering Memorandum for your needs.

Over The Counter Bulletin Board: Do It Yourself Investor Relations

March 27th, 2010 James Scott No comments

Why pay a publicist outrageous fees to get you a tiny insignificant article in a newspaper or magazine rag when you can literally become an industry niche sensation overnight using a carefully constructed video and a handful of long tail industry specific keywords?

Old school publicists have become that’72 bowling ally loitering, disco dancing reject while a new breed of publicists have stepped in and transformed the industry from paper, to cyberspace in only a few short years. Why traditional publicists have been adjusting that pathetic comb over hairstyle, young and aggressive publicists have been creating publicity techniques that deliver results in 24 to 48 hours as opposed to 6 to 8 weeks and as far as results, there is no comparison.

Web marketing and publicity marketing tactics such as creative video submission, if done properly can transform the direction of a failing company to “THE” industry powerhouse almost instantly by loading the video with solid, well thought out descriptions and targeted long tail keyword tags. A publicist who understand the concept of pure video publicity can tailor a campaign that can outperform any traditional publicity technique ever devised by the good ole’ boy networks who overcharge and under deliver for their clients.

Video promotion will expand far past the tiny geographic proximity of a city, across state lines and into international territory. Publicists that specialize in video marketing and other online methods used in strategic combination with one another, will have the client dominating every aspect of their industry niche.

Targeted video promotion by the Web 2.0 type publicists translates into instant client results that build stronger client relations and can transform the future of any company in any industry. Publicity marketing will always offer a turn-key solution to massive amounts of traffic, branding, marketing exposure and all the bells and whistles of a dozen traditional publicity firms.

Want to work with a REAL Publicity Marketing, firm? Call Princeton Corporate Solutions at 267-233-0183 to feel the power of real Internet Publicity you can count on.