Author: Gregory Pearl

Alternative Investments, Culture and Ethics, Decision Making

Three Deadly Sins of Startups

Gregory Pearl

If you have been around the venture capital industry for a while, you will know the “three deadly sins” VCs look to avoid in a potential new early-stage investment. Standard questions VCs ask entrepreneurs often focus on these. You hear this over and over from investment partners at these firms. I’ve worked extensively with an international venture network, and sure enough – it is a focus. Here are the three: 1) The founder (me!) must be the boss, always and forever 2) Too many products, no focus 3) Not enough capital Smart founders know these are hot issues for VC…

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Alternative Investments, Decision Making

How To Design A New Market Entry Program

Gregory Pearl

Any new market entry program should be designed to increase your chances for success in the North American marketplace. To succeed, develop individualized strategies based on proven strategy techniques and policies.  Then it is necessary to support those entry strategies to successfully implement. Due to the sheer size and diversity of the USA (and North America), a company attempting a market entry cannot simply and without local market knowledge choose a strategy, operational business platform and location. Many factors must be considered, including real estate, the labor market, the regulatory environment, local taxation, operational logistics, manufacturing and sourcing potential, proximity…

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Alternative Investments, Buying & Selling a Company, Exit Planning

SBA Loans Help Finance Small Business, #2

Gregory Pearl

This is a continuation of the last post, which primarily focused on the SBA 7(a) program.  Here I’ll discuss other SBA lending programs. Because SBA loan guaranty requirements and practices can be change by the government at any time, it is important for applicants to obtain current and accurate information. This article is merely intended to help a business owner ( potential borrower) start thinking about these programs.  You must do your own investigation and research. The information here is not to considered legal or financial advice.  Just a prompt to start thinking about the topic. CDC/504 Loan Program The…

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Alternative Investments, Buying & Selling a Company, Exit Planning

SBA Loans Help Finance Small Business, #1

Gregory Pearl

In challenging times, small businesses can look for liquidity and financing in many places.  The various SBA loan programs are one of the better places to search. Because SBA loan guaranty requirements and practices can be change by the government at any time, it is important for applicants to obtain current and accurate information. This article is merely intended to help a business owner ( potential borrower) start thinking about these programs.  You must do your own investigation and research. The information here is not to considered legal or financial advice.  Just a prompt to start thinking about the topic.…

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Alternative Investments

What is an Alternative Investment?

Gregory Pearl

Alteris LLC provides consulting services to those investors considering putting their capital to work in the sometimes ambiguous Alternative Investment (AI) asset class. We have worked on a wide variety of types of projects though most are in private equity and venture capital.   Some of these could be considered rather non-mainstream including complex derivatives, a mega farm in Brazil, and innovative technology start-ups in Africa among others.  Though most have been located in the USA and Europe. Alternative Investments as a category are defined differently by different people. Here is our attempt at it. Generally, an Alternative Investment can be…

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Buying & Selling a Company, Exit Planning

Beware the Avalanche

Gregory Pearl

Small Business Owners have often seen it all.  If your company is older than ten years, add in the business cycle to the long list of things that compromise “all”. But here may be something unique that these owners have not seen yet, at least at the level of magnitude that seems to be on the horizon. Consider this in you are thinking of moving on from your business.  There may be an avalanche of business owners attempting to leave or exit their business in the coming years. 8,000 people turn 65 every day.  This has been going on since…

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Buying & Selling a Company, Exit Planning

What Makes a Company Sell Quickly? Or at all?

Gregory Pearl

The rule of thumb in the business brokerage world is that only 20% of companies sell each year.  This means that 80% do not.  Is your business in the top 20% or bottom 80%? If you are interested in selling in the middle of an economic crisis, the chances of selling your company are even lower. There are certain things a business owner can do to make their company sell faster.  Or even sell at all.  To start, the seller should know what buyers often look for. What are some of the things buyers look for? Good quality sales and…

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