Investors Love Our Plans

I probably see five to ten business plans a week. Frankly, most aren't ready for the big leagues. Cayenne's work, on the other hand, is consistently excellent. They figured out the formula. They make it easier for investors to quickly see the value in a company. Now that startup activity is picking up, investors have more to choose from. It's more important than ever for a business plan to make the right first impression."

Harry George, Solstice Capital

Business Plans That Raise Capital

Do you need capital to grow your venture?

Your business plan is often the only basis investors have for deciding whether or not to engage in further discussions with you. And you only get one shot. If you need equity or debt financing, you'll ultimately save time and money - and improve your chances of success - by hiring the best business plan consultant you can find.

Our professional consultants will help you develop an exceptional business plan, financial forecast, and investor presentation. Want proof? Just have a quick look at what our clients say about us. Need more convincing? Contact us now for a free consultation!

How You Benefit

Meet With Investors: Nearly all of our clients are able to secure meetings with investors.

Raise Capital: Over two-thirds of our clients have succeeded in raising capital or selling their companies.1 That's pretty amazing in a world where fewer than 1 in 250 plans ever get funded. We challenge you to find another consulting firm that can make this claim. A business plan developed by Cayenne Consulting could make the difference between your success and failure.

Develop the Right Strategy: Most so-called "business plan consultants" simply take what you say and put it on paper. We go much deeper and help you develop the most viable strategy for success, which we then communicate in a compelling business plan.

Save Time: Save literally hundreds of hours... valuable time you can devote to your products, customers, and company.

Save Money: We are not cheap, but about half of our clients came to us after a business plan prepared by a less qualified consultant did not work out. Why not get it right the first time and save money?

Work with Experts: Our business plan consultants are second to none. We are experienced entrepreneurs and understand what you are going through. We have deep and broad experience in creating and executing upon business models of all kinds. We have a keen sense of what works in the marketplace and what doesn't. Many of us have MBAs or PhDs from schools like Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Wharton, CalTech, Cornell, Columbia, and Chicago. We also have experts in market research, FDA/regulatory issues, financial modeling, and other fields.

One Consultant: Some firms assign a team of consultants to your business. That means you're paying to get multiple individuals up to speed. This approach is costly, and makes it difficult to ensure that all materials have the same "voice" and consistency. Our approach avoids these problems. (Having said that, we will happily assign a team to you if if that's the best solution for your particular needs.)

Get it Right the First Time: Learn about the pros and cons of various approaches to developing business plans.

No Salespeople: We don't have a slick sales professional "sell" you and then hand you off to a junior consultant you know nothing about. From Day 1, you will deal directly with the senior consultant who will actually work with you. That way, you know exactly what you're getting.

Ongoing Support: We don't stop when the business plan is done. We have a talented team ready to help you implement it as well, either on a retained basis as interim members of your founding team or on a project basis, as needed.

Why (Most) Business Plans Don't Get Funded

Your business plan is very often the first impression potential investors get about your venture. But even if you have a great product, team, and customers, it could also be the last impression the investor gets if you make any of these avoidable mistakes.

INVESTORS see thousands of business plans each year, even in this down market. Apart from a referral from a trusted source, the business plan is the only basis they have for deciding whether or not to invite an entrepreneur to their offices for an initial meeting.

With so many opportunities, most investors simply focus on finding reasons to say no. They reason that entrepreneurs who know what they are doing will not make fundamental mistakes. Every mistake counts against you.

This article shows you how to avoid the most common errors found in business plans.

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Tough Money: Raising Capital in the 2008-2009 Recession

THERE'S no denying it: we’re in the midst of a very difficult economy. As credit markets seized up and the IPO and M&A markets slowed to a crawl, sources of entrepreneur financing such as SBA lenders, angel investors, and venture capital funds slowed just as dramatically.

Credit is tight - unless you have nearly perfect credit, are willing to personally guarantee payment, and can offer 100% collateral, you can probably forget about getting that loan.

This doesn’t mean that financing has dried up completely.

The good news: equity financing is still available for good opportunities. Equity investors - angels and VCs - make their money upon an exit event such as an IPO or acquisition. These events usually take place five or more years after they make their investments. The fact that we have a difficult market today certainly doesn’t mean that we’ll have a bad market in five years. While many skittish investors are sitting on the sidelines, more rational ones appreciate that the value of their investments will improve with the economy and are on the lookout for good opportunities that are being passed over.

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1 As of March 2006, among clients who spent a reasonable amount of time seeking financing or a sale of their company, 57% had succeeded in raising at least some amount of capital, 23% had succeeded in obtaining funding commitments from potential investors, and 3% had succeeded in getting sold, for a total success rate of 83%.