Weed Control Business Owner Picky About Investors

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Pam Marrone has attracted $570,000 for Marrone Organic Innovations from angel investors she feels she knows well. Her selectiveness is based on her prior experience at AgraQuest, a pest-control start-up funded with $50 million from venture capitalists and other investors. At AgraQuest, Marrone had a falling out with her investors over business strategy, and subsequently left the company. At Marrone Organic Innovations, a weed control business, “I’m starting up again really determined to find investors that do share our values,” says Marrone. “I’ve learned that you don’t accept just anybody’s money.”

More Biz Owners Selling Businesses Themselves

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The percentage of listings at BusinessesforSale.com posted by owners has doubled to about 10% over the last five years, CEO Marcus Markou told BusinessWeek SmallBiz, according to an article in the Fall 2006 issue. Robert Fliegel, owner of Discovery Treks posted a listing for his business in January and sold it to an Arizona couple for $265,000 by July, saving a 10-20% broker commission. “People who try to sell on their own end up wasting a lot of time with unqualified prospects who have no intention of buying,” cautions business broker Karl Grasemann. Other online exchanges include BizBuySell.com and BizQuest.com.

Women Entrepreneurs Have Multiple Funding Sources

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Women comprise about 40% of all small-business owners, but only 3% of all female entrepreneurs owned small companies with revenue over $1 million, compared to 6% of all male entrepreneurs, according to the Center for Women’s Business Research. Fortunately, women entrepreneurs have more resources than ever before to reach out for funding, the 9/25/06 “Wall Street Journal” reported, including: the SBA Office of Women’s Business Ownership, Count Me In, Make Mine a Million, Ladies Who Launch, Golden Seeds and the National Association of Women Business Owners.

SEC is backpedaling on Small Biz SarbOx Exemption

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According to BusinessWeek SmallBiz’s Summer 2006 edition, the Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox has indicated that he and other SEC commissioners would rather make Sarbanes Oxley provisions work more efficiently, rather than exempting small businesses, according to an SEC spokesman. Prior to this May 17th decision, on April 23rd, a 21-person Advisory Committee on Smaller Public Companies had recommended to the SEC that the smallest public companies be exempted from compliance with Section 404 of the SarbOx regulations, which requires that companies complete an internal audit of controls they have already established. The advisory committee’s recommendations, if adopted, would have exempted 7,400 businesses with market capitalization under $787 million, representing 79% of public companies, but only about 6% of the total public market capitalization.

Venture Capitalists Investing in Later Stage Businesses

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Venture capitalists are increasingly looking for established companies to invest in, the “New York Times” reported. For the first half of 2006, 46 percent of first-time venture investments went into established companies – three years or older, and with established revenue streams – up from 30 percent in 1995, according to the National Venture Capital Association. Reasons for the trend include a sluggish market for initial public offerings, and the ability of cash-laden venture capitalists to put more money to work in larger, more established firms.

Last October I helped an entrepreneur finish his business plan over a two week period, for a new medical device that had vastly better technology and ergonomics than what was currently in the market. He was looking for $2 million to stage the introduction. I just got a call from him, this past June, that he was close to securing financing….nine months later. If the trend of venture capitalists looking for more established companies continues, situations such as this will become even more common in the years to come. — dr