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INNOVATION
& DESIGN Home Page Architecture Brand Equity Auto Design Game Room SMALLBIZ Smart Answers Success Stories Today's Tip INVESTING Investing: Europe Annual Reports BW 50 S&P Picks & Pans Stock Screeners Free S&P Stock Report SCOREBOARDS Hot Growth 100 Mutual Funds Info Tech 100 S&P 500 B-SCHOOLS Undergrad Programs MBA Blogs MBA Profiles MBA Rankings Who's Hiring Grads | | DECEMBER 13, 1999 DEAR DIARY Gunning for VC Cash Is No Turkey Shoot Numbers aren't my thing. Too bad venture capitalists want to see so many of them
 A few weeks ago, I wrote about how excited I was about working on a business plan for a new Internet component to my staffing business. The goal is to get venture capital. I was almost done with the plan, and just about on deadline, too, when I realized there was a problem. We were hopelessly stuck on the financial calculations. Andy, my operations guy, who was aging visibly under the strain of working on them, had started to snarl at me that I had gotten away with doing "the easy part," meaning the narrative. He wasn't far from wrong, but that's why I hired him. Numbers are not my thing. This was clearly a job for Fred.
Fred, my accountant, is a wonderful guy, straight as an arrow. He's always available when I have a question. His favorite phrase is: "No, you can't do that." We called him in. Fred and Andy worked in one corner of my office for a good two hours while I puttered around in another. I tried to ignore them, but the tenor of their discussion was disquieting. They shook their heads a lot, and Fred chanted his cautionary mantra over and over. At the end of the process, Andy went to the white board where I had written a Dec. 3 deadline for the plan and changed it to Jan. 3. Oops. Seems we weren't coming along as well as he had thought before Fred gave him the cold, hard facts. Then it was my turn to take a cold shower. We started talking about what it really takes to apply for venture capital. Fred started listing the elements: "There's a bunch of fees you know," he said. "What kind of fees, Fred?" "Well, fees for just about everything — points, interest, etc.," he said. "And you'll probably need a full-blown audit of your books. So you better set aside about 25 grand for that." We never even got to the discussion of legal fees. RAMP TO SUCCESS. My eyes started to widen. The old saying, "Be careful what you wish for" came to mind. Our technology partners, Invision.com, just went through a round of financing. It took months, and I remember the company's chief executive showing me a six-inch-thick binder full of legal mumbo-jumbo that he had to negotiate over and digest before the deal was finally sealed. I gulped. "What the hell am I doing?" I asked myself. There's no turning back. This is my company's biggest opportunity for growth so far. And I get the feeling that I'm on the road to success. Well, two events last week make me think I'm on the entrance ramp, at least. As part of the holiday season's business/social activities, I recently found myself in a roomful of venture capitalists and lawyers. After describing my baby to some people, they invited me to formally present the plan to a much larger audience of venture capitalists next June. Then, at a separate gathering, someone invited me to present my plan at a new media event in New York City in January. Looks like my idea, hatched as I waited for a plane at Kennedy Airport and scrawled on two McDonald's napkins, may actually be taking off.  George Giokas is the president and CEO of StaffWriters Plus, a specialty agency that places writers in temporary and permanent positions with corporate and other employers. It also provides editorial consulting work. His database includes 2,500 writers and editors specializing in more than 60 categories. His Web site is located at www.staffwriters.com, and you can E-mail him at george@staffwriters.com  | | |
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