Nearly 400 investors with assets worth $32 trillion announced The Investor Agenda last week, a first-of-its-kind global agenda aimed at demonstrating and supporting investors in accelerating and scaling-up actions critical to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement.
In other words, if you’re a greentech or cleantech company, there may be some capital available for your business.
Read more about the Investor Agenda here.
Your Startup Guru created financial projections for Sans Bar, a one-of-a-kind sober bar in Austin, TX. Sans Bar’s mission is to provide a safe, sober environment for adults to celebrate life while promoting personal and social wellness.
With the help of our financial projections, entrepreneurs can see how much they need to make and save in order to meet their financial needs; in addition to many many other uses. You can read more about the importance of a financial plan.
Contact us for financial projections for your bar.
Cryptocurrencies took quite a hit in 2018 and have not been a good year for the market so far. Having reached a valuation of $834 billion as of January 7, 2018, CoinMarketCap reported that the market witnessed a drastic plunge of about 66%, losing over $553 billion. Bitcoin recorded a huge loss of over 50% in February, with valuation dropping below $7,000. Ethereum and Ripple also suffered similar drops, both recording losses of over 40% during the same month. Even as of late March, the leading currencies have not bounced back as of March 21, 2018.
Most signs point to a bubble. Market speculation that drove prices to an untenable price for the time being. This bubble was exacerbated by the unregulated nature of cryptocurrency. For example, banks are required to physically hold a certain amount of cash in reserve, also known as Regulation D, which allows for an amount of liquidity in the market in case of lean times. Given the unregulated nature of cryptocurrencies it is possible that market manipulation was also behind the plunge. In 2013, Bitcoin rose from $150 to $1,000 within a period of 2 months. A rise that researchers have found was caused by one person. Last month, one anonymous investor bought $400 million in Bitcoin. For securities transactions such as stocks and bonds, the identities of the buyers and sellers are known and recorded. In cryptocurrency transactions, the transaction is known but not the entities.
However, to understand a little about what is happening, it helps to understand what cryptocurrency is.
According to Wikipedia:
A cryptocurrency (or crypto currency) is a digital asset designed to work as a medium of exchange that uses cryptography to secure its transactions, to control the creation of additional units, and to verify the transfer of assets.[1][2][3]Cryptocurrencies are classified as a subset of digital currencies and are also classified as a subset of alternative currencies and virtual currencies. Cryptocurrencies use decentralized control[4] as opposed to centralized electronic money and central banking systems.[5] The decentralized control of each cryptocurrency works through a blockchain, which is a public transaction database, functioning as a distributed ledger.[6]
Bitcoin, created in 2009, was the first decentralized cryptocurrency.[7] Since then, numerous other cryptocurrencies have been created.[8] These are frequently called altcoins, as a blend of alternative coin.[9][10][11]
That is a lot to digest so to summarize and generalize: cryptocurrency is an electronic asset that is created through among other methods, “mining” (the details of digital asset creation go beyond this post). Once this digital asset is created, a record of its created is added to a decentralized ledger. This ledger is known as a blockchain. Blockchain is like a title chain in real estate; everyone knows who owned it in the past and who owns it now. Furthermore, transactions using cryptocurrency is also recorded in the blockchain.
The blockchain is starting to look more useful than the actual cryptocurrencies, but more on that in a future post.
Crypto isn’t going away but probably won’t replace sovereign currency because it doesn’t have that backing of an entire nation. There’s more power when you have a nation that promises the worth of something vs many individuals that aren’t a cohesive entity
A nation has natural resources, a military, existing contracts, labor forces, etc. that can be used to back the value of their currency. Crypto does not. They are kinda like fidget spinners. Some people highly value it and trade it but not likely to replace dollars.
More than a “currency” cryptocurrency seems to have properties similar to commodities such as silver in that people can “mine” it too. That said no government uses, say rubies, as their official currency.
Cryptocurrencies are also relatively unregulated like commodities. Beyond futures contracts and derivative markets the industry did not see much action beyond the Commodity Exchange Act of 1936. Other than a few laws, regulatory bodies such as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission did not see much action until Dodd–Frank was enacted in response to the 2008 financial crisis.
For the reasons mentioned, it seems like a judge also agrees that cryptocurrencies are commodities. Maybe it is time to call them cryptocommodities.
Probably not going away but many hurdles block mainstream adoption. Of course, if a government officially recognizes it then it’s all systems go. For now, China says no and S. Korea is hesitant. Furthermore, Warren Buffett considers cryptocurrencies speculative.
Cryptocurrency will probably end up like precious gems and metals; worth something but will not upend sovereign currency. Buying a car in wheat is possible but not as convenient as with traditional currencies. Although some dealerships accept some cryptocurrencies.
Your Startup Guru helped Mr. Lee with the financial planning and analysis that helped him predict this break-even points, pricing strategy, location, and more.
As mentioned in a previous post, financial planning and analysis is a crucial step for any startup because it helps the entrepreneur with budgeting, how much capital to raise, when to make capital expenditures, etc.
Your Startup Guru provided business consulting for Shrink Wrap Pros, a commercial shrink wrap company based in Ventura, CA. Their customers require cars, boats, helicopters, etc., sealed in a polymer wrap.
Your Startup Guru helped Shrink Wrap Pros expand with their enterprise and CRM software needs, including making the transition from Excel to Access. We also helped them improve their budgeting by refining their contribution margin calculations.
If you’re in Ventura and need any large items wrapped, give them a call!
Contact us today if you need help with your budgeting needs.
This story is about Bob Hurley and the meteoric rise of one of the biggest surf brands in the world and a testament to the reality of the American dream.
These days, Hurley is known as a mega-brand, an archetype for all other hopeful companies to follow – but it wasn’t always so. Hurley was once the humble brainchild of a forward-thinking, passionate, sometimes eccentric and always intelligent man.
As an avid surfer it’s always interesting to see leisure sports brands turn into major companies.  As with most companies, financing is crucial.  For Hurley to move from startup to growth stages Bob had to find seed capital.  Even with promising companies founders have to ask around a lot to secure financing.
Bob begged. Â He’s not ashamed of begging and begged a lot. Â To any lender that would take a meeting. Â Begging at 10:48. Â Warning some nsfw language.
Don’t beg like Bob Hurley, contact us today for your fundraising needs!
Avalon Carver Community Center came to us for help with its accounting and tax filing needs.
Avalon Carver works to care for the physical, mental, and spiritual needs of individuals and families through education, community outreach, and empowerment.
Since 1940, Avalon Carver in South Los Angeles has been a place for people from diverse backgrounds to join together in one space and work to make their community thrive. Built on the vision of community leader Mary B. Henry, it has strived to become a place of growth, unity, family, and positive change for South Los Angeles. It has grown to become a centerpiece of the diverse community fabric of the neighborhood.
Launch and Grow Your Business
Contact us today for your bookkeeping needs.
Vestis Retail Group, the parent company of sports equipment and apparel stores Sport Chalet, Eastern Mountain Sports, and Bob’s Stores has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today.
I don’t have the financials for Bob’s Stores or Eastern Mountain Sports, but if the numbers for them looks like that of Sport Chalet, it looks like it’s another victim of passing trends and Amazon. I wrote about the bankruptcy of Quiksilver and how it can save itself, and about Amazon‘s effect on Walmart.
Mountain sports presents another challenge above its sea-level cousin, surfing. It costs a LOT more money to go skiing. Skis, jacket, goggles, beanies, gas, food, etc. The list goes on and on. With the slow economic recovery putting Vestis’s holdings on a slower expansion pace, downsizing and keeping only strategic stores in wealthier markets would have slowed the cash flow hemorrhage. Another factor unique to snow sports is the abnormally warm winters with little snowfall.  This climate factor greatly hurt sales.
Who knows what the boardroom meetings were like when CEO Mark Walsh, CFO Susan Riley, and others were meeting; nonetheless they should’ve listened to the decision-maker that had a closer eye on industry, market, and environmental trends.
In every business plan, I include industry and market analysis that covers the trends, threats, and emerging opportunities for every business.
One of the services we offer is strategy consulting. Â However, the name is quite vague so what is strategy consulting? Â It is a lot of things. Â It varies by the needs of the client. Â Some clients need help developing an overall strategy for the business.
Say they have a product but not much else.  So they need everything from naming of their product, research on where to sell their product, team building, etc.  Naming might require a psychographic analysis of branding.
If they are a little farther along, it can be an audit of what they’re already doing, or analysis of where to go next.  A business might be looking at weighing the pros and cons of expanding to a new market, introducing a new product, do a product overhaul, etc.  Product overhaul might require a net present value calculation of multiple alternatives.
Every situation is unique so contact us and let’s figure out what you need.
I recently completed financial projections for Clear Wave Air. The Clear Wave Air Purifier is a revolutionary microbe killing system. Unlike other purifiers that depend on filtration to block out harmful microbes and molds, the Clear Wave Air destroys these harmful micro antagonist and it does it continuously, quietly, and efficiently.
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