Basic Item #1: Don’t spend all your time on a business plan with a 5-year out plan of action when you are staring at a bank account that is underfunded or not funded. Instead: Make a one year plan and break it down into realistic monthly steps.
Basic Item #2: Don’t think that by increasing liquidity via entrance into public markets immediately solves all your problems. Being public creates a running cost that maybe much too high for you to sustain. That being said, staying private and not finding interest or support in your idea is also a dead end. Instead: Spend time thinking on what is your burn rate and which model is best to realize your vision.
Basic Item #3: Avoid dying a slow death and begin to think of adding relevant partners that understand and believe in the vision of the company. Who wants to fund anything that is just going to slowly die off? The growth, the opportunity and the void that is being filled needs to be provided clearly in every conversation, business plan and clearly displayed without making people confused. Make sure the plan holds up in growth, recessionary and tougher times and has the required capital to carry it through. Entrepreneurs will eventually need to be paid so how the business maintains itself and grows needs to be properly addressed.
of infighting within the leadership and management. It is to position your idea properly. This will involve how to make it into a business that will be around after the first year. How to build a team that is aligned and creates value. Show that the management and thinking of your people are in alignment. This all adds up to being termed, “the unfair competitive advantage”.
Basic Item #5: A popular topic is use of proceeds. Too often, entrepreneurs do not spend appropriately on the running a formal patent search when it comes to proper positioning of the business. The formal patent search should include the freedom to operate (FTO) while also protecting the idea: A freedom to operate (FTO) searches and identifies any potential patent barriers to the commercialization of products or technologies. It examines the claims language of third-party in-force patents and is conducted as due diligence to assess the risk of potential infringement.
Examples: 1. Supports the clearance of products, technologies, or processes 2. Assess infringement risk 3. Uncover licensing needs 4. Provide direction to product development programs
Consider going in a pack. Think about the possibilities you may run into while establishing this business venture and the talent and foresight you will need from your partners. Get creative but choose wisely. Synergy is very important. No one wants to be part of a company that has any chances
If the idea contains a piece of technology or concept that is novel, management needs to have the proper sense of urgency to protect it. Protection is a vital sign for everyone (investors, new hires) to know that the management team has the right mindset towards defending this investment. All it takes is for a cease and desist to be issued from anyone who has patented the idea and the investment is stalled or decimated. A cease and desist is an order or request to halt an activity (cease) and not to take it up
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Basic Item #4:
Micro-Cap Review Magazine
again later (desist) or else face legal action. The recipient of the cease-and-desist may be an individual or an organization. In the U.S. the term is used in two different contexts. A cease-and-desist order can be issued by either a judge or government authority, and has a well-defined legal meaning. In contrast, a cease-and-desist letter can be sent by anyone, although typically they are drafted by a lawyer. Remember, if it starts to make big money, the lawsuits and settlements will follow close behind. n
About the author Dr. Chiu is an execution driven businessman with more than 15 years of combined domestic and international experience in biomedical, chemical, cosmetic, medical and technology industries. He has been invited to serve on the board of public and private companies and to provide vital advice to the board while increasing overall shareholder value. His solid background and broad experience has allowed him to accomplish and advise in areas of Alzheimer research, breast cancer research, dermatology, drug addictions research, green technology and antimicrobial research. He started his career as a research scientist at Pfizer Inc. and Merck & Co., Inc. and has healthcare and marketing experience with strong links to Wall Street and Asia. His educational background began with a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a summa cum laude. He graduated with an M.S. degree in Chemistry from Seton Hall University with high honors. Additionally, Dr. Chiu was accepted as an MD/PhD candidate under the National Institutes of Health’s Medical Scientist Training Program for four years at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine where he also researched, developed, consulted and advised the Department of Dermatology’s Dr. Huachen Wei in skin cancer research. Seeing the opportunity to impact foreign policies in healthcare, he transferred his credentials to the fully accredited University of Bridgeport School of Naturopathic Medicine to receive his doctorate in naturopathic medicine. With this unique background, he has investigated the validity of foreign treatments and their success level for public health. He has also been chosen to serve as an advisory role in the identification of low cost solutions (i.e. non-invasive diagnostic equipment) for emerging countries that cannot afford to maintain armies of physicians across numerous sub-specialties. His years of experience and continuous involvement have created deep relationships within the scientific, business, and medical communities. Dr. Chiu developed and owns methodologies called directed combinatorial algorithmic libraries (D.C.A.L.) that are used in various commercial applications, composition development and research. Disclosure: Dr. Chiu has been appointed as an independent adviser to SNN.
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