Mahalo’s CEO Jason Calacanis, who drew fire recently for telling startups to fire anyone who’s not a workaholic, explains how he hires employees. It’s true, he tries to scare people when he interviews, but he wants a committed and passionate staff. He also discusses lessons from his past employment experiences and what being a business leader means to him.
Read more at The Deal.com
“Both?!” Yes Wind Waker has two start-ups. No I don’t mean one written in English and one in Japanese. Just watch Ok..? Also, 50th video uploaded.
Mahalo’s CEO Jason Calacanis, who drew fire recently for telling startups to fire anyone who’s not a workaholic, explains how he hires employees. It’s true, he tries to scare people when he interviews, but he wants a committed and passionate staff. He also discusses lessons from his past employment experiences and what being a business leader means to him.
Read more at The Deal.com
startups and brands part 3
video in Hebrew
FUNCTION: Serves as the SBAs primary business loan program to help qualified small businesses obtain financing when they might not be eligible for business loans through normal lending channels
PROGRAM: Basic 7(a) Loan Guaranty
FUNCTION: Serves as the SBAs primary business loan program to help qualified small businesses obtain financing when they might not be eligible for business loans through normal lending channels. It is also the agencys most flexible business loan program, since financing under this program can be guaranteed for a variety of general business purposes.
Loan proceeds can be used for most sound business purposes including working capital, machinery and equipment, furniture and fixtures, land and building (including purchase, renovation and new construction), leasehold improvements, and debt refinancing (under special conditions). Loan maturity is up to 10 years for working capital and generally up to 25 years for fixed assets.
CUSTOMER: Start-up and existing small businesses, commercial lending institutions
DELIVERED THROUGH: Commercial lending institutions
SBA offers multiple variations of the basic 7(a) loan program to accommodate targeted needs.
PROGRAM: Certified Development Company (CDC), a 504 Loan Program
FUNCTION: Provides long-term, fixed-rate financing to small businesses to acquire real estate or machinery or equipment for expansion or modernization. Typically a 504 project includes a loan secured from a private-sector lender with a senior lien, a loan secured from a CDC (funded by a 100 percent SBA-guaranteed debenture) with a junior lien covering up to 40 percent of the total cost, and a contribution of at least 10 percent equity from the borrower.
CUSTOMER: Small businesses requiring brick and mortar financing
DELIVERED THROUGH: Certified development companies (private, nonprofit
corporations set up to contribute to the economic development of their communities or regions)
PROGRAM: Microloan, a 7(m) Loan Program
FUNCTION: Provides short-term loans of up to $35,000 to small businesses and not-for-profit child-care centers for working capital or the purchase of inventory, supplies, furniture, fixtures, machinery and/or equipment. Proceeds cannot be used to pay existing debts or to purchase real estate. The SBA makes or guarantees a loan to an intermediary, who in turn, makes the microloan to the applicant. These organizations also provide management and technical assistance. The loans are not guaranteed by the SBA. The microloan program is available in selected locations in most states.
CUSTOMER: Small businesses and not-for-profit child-care centers needing small-scale financing and technical assistance for start-up or expansion
DELIVERED THROUGH: Specially designated intermediary lenders (nonprofit organizations with experience in lending and in technical assistance)
PROGRAM: Loan Prequalification
FUNCTION: Allows business applicants to have their loan applications for $250,000 or less analyzed and potentially sanctioned by the SBA before they are taken to lenders for consideration. The program focuses on the applicants character, credit, experience and reliability rather than assets. An SBA-designated intermediary works with the business owner to review and strengthen the loan application. The review is based on key financial ratios, credit and business history, and the loan-request terms. The program is administered by the SBAs Office of Field Operations and SBA district offices.
CUSTOMER: Designated small businesses
DELIVERED THROUGH: Intermediaries operating in specific geographic areas.
Produced in cooperation with the North American Securities Administrators Association
Multilevel marketing plans, also known as ‘network’ or ‘matrix’ marketing, are a way of selling goods or services through distributors
Multilevel Marketing Plans
Produced in cooperation with the North American Securities Administrators Association
Multilevel marketing plans, also known as ‘network’ or ‘matrix’ marketing, are a way of selling goods or services through distributors. These plans typically promise that if you sign up as a distributor, you will receive commissions — for both your sales of the plan”s goods or services and those of other people you recruit to join the distributors. Multilevel marketing plans usually promise to pay commissions through two or more levels of recruits, known as the distributor”s ‘downline.’
If a plan offers to pay commissions for recruiting new distributors, watch out! Most states outlaw this practice, which is known as ‘pyramiding.’ State laws against pyramiding say that a multilevel marketing plan should only pay commissions for retail sales of goods or services, not for recruiting new distributors.
Why is pyramiding prohibited? Because plans that pay commissions for recruiting new distributors inevitably collapse when no new distributors can be recruited. And when a plan collapses, most people — except perhaps those at the very top of the pyramid — lose their money.
The Federal Trade Commission cannot tell you whether a particular multilevel marketing plan is legal. Nor can it give you advice about whether to join such a plan. You must make that decision yourself. However, the FTC suggests that you use common sense, and consider these seven tips when you make your decision:
1. Avoid any plan that includes commissions for recruiting additional distributors. It may be an illegal pyramid.
2. Beware of plans that ask new distributors to purchase expensive inventory. These plans can collapse quickly — and also may be thinly-disguised pyramids.
3. Be cautious of plans that claim you will make money through continued growth of your ‘downline’ — the commissions on sales made by new distributors you recruit — rather than through sales of products you make yourself.
4. Beware of plans that claim to sell miracle products or promise enormous earnings. Just because a promoter of a plan makes a claim doesn”t mean it”s true! Ask the promoter of the plan to substantiate claims with hard evidence.
5. Beware of shills — ‘decoy’ references paid by a plan”s promoter to describe their fictional success in earning money through the plan.
6. Don”t pay or sign any contracts in an ‘opportunity meeting’ or any other high-pressure situation. Insist on taking your time to think over a decision to join. Talk it over with your spouse, a knowledgeable friend, an accountant or lawyer.
7. Do your homework! Check with your local Better Business Bureau and state Attorney General about any plan you”re considering — especially when the claims about the product or your potential earnings seem too good to be true.
