Unfortunately for me, that someday is still a ways off for many of them. A new business must be strategic in its expenditures. So before spending scarce cash on me (or my sisters and brothers of the Bar), new entrepreneurs should first be taking full advantage of the enormous amount of free or low cost business resources available in Colorado that I am listing below.
Money spent on attorney’s fees before the homework is done is frustrating to clients and reputable attorneys. Believe it or not, a good lawyer cares about your success. Making a few bucks from advice to folks who are ill-prepared to start a company is not a good business plan for a lawyer. I would much rather trade that for the opportunity to represent you when you are ready for me to help you start making hay. That way I create a long-term relationship with you and your human-owned business.
But before I get to my resource list, a couple of readers have popped the question (no not that question), so others must be wondering, too: What do I mean by “human-owned business?”
Whether it is also called closely-held, entrepreneurial, private, family- or employee-owned, a human-owned business is a special kind of client for a business lawyer. These companies are the opposite of public, they are personal. The owners of these businesses deserve (and appreciate) legal advice from a lawyer who appreciates just how personal it is to them. But while a new human-owned business may be small, having a limited number of human owners does not equate to a small company. The companies on Forbes 2008 list of the largest private companies, admittedly not all human-owned, employ thousands and make billions. So do your homework, but dream big.
Here is my list of resources for new and emerging Colorado companies. If you have a link to suggest, I would love to have it.
State and City Resources
State of Colorado’s Small Business Development Centers This should be one of your first stops. Centers are located around the state; the one for Denver Metro has its own site.
Colorado Business Resource Guide
City of Denver, Office of Economic Development For new, growing and relocating businesses of all sizes.
Denver’s Business Toolbox
Denver Public Library’s Business & Company Resource Center, but you’ll need a library card.
Colorado Business Express A pretty cool tool from the State of Colorado official site.
Minority and Woman-Owned Business The State office.
Federal Resources
SBA’s Colorado district office
SBA’s FAQs
SBA’s assessment tool to tell if you ready to start a small business, but it helps only if you are honest with yourself. Luckily, I don’t need to be honest with you, so I won’t tell you how I scored.
SCORE Business counseling nonprofit affiliated with SBA.
University Programs (credit and noncredit programs)
University of Colorado’s Bard Center for Entrepreneurship (including a Small Business Incubator)
Executive Education at the University of Denver’s Daniel School of Business
Center for Innovation at Metropolitan State College of Denver
Chambers of Commerce
There are many chambers, these are just a few where I am connected.
Denver Metro
South Metro
Fort Collins
Finance Help
Here are some non-profits that educate emerging companies about money matters. They also provide direct help through loans, investments, or connections to funding resources.
Accion
Colorado Enterprise Fund
Kiva
Rockies Venture Club
Rocky Mountain MicroFinance Institute
Rutt Bridges Venture Capital Fund at the Bard Center
Funding Businesses
Since money is the biggest single challenge for emerging business, I beefed-up my original short list of non-profit aid groups with a more expansive, though still partial, listing of Denver-area businesses that provide equity and/or debt capital, or will help you find it. I excluded commerical banks as those are easy for you to find. The folowing investment banking & private equity firms focus on a variety of industries and company sizes. Explore the list, but don't infer anything from my inclusion or exclusion of any group. Remember these are business, not free or low cost services, and contary to the rest of this post, if you are ready to work with one of these firms, you are ready to hire a good business lawyer to help you.
Altira Group
Appian Ventures
CAPEX
Centenniel Ventures
CHB Capital
Crawley Ventures
Green Spark Ventures
Hexagon Investments
Iron Gate Capital
JD Ford & Company
KRG Capital Partners
Meritage Funds
Midas Financial/Venture Associates
Platte River Ventures
Pronet Capital Limited
Quest Capital Partnership
SDR Ventures
Silver Creek Ventures
Stolberg Equity Partners
Vestar Capital Partners Inc
Village Ventures
0 comments:
Post a Comment