During these economic times the need to raise capital for your MLM startup has never been more urgent.  Not only is it a great time to jump into business–if you do it right–but creativity and determination is rewarded more than ever.

Meanwhile, the availability for investment funding has nearly dried up from traditional resources.  Bank loans are rare, venture capital is in limbo, the public markets are slow to recover.  And, you want to start an MLM?  Yes!  Start an MLM business and raise the capital you need to get started.

LaunchSmart is now demonstrating a whole new approach in gathering funds by accessing, presenting and providing the right information to a new breed of investor groups that are funding right now.  And they are funding MLM startups.  We have taken on the online social network world, made changes for the real world, and then adapted it for the recession to finally have a working system that brings investment for your MLM startup and Party Plan startup.

Contact us, and we will show you how to learn and then apply the secrets:

• How to get cash without a business loan
• Get funded without losing control of your business
• Three things to NEVER ask an investor
• How to get investors you never new existed
• Making a “Recession-proof” plan
• What ever investor is demanding in a recession
• How to find funding for you MLM startup, in your area . . . FAST
• Business changes to raise capital in a recession
• How to get funding using your social network

We have persisted in our quest to find the first-ever, proven solution to raising capital for your MLM startup.  Our “no-bull” approach has a proven track record of successful business development, assembling executive teams for your startup, raising substantial startup capital, syndicating venture capital and merging & selling companies.

To learn more about what’s going on, and to take advantage of our system for raising startup capital for your MLM or Party Plan, contact us when you’re ready.

A client has been very active in raising capital for their MLM startup and they presented us with the following:  “Both investors have concerns that raising $1M to $1.5M will not be sufficient to execute our plans.  How much do you think will really be required?”

The main focus we have seen in fast-growth companies is that truly, when demand hits you must be ready for it.  It’s more than an axiom that fast-growth MLMs fail from lost momentum, often due to lack of advanced planning and funding.  For instance, nobody with the best predictive modeling could have anticipated the now-famous Quorum 12-month growth plan.  They had only been in business for 16 months when I arrived as VP Ops / COO in January 2003.  December 2002, they had achieved a record $2.8 million in sales.  I arrived on the last week of December, between the holiday break, and got ready for the New Year.

In January, we hit $4 million in revenues.  February produced $8 million in Results.  March, $12 million.  April, $16 million.  May, June and July, $18 million each month.  August, $19 million.  September, $22 million.  October, $24 million.  November, $23 million.  December, $21 million.  Into 1994 the company leveled out at $18 million monthly on average for the year.  Their product?  Personal alarms, the “PAL” which is a pager-sized alarm for bag, purse, belt.  Non-consumable, one-time purchase.  Eventually, the company tried adding consumable products into their distribution stream, but by then the momentum had subsided.  Though it was a meaningful product, it was a “one-hit wonder” and the company eventually changed directions completely and went into Chinese vitamins.  I haven’t checked lately whether they are even in business.  If they are, it’s insignificant.  This is simply an illustration of a real business case of a company with the right product at the right time; it came out during a period of growing national awareness around abductions and personal security worries, long before 9/11.

Our client’s question involves an important and legitimate concern about ramp-up time for plant expansion.  The concern is vital, and it is the most valid reason behind the investors’ legitimate concerns about sufficient capital.  The best scenario would be additional rounds of funding lined up to meet contingencies, building cash reserves as well as raw material reserves to build inventories that will support demand as the company hits momentum.  This is particularly useful if shelf life is not an issue, or if it is a manageable issue.

One strategy, and the one we recommend to the client, is to move to full production from the beginning of the agreement and begin building inventory reserves.

The suppliers and manufacturers want the company to be successful and to reach its sales goals so that they can get to the revenues that they also desire to achieve.  They have the same agenda as the company has.  I watched Melaleuca build a significant supply of barrels of Melaleuca oil in anticipation of big growth.  They had an additional challenge of seasonal harvests, so they reinvested available profits back into a stockpile of Melaleuca oil.

Thus, useful questions for estimating required capital that will be used to fund inventory would include the following:

• What will be the lead time on manufacturing?  If short lead time and highly available ingredients, then you should feel more confident in funding inventories through growth.  Careful, don’t get overly confident, but it’s a good strategy if properly managed.
• Are there unique, seasonal, or rare ingredients that must be stockpiled?  Obviously, if you rely on a seasonal harvest of an ingredient, or if lead time demands more careful advanced planning, then your plan will of necessity require enough capital to purchase ahead

A client has been very active in raising capital for their MLM startup and they presented us with the following:  “Both investors have concerns that raising $1M to $1.5M will not be sufficient to execute our plans.  How much do you think will really be required?”

The primary concern with raising startup capital that we have seen in fast-growth MLM companies is that truly, when demand hits you must be ready for it.  It’s more than an axiom that fast-growth MLMs fail from lost momentum, often due to lack of advanced planning and funding.  For instance, nobody with the best predictive modeling could have anticipated the now-famous Quorum 12-month growth plan.  They had only been in business for 16 months when I arrived as VP Ops / COO in January 1993.  December 1992, they had achieved a record $2.8 million in sales.  I arrived on the last week of December, between the holiday break, and got ready for the New Year.

In January, we hit $4 million in revenues.  February produced $8 million in Results.  March, $12 million.  April, $16 million.  May, June and July, $18 million each month.  August, $19 million.  September, $22 million.  October, $24 million.  November, $23 million.  December, $21 million.  Into 1994 the company leveled out at $18 million monthly on average for the year.  Their product?  Personal alarms, the “PAL” which is a pager-sized alarm for bag, purse, belt.  Non-consumable, one-time purchase.  Eventually, the company tried adding consumable products into their distribution stream, but by then the momentum had subsided.  Though it was a meaningful product, it was a “one-hit wonder” and the company eventually changed directions completely and went into Chinese vitamins.  I haven’t checked lately whether they are even in business.  If they are, it’s insignificant.  This is simply an illustration of a real business case of a company with the right product at the right time; it came out during a period of growing national awareness around abductions and personal security worries, long before 9/11.  It also coincided with a mass exodus of distributors away from NSA.

Our client’s question involves an important and legitimate concern about ramp-up time for plant expansion.  The concern is vital, and it is the most valid reason behind the investors’ legitimate concerns about sufficient MLM startup capital.  The best scenario would be additional rounds of funding lined up to meet contingencies, building cash reserves as well as raw material reserves to build inventories that will support demand as the company hits momentum.  This is particularly useful if shelf life is not an issue, or if it is a manageable issue.

One strategy, and the one we recommend to the client, is to move to full production from the beginning of the agreement and begin building inventory reserves.  This is because the unique product has the chance to be a widely accepted product with global appeal, and manufacturing supply will possibly have challenges keeping up with aggressive growth scenarios.  Though the manufacturer can scale its capabilities, the client is safest to have a stockpile of the key ingredient.

The suppliers and manufacturers want the company to be successful and to reach its sales goals so that they can get to the revenues that they also desire to achieve.  They have the same agenda as the company has.  I watched Melaleuca build a significant supply of barrels of Melaleuca oil in anticipation of big growth.  They had an additional challenge of seasonal harvests, so they reinvested available profits back into a stockpile of Melaleuca oil.

Thus, useful questions for estimating required capital that will be used to fund inventory would include the following:

• What will be the lead time on manufacturing?  If short lead time and highly available ingredients, then you should feel more confident in funding inventories through growth.  Careful, don’t get overly confident, but it’s a good strategy if properly managed.
• Are there unique, seasonal, or rare ingredients that must be stockpiled?  Obviously, if you rely on a seasonal harvest of an ingredient, or if lead time demands more careful advanced planning, then your plan will of necessity require enough capital to purchase ahead