Thoughts on various topics of interest. All posts are the opinions of the authors and not necessarily the views of Finch Walker LLC.
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
How much risk is an entrepreneur really taking?
Monday, July 13, 2015
The SBIR program -- one way to get an innovation funded
There’s a sister program of sorts called Small Business Technology Transfer, or STTR (and yes, the various government agencies are aware that the initials don’t match the name of the program, but no one seems to really care).
Monday, June 15, 2015
HR no more?
I have a masters’ degree in human resource management with an emphasis in organizational development. It doesn’t seem like I was attending my masters' classes that long ago, but apparently, having a degree in "HR" means I'm old school.
In the past couple years we’ve been hearing more and more about how the term “human resource” is being replaced and the concept is being tweaked.
A recent blog in Forbes (you can find it here) applauds the demise of the term, mentioning (as an example) that Cisco has changed one person’s title from Chief Human Resources Officer to Chief People Officer. The owner of Reputation.com blogged that they have a Chief People Officer, too (his post is here). Other companies are replacing the term in the same or similar ways. That’s nice.
There’s a danger here, though. When leading companies make changes like this, there seems to be a tendency for other companies to follow suit, without addressing real issues.
In other words, they do little more than put lipstick on a pig.
As the Forbes author rightly points out, the term “human resource” is old. It originated over 100 years ago, after employment issues evolved from serfs, slaves and indentured servants to Bob Cratchit, The Jungle and early 20th century labor organizations.
The term is associated with the concept of people as assets.
A number of research studies during the ensuing 100 years or so showed that, overwhelmingly, people work better when:
- they are properly matched to tasks that they enjoy and that provide fulfillment,
- they are treated well and with respect,
- they are challenged, motivated and inspired by management,
- they are provided opportunities to attain statuses and/or things of perceived value (e.g., promotions, awards, etc.) and, last but certainly not least,
- their needs are met.
So, will the new terminology reflect the important values and factors that result in the best, most productive and, not-so-coincidentally, happiest employees?
If doing away with the “human resource” term means that you’re getting rid of 1850’s-era southern plantation owners and Ebenezer Scrooges, then great. Toxic managers, like all toxic employees, need to be identified and excised – quickly. They are real liabilities.
Uh oh – if they are liabilities, does that mean that good people are assets after all?
Let’s make sure we keep both off the balance sheet. It would be tough to explain to an auditor.
Thursday, May 21, 2015
Our first post . . .
A: <10 pages
B: 11-20 pages
C: 21-50 pages
D: Over 50 pages
The answer: all are correct!! And . . . all are wrong.
Welcome to Finch Walker LLC’s blog! We are business consultants (someone once told me the word “consultant” was an euphemism for “unemployed”; that’s not always true, and it’s certainly not true for us, but it’s kinda funny).
This is our first blog post and hopefully not our last. While we can’t promise to be consistent in our postings, we can promise to strive to make them somewhat interesting.
Now, regarding the business plan thing above, over the years I have consulted Entrepreneur magazine, the Small Business Administration, a business expert panel at MIT, dozens of business lawyers, angel investors and venture capitalists, not to mention a ton of blogs, websites and books.
They all tend to say different things when it comes to the length (and sometimes the content) of the ideal business plan.
I confess that this is a little unfair of me. A business plan, of course, should be just as long as it needs to be to get the message across and to entice the reader to act in a positive way.
If the person you’re targeting likes to read shorter plans, make it shorter. If he or she wants more detail, include it. I know that’s a little obvious and maybe more than a little simplistic, but it’s the truth. Believe me — I’ve been there. Many times.
It just ticks me off a little when people try to say the best plan is always X pages.
We’ll talk about stuff like this in the future, I hope. And we’ll talk about other things as well that might be of more interest.
I won’t be the only author (I’m sure you’re happy about that) and the specific subjects will vary. I think it will be interesting.
So, thank you for checking this thing out — we hope you’ll like what we say and enjoy the experience.
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Know what you're missing
A friend of mine is a partner at a venture capital firm in Los Angeles. He says he sees about 1500 business plan each year and, in a good year, they will fund maybe 6 or 7.
When evaluating businesses for possible investment, he has told me that he looks closely at the company leadership, and he wants to see two main things: passion and business acumen.
Whenever he watches an entrepreneur eloquently describe his dream, and sees the excitement and fervor in the presentation, he always looks on the staff for "the nervous, book-ish person; the guy with the bow tie or the shy woman with the glasses." If he/she is there the VC will feel much better about the enterprise.
He feels that many businesses fail because they lack a key resource (financial controls, management, etc.). He feels you need to have both the passion and the business knowledge. And he wants any new business to at least understand what they are lacking.
The point is, it's a good idea to take a long, hard, honest look at your company and see what resources you're lacking before you present to a potential investor. You should at least be aware of areas you need help in, and admit to those needs, before you look for investment cash.