PATRICK BRADFORD CONSULTING
Frequently Asked, Expertly Answered
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
1- How do I reduce my expenses during recession and crisis?
It depends on your financial status and many other factors, but in general it is very important to seek the help of relevant team members, credible advisors, consultants or coaches; Make sure you produce an action plan, communicate openly, involve, align and update all your stakeholders periodically.
2- What does it take to open a business or become an entrepreneur?
There is no standard recipe for such a question but from our experience and multiple encounters, we would illustrate it with few words: To start you need vision & passion; To continue you need perseverance, education, hard work and sacrifice.
3- What is financial education?
It is a bundle of information that includes 5 main points: Understanding your business system, learning where to go for expert advice, acquiring the proper skill, finding opportunities, learning risk management.
4- What are the benefits of financial education?
There is too many out of which are: Staying abreast and informed of the current and future trends in business, understanding your financial matters, improving your financial well-being, taking correct financial decisions, and possibly reaching financial freedom where you do not longer require a job or a boss on top of you.
5- I have money, where should I invest it? or should I save it in the bank?
It really depends on your vision, the level of risk you would like to take, the degree of involvement you would like to exercise in the investment, and the reason why you are investing, for example, Your investment philosophy or mission etc.…
6- I have a business idea how can I make sure it works?
Patrick Bradford can help you from the very beginning starting with an assessment, usually the program starts from the idea stage until we reach the stage where you have a business, a system that works and generates income.
7- How can I find out that my idea is acceptable or worth the efforts?
Basically, you must capture 3 main components that are related to; financial profit, creating jobs and environment friendly; if your idea is able to satisfy those three factors you have a great start. The best way to find out is when you present it to investors; this is where we help you with the readiness program.
8- How do I turn my idea it into a business or into a project?
With Patrick Bradford and on average, it takes you about 7 weeks on a full-time basis to turn your idea into a project or into a business; This means those 7 weeks are the first milestone of your venture by the end of which you have an executive document, tools, skills and readiness to start attracting investor’s money,
9- What does it mean MPV (minimum viable product)?
It is a sort of product prototype or a service prototype that we help you develop in order to be tested in the market, the reason behind this test is to find out how valid, acceptable, needed and practical your idea is.
10- Do I need an MVP (minimum viable product) in order to present my idea for fundraising?
No, you do not need an MVP in order to present your idea, but it is definitely much more valuable to business angels and investors if you have one ready. Having an MVP is not mandatory in every program, it really depends on whom you are presenting your business idea to. Each situation/program is case specific.
11- What do investors look for before they extend capital?
It depends on the type of investors you are connecting with, there is to many categories such as institutional investors, venture capitalists, group investors, etc…. Basically, they like to see in your credibility, professionalism and documentations backing up your presentation and proving your statements, they also want to see a certain size market, the ability to grow the business in the future, technology integration, financial projection, agility and the attitude to adjust to new situation.
12- What comes next once my idea and MVP are developed
This is the stage when you start or continue testing your MVP in the market to collect feed-back, this exercise helps you in adjusting the features of your MVP accordingly, this will also help you attract more clients and possibly more investors.
13- Where should I go in order to present my business idea and raise capital?
There is too many entities that you could approach, it depends on your location, and few other factors. Our main key performing indicator is connecting entrepreneur to capital, Patrick Bradford will guide you in detail.
14- Who would give me money in return to my business idea?
It is very probably that venture capitalists and established entrepreneurs would give you money in return to your idea, some start up founders received help from family and friends and others received grants from social enterprises; connect with us to learn more.
15- When would my new business start generating profit? And, what happens after?
Profit could be described in many forms, such as hard assets, intellectual property or revenue. Each of the mentioned categories could be related to a different date or a different milestone; Revenue starts coming in after you introduce your product or service (MVP) to the market and after clients start paying.
16- What are the main stages that a start-up has to go through?
We recognize 5 which are the following: “Ideation” is when preliminary research is being done in regard to problem that needs to solve and a market that needs to be filled, it follows with “Seed” funding, “Prototype” launching, revenue stage, “Scale Up & more finding” and finally until it becomes an “Established” company.
17- What is a business plan?
A document used to communicate your vision and philosophy with your investors and lending entities, it includes information about your strategies, financials, human resources, marketing, legal, markets, the team associated, and all stakeholders related to your business (On going journey)
18- Is “business plan” a standard document?
The level and depth of a business plan depends on the size of the business, the life stage of a company or a project and the reason behind producing a business plan, it is not a standard document.
19- Do I need a business plan in order to get financing or funding?
It depends on what type of funding you require as well as the financing entity’s conditions, and many other factors, this is case specific, some projects do not necessarily require a complete business plan to qualify for capital.
20- Is the business plan the only document I need for raising funds?
No, it is not the only document. Sometimes a financial feasibility study with a pitch deck could be sufficient to raise funds or at least to start the campaign of raising funds.
21- What do I need to have ready in order to raise funds for my business?
It depends on the maturity of your business as well as the funding amount you are targeting, it also depends on the financing entity’s requirements, in some cases a well-prepared financial feasibility study with an executive summary could be sufficient to start or qualify.
22- Can I run my business on my own or, do I need to find partner /co-founder?
It depends on the degree of involvement you would like to have in your business, we believe that having a proper partner/co-founder is always an advantage.
23- What should I do in order to find a partner /co-founder?
You should undertake a study and an assessment in order to uncover the traits and qualities of a partner that fits well with you, this exercise will help you create a balanced team in term of strengths and weaknesses, it could be a lengthy process, but it is vital to a successful partnership.
24- Is investing suitable for me?
If you learn how to invest from a financial education point of view and if you apply the learning, you will be able to invest with a very reasonable level of risk and you can reap many rewards, but if you decide to invest without acquiring the proper skills and the proper knowledge than investing could become very intimidating and risky.
25- Is entrepreneurship good for me?
If you learn how to become an entrepreneur from a financial education point of view and if you apply the learning, you will be able to venture with a very reasonable level of risk and you can reap many rewards, but if you decide to do so without acquiring the proper skills and the proper knowledge than entrepreneurship could become very intimidating and risky.
26- Is being an entrepreneur or a business owner better than full time employment?
It depends on the kind of person you are and on the level of risk you are willing to take, and mostly on the reason WHY you are considering entrepreneurship, an assessment should be made, entrepreneurship does not have fix income in the beginning and in many cases it does not have income at all in the beginning, while on the other hand it is very rewarding and it could change your life and the life of many people around you in a very positive way
27- I am an entrepreneur, how can I prioritize my business decision?
This is a broad question, but in general you must 1- categorize your business priorities 2- identify the effect of each category 3- chose which priority is the most important one to tackle, this exercise will help you have a clear understanding in regard to managing priorities.
28- I have a start-up, I think I need a Business Plan but how can I do it or how do I start?
If you are enrolled in our BUSINESS PLAN SERIES program, the best option is to attend all the sessions which will provide you with a comprehensive understanding about how to structure a business plan, after that you are welcome to book a free coaching session to discuss further steps.
29- Can you help us find direct investors?
Yes, we do, 1 of our main keys performing indicators is connecting business owners to capital via various programs, and there are multiple types of investors that could be in the vicinity looking to provide capital based on certain criteria.
30- Can you help us find investors in any country?
Yes, the start-up ecosystem is global and connected; We can help you reach investors in any eligible country according to many available programs.
31- I am not sure where to start from, what should I do?
Get in touch with us we will be more than happy to help you by starting an assessment specific to your case.