1. What does WAMUS Consultores do?
We help entrepreneurs prepare to raise capital. It generally consists of some or all of the following services:
Development of the business plan
Development of financial forecast
Presentation preparation (investor presentation)
Strategies development
Market research and analysis
Competitor research and analysis
Financial analysis
General coaching and advisory services
Capital formation strategy
Please note that we are unable to help our clients raise capital. This is a service that is heavily regulated. In general, only brokers authorized by the Regulatory Authority of the Financial Industry (FINRA) can legally offer this type of service. Make sure any "seekers" you speak to have the appropriate FINRA license before you hire them.
2. What industries do you specialize in?
We pride ourselves on our ability to quickly learn the fundamentals of virtually any industry or technology. Some of the markets we have served include green technologies, medical devices, biotechnology, internet / e-commerce, telecommunications, distance education / e-learning, real estate, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, food service, consumer products, media and entertainment, aerospace, artificial intelligence, business software, insurance, energy and networks. That said, we believe the value we bring is not industry experience, which you already possess in abundance, but rather an understanding of what investors like to see in a potential opportunity.
3. Can you guarantee that our plan will raise capital?
Of course, no. No one can make that guarantee (and if anyone ever makes that guarantee, it's a good idea to run away quickly). A good plan is essential, but a plan alone will not pay for itself. Although we will do our best to help you prepare, we have no control over how well you present yourself to investors or how well you answer their questions. We can advise and advise, but at the end of the day, it's your business and you need to close the deal.
4. Can you help us raise money?
Sometimes we can make informal presentations to potential investors or other intermediaries. In general, only brokers licensed by the Regulatory Authority of the Financial Industry (FINRA) can legally arrange financing (see Beware of search engines on our Blog). Seek legal advice and make sure any "seeker" you speak to is licensed by FINRA before you hire them. Failure to do so can expose you and your business to significant liability.
5. Have you ever invested in your clients?
No, we are management consultants, not investors.
6. Do we really need a business plan?
If you have a business, it's probably safe to say yes. In fact, you may need more than one business plan - one to raise capital and one to run your business. The first is a compact and easily digestible strategy document that is designed to persuade potential investors to pick up the phone and invite you to their offices for a kickoff meeting. The latter is a more detailed document that serves as your day-to-day roadmap, detailing the tactics that support your overall strategy. The first must be an attractive document that sells; The latter may be a collection of spreadsheets, lists, research summaries, and other documents kept in a binder that you can refer to and update regularly. We specialize in preparing the capital raising business plan, but many of the by-products are suitable for use in the operational business plan.
For additional information, see our article, Is the business plan really dead?
7. Why should we hire a consultant to write our business plan instead of doing it ourselves?
You could easily spend 500 hours or more preparing a business plan, financial forecast, and investor-level investor presentation, even if you have an MBA. This is the time you should probably spend building your team, product, distribution channels, and customer base. In addition to our experience in preparing these materials, we provide independent third-party information about your business and may ask questions you may not have thought of asking.
8. What makes your business plans so special?
The most important thing is that they work. In a world where fewer than 1 in 250 business plans raise venture capital, we are pleased to report that approximately half of our plans have raised capital, with a good portion of the remainder resulting in an acquisition or currently having investment commitments of investors from the previous round. Each plan is designed to reflect the specific circumstances of the client, but shares attributes that investors find attractive.
9. What makes your financial projections special?
Balances that balance. Cash flows, income statements, and balance sheets coming together (you'd be surprised how many consultants don't get the basics right). Totally based on assumptions, so you can do what-if analysis. Depending on your needs, we can include many very sophisticated functions; get more information about our financial projections here .
10. How does the process work?
Each situation is unique. However, some fairly common steps include the following:
Initial discussion to understand your basic needs.
Review your existing materials (business plan drafts, finances, market studies, competitor studies, etc.).
Follow-up discussion to clarify details and agree on project scope and fees.
Various in-depth discussions to better understand the details, develop strategies and agree on all the main elements of the business plan and financial model.
Conduct additional research, as necessary.
Write an investor presentation and review it with you to ensure that all parties agree with the high-level vision.
Write the executive summary and review it with you to make sure we all agree on the next level of detail.
Prepare a draft business plan for your review.
Begin filling in the details of the draft. Get and incorporate their comments.
Incorporate your income and expense models into the financial model and explain how it works so that you can take "ownership" of the finances.
Finalize all deliverables.
Advise you on the best way to present your investor presentation and how to address questions.
Provide ongoing support, including making minor updates to deliverables at no additional charge.
Depending on how we structure the project, you should expect to spend between 10 and 30 hours in the process during the course of a typical engagement.
11. How long does it take?
For a typical engagement, consisting of a business plan, financial forecast, and investor presentation, the typical time to complete is 6 to 8 weeks, as illustrated below. Real time can be influenced by the quality of your existing materials, the level of your participation, the complexity of your market and business model, and our current workload.
Some very simple projects can be completed in just a few days, and we've had other projects spanning over a year (of course, these commitments involved much more than just business planning).
12. Can you work faster?
Yes, but we may have to charge a "rush" fee. We typically work on multiple projects at any one time, and rushed projects can force our schedules or make other clients uncomfortable.
13. Will you agree with everything I say?
Only if you are always right. One of our jobs is to help you avoid mistakes. We will challenge your ideas and assumptions so that you are prepared for the tough questions when meeting with investors.
14. What happens after the final documents have been delivered?
We remain available, at no additional charge, to answer follow-up questions, provide advice, and make minor changes to the documents we produce for you.
15. How do you rate their services?
Generally, we charge a predetermined flat fee. The rate is determined by:
The scope of the project, in terms of the tasks and documents you need help with.
The sophistication and specific needs of your target audience.
The quality of your existing materials, including first drafts of business plans, financial forecasts, market research, competitive research, etc. For example, if you have a recent, comprehensive research report from a major market research firm like Forrester, our effort may be significantly reduced.
The clarity of your vision for your business model, marketing and distribution strategy, financial plans, etc.
Their availability and willingness to participate in the preparation of the business plan, financial model and presentation to the investor.
The complexity of your industry and business model.
The availability of industry information.
The desired time in relation to our workload. In general, “rush” jobs will have a substantial premium over projects that can be completed as our schedule allows.
Because of these factors, typical project fees, which consist of preparing an investor-grade business plan, financial forecast, and investor presentation, can range from a few thousand dollars to several tens of thousands of dollars. Dollars. By the way, if you are "buying prices", you should know that price does not tell the whole story. After all, would you choose one car over another simply because of price? Of course not, there are many dimensions to consider.
16. Is it worth the money?
We believe that we are, because:
We Succeed: We are aware that there are many low-level business plan consultants offering their services for less than $ 5,000. Some of these consultants do a good job, but your typical client is the small business looking for bank and SBA loans, not venture capital. Consider that even during the boom of the market, fewer than 1 in 100 business plans that came into the hands of a VC ever raised capital (and the figure is probably worse than 1 in 250 today). Who do you think prepared many of those failed plans? On the other hand, more than half of our plans have raised capital.
Your time is too precious - Let's consider a $ 20,000 commitment consisting of a sophisticated VC degree plan, finance, and presentation. In our experience, it would take most entrepreneurs a minimum of 500 hours to create comparable materials. If you choose to do it yourself, you are implicitly pricing your time at just $ 40 per hour. You can surely create more hourly value for your business by focusing on your product, customers, and distribution channels.
Professionalism adds value - we can complete the same commitment in approximately 100 hours. This implies a rate of $ 200 per hour. You are probably paying your CPA at least $ 200 an hour, your attorney at least $ 300 an hour, and your brand management consultant at least $ 450 an hour. However, these are all essentially commodities - a good lawyer is easy to find, but a good business planner is very rare. We believe our experience and specialized skills are a bargain compared to the many other professional services you employ.
17. Will you accept all or part of your fees in equity, or defer it until we raise capital?
Only in extraordinary circumstances and only if you are already generating income.
18. What is your refund policy?
Your initial payment is non-refundable. This is because by the time you have decided to hire us, we have already set aside time to work with you and may have even turned down other opportunities to provide you with the best possible experience. Subsequent payments are subject to a prorated refund if you choose to complete the project before we have fully earned the subsequent payment. For example, suppose your project fees are divided into three payments, each of which covers 20 hours of services. The initial payment covers the first 20 hours and the second payment covers the next 20 hours. If you change your mind about the project after we have invested a total of 30 hours on the project, you will be entitled to a refund of half of the second payment because we will have only earned 10 hours.
19. Will you sign a confidentiality agreement?
Gladly. We prefer to use a mutual NDA so that our own trade secrets can also be protected.
20. Can you send us samples of your work?
We can't email you a sample, but you can see several of our plans on our website . If you want a closer look, we can schedule an online screen sharing session via GoToMeeting or Join.Me , or in person in hard copy form.
21. Where are you and how do you work with clients outside of your local area?
We have our headquarters in San Diego County, California, and we have consultants in Baja California, Sonora, Sinaloa, central Jalisco and southeastern Mexico. We rely heavily on phone, email, fax, and online meeting tools, and we've never met half of our clients. If you wish, we are available to visit you at your offices for one or two days at a time.
22. What are investors looking for in a business plan?
Our views are summarized in our technical report, Why are business plans not funded ?
23. Under what circumstances does it make sense for us to hire you?
Many of our clients are looking to raise between $ 5 million and $ 20 million in Series B or Series C funds. Some are looking to raise more; others are seeking angel financing of as little as $ 1 million. Our clients must have a realistic view of what types of businesses have a real chance of raising capital, and they must have enough fuel in their tank to be able to go from 6 months to a year before raising their next round of capital.
24. Are your materials all we need to start looking for capital?
Not necessarily. Your attorney should be able to provide you with supplemental materials to ensure that your offering complies with state and federal securities regulations. You will also need to gather all the documents that investors typically review during the due diligence process, such as corporate bylaws, employment agreements, employee stock option plan, joint venture agreements, customer and supplier agreements, patent applications, etc.
25. What are your qualifications?
We are all seasoned entrepreneurs. Many have MBAs from top schools like Harvard or Stanford, and some have PhDs in scientific areas. Most importantly, we have a proven track record. Here short biographies of our consultants can be found.
26. Do you have references?
Certainly. We will be happy to introduce you to our previous clients. However, to respect the time and generosity of our past clients, we provide references as a final step before you sign the letter of commitment.
27. How long will it take us to raise capital?
If you have everything investors are looking for, maybe 6-12 months. Some raise capital more quickly. Some never get capital. Much depends on the nature of your opportunity and the effort you put into finding capital.
28. Is our company in the right stage to seek capital?
We will be happy to assess your situation for free. Please, Contact us .
29. Is venture capital right for us?
We will be happy to assess your situation for free. Please, Contact us .
30. What is the origin of the name of wamus Consultores?
WAM US Consultores is named after the founder's hometown is located in Sinaloa, Mexico.
The founder of WAM US , SThomas Camsa, loves the customs and ways of life of that region. When he formed the company in early 2016, he thought that "WAM US " would be a fun and unique name, and that it related well to his desire to create regional business plans!