Awesome YouTube Success Story! Lisa Lavie!
Published August 8, 2010 | 
Team Altman Awesome YouTube Success Story!
Unknown to many who might not pay attention and don’t understand fact that YouTube has had a huge impact on the careers of some very talented people including Justin Bieber by providing them a platform for potential exposure to millions of potential fans worldwide. 
Of course, they individually still have to do most of the heavy lifting by providing the talent, and it is their talent that quickly catches the attention of viewers who then take over by virally spreading the videos throughout the many social networks that make up the viewer networks.
Lisa Lavie is an extremely talented singer and songwriter originally from Canada, and is known for using the Web and YouTube to independently promote her own music and concerts, and we feel with great certainty that her talent would have eventually be discovered with time, but she decided early on and has been able to take advantage of the available technology to showcase her awesome singing talent, and we think most will agree that we’re glad she did. Enjoy the 3 Lisa Lavie videos below!
As always enjoy, and share the Music of Lisa Lavie!
Lisa Lavie “Angel” (Original)
Angel Lyrics
Tell me am I ever gonna find my Angel This life.
I’ve got him on my mind again and though I search I never win. I’m told that if you seek you shall find your Angel though I’m, I’m throwing most of my hope aside, but still praying I’ll be found in time…
Extra, Extra this just in, I’ve been living a lie from the beginning. I told myself No no one else, now I can’t help I’m laughing at this life that I am living. Tell me will the sun come out to play, I”m tired of living in this rain of Grey, with you stealing my Umbrella, ella ella Eh Eh Eh.
It’s been years, still I”m here wishing waiting wanting more, What he said he would give me.
Now the nights turned today carved in words, Displayed, Framed “I vow to you I”m ready”. If you could take this pain away, My tears are streaming oceans on my face, No more dreaming yesterday is yerterday. YEAH YEAH YEAH…
Tell me am I ever gonna find my Angel This life.
I’ve got him on my mind again and though I search I never win. I’m told that if you seek you shall find your Angel though I’m, I’m throwing most of my hope aside, but still praying I’ll be found in time…
Any other day, any other time and place, you’d still be on my mind, but now I’m letting go, won’t be taking this no more, I’d just be wasting my time.
Yeah you tried to show me you love me, you need me though you just deceived me and now I’m tired of waiting aimless in your arms.
Time goes by slowly, love dies, inside my soul cries, i’m holding on by breathing. I know my heart fought but it’s not caught the one that it ought, Ought,. I’m letting go, I’m leaving.
If you could take alll my pain away, My tears are streaming oceans on my face, No more dreaming yesterday is yesterday. Yeah Yeah Yeah
Tell me am I ever gonna find my “Angel” this life, I’ve got him on my mind again and, and though I search I never win, I’m told that if you seek you shall find your “Angel” though I’m throwing most my hope aside, but still paraying I’ll be found in time..
You don’t know what you’re doing to me, Baby
I know you don’t care, but one day you’ll see.
Today will be the day, tonight you will refrain, now that we are moving seperate ways away from we. Enough…..
Tell me am I ever gonna find my Angel This life.
I’ve got him on my mind again and though I search I never win. I’m told that if you seek you shall find your Angel though I’m, I’m throwing most of my hope aside, but still praying I’ll be found in time… 
Beyonce – Halo (Lisa Lavie)
Awesome Annoying Orange Video! Cruel as a Cumber!
Published July 31, 2010 | Team Altman Awesome Annoying Orange Video!
You’ve heard of “cool as a cucumber,” well this is “cruel as a cucumber,” as Orange wants to impress Cucumber, but doesn’t know exactly how. Luckily he gets some help…from himself and his “Devil Orange” and “Angel Orange” conscience, which answers the question, “What gives Orange a headache?”
As always enjoy, and share Cruel as a Cucumber!
Power in Understanding Investors
Published September 2, 2009 | 
Each day we are asked by Entrepreneurs about investors that might be interested in their business projects, that are poor candidates for lender or bank funding for reasons from collateral issues, to equity injection issues, to new market issues, all of which can greatly increase the amount of risk exposure to the point where banks are not in the fundamental position to approve even limited funding, if any at all, and many Entrepreneurs have a limited understanding and knowledge of just what investors are all about.
An investor is someone who places money into a business usually receiving an ownership or partnership stake in the business, and they are looking for high growth industries and markets and experienced management teams, and investors also undertake a great deal of risk since most of the money they provide is unsecured, therefore in many cases they seek very aggressive rates of return on their money.
It must be remembered and considered by Entrepreneurs that an investor is undertaking a lot of risk, therefore they may want a substantial share of ownership in your company, but just as important, investors typically don’t want in forever, usually after three, five, or seven years they want to exit the business, and if you have a problem with giving up ownership in your business then you’re going to have a very big problem in securing outside investment.
It’s important to understand the kind of money investors provide your business, which is typically not a loan and therefore not debt-based capital. In other words, since they are not providing your business with a loan, equity-based capital is placed in your business, and equity is money provided to your business in exchange for an ownership stake in the project.
Clearly, some advantages of equity are that equity capital can be much more flexible than debt, since there are no collateral requirements for equity capital, and repayment terms and conditions can be tailored to the needs of the business. Usually, payments to investors can be put off until the business exceeds break-even or reaches a certain level 
of profitability, so needless to say, this can really help the cash flow of an emerging business, and also equity capital can be a great way of raising large amounts of money for your business.
Advantages of having investors, are investors contribute to the credibility of a startup or growing business through their scrutiny, certification, and investment, and investors can also draw upon their own reputations and contacts to help the startup secure customers, employees, suppliers, and so on. Indeed, most Entrepreneurs that are recipients of venture capital indicate that the advice and mentoring they received from their investors was worth more than the money itself.
It is just as important for Entrepreneurs to know the disadvantages of equity which can come at a very steep price, while a debt-based bank loan might run you say 6% to 10%, an investor or venture capitalist seeks much higher rates of return around 20% to 
40%. Also, as stated earlier, equity investors generally want to share the business so you’ll have to give up some ownership (difficult for many Entrepreneurs to come to terms with), and while these investors don’t want be involved in running the day to day operations of your business, they usually want a seat on the board of directors where they can influence the decisions of the management team.
When determining when equity-based capital should be used, it is important know equity capital is well suited for startup and later stage growth businesses that require large amounts of working capital, or involve a new product launch, and banks are most assuredly not fond of lending working capital to a business, especially if they are in the startup phase. The reasoning is simple, that when a dollar is spent on payroll or advertising, it is gone forever and cannot be liquidated by the bank should the borrower default on the loan, so instead, this is the domain of the equity investor, and the investor is willing to take on more risk, for more reward of course.
When defining the types of investors in general, outside investors fall into three broad groups, Seed Capital from friends and family, Angel Investors, and Venture Capitalists, and these three groups differ with respect to the type of deal they are looking for, the size of the deal they want to do, and their specific motivations behind the investment, and Entrepreneurs need to understand and become familiar with each group, the deals they look for, and motivations specific to each investment.
How to Obtain Angel Capital – Part 2
Published February 20, 2009 | 
From the angels point of view most commonly they will value a company at a lower price than the entrepreneur would, for example, let’s say you have a young company that is presently little more than an idea and the team, and from the angel investors point of view, ideas are cheap since it’s the execution that adds value, and potential investors haven’t a clue at this stage of your company’s ability to execute.
When structuring the deal angels will ask “How are you structuring the deal?” and they’re in effect asking two separate questions. The first is on what terms will the angels invest, In other words what type of financing will the angels provide, either equity or debt, what kind of equity, will investors get their cash back before the entrepreneur does, and will the angels have the right to invest in future rounds? The second question is what role will the angels play in your company going forward; will it be silent investors, active ones, or something in between?
During negotiations, the angels tend to focus on the numbers, specifically their initial ownership stake, and the negotiation process tries to spell out just how much of your company you’re going to give up and on what terms. Angels have the advantage of time on their side, while you may need their investment quickly, they most likely won’t face the same time pressures, on the contrary, many angels prefer to take their time during negotiations, not least of all in the hope that you’ll eventually come around to their terms.
An angel’s investment should be just the beginning of the interaction, since angel investors can help your company move toward what investors call “value events”, and these events are anything that can improve the real or perceived monetary worth of your company, as well as its chances for success, and examples include signing deals with strategic partners, lining up venture financing, and landing big customers.
Keep in mind it is a two way street during the support stage of the process, and the best entrepreneurs provide regular updates, maybe two pages worth sent once a month to all their investors, not only does that let the investors know what’s going on, but it also makes them feel they’re an important part of your company.
Finally, harvesting is what investors called the process of getting back their investment and then some, and it comes in five basic forms including, “walking harvest” which occurs when your company distributes cash directly to its investors on a regular basis, a “partial sale” when you’re investors sell their stakes to your company’s management, another stakeholder, or an outsider, a “strategic sale”, when a competitor acquires your company for strategic reasons, and your investors received their negotiated share of the acquisition price, a “financial sale”, when a buyer outside your industry acquires your company for its cash flow, and your investors receive a negotiated share of the acquisition price, and finally the “Initial Public Offering” (IPO) when your company sells stock in the public markets creating a market for your investor shares.
How to Obtain Angel Capital – Part 1
Published February 19, 2009 | 
In defining angel capital Angels are high net worth individuals or small group investors who place money into a business that is still too small to obtain venture capital funding, and much of an Angel’s value of their involvement is their business experience in willingness to assist growing the business, and make no mistake though, they are looking for a return on their investment as well.
What the angels are looking for are companies with high growth potential, proven management and sufficient information about the company, its management team, and its market to be able to assess the company’s value, and on average, Angels expected 10 to 15 percent above the S&P 500. Typically, Angels invest in companies seeking between $50,000 and $1,000,000, and Angels generally prefer to finance manufacturing or product-oriented ventures, especially in the high-tech fields.
One of the traits of a good Angel are contacts, since you want the angels who can help you locate suppliers, customers, and employees, and ideally, your angels will know important players in your industry. You also want someone with industry experience and understanding of your business, such as an angel who can help you anticipate problems before they arise, and angels who have previously raised the money themselves tend to be easy, quick, and direct to work with. It’s several times easier to deal with someone who’s been an angel before, then it is to work with the first timer, and the ideal angel has a personal net worth of $2 to $50 million.
In the evaluation phase, angels size up your company’s fundamentals in four main areas including people, as you the entrepreneur and your management team, but also your other investors, advisers and stakeholders, your business model, market size, potential and actual customers, and the timing of the opportunity, external factors that could affect your business including available technology, customer needs, the overall economy, regulation, and competition, and the price of the deal you propose and its structure. Price starts with your company’s valuation, and structure refers to the terms of the investment/board seats, salary limits, and so on that can affect the likelihood and the size of the angel’s return on their investment.
How much the valuation is worth is about putting the monetary value on your company, and the valuation process addresses such questions as, how much is the company worth, how much money are you trying to raise, and what amount of ownership are you willing to give up?
The value is determined as angel’s price your company based on its potential capital
in the future, and the share of the potential gain they ought to get in return for their investment depends not only on the amount of money they contribute but also their time, reputation, contacts, and opportunity cost, and by the same token, your company’s future returns to the angels are not just financial. Your angels could enjoy such intangibles as the excitement of launching a startup, a sense of contributing, and an opportunity to give something back to the entrepreneurial world.
From the angels point of view most commonly they will value a company at a lower price than the entrepreneur would, for example, let’s say you have a young company that is presently little more than an idea and the team, and from the angel investors point of view, ideas are cheap since it’s the execution that adds value, and potential investors haven’t a clue at this stage of your company’s ability to execute.