VTC Tools and Tips

Recent Interviews

• Business Essentials | MasterCard Small Business | MasterCard® :
  

  "Wishing for money is fine, but action is the only thing that will get you your desired results. Ralph Alterowitz, president of Potomac, Md.-based Venture Tech Corporation and author of Financing Your New or Growing Business, says before the entrepreneur starts looking for outside capital, he needs to answer four key questions: 1. What do I need the money for? 2. How much do I need? 3. How quickly do I need it? 4. How much am I willing to pay for it?" More >>

• Tips for Reviewing Credit Terms with Suppliers - 2/10/2007 12:10:
  

  "Small business owners with high credit ratings may be neglecting an important opportunity to revisit credit terms with suppliers, believes Ralph Alterowitz, who has developed entrepreneurial curricula for graduate business programs at The Johns Hopkins University and is now president of Venture Tech Corp., a business consultancy in Potomac, Md. " More >>

• Creative Business Financing Options: Self-Funding:
  

  You may be surprised how easy it is to get to "yes." Make a list of the risks that you’ve been saving against; you may find few that wouldn’t be covered by insurance. And you may decide that those savings are there for this moment. "When you’re talking about a startup business, you’re talking about the substance of an entrepreneur," says Ralph Alterowitz, president of Venture Tech Corp., a Potomac, Md.-based business financier. "How badly do they want to do it?" More >>

Useful Tools

• Finance Tools Pdf - Forms to be used in conjunction with Financing your Business:
  

  There are eight key elements to consider in forming a strategic alliance.

  1. Strategic fit. Does the proposed alliance help both partners to implement their respectivestrategies?
  2. Advantage and benefit. What are the benefits each partner will receive from the alliance? Will these benefit increase each partner’s strategic advantage within its own competitive universe?
  3. Partner competence. Does each partner have the competences and capabilities needed toachieve the alliance’s objectives?
  4. Resource demands. Do the parties have the funds, personnel, and other resources the proj-ect requires? Are these resources sufficient to carry the project to the end? If either partydoes not have the resources today, will they be able to get them in a timely basis?
  5. Risks. What are the risks involved in attempting to achieve the objective? What is the likeli-hood that any of these risks will occur? What would its impact be? More >>