Happy Holidays!  In celebration of the season, and the entrepreneurial spirit, Growthink has created a video holiday card which you can view below:

Far too many businesses fail to raise capital because they lack the proper documentation, or because their marketing and offering materials (business plans, private placement memorandum,  investor presentations) are unprofessional, unpersuasive, inadequate or incomplete.

If you are raising capital from multiple private ("angel") investors, a private placement memorandum (PPM) is a necessary part of your documentation.  Unfortunately, however, the vast majority of entrepreneurs and business owners are not familiar with details of preparing a private placement memorandum and marketing a private placement offering.  In too many instances, this lack of knowledge prevents them from raising necessary capital, or -- even worse -- it can create costly liability problems.

To assist entrepreneurs, we created this report - "The Top 10 Private Placement Memorandum Mistakes" - to help answer some of the most frequently asked questions. We hope the report will help prevent many of the common errors we see businesses make during the process of preparing a private placement memorandum, marketing it to investors, and raising (or failing to raise) capital from private investors.

Some common questions answered in the report include:
- When do you need a private placement memorandum to raise capital?
- What types of disclosures must be made in a PPM?
- How can you market a private offering, while retaining a Regulation D exemption?
- What types of intermediaries and "finders" can promote a private offering?
- What types of investors can participate in a private placement?
- What are your options for preparing a private placement memorandum?
- How often should you edit or update a PPM?

Click here to download the report: Private Placement Memorandum Mistakes

If you are seeking professional assistance with your PPM, Growthink offers professional private placement memorandum writing and consulting services.  

Or, if you're writing your PPM yourself, you can use our Sample Private Placement Memorandum Template to finish your PPM quickly and easily, so that you spend less time "preparing," and more time speaking with investors.

Just yesterday, America's 3 largest automakers -- Ford, GM, and Chrysler -- all submitted business plans to congress. 

Here are the original copies of the plans:

• Ford business plan
• GM business plan
• Chrysler business plan

• Increased production of fuel-efficient vehicles and energy-saving technologies
• Rationalization of brands, models and retail outlets
• Reduced wage and benefit costs, including further reductions in executive compensation
• Significant capital structure restructuring
• Consolidation in manufacturing operations

Funds requested

• Ford is requesting a standby letter of credit for up to $9 billion. 
• GM is requesting loans of up to $12 billion. 
• Chrysler is requesting loans of up to $7 billion.

The potential repercussions...

• The automakers - especially GM and Chrysler - predict catastrophe if they do not receive the loans.
• In its business plan, GM claims that without "such assistance, the company will default in the near term, very likely precipitating a total collapse of the domestic industry and its extensive supply chain ... The cost of failure in this instance would be enormous for everyone."
• Chrylser argues that the $7 billion is "necessary to prevent further economic decline, if not outright economic depression."

What others have to say

• Recent polls have shown varying degrees of support for the bailout among the public.  
• According to a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, 47% of adults believe "providing loans and other help" to auto companies is "not very important."
• A poll conducted on Nov. 11-12 by Peter D. Hart Research Associates, found that 55% of Americans believe that the government should provide loans to American automakers, while 30% oppose.
• A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll, conducted by telephone on Dec. 1-2 with nearly 1,100 people, showed that 61% of those surveyed oppose government assistance for the major U.S. automakers.

Entrepreneurs: what do you think?

Here at Growthink, we're curious to hear what entrepreneurs -- who are used to shopping their business plans around to lenders and investors -- have to say about the automakers' business plans and potential bailout. 

As a supplement to our consulting practice, we're pleased to announce the launch of Growthink University, our new membership club dedicated to teaching entrepreneurs and business owners how to raise capital for their businesses.

The club assembles 10 years of capital raising expertise and methodologies developed and refined by Growthink, and gives entrepreneurs an additional "Do-It-Yourself" option to perfect their business plans.

Growthink University covers topics including, but not limited to:

• The biggest mistakes that entrepreneurs make when trying to raise capital and how to avoid them.
• How to overcome the capital-raising challenges faced by first-time entrepreneurs.
• The difference between pre-and post-money valuations and making sure you don't get taken by investors.
• The ten biggest mistakes that companies make in their business plans.
• The winning ways to get meetings with investors -- and the most important things to know before sitting down at the table.
• What financial projections need to prove about your business

Go to Growthink University (http://www.growthinkuniversity.com) to learn more.

How many times have you heard someone say, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket"?

When it comes to any kind of investing, this is very good advice.

But, if this is the case, why don’t private equity investors diversify?

Unfortunately, most individual investors in private equity significantly under-diversify their portfolios -- investing in one or only a handful of companies.  By so doing, they both greatly increase their risk profile and greatly decrease their probabilities of seeing investment return.

As the investing month of October mercifully draws to a close, there is now a palpable sense of calm in the financial markets.  While the horrific damage – in both value and psychological terms – is very, very real, and may take years from which to recover, there has been a healthy mindset transition to a “what is to be done” thinking, feeling and acting.

In times of economic crisis, far too many business owners revert to “safe mode” as panic spreads. A "responsible" course of action typically includes one (or more) of the following:

• Tightening purse strings
• Laying off key employees
• Putting growth plans on the backburner