A question for any VC's or Angel Investors here: How is your $$$ working for you? Have you gone to ground, or are you still seeking projects?

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Permalink Reply by James Tracy on December 29, 2008 at 9:43am

I agree, I hope everyone looks at this google search. secrets of the federal reserve by eustace mullins

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=t&ie=UTF...

I saw a VC fund, on linkedin.com looking to "invest", asking if it would be possible to "bet" on the point spread of sporting events? I thought that was truly scary!

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Permalink Reply by Paul on December 29, 2008 at 10:28am

Back in the early days of computers there was a business venture build around beating various sweepstakes & contests. In fact I know the guy who pulled it off against a supermarket chain in taxachussetts...

In the stores there were displays where you could take as many bingo tickets as you wanted. The drawing was Sunday night ~ 9:PM and the willer had until 10:PM to claim the prize. Naturally, the store believed that a person could only examine a few thousand tickets in an hour to find a winner... Well my friend and his wife would enter tickets all week long, and the computer could search and find hundreds of winners, then their filing system kicked in to locate the winning tickets out of the boxes of stacked tickets.

They were making thousands of $$$ per week (early 80's) -- until the store canceled the promotion in their area, and finally abandoned it by paying them a modest settlement, ostensibly to to avoid false advertizing suits from the state AG. We joked that the Kennedy's were pissed because Rob was a staunch Republican! He was told to take the settlement or face criminal charges...

There have also been attempts to 'but' the lottery. CT used to have a pick 6 out of 36 -- the pots were ~ $1.9M and $600k was enough to reliably buy it! -- Gone!

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Permalink Reply by James Tracy on October 3, 2008 at 2:39pm

I would like to know too, look at my site, page and vids. Since the bail-out bill passed, and adds research tax breaks, I am hoping someone will contact me. Thanks

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Permalink Reply by Joe Goodart on October 14, 2008 at 4:54pm

My wife still is playing with stocks. Day trading can be good when the market swings. We may have to wait a little longer for energy stocks since gas is below $3 looks like it could go to $2.25. We have some reservations about investments but all in all things are pretty nomal here. We still eat out and buy things. I'll buy a car when thing get worse and prices go down.

Joe

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Permalink Reply by Philly on October 25, 2008 at 11:28am

If people have discretionary income, now is the time to get into in the market. Buy stocks with a higher yield of between 4-6%, which is better than what you will get in the bank. Buy from well known companies like (ie.) Duke Energy (DUK), or General Electric (GE), or Kraft (KFT), not someone who is promising a yield of 11-17%, because chances are, you will not see that amount. Those are desperate companies that are looking for fast capital.

When you get into the market, plan to buy small portions of the stock, creating a layer effect. You don't want to jump in and buy a large chunk, and then see the stock that you bought, drop to a lower price. Also, with the volitility of the market, the large hedge funds seem to be selling at certain times of the day, for their investors who are clamouring for their money. Recently there has been a dip starting around 1:00PM ET, lasting a little over an hour, then the market begins to creep upwards, before closing at 3:00PM ET.

Unfortunately, so many people have been so busy living their lives for the moment, charging everything on credit cards, and then paying just the minimum amount, and then getting slapped with + 20% interest. I was fortunate to have grandparents, that experienced the Depression, and taught us to save for the future.

Wake Up America, you need to slap yourselves "Upside the Head" everytime you want to spend $5.00 for a cup of coffee, or anything over $1.50 for a beer. Or how about those who like to spend $5 - $10.00 for a mixed drink, or a glass of wine? Are you people crazy? Do you really need to have that coffee, or drink that bad? And how about those folks who spend over $5 - $10.00 for a daily lunch, and then go out everynight for dinner? And then you scratch your head at the end of the month and wonder where did all your money go!

You need to look at your all of your expenses (ie. Cable, Cell, Health Clubs), and stopping for fast food, because the kids have to be at all of their different practices, "because you didn't have time to cook!" And do you really need 250 channels, on a daily basis, or all of those excessive calls, or texting, or instant internet connection?

Have you forgotten America, that there are things out there like books, libraries, TV Antenna's, talk/sports radio, smaller cell packages, and face to face conversation, and family time that are readily available to you, if you just re-evaluate your lives, and slow down just a little bit.

Stop blaming the government for everything and start laying the blame on yourselves for your own rampant spending spree.

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Permalink Reply by Steve at work on October 27, 2008 at 9:10am

The investors are still out there. For every sale of stock at a reduced price there is a buyer that thinks he will make money on that stock at that price. Yes they seem to be looking for bargains, yes they are being careful, but they should have been doing that all along.

I have a farm that is appropriate for the developement of a wind farm. I am in contact with investors on a fairly regular basis for financial backing for the developement. Every one of them that has been a good possibility has been careful and not in a hurry. Lots of facts and figures needed to get them to look at you seriously.

I think that the farm/cattle business that I operate is a fair representation of what is going on right now in the economy. The prices on cattle ready to slaughter is down due to the economic slowdown. People are eating chicken at home rather than steak at a restaurant. The price that I receive for the cattle that I get ready to enter the feedlots is down about 25%. The cost of the corn to feed the cattle is down about 35%. Because my current breakeven is above what I can get for my cattle I am holding on to them and feeding them cheaper corn hoping that things will pick up when this mess gets a little farther along. Everything else is on hold. I can not take the chance of buying anything else now. I had planned to sell some timber this year. Some of it is high quality walnut that earlier this year would have brought as much as a thousand dollars a tree. Most of it would have been sent to China for their furnature business. China is starting to pull back on it's purchaces and the bid price is now about 70% of what it was. I will take the 70% on the larger trees as I need the money to survive this downturn and not sell the smaller ones. The cash I get I will use to pay down debt and increase my cash cushion.

The farmland that I own is down in value by about 10% but it was overpriced to begin with and really should drop another 10% to put the cost in line with the profit that can be made from it. Kind of like the stock market in that stocks cost to earnings ratio got totally out of balance and we are now seeing it come back into balance in both land and stocks.Maybe if it goes down far enough I will buy some more land and stocks at a price that will make me a profit.

Just some rambling ideas from an old cowboy.

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Permalink Reply by Arno Lundin on November 13, 2008 at 12:34am

Play out the ramble : Scene one the prices go down enough that you feel you should jump in. The land you buy helps the people involved in that purchase. The landowner and Realtor , Lawyer etc. If you buy shares in the market the shareholder you bought from benefits and the market people involved in the transaction.
The stocks you purchase does not raise any capital for the company unless you are buying shares issued from the company. How does this further our independence on foreign oil ? Why not make money while you wait and find a start up that can put some capital to use now? I know of several right now. My own and several others to choose from that are private and may never go public but are still poised for great returns. Is there risk you bet there is but if you meet the people that are using your capital and spend some time getting to know them you just may end up with more than a financial gain. Possibly a friendship.

Away I go rambl'n Steve you take care out there. I for one appreciate all the individuals that bring food to my table. It is hard work.

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Permalink Reply by Arno Lundin on November 13, 2008 at 12:13am

Issues are spoken of but seems dollars are still put through the system same ole way it has always been done. We not only need to see a change in energy we need to see a change in how capital gets to a start ups and how the investor is protected. I speak to people all the time and they are less willing to let a financial adviser invest for them because of the giant sums of money that seem to disappear and nobody goes to jail. Law suits rarely recover any meaningful amounts. So if people don't trust the players in the system what chance does a start up guy have of raising money. Players play with other players and what happens to the start up guy. What I have seen is; by the time a business vehicle is allowed legally to publicly offer shares so much has been spent on the entity with lawyers, accounting firms, market makers, underwriters, etc the capital required to actually go into the business is spent. In the mean time stocks went up some went down some made some lost but the business who cares players buy and sell shares. So start ups need not just capital for a business but they need to pay off all people along they way. My question is if a business plan requires 2 million for the people and equipment to produce a product which turns into profit How much does one need to actually ask for so as to afford all the people along the way which apparently are needed so the investor is comfortable with your deal. It is always the catch 22. If you are up running and making a profit you should be able to run your business without someone investing. If you have a plan and need capital to start investors want to see your team your team requires wages so you need capital to hire them. So in essence you have only a plan and investors would rather you some how work 3 jobs borrow all you can from family and friends hire what you can sell what you can and watch you fail then use your idea or plan. The deals I've seen fall on the greed factor alone even when someone comes to the table with capital. We are seeing it now with the banks hiding bad loans and selling them to each other. If players are beating each other what chance does a investor or a start up guy have? Does a start up have cash flow ? Sales ? Product ? Equipment? Employees? No They have a plan to use capital to put those actions in motion. They need the money to start. the last question is this ;Has any start up people out there raised capital and what were the requirements? I too seek start up capital.

Right now I back the billionaire who has stepped up to lead and hope the movement stays strong and completes it's goals. I back him with my voice and would love to back the plan with actions and the actions I know about need capital I know it is out there some where some one must have a story.

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Permalink Reply by Earl Allen Boek on May 4, 2009 at 9:38pm

Well I'm not certain how your search for start up capital is going. Let me suggest you form an LLC
as the umbrella you use for this purpose...attached to a good business plan you can then use
LLC membership interest as the investment tool. It has worked for me in the past...suggestion only.

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Permalink Reply by Arno Lundin on May 5, 2009 at 12:03am

I have a corp already that I planned to use for the same purpose. Is that ok?

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Permalink Reply by orren foster on November 13, 2008 at 11:46am

let me know what where and when to invest . i dont have a lot of extra cash but i am willinmg to put what ican for electric cars and wind generators

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Permalink Reply by Karl Buesching on November 13, 2008 at 9:41pm

$10mm looking for green projects. Email me your ES.

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