Financing your business, Advice from a banker Part.III

Of course, in the professionalism comes experience, knowledge of an industry, a successful career ... The CV is very important.
Bringing complementary skills (technical and commercial, for example) Is of course a plus, as long as you get to know each members.


Work on your project, surround yourself with expert advice, know your industry, customer needs, competition ... Anyway, approach your project with professionalism and clarity: do not believe that your enthusiasm will sweep away all obstacles, do not underestimate the take time for a commercial launch (convince first customers, establish a sales network ...) and a working capital plan accordingly. It is better to delay a project to launch a project badly put together ...

If you can, test your project on a small scale before you start making significant investments. Be ambitious but humble ... Know your skills and shortcomings, others (partners, for example) may be able to fill ... ultimately, the market is always right.



Banks do not invest, they lend. ... To be repaid. It is clear that they prefer to lend to sectors where there is visibility: Sectors in the launch phase, where many companies appear mushroom that will not necessarily be the stage of maturity, are more cautious investors in capital. Banks lend more readily to areas under development or maturity, when the continuity of actors is more stabilized.

Financing your business, Advice from a banker Part.II

- What (s) benefit (s) to go through a bank rather than a business angel or venture capital? What are the main differences?
We must differentiate
- Venture capitalists, who are willing to take a significant risk, financially equivalent to the creator and without warranty, in exchange for a higher expected return, usually at a horizon of 5 years.
Their involvement provides funding needs difficult to finance by banks (research and development, for example), but reduces the profitability of the creator who shares the capital gain by his activity.

- The bank lenders, who accept lower profitability (margin on credit) in return for lower risk that reduced by guarantees.
The use of bank lenders allows you to play the leverage and improve the profitability of capital (return on capital exceeds cost of credit), but a start-up and very innovative can only marginally be financed with banks will have recourse to capital investors.


- How is evaluating a project started by a bank? What is the importance of training courses or the contractor in this assessment? Loan Entrepreneurship

ultimately, the decision to finance a business is about trust: the banker said: "I have confidence in the ability of that person to go through with his plan, I feel good." For the creator, inspiring trust is to first show his professionalism, he knows the area where it will start, he thought his project and was given the resources, including human and financial, to succeed, etc...

Financing your business, Advice from a banker Part.I

Jacques Dumartin, professional customer adviser in a large national bank has agreed to answer questions to explain the solutions offered by banks to support the launch of companies and provides advice to maximize his chances.


The creation of a company share a first idea, a desire of the designer who will have to formalize its project to study the market, competition, quantify the necessary investment (including working capital needs development), building a business plan, evaluate its ability to financial support, to finally see a need for external financing. For these steps prior to the presentation of a banking record, the creator may be assisted by the ICC, accountants, support networks for entrepreneurship ...

Once the project led to the financial plan (financial plan, forecast, plan cash), still have to find bank financing.
These can take various forms: medium-long term credit for financing investments, short-term loans for the period Customer (B to B, factoring is a solution to be studied). The SLA can sometimes use to finance the needs intangible costs (not to mention the launching of working capital) and to facilitate the credit agreement ...

loan business creation Once the project is considered valid, have good chances of success, which is the essential first step, comes the question "what happens if things do not go as contractor and the bank provide? . That's where the issue of guarantees.
The first guarantees obvious, is the guarantees on property financed: pledge of goodwill, equipment ...

These properties undergoing a discount during a possible cessation of activity, additional safeguards are necessary for the bank can expect to recoup the capital lent: OSEO counter-example.
The deposit, at least in part, the entrepreneur is one of those additional guarantees and is a sign of motivation (50% maximum capital if counter-SAH).