Bizhaven, founded in 2018 by Alex Wicks and Anna Towne, offers white glove HR & Safety services to simplify HR for business owners and help them to more effectively run their companies, save money, stay compliant with state and federal laws, and avoid costly fines and litigation.
Bizhaven starts each engagement with a thorough assessment that results in a customized service plan managed by dedicated, highly trained professionals. They are able to operate either on-site or virtually which has proven critical during the last several months as they’ve supported companies of all sizes with their COVID response plans. “The Growth Factory program is exactly what our local entrepreneurs and SMBs need to navigate the current and ongoing challenges of growing a company,” says Alex Wicks, CEO of Bizhaven. “We are thrilled to be working alongside the HaneyBiz team to create Sacramento success stories.” Bizhaven and HaneyBiz will kick off their partnership with an initiative to help employers understand and prepare for the future of HR. Over the next year, they will be gathering data, sharing trends, and providing education on topics like talent, benefits, culture and employee engagement, workplace, innovation and more. They are excited to engage regional businesses in this conversation. To participate in the focus groups and receive the Future of HR report, please contact us. About HaneyBiz Founded in 2011 by Mark Haney, a serial entrepreneur and angel investor, HaneyBiz provides local founders with access to the capital, business services, and an engaged community of entrepreneurs, experts, and investors that they need to launch and scale a successful company. facebook, linkedin About Bizhaven Bizhaven was founded in 2018 by Alex Wicks making HR & Safety simple for business. As an all-inclusive premium service for compliance, Bizhaven provides employers unlimited consultation with dedicated HR and Safety subject matter experts who spearhead the charge in creating and implementing stronger processes to better protect the business and lower its overhead. Facebook, linkedin  Sacramento, CA, July 2020 – HaneyBiz, a leader in the Sacramento region entrepreneurial ecosystem, announces the launch of the Sacramento Growth Factory designed to provide hands-on growth consulting services to help early stage startups and small businesses build the capacity to rapidly scale.
“As we assessed the Sacramento region, we talked with too many founders who struggled to find capital or customers in the region. There are so many great programs in the region to help a company get started. Achieving the traction necessary to secure growth capital is what Founders are missing. We are uniquely positioned to support them.” says Rick Spencer of HaneyBiz. “Not only do we have a seasoned leadership team of former CEOs and CFOs that come alongside these founders, but we have a portfolio of trusted partners who can provide cost effective technical expertise in areas like HR, technology, software, legal, accounting and more.” Over the last several years, HaneyBiz has been integral in catalyzing and promoting entrepreneurship in Sacramento. Last year, CEO, Mark Haney publicly set the goal of investing in and supporting 100 companies that reach $1M+ in revenue by 2029. Mark and the HaneyBiz team call this “group to be” the “Backyard Business Partners” as they plan to celebrate these CEOs with a party in Mark’s backyard. With an angel investment portfolio of 35+ local companies, including local stars like Trifecta Nutrition and eScreenLogic, as well as successful exits like Free Form (acquired by Nikola Motors) and RizKnows, they are well on their way. “Entrepreneurs are the heroes of the American economy and I believe they are the answer to economic recovery in a post COVID era,” says Mark Haney, Founder of HaneyBiz. “Growth Consulting is not only an obvious next step for this team but is needed now more than ever to help our entrepreneurs…and our communities succeed. Everything an entrepreneur needs is already here in the region. With more case studies of growth, the region can advance entrepreneurship as a leading source of sustainable economic growth.” The program launched this month working with HaneyBiz portfolio companies, like Hello Puddin’, a premium natural foods company aligned with the region’s goals for precision nutrition in Food & Agriculture. “The HaneyBiz team sat down with me and did an in-depth assessment of my business. From that, we customized a program to address my biggest needs: funding, sales growth, and executive support,” said Danielle Gormley, Founder of Hello Puddin’. Non-portfolio companies are eligible for the program. Interested companies should submit an application.  The PPP was designed to keep people employed, businesses open, and rent and mortgage payments current. Once you understand what the program is trying to achieve, it becomes much easier to understand the rules, develop a strategy for compliance, and put together a successful application for Loan Forgiveness. A review of the terms: The PPP loan is a 1% interest rate loan that matures in 2 years. Payment is deferred for 6 months. There is no prepayment penalty, meaning you can repay the loan at any time before the maturity date. There is no collateral or personal guarantee required. The PPP loans are 100% guaranteed by the SBA with no personal guarantees of payment to the SBA. Lenders are not allowed to collect fees from you or be paid out of the PPP loan proceeds. The loan amount is based on your average monthly payroll cost for 2019. You can receive 2.5 times that amount, to help cover eight weeks of payroll. PPP loans may be forgiven in their entirety (principal + interest) as long as:
You will apply for forgiveness through your lender and provide thorough and accurate documentation of the uses of the funds. The funds can be used for:
Timing & Documentation are Critical Beginning on the day that the loan proceeds are deposited into your account, you have eight weeks to spend the money. Maintaining documentation along the way will increase your chance of spending the money appropriately so that you maximize loan forgiveness. What documentation will you need? While the SBA hasn’t confirmed specific requirements for the forgiveness application yet, here is the documentation that we recommend that you start gathering: Bank Statements & General Ledger
Payroll Provider Report, Historical Payroll Provider Report, Proof of Rehiring There are two payroll tests you need to pass. TEST 1: Is (total payroll paid over 8 weeks / loan amount) greater than .75? TEST 2: Is the number of full-time equivalent people on the payroll now greater than the number of full-time equivalent people on the payroll during the periods: February 15 - June 30, 2019, OR January 1 - February 29, 2020. If you rehire employees laid off between Feb. 15 and Apr 26, pay their back-pay and restore their salary to the pre-coronavirus level, the total spending may be used against the 75% payroll requirement. Note: Payroll for an individual is only eligible up to $100k & 1099 contractors are not eligible. Invoices & Statements, Bank statements & General Ledger Up to 25% of the loan can be forgiven if it is used to cover eligible expenses that include:
How should I Account for PPP Loan Funds and Expenses in my accounting system? As you receive and then spend your PPP funds on qualified expenses ie: payroll, utilities, rent, you will want to track as you go. This will give you visibility into your spending rate and allocations during the 8 weeks which is critical data when trying to maximize forgiveness. It will also save you time when you go to apply for forgiveness. Here are a few things tips to help you track activity in your accounting system: Chart of Accounts Create an “Other Liability” account When PPP Funds get deposited into your account, create a new account in Chart of Accounts under “Other Liability” and name it clearly ie: CARES Act PPP Funds It will live there as a liability on your balance sheet until / unless your loan is forgiven. Create an “Other Expense” account (see below if you have the Class feature available in your accounting software for an alternate tracking method) Create a new account under your Chart of Accounts – just like you did for “Other Liability” and this time create one in your “Other Expense” and name it something simple PPP expenses. When expenses come in related to PPP Loan, put them in this account – so payroll related to PPP will go here instead of in payroll (for the time being), utilities will go in here instead of in utilities…After you’ve filed for forgiveness, these expenses can be moved back into their usual categories. This is simply to help you streamline the reporting process. Use the Class system Tag an expense in your existing accounts – create a class for PPP and tag all expenses that come through and are related to PPP with this class. At the end of the 8-weeks you can run a report by class and all expenses that were tagged will appear. Super easy! Set Reminders The 8 weeks will go by fast. We recommend that you set multiple reminders to check in and track your usage of funds to ensure that you are spending in the right categories, with the correct ratios (75% payroll, 25% other qualified expenses) and that you are on a spend rate that will result in dispersal of the maximum amount of funds possible within the 8 week time period.  Way back in February 2020, our client, an established national business with a valued brand and solid market position, was looking forward to a great year. Sales were up, top line revenue was growing, and their balance sheet was strong. Then, COVID-19 forced a shut down and shelter in place. Our team got the call. This client’s sales, heavily driven by customers in travel & entertainment industries, were predicted to drop by 90%. Just like that. Understandably, they were panicked. The situation felt out of control. We gathered our team of accountants and advisors, many of whom have lived in the startup world, where risk and runway are always top of mind, to craft a plan. The result was a Cash Action Plan that you can apply to your business. Here’s what we did: Quality of Books, A Rapid Balance Sheet Review As you go through this process, we can’t overstate the importance of having accurate, up-to-date books. This is THE foundation of your plan. For companies that we haven’t worked with before, we always start with a balance sheet review. At a high level, if the balance sheet is correct, the profit/loss will ring true. We look at all accounts and check for indicators like when reconciliations were done and how closely account balances match bank balance. If these check out, we have enough confidence to proceed with planning based on the current numbers. If they don’t, we do not pass go – we start with clean up. Solvency Analysis, Assessing Your Cash Runway We the move to assessing solvency. In some cases, income becomes negative, and the cash runway can be measured in the number of months before the company runs out of cash. Step 1: Using the balance sheet,calculate a modified pro forma cash balance: cash plus receivables minus payables. When considering your accounts payable and receivable it is important to make necessary adjustments from the numbers on paper. Are there receivables in jeopardy of not being collected? Are there payables you may elect to defer? Adjust your numbers accordingly. Step 2: Determine how your revenue will be impacted. We like to use the average trailing 12 month revenue as a baseline. Then adjust accordingly – in this example down 90%. Your situation may vary greatly. In the case of our client, steps 1-2 looked like this: 
In the client example shown, the company was profitable pre-crisis. Once the crisis affected revenue, if they did not make any operating adjustments, they would have only had 2.5 months of cash available. With adjustments, we were able to get them to just over 5 months of cash in the bank which at the time was absolutely critical. Note: As you go through this process, we encourage you to think worst case scenario so you can understand what your run rate would be in the event, for instance, what is your available runway if you have NO revenue coming in? While this may be unlikely, it will give you a baseline and you can build from there. Outside of making headcount adjustments, accounts receivable and payable are where you can make the biggest adjustments, so we are going to do a deeper dive on those. Accounts Payable -- Vendor Triage
The Accounts Payable Aging Summary is a go to report for CFOs and Controllers. Here is how we use the report in the Cash Action Plan. Step 1: Review for accuracy. Is anything missing? Step 2: Go through each vendor and rate:
Step 4: Build a vendor by vendor negotiation strategy. It’s important to remember that everyone is hurting at the moment. From your counterparty’s point of view, negotiating a deferral of payment or balance reduction is often better than receiving no payment at all. Accounts Receivable – Collecting from Customers Now we are going to apply this methodology to the other side of the coin: customers. Step 1: Review for accuracy. Have invoices actually been sent? Often times in small businesses, invoicing can slip. Step 2: Go through each customer and rate:
Step 4: Build a customer by customer negotiation strategy. What do you want or need? What can you give? Where can you be soft and where do you need to draw hard lines? We suggest creativity regarding how and when you will take money. Offer payment plans or extend deadlines. Getting cash later is better than not getting it at all and with significant stress throughout the system many people are in the same boat. We believe that through honest conversations, much of this can be worked out. Non-cash Asset Liquidation and Available Credit For the last part of the Cash Action Plan, we are looking at what assets can be liquidated and what debt can be renegotiated. Step 1: Review fixed asset schedule and identify items that aren’t being used right now but have potential cash value. Does it make sense to sell these assets? Is it possible to sell into current market? Step 2: What debt instruments are in place? Is there an opportunity to renegotiate payment terms and timelines? The Plan Going through this process results in an actionable plan to help you cut costs, find cash and ultimately extend your runway so that you can outlast this crisis. Note: We recommend creating multiple versions of models of the Cash Action Plan. What do the best case, base case, and worst-case scenarios look like? In the case of our client, going through this exercise provided them with more freedom to operate and gave them the breathing room they needed to focus on strategy and solutions. The result: They’ve since identified how to introduce their products and services into new markets where there is current high demand and are in the process of making that pivot. Need help developing your Cash Action Plan? Reach out to us HERE. Provided by Consolidated Communications, a valued Alliance Partner of HaneyBiz  Is your organization prepared to defend against security threats? How susceptible is your business to security threats? The reality is that no matter what industry you are in and no matter how large or small your company is, you are at risk of data breaches and other cyber threats. Those incidents can cost your company in many ways. While risk mitigation efforts come with costs, those costs pale in comparison to the financial, regulatory, and reputational risks businesses face when their cyber security efforts fail. So, how prepared is your organization? If you’re not prepared to answer that question, it’s time for a detailed assessment of your organization’s security posture. Security Posture: The Basics Simply put, your “security posture” is the status of your company’s IT infrastructure, and its preparedness to ward off would-be attackers. Your security posture involves your business systems and information, your people and processes, and software and hardware. More than simply each of those elements on an individual basis, your security posture also encompasses the dependencies and interrelatedness between them, as well as the capabilities you have in place to protect them. Finally, your company’s security posture also includes your capacity to change, adapting to ever-evolving threats in the information technology and cybersecurity landscape Assessing Your Threat Susceptibility and Preparedness To truly evaluate your organization’s current security posture and conduct an effective threat assessment, you need to have a solid picture of your organization’s risks, including SaaS, social networking, and other applications used, web browsing activity, file transfer types and applications, and potential threats. A threat assessment should help you address the following questions:
Takeaways from the Security Posture Assessment Process Most organizations lack the tools to adequately review their own security postures, and to conduct industry comparisons. Finding a resource to provide an assessment would be beneficial to any business, large or small. Consolidated Communications does offer a complimentary Security Lifecycle Review designed to help companies gain greater visibility into their systems can provide great insight on where a business may choose to focus and improve their security strength. After reviewing several key areas of your information security infrastructure, we prepare a customized report detailing our review and bench marking your security preparedness to other companies in your industry. Your report will include an executive summary with our key findings, giving you the numbers you need at a glance. From there, you can dive into each of the review categories to explore our analysis in detail. We also provide tailored recommendations, to help guide you as you work to strengthen your company’s security posture. By understanding your security posture better, you can take action to improve it. Ultimately, this should help you improve threat prevention, more effectively identify threats when they occur, and reduce resulting downtime Working with a trusted partner for your business’ communication and networking needs can help put the tools you need in your hands.   Provided by HaneyBiz, proud partner of Five Star Bank Five Star Bank’s main goal is to serve businesses in local communities. HaneyBiz is proud to partner with a bank that is highly customer-focused and that invests heavily in the successes of the companies they work with. Five Star Bank customer Arun Ohri, owner of Jubilant Earth Nursery is a pioneer of the agriculture technology industry. Part of what makes Jubilant Earth Nursery so special is Arun’s passion for both agriculture and science. By combining the two, Arun successfully clones the DNA of almond trees to create nurseries full of superior quality almond and walnut trees, making them able to grow efficiently and effectively in the California climate. Manny Phagura, Five Star Bank’s Senior Vice President, Business Development Officer has been working with Ohri since 2015 and has provided a listening ear, trust, and respect ever since. To learn more about how Five Star Bank has helped Arun Ohri combine his passion for technology and agriculture to create a thriving business, click here or watch the video below.  Provided by HaneyBiz Sponsor Legion AVS  Legion AVS is an event production company dedicated to partnering with clients to produce well executed, high quality event experiences. In addition to providing the equipment and expertise, they go the extra mile by working with other vendors, and taking care of unexpected last-minute tasks. Danny Burke, Director of Events and Founding Partner of Legion AVS, shares some insight into pitfalls clients fall into when planning events and how to avoid them altogether.
 Legion AVS will always be by your side every step of the way through your event to ensure customer satisfaction. Visit their website to see how they can help you!
 DSA Technologies works with a wide range of businesses, that face many of the same security challenges over and over. Most of these issues are preventable or can at least be mitigated with the right care and awareness. Here’s what the resident expert Michael Reese at DSA Technologies shared with being the most common problems that you should keep an eye out for. 1.Phishing Schemes Phishing is the crime of deceiving people into sharing sensitive information like passwords and credit card numbers. Nearly all successful cyber-attacks begin with a phishing scheme. These attacks are responsible for over $12 billion losses globally! Usually the attack is delivered in the form of an email and will demand that the victim go to a website and take immediate action. If the user clicks the link, they are sent to a fake website that imitates a real website. From here, they are asked to login. The criminal now has your information to cause more damage. 2. Cloud Cyber Security Threats Cloud computing, or the use of an internet source to store information, has grown significantly. Most people assume that cloud storage is safe, but this isn’t necessarily the case. If your provider offers minimal security your sensitive data could be easily accessible to hackers. The amount of security your cloud server offers is usually in the terms and conditions. These can be muddy waters. Don’t be afraid to talk to an expert on how to navigate these threats. 3. Ransomware/Malware Ransomware is like malware in that they are both criminal software used to take control of your computer and/or your information stored. Ransomware attacks are on the rise. Companies like DSA Technologies can help you build your line of defense through software against this type of attack. It’s estimated that an organization will fall victim to ransomware every 14 seconds in 2019. A single attack could leave you out of business for a week or more. Could you afford to be out of business that long? 4. IoT (Internet of Things)IoT devices include internet enabled devices (i.e. iPhones, Amazon Alexa, Printers). There will be more than 20 billion IoT devices by 2020. How are the increasing amounts of data being secured? In most cases it’s not.There are manufacturers who have no security on their IoT devices, meaning anyone can access them. With so many devices being used, businesses should be aware of the security in place on IoT devices. Each device represents a different access point for attacks. With the rise of internet enabled devices the rise of attacks is inevitable. Ensure that your devices for your business are secure to protect sensitive data. 5. Single Factor Passwords Single factor passwords are when you use a username and a passcode to log in. This is traditional and the method most websites maintain. Unfortunately, most passwords can be cracked in a matter of minutes. A second line of defense can help you and your business protect your data. An added defense line is the use of multi-step or two-step authentication passwords. This means that to log into your account, you can enter your password, but then a second step will require you to enter additional information, like a unique code sent to your cell phone. Having at least two steps make hacking your account more difficult in turn making your data less of an appealing target. DSA Technologies’ resident Cyber Security Expert, Michael Reese is there to assist businesses tighten their security. Visit DSA Technologies to learn more about how they can assist your business.   Provided by HaneyBiz Partner DCA Capital Partners What if money was not an issue? Would you develop new products or services? Make an acquisition? Accelerate your growth objectives? Take chips off the table? These require a great deal of capital, but there are many financing options to satisfy them. The best option for your situation will depend on the size of your business, state of your industry, objectives for growth, and timeline. Financing is available for privately held businesses that are in five general stages: startup, expansion, growth, stable, and decline. These five stages are not necessarily linear—a business can be stable for several years, then switch to growth stage, which is often the case when making acquisitions. 1. The Startup Phase In the startup phase, a business is still building its prototype and often times hasn’t sold product yet. During this time, a business can obtain financing through friends and family, as well as angel investors. This is the riskiest phase, so investors typically invest a smaller dollar amount and will require higher returns that appropriately compensate them for the risk being taken. 2. The Expansion Phase In the expansion phase, the business has a product (development is complete) and is ready to sell and has some revenue traction. In this stage, the business may access venture capital, but will struggle to access institutional forms of debt. Toward the end of the expansion phase, a business may be able to access bank debt and mezzanine debt. 3. The Growth Stage Ongoing cash flows and a clear structure for future performance define the growth stage. During startup and expansion phases, companies’ valuations are based on negotiations which rely heavily on the founders’ vision and forecasts of future performance. In the growth phase, valuations are based on public and transaction comparables, as well as discounted cash flow models (DCF). This phase is the sweet spot for private-equity funds because the funds can maximize returns without taking on too much risk, as one would in earlier stages. 4. A Stable Company A stable company is experiencing steady earnings and is focused on profitability. It’s not experiencing high growth, which makes it a poor choice for growth-equity investors who generally seek to double or triple their investments. This is where strategic investors come into play. Strategic equity investors are typically customers, key suppliers, or other parties who want to mitigate risks associated with a strategic partner—they will make an investment because they rely on the business being solvent. For this reason, they are not as returns-driven as private-equity firms or venture capitalists and their time horizon for return on investment may be much longer. 5. Decline When a business is in decline, financing can be secured through turnaround experts and special-situation funds. These parties are experts in the same industry who believe they have the ability and expertise to turn the company around. While turnaround funds will also typically take an equity stake in the company, unlike a private-equity firm, a special-situation fund will be extremely active, working on day-to-day management and operations in order to improve the company’s performance. To view DCA’s full article on financing options CLICK HERE About DCA Capital DCA is a leading provider of growth and transactional services to closely held and family-owned companies throughout the Western US. They also provide expansion and buyout capital to growth-oriented companies led by talented management teams. Their team of professionals is second to none, and their commitment to delivering optimal results for the companies they work with is unwavering.  |
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