Copyright 2024 SPARK

New information about application content

Have you read the FAQ regarding the 21st Century Jobs Fund competition recently?  Here’s the link: http://ref.themedc.org/cm/attach/18efd0c7-95d3-4a2f-89e4-cae672d8ecd2/20080428_FAQs.pdf

Here are some highlights that shed more light on  the RFP.

You already know there will be 2 types of loans, a straight loan and a convertible note.  Which will apply to you?  The MEDC says this will be negotiated with the SEIC Board.  Actually it will be negotiated with a MEDC person first since they bring recommendations to the SEIC Board or designated committee.  The key takeaway here is that it can be negotiated and if you want a straight loan be prepared to make a strong case for it because they would probably prefer the convertible note.

Here’s a biggy change in my opinion.  You are required to provide a 3 year projection of your balance sheet, income statement and cash flow.  The question was if they could all be put on one page.  The answer was 3 pages.  The big change is that these 3 pages are to be in your business plan and are included in your 25 page limit.  That means your business plan is really only 22 pages. For some of you this could be tough. If you are creative maybe you can put these forecasts on fewer than 3 pages but remember the minimum size font is 10.

Their definition of Indirect Jobs is much more clear.  This is a soft number that you can estimate.  How much space you use to explain this number is directly related to how important it is to sell your application.  If the manufacturer you engage to build your widget has to hire 100 people then it’s a big deal and you should explain how you got that number.  If you aren’t creating many indirect jobs then don’t waste a lot of time on it. Remember, 1099 employees are counted in your FTE count of your company.

More about the loans, they say repeatedly that the loan documents are still being created but will be on the web site as soon as approved by the SEIC Board.  Hopefully that will happen at their next meeting in early May. One very important clarification the MEDC has now made is that the loan will be collatoralized, and assets secured with this state loan will be first priority secured.

There is a lot more in the FAQ and we encourage you to check it out. We also encourage you to ask more questions, and sooner than later.

Give us a call if you want to discuss any of these issues further.