Financing the Smaller Enterprise
There are two cases that offer a unique insight into financing new ventures. The first is from a very controversial episode in American finance, one that has been badly coloured by the press. Some would suggest the problems underscored by the media were part of an “establishment” campaign to discredit a revolutionary method for financing. The second case is a grass roots, entrepreneurial approach that offers future new venturists a unique technique for raising venture capital.
Michael Milken: junk Bond King
Until Milken joined Drexel Burnham Lambert, a New York investment banker, in mid-1970, the route to venture capital for companies wanting to expand was guarded by Moody,s and Standard& Poor’ s rating services. These two institutions did then, and still do, determine which corporations will qualify for bond issues and which will not. Most high-tech, innovative companies did not (only 5 percent of U.S. companies actually met the qualifications) resulting in the lockout of thousands of companies from the long-term debt market.