We guide you through the maze of starting and growing a young business. We do not merely offer buzzwords and fad-of-the month "solutions," but rather in-depth help in realizing your vision. We do not guarantee that your business will succeed, but we maximize its chances for success.
WHO WE ARE: We work with you to completely understand every nuance of your business and industry. Then we use that understanding, combined with our expertise and experience, to help you reach your goals.

We offer concrete analysis and concrete solutions, not buzzwords. We do not offer shiny-sounding empty phrases, devoid of meaning. We do what we say we will do, and we will communicate openly and honestly. If we believe we cannot create value for you, we will tell you that up front.

WHO WE ARE NOT: We are not all things to all people. We are specialists in startup business consulting.

We do not cram your business into a template. We do not advise public companies or those with more than $20 million in revenues. We are not the lowest cost or one-size-fits-all solution.

WHAT WE OFFER: We offer a complete set of services targeted to create success for startup businesses. We help plan and implement your business, through seven core services:

1. Business plan creation and writing
2. Financial modeling
3. Marketing plan creation and writing
4. Legal & other partner coordination
5. Website design and creation
6. Negotiation support
7. Board support

A professional, polished business plan is critical at every step of the startup process. Our expertise and experience create customized business plans that accomplish your goals. Our communication skills, deriving from our expertise and second to none, result in fantastic business plans.

WHY YOUR BUSINESS PLAN MATTERS: A business plan serves several critical functions. For companies at their earliest stages, it focuses the thoughts of the founders. For companies already in business, it focuses them on the fastest and most direct route to profitability. And for a company at any stage, a polished business plan is critical for raising capital. Without a top-notch, compelling business plan, no matter how good or unique your ideas and how capable your execution, your business will wilt if your vision, coupled with a coherent strategy, cannot be communicated to others in a clear, compelling manner.

Most business plans are awful. They are badly written, incoherent, focus on the wrong areas and make biased, unvalidated and unrealistic assumptions. An awful business plan materially increases the chance of business failure and precludes any chance of outside investment. We offer the opposite: we offer business plans that are polished, compelling, custom-built and designed to accomplish each goal of your specific company with its specific needs.

ANSWERING THE READER'S QUESTIONS: Our plans, unlike cookie-cutter plans, anticipate what the reader, whether investor, employee or partner, wants to see and know. Our plans answer their questions and concerns directly and openly. Frequently we answer latent and below-the-surface concerns, creating a sense of confidence in the reader and helping your business make the progress it needs to make.

INVESTORS: With most outside investors, you have to break through the cloud of other business plans. We help you do that. A key component of attracting and retaining investors' attention is a thorough, realistic and factually-based plan. Investors are used to seeing hundreds of business plans; most of those plans are utterly unrealistic. We help you support your plan with real data, real research, and market validation. We model the variables that matter in your business, and we use those variables to base your plan on detailed and logical assumptions.

PROCESS: Our business plan creation process is designed to save costs and reduce risks. Creating a clear focus at the inception of a business reduces money spent, as well as frustration, at later points.

We begin by extensive consultation with you and your partners, and by reviewing any material you have already prepared. We then research the industry and consult with you again. We continue frequent consulting as we draft each plan.

Our business plans are therefore individually created in close collaboration with our clients and tailored to your business. We do not take another plan off the shelf and change the names. We use our consultation and research to provide extensive analysis of your business, refinements to your strategy, appropriate timelines, capital needs and uses, and analysis of the management team and employee needs.

CONTENTS: Our business plans include market opportunity analysis, competitive environment analysis, how to differentiate yourself from your competitors, business strengths and weaknesses, and risk analysis. Each business plan is supported by extensive financial modeling, an executive summary that grabs the attention of the reader, and a PowerPoint presentation for presenting the plan.

Financial modeling creates a clear vision of you business's financial path. With that vision, you can value your business, plan your future, more easily obtain outside investment, and react to the ever-changing environment of every business. In collaboration with you, we execute industry-specific, powerful, flexible and clear financial models.

WHY YOUR FINANCIAL MODEL MATTERS: The purpose of a financial model is twofold. First, it clarifies our client's thoughts and expectations regarding key financial metrics, including valuation. Second, it presents the business in the form of financial data that is both cohesive and supportable, in order to present to potential investors and partners.

Another way to look at this is that the financial model shows your capital needs, for your benefit, and the return on investment, for the investor's benefit. At the same time, it provides rigorous analytical insight into the feasibility and profit potential of a startup business, adding clarity to your thoughts before you actually may enter the business.

WHAT DOES A FINANCIAL MODEL CONTAIN?: A financial model usually includes an income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement, combined with company-specific analysis and statements. A complete financial model presents this data, and subsets of it, both in detailed chart and summary graphic form. Both types of presentation are necessary, depending on the target audience.

COLLABORATIVE CONSTRUCTION OF FINANCIAL MODELS: Because modeling of startups is heavily dependent on accurate and defensible assumptions, we work with you to determine growth rates, pricing, market reach, cash needs, operating costs, cost of goods sold, and other financial forecast and cash need items, all combining our client's knowledge with our industry-specific research and experience.

FINANCIAL MODEL FLEXIBILITY: The completed financial model is not static; it is a tool that is continuously useful to our clients. Our clients can, without our further assistance, adjust assumptions, modify data inputs, and, most important of all from the investor perspective, run scenarios such as best- and worst-case, rapid growth, and so forth.

OUTPUT FORMAT: The complex model we create is simultaneously designed to create output that is simple yet powerfully communicative. This output includes easy-to-read charts, graphs and tables, which can be included in business plans, marketing plans and other presentations. The key metrics in this output will create clarity in the audience, immeasurably benefiting your business.

Naturally, we can create any type of output you need or find useful, and the underlying model can be used to create an infinite variety of outputs as needed in the future.

ONGOING OPERATIONAL BENEFITS: Also flowing from the financial model are ongoing operational benefits: budgeting and forecasting; financial implications of major business decisions; and analysis of the best way to structure vendor and customer contracts.

Marketing plans can make the difference between a good idea that goes nowhere and a good idea that makes a business owner wealthy. We offer polished, researched, coherent and industry-specific marketing plans that offer real strategic value, not the empty mission statements and generic suggestions found in some "marketing plans."

DO YOU NEED A SEPARATE MARKETING PLAN?: Not every company needs a separate marketing plan. For many companies, particularly those in the planning phase, a marketing plan is a subset of the business plan. But for a company trying to grow itself from a small niche to a major player, a marketing plan is critical. We work with you to determine your specific needs.

WHY YOUR MARKETING PLAN MATTERS: A marketing plan focuses a company on how it intends to capture the customers. It prevents companies from simply saying "We'll be first" or "We'll be be the best"; contrary to legend, simply building a better mousetrap does not make money. Marketing the mousetrap does.

Similarly, a marketing plan is critical when a company is trying to raise capital. If investors see that you do not have a clear, logical and likely-to-succed marketing plan, whether as part of your business plan or standing alone, they are highly unlikely to invest in your company.

A good marketing plan gives you new insight into customer wants and dislikes; focuses on the best customer targets to pursue; and creates a cost- and effort-efficient game plan for reaching customers.

CONTENTS: A stand-alone marketing plan goes into greater depth than the marketing sections of a business plan, to include customer and competitor segmentation and analysis; detailed suggestions for branding and positioning; advice on advertising and public relations; and analysis of the interrelationship of business strategy and marketing, all in a manner designed to make the most efficient use of capital.

Each marketing plan is supported by financial modeling, an executive summary that grabs the attention of the reader, and a PowerPoint presentation for presenting the plan.

PROCESS: Our marketing plan creation process is designed to not duplicate your past efforts or our efforts in other areas, such as creating your business plan. Focusing your attention on a clear marketing strategy reduces money and time wasted on ill-thought-out and unproductive marketing; the end result is an enhanced chance of explosive growth in your customer base.

We begin by extensive consultation with you and your partners, and by reviewing any material you have already prepared. We then research the industry and consult with you again. We examine, among other things, your current position, your opportunities, your competitors, your growth and trends in your business and the relevant market as a whole. We continue frequent consulting as we draft each marketing plan.

Our marketing plans are therefore individually created in close collaboration with our clients and tailored to your business. We do not take another plan off the shelf and change the names. We use our consultation and research to provide extensive analysis of your business, refinements to any existing marketing strategy, appropriate timelines, and capital needs and uses.

Any business relies on a web of helpers to face a host of challenges. Some challenges can be mastered by the founders; some challenges require the help of outsiders.

Mamau COnsulting is not expert at everything. Businesses commonly face legal issues that require legal expertise. Businesses also face other needs that call for finding partners with specific expertise.

We advise you when and where you need legal or other outside advice, and we coordinate obtaining that advice from partners in making your business succeed: top attorneys and other advisors.

EVERY STARTUP BUSINESS NEEDS PARTNERS: It is extremely rare for a business to achieve success by the lone efforts of its founders. To overcome challenges most effectively, every business needs to partner with established advisors who act as a trusted extension of their business.

Such advisors include experienced business attorneys, industry-specific experts, business brokers, human resources specialists and commercial finance institutions. Their role is to advise and create solutions to technical problems and to provide credibility to third parties that the problems that inevitably face a business are and will be addressed, even if the founders lack expertise in those technical areas. And obtaining funding is extremely difficult unless you are perceived as having trusted legal and other advisors.

This does not mean that you need a staff of expensive partners, each dipping their nose in the trough. Our role is to help you identify where you need additional help, decide if our expertise covers that area, and if it does not, to assist you in choosing and supervising the correct advisors.

HOW WE HELP: Searching for, locating and evaluating a business attorney or other partner takes a lot of time and requires expertise in itself. Choosing someone from the Yellow Pages is not an option. And once you've located and selected a partner, negotiating the alliance at a reasonable cost involves substantial nuance.

We offer the ability to source the right partners, access the right decision maker, and then work with you and them to create a strong and lasting alliance.

LEGAL ADVISOR COORDINATION: Starting any business is a potential legal minefield, from non-competition agreements with former or current employers to securing intellectual property protection in your company's products. Without the right legal advice, you risk losing the results of your labors, or of spending vastly more a short time later than if you had adddressed legal issues at the startup of your business.

OTHER PARTNER COORDINATION: Similarly, having the right partners can reduce your long-term costs and allow close focus on making your business succeed. If you need to fill a key employee position, you may need a human resource specialist to find exactly the right person. Depending on your industry, you may need technical insight not available among the founders. Mamau Consulting can help you find the right partner to fit each of these needs.

A good website attracts new customers and is useful to your current customers. Much website design focuses on flash and glitz, not function. We do the opposite: we design and build websites with your customers' needs, wants, and desires in mind.

WEB SITE DESIGN & CREATION: A polished website is an absolute necessity in today's business environment. We believe strongly that without a website that is both polished and functional, a business finds it materially harder to succeed.

WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT OUR WEBSITE DESIGN?: Each website is unique, not created from a template, and each website is designed to be the best in your industry. Except in rare cases, we recommend against constant music and moving pictures, which distract from your core message and functionality.

EFFICIENT DESIGNS THAT ARE EASY TO USE: Many website are frustrating to navigate, because the links are not logically laid out and clearly marked. Without a website that instantly appears easy to use, potential customers will frequently simply jump to a competitor's site. We ensure that there are multiple intuitive ways to find information on your website.

WEBSITE FUNCTIONALITY: Some of our clients simply need a basic website to convey information about their business. Others need complex websites that permit shopping, calculation of pricing, and other dynamic functions. We can do both, and all types of websites in between.

COMPLETE INFORMATION: We work with you to ensure that every question a potential customer may have about your product or service is easily available. We test our websites again and again to make sure that customers, even those with limited technical ability, will never get confused or frustrated when using your website.

REASONABLE COST AND FREE UPDATING: Websites are created for a fixed fee, set before beginning work. Each website is custom designed to your exact specifications and needs, not created from a template. And unlike some designers who nickle-and-dime their clients for changes, The creation fee includes all minor changes and updates to the website for a period of three years.

Negotiation is a critical element of any startup's success. You have to negotiate among the founders; with existing and potential employees; with funding sources; and with a wide variety of critical partners.

We offer our extensive experience in negotiation to assist in this process. Most people are not experienced in negotiation; many people are uncomfortable negotiating. We bridge the gap for you.
CAN YOU NEGOTIATE?: Negotiation has personality, experience and knowledge components. Without the personality for negotiation, and experience in creative negotiation resulting in optimum solutions, your company will not be well served. And without the knowledge of how to approach a particular negotiation, you will not succeed in getting the best deal.

Negotiation is not everyone's strength. But skilled negotiation is key to success at many turning points in a company's development. If your personality, experience and knowledge don't include negotiation, your company is probably better served by bringing in outside help to negotiate.

SHOULD YOU NEGOTIATE?: Even if the skill set of the founders of a company includes negotiation, it is not always in the best interests of the company that a key internal person conduct negotiations. Frequently, a party perceived as more neutral, such as Mamau Consulting, can achieve a better outcome, either in combination with one or more founders or by itself.

WHAT WE DO: We fill the gaps in your negotiation needs and skills.

We assist negotiations among founders. We will not negotiate for one founder against another founder, for then we believe we are hampered in our ability to further provide services for the company, if we are perceived as not being neutral among internal parties.

Every business has a board of directors or its equivalent. Having an independent, experienced voice on the board is invaluable both to the founders, to avoid an "echo chamber" effect, and to outside investors, who look for a steady hand as an extra layer of protection for their investment.

Some companies find that an advisory board is the right solution for them. An advisory board does not have the same responsibilities as a board of directors, but its members still help to guide the company and assure outside investors that their investment is secure.

WHY HAVE AN OUTSIDER ON THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS?: An independent, experienced voice or voices on your board of directors helps immeasurably with your company's success. A frequent flaw of startup businesses is a tendency for the founders to reinforce each others' existing views. An outsider alleviates that problem. Investors also realize this, and having a qualified outsider on the board of directors provides further assurance to investors that they have made the right choice in funding a company.

In addition to these "internal" advantages of outside participation in the board, a good member of the board of directors can also bring "external" advantages, such as a deep set of contacts and industry-specific experience. Those contacts can help you find outstanding employees and partners, and can even help you find the customers you need to get your business off the ground.

WHAT Mamau Consulting DOES: On an individually negotiated basis, members of the group are available to serve as members of the boards of directors of clients.

We also assist in finding other individuals, qualified in specific industries, to serve on boards of directors. Each company is different, so the exact mix of experience and skills that will help a company and be attractive and reassuring to outside investors will also be different. Mamau Consulting helps you to determine which individuals meet your company's goals. We then help you locate those individuals, and help persuade them to join your company's team.