Should I include owners' salaries in my startup budget for loan application?

No that pricing is too high as the maximum finders fee that is offered is 2.2% i.e. 440K max. Although if he is doing other tasks for you other than finding the investor that price may change. Traditionally the commission is as stated 2.2%.

I don't have any tools or articles off the top of my head, but I can share some tips on evaluating decisions like this. I think there are two key questions to answer when evaluating investment decisions like this. First, what is my outcome I hope to get? Secondly, are there any objective metrics I can use to evaluate whether I've achieved that outcome? The first question is to help bring clarity on why you are making the investment. For example, if you decided to invest $30,000 in marketing for your company, you could do that a lot different ways. In order to deploy those funds most effectively, you need to be clear on the outcome you are trying to get. Is that outcome more awareness of your brand? Or is it to generate new business in the near term? The first objective would lead to one type of marketing, perhaps targeting advertising. The second objective might lead you instead to a lead generation program, perhaps by hiring a third party lead gen firm. Once you've answered the first question, you can move on the second one regarding metrics. This question is important because it leads you to how you are going to measure and hold your organization accountable for the success of the investment. So if you are investing in a lead gen program, you need to quantify how many incremental qualified leads the program should generate which then lead to X number of new customers which leads to X amount of new business. Then you can decide if it's a good investment before you spend the money, and you have an objective measure of whether it's successful as it progresses. Keep in mind that not everything will have objective measures of success. For example, if you are investing in a branding awareness program, it's going to be much harder to measure that success objectively. However, you should still try to have some measure or idea of what success looks like at the end of that investment. In this example, perhaps the firm handling the campaign has some measures they can track based on their experience of whether the campaign was successful. I think answering these two questions before you spend any money within your organization is important, not just major investments. It's a little mental math you should go through in your head each time something new comes up. Why am I doing this (what outcome do I hope to achieve, what needle will this move) and how will I know if it's successful? Sometimes it just 30 seconds in your head, sometimes you get the management team together and talk it out. Hope this is helpful.

If your looking for financing and not wanting to give up equity you could try to get venture debt. Check out Hercules http://www.htgc.com/ and their competitors these companies can provide big loans. Be ready to provide a lot of info on your company and your financial health. Be aware these companies exist to make money so make sure you end up with payments you can handle. You'll also have loan covenants which will outline certain financial performance metric you'll need to hit. If you miss covenants your loan terms will change for the worse and it can even end up with bank taking control of your company. Obviously a worst case scenario, but you need to be aware and make sure you are very comfortable with the covenants you agree to. - mike

Generally speaking - having access to more capital is a good thing - particularly when you aren't hemorrhaging equity to get access. Have you talked to the bank about closing on your "need" amount, and having them convert the remainder into a line of credit? Beyond that - this really comes down to a few loan terms, and some math. How does it impact the payment? Are you comfortable with the payment on the higher amount? How does it change your break even point at the cash flow level? Are there prepayment - early payment penalties? If so, are they worth the additional capital in the event you don't utilize it and want to pay it down? How is the loan interest calculated? Is it simple interest or amortized? In the case that its simple interest, you'll pay that interest regardless, because its rolled into the loan from the start. In any event - best of luck with the upcoming launch and solving the marketing challenge! Happy to help you dig into that further! Ryan Rutan

Rather than using a shot-gun approach which could quickly back-fire on you - because "its a small world", I would qualify them and determine the odds of your deal obtaining approval at terms which would be acceptable to you. Typically, providing an executive summary should give them enough information to gauge whether you'd bet a fit - or not. Additionally, there are many pretender-lenders who are simply brokers promising the world in exchange for upfront fees - who promise you the world with no possibility of ever delivering. A well presented package with all of the pertinent information will save you countless hours and many headaches, while insuring your loan request the best chance of approval in the shortest amount of time. There are many pitfalls in the complicated field of commercial financing. Working with a seasoned professional can make all the difference between achieving your goals, or not. Please feel free to give me a call, and we can discuss your particular scenario to make sure you're on the right path!