In his 25 years of working to finance
projects and companies, Jeffrey
Sunderman has learned that cash is only
part of what's needed to make most deals
work.
To cite just a few of the other needs,
Sunderman says, entrepreneurs often
need analysis of competitors, help with
marketing plans or assistance with information
technology.
It's easy to find a financial consultant;
help in those other disciplines can be
more difficult.
For the past year or so, Sunderman has
been putting together a team of independent
consultants under the umbrella
of his Reno-based company, Sierra
Capital Resources.
Skills of the 13 consultants range from
human resources to graphic arts, and
Sunderman calls upon whichever is needed
to meet the specific needs of a client.
An example: Sunderman and his team
were called to help Bio Essentials of
Reno launch its Motion Potion Rx beverage.
Among the jobs they undertook were
market studies and analysis of potential
competitors, preparation of financial
models (including the company's potential
valuation in a public offering) and
publicizing the company's product launch.
"We know what venture capitalists are
looking for," Sunderman said last week.
"We make sure the answers are filled in
before you go to them."
The company's structure, which is
heavily reliant on consultants under contract,
works well for clients as well as the
consultants, Sunderman said.
It provides clients one-stop shopping
to address many of the questions likely to
arise while a project is organized. Sierra
Capital Resources handles all the billing
and coordination of the consultants' work.
(Because Sunderman has worked often
with idea-rich but cash-poor start-ups,
the company accepts credit cards in payment
of its hourly fees.)
Jocelyn Waite, an attorney who consults
on business-intelligence issues for
Sierra Capital Resources, said her relationship
with the company creates a flow
of business for her firm.
"It's a great source of work," said
Waite, whose work ranges from analyzing
competitors to drafting legislation on
behalf of clients.
The structure of Sierra Capital
Resources developed slowly. Sunderman,
who had been chief financial officer or
chief operating officer for four major corporations
over 18 years, came to Reno
from Southern California in 1998.
A year later, he launched Sierra Capital
Resources.
He was working informally with professionals
from other disciplines, but the
current structure of the company came
together only when Sunderman's wife,
Lynne, joined the firm in mid-2001.
She's a veteran manager of nonprofit
organizations, and under her influence
Sierra Capital Resources began looking to
help nonprofits with management and
financing issues.
Equally important, Lynne Sunderman
pushed the company into a more aggressive
marketing effort.
"We've been like the shoemaker's children
who don't have shoes," quipped
Jeffrey Sunderman about the firm's failure
to market itself even as it helped start-ups
create good marketing plans.
The marketing and wider use of consultants
has paid off.
In the past 18 months, Lynne
Sunderman said, Sierra Capital Resources
has worked with 15 companies ranging
from a restaurant to a telecommunications
firm. Currently, the company works
with about a half dozen clients.
More important, it's profitable as a
result of an old-fashioned way of doing
business. Explained Jeffrey Sunderman:
"We don't spend what we don't
bring in."
The consultant lineup at Sierra Capital
Resources Ltd.:
* Barbara Culver, commercial banking and real estate finance.
* Michael Dohm, health care and information technology.
* Bob Felten, marketing communications.
* H. Randall Frost, operations and financial management.
* Chris Hartwell, systems integration, networking and
applications development.
* Ronele Klingensmith, public relations strategy.
* Diane Rooney, marketing communications and new-product
development.
* Fritz Roske, information technology.
* Michael Scott, human resources.
* Lynne Sunderman, marketing and public relations,
with emphasis on nonprofit organizations.
* Jocelyn Waite, business intelligence and legislative drafting.
* Reid Walley, graphic design.
