Month: March 2020

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Interview With Stephen Willeford, the Hero of Sutherland Springs

Interview With Stephen Willeford, the Hero of Sutherland Springs

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Stephen Willeford, the Hero of Sutherland Springs
Stephen Willeford, the Hero of Sutherland Springs

Sutherland Springs, TX –-(Ammoland.com)- Stephen Willeford is the epitome of the definition of a “good guy with a gun.”

On November 5, 2017, a mad man entered the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, TX, and opened fired on the Church congregation. The attacker killed 26 members of the church and wounded 20 other worshippers. He then fled the house of worship to continue his attacks.

Stephen Willeford, an NRA instructor and firearms enthusiast, knew he must do something to stop the killer’s deadly rampage. He couldn’t sit around and let a maniac attack his community. He grabbed his AR-15 and set out to end the murderer’s violent spree.

Willeford engaged the killer as he was leaving the church. A gunfight erupted in the parking lot. Willeford hit the killer twice, once in the leg and once in the upper left torso under the attacker’s tactical vest. The killer dropped his AR-15 and fired on Willeford with a pistol before speeding off in his Ford Explorer.

Willeford saw a pickup truck driven by Johnnie Langendorff. He approached the truck and jumped in the passenger seat. The two men chased the killer’s Explorer for seven minutes at speeds approaching 95 miles an hour.

Soon the killer lost control of his vehicle and ended up 30 feet into a field on the opposite of the road. Willeford and Langendorff noticed the attacker wasn’t moving and kept the ford covered until police arrived on the scene. The police found the killer dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

I had a chance to speak with Stephen about his views on guns and what happened on that fateful day in Sutherland Springs, TX.

John: What is your background with guns?

Stephen: I grew up on a dairy farm where I learned to shoot a .22 Remington Scoremaster when I was five years old. My father taught me how to shoot tin cans and eventually hunt rabbits and shoot snakes and coyotes on the farm. Firearms were an integral part of life on a farm. As an adult, I entered shooting competitions with pistols and rifles at a San Antonio shooting range called Blackhawk. I also helped coach a youth shooting club at Blackhawk, where we trained the youth in firearms safety and marksmanship. I believe teaching the next generation to shoot is essential.

John: How did you find out the shooting in the church was happening?

Stephen: My oldest daughter heard the shots and made me aware of it.

John: What made you engage the shooter?

Stephen: I knew my community needed the shooting to stop. I arrived before law enforcement. He came out of the building, shooting at me. I truly believe God had called me to go there and stop it.

John: A lot of people think you are a hero. Do you believe that you are one?

Stephen: I prefer to consider myself a sheepdog, following my shepherd and protecting his flock. There are a lot of other sheepdogs in this world that would have done the same thing if they had been there.

John: Were you scared?

Stephen: I wasn’t scared at all. I was terrified. But the Holy Spirit was with me, telling me not to concern myself with the bullets coming my way, but to do what he sent me to do.

John: How has your life changed since the incident?

Stephen: I have traveled to places around the nation, speaking to churches and other groups about the need to be vigilant and ready if this were to happen in their communities by forming Safety Response Teams. I have spoken to politicians about good policies to prevent criminals from getting guns instead of the knee-jerk reactions they usually have of penalizing law-abiding citizens by enacting gun control measures that do nothing but make them feel better. I have met with several law enforcement agencies, encouraging their members and letting them know that they are appreciated, in spite of the negative media narrative.

John: What do you think about people that blame the gun for the church shooting?

Stephen: It is easy to blame the gun for the shooting because it takes away the responsibility of each individual for their actions. It is actually a matter of the heart, good vs. evil. That is a lot harder to fix. This country needs to go back to what God values, life. From conception to death. Until we can instill that in our society, these incidents will continue. Life matters — all lives. And individual responsibility is a key to stopping these kinds of things. A firearm is a tool, and nothing more.

John: Were you prepared to be thrown in the spotlight?

Stephen: Not at all. I tried to stay out of it. But now I have a voice that I believe can make a difference.

John: You campaigned with Ted Cruz. Is it important for you to help pro-gun candidates?

Stephen: It is important to help pro-gun candidates and good Godly men and women who are willing to stand up for our rights that are protected by the Constitution.

John: Do you think we can defeat the gun-control movement?

Stephen: I think we HAVE to defeat the gun-control movement if we want to save our Republic. We have to educate those who are uninformed about firearms and our Constitution.

John: Why is the Second Amendment important to you?

Stephen: Without the Second Amendment, the right to defend ourselves and our community, the rest of the Amendments, our Constitution and our Nation as we know it will fall. We need to protect it for our children, our grandchildren, and our grandchildren’s grandchildren.

John: Anything else you want our readers to know?

Stephen: Firearm owners are not the threat that people should be afraid of. Go out and get trained. Even the best of shooters need to continue to train. Start thinking about the mindset of a sheepdog. Look out for your family, your neighbors, your friends, your community. You can make a difference.

Stephen Willeford, the Hero of Sutherland Springs
Stephen continues to use his voice to advance gun rights

Stephen continues to use his voice to advance gun rights.

About John CrumpJohn Crump

John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. He is the former CEO of Veritas Firearms, LLC and is the co-host of The Patriot News Podcast which can be found at www.blogtalkradio.com/patriotnews. John has written extensively on the patriot movement including 3%’ers, Oath Keepers, and Militias. In addition to the Patriot movement, John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and is currently working on a book on leftist deplatforming methods and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, on Facebook at realjohncrump, or at www.crumpy.com.

The post Interview With Stephen Willeford, the Hero of Sutherland Springs appeared first on AmmoLand.com.

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December 2, 2019 at 07:06PM

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Justices Hear Arguments In SCOTUS Showdown Over NYC Gun Case

Justices Hear Arguments In SCOTUS Showdown Over NYC Gun Case

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As the Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday morning in the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v New York City case, gun control activists rallied outside the court in support of gun restrictions, though many of them were oddly silent on the specifics of this case.

Townhall.com’s Julio Rosas joined me from the Court for today’s program, and I also speak with Philip Van Cleave of the Virginia Citizens Defense League about the surge in Second Amendment Sanctuary counties across the state. I’ll have a separate post on the latest in Virginia but right now let’s talk about the Supreme Court and what it’s likely to do with the case now that justices have heard from both sides.

The biggest question at the moment is whether or not the Court will dismiss the case due to mootness. Transcripts of today’s oral arguments are now now available if you want to read for yourself, but most of the press coverage of the arguments indicates that Chief Justice John Roberts might be the deciding vote on whether the case goes forward and the Court rules on the New York City gun law in question, or if the city’s attempt to moot the case by changing the law a couple of months ago (after defending the law for several years) will end the litigation. From Reuters:

Conservative Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch were most vocal in advocating for the court to issue a ruling. Chief Justice John Roberts, who could be a pivotal vote in the case, said little but asked whether the city residents who challenged the law would face consequences for violations of the prior regulation.

The legal challenge takes aim at a regulation that had prevented licensed owners from taking their handguns to other homes or shooting ranges outside the confines of the most-populous U.S. city. The regulation was amended in July to allow for such transport.

“What’s left of this case?” asked liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. “Petitioners got all the relief they sought.”

Not really. As former Solicitor General Paul Clement, who’s representing the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, told the court, some of the provisions of the revised law could still cause city residents to break the law if they so much as stop to get a cup of coffee on the way to the range. Clement also argued that, given the fact that the city didn’t change the law in question until after the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, there’s no reason to believe the city was acting in good faith and wouldn’t simply change the law again if the lawsuit is dismissed.

Vox is claiming that Chief Justice John Roberts appeared sympathetic to the city’s position, but I would caution folks from trying to read too much into the questions asked by justices during the oral arguments. Moreover, even Vox acknowledges that if the Supreme Court decides that the New York City gun case is moot, there are other Second Amendment cases queued up and ready for the Court’s attention.

Meanwhile, while New York State Rifle is likely to be declared moot, there is another Second Amendment case — Rogers v. Grewal — that the Supreme Court could take up as soon as Friday. The questions presented in Rogers include “whether the Second Amendment protects the right to carry a firearm outside the home for self-defense.”

If New York State Rifle is declared moot, the Court could simply take up the Rogers case — and there’s still plenty of time for the Court to decide that case before its current term ends this June.

New York State Rifle, in other words, appears likely to end in the tiniest possible victory for gun control. The case will likely be dismissed as moot, but a Second Amendment reckoning is all but inevitable in the Supreme Court. And it’s likely to come very soon.

That’s the good news for gun owners. The Supreme Court has been holding the Rogers case for months now, and the speculation is that the Court did so pending the outcome of NYSRPA v. NYC. If the Court does decide that the case is still a live issue, the majority opinion could have an impact on the New Jersey carry case, and they could send Rogers back to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals with guidance directed by the NYSRPA v NYC opinion.

If, on the other hand, the Court does moot the New York case, it has Rogers to pick up instead, and the Court would be dealing with a much more explicit challenge to the infringement on the right to bear arms than the New York City case presents.

If the Supreme Court decides that the New York Case is moot, I’d expect a decision to come fairly quickly. If the Court does move forward with the case, expect a ruling in several months.

When the oral argument transcripts are made available, you’ll be able to access them here. In the meantime, check out today’s show with Julio Rosas and VCDL’s Philip Van Cleave, and we’ll be keeping an eye on any future developments at the Supreme Court.

Also on today’s show, we have an armed citizen story from Missouri, a criminal justice fail from Baltimore, and an off-duty officer who performed a very good deed in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant in the suburbs of Richmond, Virginia.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or Townhall.com’s podcast page. We’ll have much more reaction to today’s oral arguments on tomorrow’s show, so be sure to tune in.

 

Author’s Bio:

Cam Edwards

Cam Edwards Cam Edwards has covered the 2nd Amendment for more than 15 years as a broadcast and online journalist, as well as the co-author of "Heavy Lifting: Grow Up, Get a Job, Start a Family, and Other Manly Advice" with Jim Geraghty. He lives outside of Farmville, Virginia with his family.

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December 2, 2019 at 02:10PM

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Top Free WordPress HelpDesk Plugins for Improved Customer Relationships

Top Free WordPress HelpDesk Plugins for Improved Customer Relationships

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Providing exceptional customer support is one of the major concerns of business owners. Customers should be able to interact with you and get resolutions for problems they may be facing with your products or services.

If you have a WordPress website, you can easily incorporate a support ticket system with the help of help desk plugins. They will help you provide customer support in an organized, specific manner on your website. In this article, we will look at some of the best free WordPress helpdesk plugins to help you enhance your customer relationship management.

How to improve customer relationships?

Maintaining great customer relationships is key to the success of any business. You need to focus on several aspects while interacting with customers in order for them to come back to your site. Here are a few best practices suggested by specialists to improve online customer relationships.

Create a dedicated helpdesk system with experts

If you have an eCommerce store with multiple products, you might get varied queries from customers. One of the keys for customer support success is to develop a team of support agents with adequate expertise on each of your products. This will help in the more effective resolution of user issues, as the experts will be able to offer quick solutions.

Develop a systematic workflow

Now, you may have an expert team with great product knowledge. However, without a systematic workflow that will assign the query to the right agent, your support system won’t be as effective. So, it is important to design a workflow and execute it well enough to ensure that customer issues are solved accurately and quickly. A lot of popular WordPress helpdesk plugins offer options to automate your customer support workflow. If you have multiple products and multiple departments, automation options could really add a lot of value to your customer support.

Use customer feedback to improve efficiency

Now, you cannot just go out there and build the most efficient help desk. It will take time to optimize your customer support system, and one of the most important contributors to this will be customer feedback. You should make sure to have a system to collect regular feedback from your customers. Competent helpdesk systems will incorporate customer feedback as an essential component. Apart from the direct feedback, you can also use other metrics like resolution time, agent rating, periodic variations, etc. If you are using an online helpdesk system, ensure that there is an option to gather customer feedback consistently.

Try multiple channels

In the current digital environment, customers interact through different channels. So, in order to take into account different preferences of your customer base, you may need to invest in different support channels. Depending on the interests of your customers and industry trends, you can opt from different channels like telephone, email, live chat, social media, etc for multi-channel customer support.

Use a superior online helpdesk system

Now, one of the fundamental aspects you have to focus on to set up an efficient customer support system is to invest in a good helpdesk system. Finding a comprehensive helpdesk system that offers you advanced features is an important step towards this. Most of the modern customer support software offers useful features like workflow automation, canned responses, customizable contact forms and so on. It is important to find a helpdesk solution that is effective for your business model. Before choosing the software, go through the features and make sure that it is the right fit for your specific needs.

Best WordPress Helpdesk plugins

If you have a WordPress website, you will need a customer support tool that will integrate seamlessly with your website. Here is a list of some of the top WordPress helpdesk plugins that will help you create long-lasting customer relationships.

WSDesk

WSDesk is one of the most popular WordPress helpdesk plugins to help you improve the customer support process on your website. The free version of this plugin has a large range of features to help you set up an online support system. Compared to some of the other free plugins, this plugin is really exceptional in terms of the features offered with the free version. Unlimited tickets and agents, email piping, customizable email replies, file attachment options, etc are some of the standout features.

Features

  • Ajax-based user interface to contribute to fast page loading and thereby faster resolution of customer issues.
  • Complete control of user data, unlike popular SaaS-based helpdesk tools.
  • Helps agents to track, prioritize and resolve issues quickly and ensure the superior customer experience.
  • Open source helpdesk system, which helps developers make feature additions, modifications and bug fix easily.
  • Unlimited support tickets and agents.
  • Easily convert emails to your support mail id into tickets, and filter them to avoid spam
  • Detailed analytics reports measuring agents’ performance and customer experience.
  • Customizable ticket fields and support forms.
  • File attachment options to help address issues with more details.

JS Help Desk

Formerly JS Support Ticket, JS Help Desk is a simple and user-friendly customer support plugin that you can use on your WordPress site. Your customers will be able to create a support ticket from the website’s frontend. And, your support agents will be able to work on them from the backend with the help of advanced features and provide quick resolutions. As the plugin follows all the best practices in coding, you can expect it to create no hassles with your site’s speed and performance.

Features

  • Allows customers and guests to create support tickets from the frontend of your website.
  • Filters to sort the tickets effectively for both customers and support agents.
  • Several advanced features to help support agents including multiple file attachments, priority highlighting, auto assigning, etc.
  • Option to set up ticket notifications to users and agents according to specific requirements.
  • Shortcodes to help you create and place ticket forms conveniently.
  • Simple user interface for site admins to add or modify tickets, manage ticket status and create email replies.
  • The plugin has a bootstrap based design and allows easy translation.

SupportCandy

This is a popular WordPress plugin that will help you create a robust helpdesk system on your website. Setting up and interacting with customers using this plugin is exceptionally easy, and it makes it quite popular among WordPress site owners. The plugin ensures GDPR compliance and gives you no hassles with regards to users’ personal data. You can download and use the free plugin from the WordPress plugin repository. However, you will find premium add-ons for WooCommerce integration, email piping, canned responses, agent assign rules, and several other advanced features.

Features

  • No limit to the number of agents and tickets that can be created using the free version of this plugin.
  • Ajax functionality contributes to a very fast user interface.
  • Agents can manage the ticket data from the frontend with the help of agent-specific additional fields, filters, and sorting options.
  • Option to allow guest users to raise a ticket on your website.
  • Several custom field options to create the most suitable support form for your business.
  • Create multiple attachment fields along with an option to attach files in the ticket descriptions.
  • Unique fields are visible only to support agents and options for agents to add internal notes.
  • Customizable email notification templates.
  • Responsive, mobile friendly design and supports developer level customization.

Zendesk Support for WordPress

You can use this plugin to integrate Zendesk customer support system on your WordPress site. Once you have installed this plugin on your website, your users will not have to sign in separately to Zendesk to raise a ticket. The plugin also helps to automatically convert your blog comments into tickets. It also lets you add a support widget anywhere on your pages or posts as you deem fit. Moreover, you can easily collect feedback from your users to improve the efficiency of your customer support process. Please note, you will have to sign up for a Zendesk account to be able to use this plugin. You can try out the Zendesk support system for a 30-day free trial.

bbPRess

If you are looking to create a discussion forum on your WordPress site, and not create a full-fledged help desk system, you can use bbPress. You can easily install and configure it, and let your customers find answers to several common queries they may encounter on your site. The interface is quite similar to WordPress and hence you can easily manage it even if you are a beginner to WordPress. bbPress offers a range of add-ons to help you customize it the way you want it. Moreover, it comes with a lot of theme options that will help you control the look and feel of the forum.

Conclusion:

Hope this article has provided you a few strategies and tools to improve your customer relationships. Keep in mind that you need to build a loyal customer base to grow your business. Leave a comment if you have a query.

Creator: Vijay, the founder of ELEXtensions.com & LearnWoo.com, and you can get in touch with him via his Twitter.

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November 28, 2019 at 02:32AM

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5 JavaScript Array Methods You Should Master Today

5 JavaScript Array Methods You Should Master Today

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javascript-array-methods

Web developers of all skill levels, from rookie programmers to coding experts, come to see the importance of JavaScript in developing modern websites. JavaScript is so dominant that it is an essential skill to know if you’re going to create apps.

One of the most powerful building blocks built-in to the JavaScript language is arrays. Arrays are commonly found in many programming languages and are useful for storing data.

JavaScript uses arrays but adds useful features known as array methods. There are five you should take a close look at to grow your skills as a developer.

What Are Array Methods?

Array methods are functions built-in to JavaScript that you can apply to your arrays. Each method has a unique function that performs a change or calculation to your array, saving you from needing to code common functions from scratch.

Array methods in JavaScript are ran using a dot-notation attached to your array variable. Since they are just JavaScript functions, they always end with parenthesis which can hold optional arguments. Here is a method attached to a simple array called myArray.

var myArray = [1,2,3];
myArray.pop();

This code would apply a method called pop to the array.

Example Array

For each example let’s use a sample array that we will call myArray, to perform the methods on. Feel free to pull up your console and code along as we go.

var myArray = [2,4,5,7,9,12,14];

These examples will assume you know the foundation of what JavaScript is and how it works. If you don’t that’s okay, we’re all here to learn and grow.

Let’s dig into five powerful methods!

1. Array.push()

What it does: push() takes your array and adds one or more elements to the end of the array, then returns the new length of the array. This method will modify your existing array.

Let’s add the number 20 to the array by running push(), using 20 as an argument.

var myArray = [2,4,5,7,9,12,14];
myArray.push(20);

Let’s see if it worked

console.log(myArray);
[2,4,5,7,9,12,14,20]

Running the push() method on myArray added the value given in the argument into the array. In this case, 20. When you check myArray in the console, you will see the value is now added to the end of the array.

2. Array.concat()

What is does: concat() can merge two or more arrays together into a new array. It does not modify the existing arrays but creates a new one.

Let’s take myArray and merge an array called newArray into it.

var myArray = [2,4,5,7,9,12,14];
var newArray = [1,2,3];
var result = myArray.concat(newArray);
console.log(result);
[2,4,5,7,9,12,14,1,2,3]

This method works wonders when dealing with multiple arrays or values you need to combine, all in one pretty simple step when using variables.

3. Array.join()

What it does: join() takes an array and concatenates the contents of the array, separated by a comma. The result is placed in a string. You can specify a separator if you want to use an alternative to a comma.

Let’s take a look at how this works using myArray. First using the default method with no separator argument, which will use a comma.

var myArray = [2,4,5,7,9,12,14];
myArray.join();
"2,4,5,7,9,12,14"

JavaScript will output a string, with each value in the array separated by a comma. You can use an argument in the function to change the separator. Let’s see it with two arguments: a single space, and a string.

myArray.join(' ');
"2 4 5 7 9 12 14"
myArray.join(' and ');
"2 and 4 and 5 and 7 and 9 and 12 and 14"

The first example is a space, making a string you can easily read.

The second example uses (‘ and ‘), and there are two things to know here.

First, we’re using the word ‘and’ to separate the values. Secondly, there is a space on both sides of the word ‘and’. This is an important thing to keep in mind when using join(). JavaScript reads arguments literally so if this space is left out, everything will be scrunched together (ie. “2and4and5…” etc.) Not a very readable output!

4. Array.forEach()

What it does: forEach() (case sensitive!) performs a function on each item in your array. This function is any function you create, similar to using a “for” loop to apply a function to an array but with much less work to code.

There is a little bit more to forEach() so let’s look at the syntax, then perform a simple function to demonstrate.


myArray.forEach(function(item){
//code
});

We’re using myArray, forEach() is applied with the dot notation. You place the function you wish to use inside of the argument parenthesis, which is function(item) in the example.

Let’s talk about function(item). This is the function executed inside of forEach(), and it has its own argument. We’re calling the argument item. There are two things to know about this argument:

  • When forEach() loops over your array, it applies the code to this argument. Think of it as a temporary variable that holds the current element.
  • You choose the name of the argument, it can be named anything you want. Typically this would be named something that makes it easier to understand, like “item” or “element”.

With those two things in mind, let’s see a simple example. Let’s add 15 to every value, and have the console show the result.


myArray.forEach(function(item){
    console.log(item + 15);
});

We’re using item in this example as the variable, so the function is written to add 15 to each value via item. The console then prints the results. Here’s what it looks like in a Google Chrome console.

forEach Function Applied to Array in JavaScript Console

The result is every number in the array, but with 15 added to it!

5. Array.map()

What it does: map() performs a function on every element in your array and places the result in a new array.

Running a function on every element sounds like forEach(). The difference here is map() creates a new array when ran. ForEach() does not create a new array automatically, you would have to code a specific function to do so.

Let’s use map() to double the value of every element in myArray, and place them in a new array. You will see the same function(item) syntax for a little more practice.

var myArray = [2,4,5,7,9,12,14];
var doubleArray = myArray.map(function(item){
return item * 2;
});

Let’s check the results in the console.

console.log(doubleArray);
[4,8,10,14,18,24,28]

myArray is unchanged:

console.log(myArray);
[2,4,5,7,9,12,14]

Next Steps in Your JavaScript Journey

Arrays are a powerful part of the JavaScript language, which is why there are so many methods built-in to make your life easier as a developer. The best way to master these five methods is to practice.

As you continue to learn JavaScript, MDN is a great resource for detailed documentation. Get comfortable in the console, then take your skills up a notch with the best JavaScript editors for programmers. Happy coding!

Read the full article: 5 JavaScript Array Methods You Should Master Today

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November 28, 2019 at 10:47AM

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The Hottest Black Friday Deals!

The Hottest Black Friday Deals!

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The Hottest Black Friday Deals!

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November 27, 2019 at 08:44AM

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Crater – Invoice App

Crater – Invoice App

https://craterapp.com

Manage your invoices
on the go!

Send your invoices to the clients instantly, track your payments
or check a detailed client history, Crater App for iOS and Android
let you manage everything from your phone.

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November 27, 2019 at 09:00AM

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Here’s what happens when you decide to sell your startup

Here’s what happens when you decide to sell your startup

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Joe Procopio
Contributor
Joe Procopio is a multi-exit, multi-failure entrepreneur. Joe is currently building Spiffy, and previously sold Automated Insights, sold ExitEvent and built Intrepid Media.

Are you considering selling your company as a potential exit? Now? A year from now? Five years from now? 

In more than 20 years of startup, with over a dozen acquisitions under my belt as an entrepreneur, advisor and investor, I can assure you that an acquisition is always a massive and complex transaction that you’re never 100% prepared for. In fact, the one regret I hear over and over again from my peers is that they got less than what they should have when they signed the deal.

Whether you’re a founder or just have some equity, there’s a bunch of stuff you need to know before you decide to sell your startup, stuff that you won’t actually learn until you’ve been through it.

I sat down with a friend last week who is in the position to seriously consider selling her company. It’s her first startup, so we went over a high-level outline of the process. Then I added a bunch of notes from my own experience for this post. 

How to know when it’s time to sell

There are basically four reasons to sell your company.

  1. Things are going poorly. This obviously isn’t good, and unless you’re in a position where you have to sell, I would recommend against it. Instead, I’d do everything in my power to stabilize and reconsider later.
  2. Things are going extremely well. On the other side, this is the best position to be in, but it’s also the time when the founders are least interested in selling. The deal has to be outstanding.
  3. An external factor. Something has happened outside of the company that has made selling an attractive option. For example, I wound up running two companies at the same time, and decided to get out of the small one to focus on the big one.
  4. You’ve taken it as far as you can. This is most often the primary reason why founders choose to sell their company. They see a lot of opportunity down the road, and decide that a specific acquirer can take much better advantage of that opportunity.

Usually, the decision to sell is based on a combination of these reasons.

How to make the decision to sell

There are basically three ways to get acquired.

  1. A larger company. This is someone in your space or close to it. To them, your company represents either an advance in innovation or just a bunch of new customers. This is the most popular option.
  2. Private equity. These firms usually buy out all of the existing owners and investors and may put company leadership on a profit plan to keep them around and motivated. These transactions usually happen at high levels of valuation, like approaching the billions.
  3. A new investment round. At lower levels of valuation, the same kind of transaction can take place where a new investor or group of investors buys out all of the current owners and investors.

There are two things you need to do before you decide to sell. First, consider your negotiating position from strongest to weakest. 

Ideally, you should already have at least one offer on the table, or have rejected one or more offers in the recent past. This is the strongest position, as one offer usually attracts more offers.

If you don’t have a solid offer, you should at least be investigating one or more implied offers. These hints and clues will come from partners, customers, competition, even investors and advisors with connections to other investors and PE firms. 

If you have none of these, selling the company is going to be a lot more difficult, but not impossible. In this case, acquisition is a lot like fundraising. If you don’t have any offers or leads, you need to build connections and relationships. You’re basically putting together a pitch deck and going door to door. If you’re not patient, you’ll end up giving up a lot of value on your equity.

You might also consider bringing in a fixer, an experienced person who will come in as CEO for a large chunk of equity and get your company into a better position to sell, both operationally and in terms of connections. I rarely see this work, but I have indeed seen it work. Here, you’re trading shares for the hopes of increased value of those shares. 

Finally, you might find private money that just wants to take over your company. These transactions happen at much lower valuations. Kind of a fire sale.  

The second thing you need to do before you make the decision to sell is talk to your board, your current investors, your executive team, and your advisors. Everyone has to be in line, on board, and the proper expectations need to be set and agreed upon. 

Preparing the company to be sold

There are basically three ways to calculate the sale price of your company.

  1. A service-based company is usually valued at 1x to 2x annual revenue. In cases where the company is a hybrid of product or intellectual property that may be spun off, this can creep to 3x or maybe a little more.
  2. A product company is usually valued at 2x to 10x annual revenue, depending on the market for the product, the protected unique differentiators, the higher the tech, and a number of other things, usually related to opportunity.
  3. In cases of extreme opportunity and innovation, a product company can be sold for 20x to 50x.

There are two things you’ll have to do to sell your company: Show you’re worth the sale price and prove the legitimacy of your operation.

To show your worth, if your company is taking in $10 million in revenue and your valuation comes out at 10x, or $100 million, you need to be able to show the acquirer the path to $100 million within a three- to five-year time frame. The more objectively you can show that return, the more likely you’ll get your asking price.

There are a number of ways you can do this, but spreadsheets and hockey-stick charts probably aren’t enough to open the checkbook. For example, in one case we had to actually conduct a one-month experimental project and hit certain milestones dictated by the acquirer. In another, we went through a three month period where we pushed the accelerator to the ground to show 100% month over month growth for three straight months. 

To prove your legitimacy, you’re going to have to go through due diligence. This will happen after an offer sheet has been put together and hopefully there’s a penalty clause if the buyer pulls out. 

During due diligence, you’ll have to show that the structural integrity of your company is clean. This means you’ll need to: 

  • Show a clean cap table, with all the equity in the company past, present, and future accounted for.
  • Open your books so they can audit your financials.
  • Sit your lawyers with their lawyers to sniff out liability and risk, and also make sure your intellectual property is properly protected.
  • Interview and background check your management team to uncover skeletons in anyone’s closet. And also make sure everyone important will stay on.

There will be no time between the initial interest from the acquirer and microscope time, so you’ll need to have all your ducks in a row before you put your company on the market.

Timeline

Your guess is as good as mine, so make your best guess, then double it.

The fastest I’ve ever been through an acquisition deal was four months, the longest was seven months. Again, it’s like raising a funding round, so the shape your company and the strength of your negotiating position will determine a lot of the timeline, but there will always be external factors to deal with. 

For example, one time we had the buyer just drop off the face of the earth for 45 days. At about day 30 we resigned ourselves to the fact that it wasn’t going to happen. Then it did.

Think 1–2 months to prepare and line up suitors, 2–3 months to get a solid offer in place, 1–2 months of due diligence. It is not quick, but it should not drag. Regardless of my anecdote above, both sides have an incentive to move quickly, it just takes time. 

Preparing yourself for life after startup

The last thing my friend and I talked about was what she was going to do once her startup was folded into a new company. Even from her early vantage point, in almost all outcomes, she was looking at a comfy VP position at a nice salary. She could do that. The question, of course, was for how long.

The last time my company was acquired was the first time I planned to stick around to hit the next milestone. I didn’t make it. Two years in, I hit a wall that I never recovered from, even after a few more months of soul-searching. It was a mix of internal changes, external factors, and me just being done. I felt like I was dragging a bag of bricks to work every morning. 

I’d try to stick around again. I’ve never been one to hop from startup to startup, and I’ve been immersed enough in the corporate world to know I can navigate it. But there’s a reason they usually lock the executive team in for two years. That’s about all either side can take of the other. 

The thing is, because it was the first time I planned to stay put after the acquisition, I never developed a contingency plan going into the acquisition, and I paid for it afterwards. When I did leave, it took three months just to find my feet. 

I’ve seen other folks take way longer to decompress, and I’ve seen some of them do some crazy stuff along the way, like start that folly of a company they always wanted to start and now that they had the means to start it and no one to tell them no… disaster. 

So whether your plan is to stick around or run away screaming, make sure you build in time to think about what’s next. You can do whatever you want after that time, maybe start a new project, maybe take a new position. What you do might not even be startup-related at all.

But chances are it will be. Entrepreneurs are like addicts; we don’t know when to quit.

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November 27, 2019 at 11:15AM

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Everything You Need To Know About SCOTUS’s Next Gun Case

Everything You Need To Know About SCOTUS’s Next Gun Case

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The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments in a Second Amendment challenge to a New York City gun law on next Monday, and on today’s Bearing Arms Cam & Co. I’ll tell you everything you need to know about the case and why gun control advocates are terrified that the outcome could doom many of their most egregious infringements on the right to keep and bear arms around the country.

The case is known as New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. New York City, and it’s challenging a New York City law that restricted most pistol owners from transporting their legally owned firearm anywhere other than a few pre-approved ranges in the five boroughs. I use the past tense because the city actually changed several provisions of the law over the summer in an attempt to moot the case and avoid any Supreme Court opinion on the issue.

The Court has told both sides to be ready to address the mootness question, but refused requests by New York City to drop the case before oral arguments take place. Paul Clement, the former Solicitor General who’s representing the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, is expected to argue that the city’s changes to the law haven’t addressed all of the challenges raised in the lawsuit, but that even if they did, the city could simply revert back to the old law once the possibility of intervention by the Supreme Court was off the table.

The reason why gun control advocates are so concerned about this case isn’t because they have any great affection or even see any need for the New York City gun law in question, it’s that they’re terrified the Supreme Court will use this case to emphatically state that laws concerning the Second Amendment rights of Americans must be treated with the highest level of judicial review.

Over at the website SCOTUSblog, an online symposium on the case has been taking place for the past several days. Dave Kopel, research director at the Independence Institute, and Randy Barnett, professor at Georgetown University School of Law, have an excellent piece documenting the abuse of the Heller and McDonald decisions by lower courts in order to uphold gun control laws, and why the Supreme Court needs to step in now and ensure that gun control laws are subject to “strict scrutiny.”

Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch and the late Antonin Scalia dissented from several cert denials in which lower courts upheld especially egregious violations of the Second Amendment. For example, a San Francisco law prohibits residents from having a firearm available for immediate self-defense in a bedside table while sleeping—or even while changing clothes. A Chicago suburb outlaws many common firearms, including the most widely owned rifle in American history.

Scalia and Thomas denounced the opinion upholding the Chicago suburb’s gun ban as an example of widespread “noncompliance with our Second Amendment precedents.” Regarding the Supreme Court’s refusal to consider the San Francisco ordinance, Thomas and Scalia observed: “Despite the clarity with which we described the Second Amendment’s core protection for the right of self-defense, lower courts, including the ones here, have failed to protect it.” In short, as Thomas stated in his dissent from the denial of certioriari in Silvester v. Becerra, “the lower courts are resisting this Court’s decisions in Heller and McDonald and are failing to protect the Second Amendment.”

The problem is well known. It is time for the Supreme Court of the United States to defend its preeminent role in constitutional interpretation and to address lower-court nullification of the Second Amendment.

The entire piece is well worth a read, and you should check out some of the pieces defending the status quo and New York City’s idiotic gun control law as well. Plus, look for full coverage of the oral arguments here at Bearing Arms on Monday.

Also on today’s program we have the story of a Miami man who defended himself and his family against an robber armed with an AK-47, a career criminal in California who should’ve been behind bars when he allegedly shot three workers at a Church’s Chicken, and a police officer in Hartford, Connecticut going above and beyond to help the city’s homeless.

Don’t forget that you can subscribe to the show at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and the Townhall.com podcast page. We’ll be back with a new show tomorrow with guest Mark Walters from Armed American Radio.

Author’s Bio:

Cam Edwards

Cam Edwards Cam Edwards has covered the 2nd Amendment for more than 15 years as a broadcast and online journalist, as well as the co-author of "Heavy Lifting: Grow Up, Get a Job, Start a Family, and Other Manly Advice" with Jim Geraghty. He lives outside of Farmville, Virginia with his family.

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November 26, 2019 at 03:06PM