07 Strategy | Why you STILL need a business plan: Hope is not a strategy! w/Tallat Mahmood, The Smart Business Plan Academy.

Tallat Mahmood, an advisor and investor who has helped small and mid-sized businesses raise hundreds of millions of dollars for growth, explains how to use a more efficient business plan as a strategic tool for growing your business, raising capital, and planning to exit at the highest possible value.

---

About Tallat Mahmood

Tallat Mahmood is founder of The Smart Business Plan Academy, his flagship online course on building powerful business plans for small and medium-sized businesses to help them grow and raise capital. Tallat has worked for over 10 years as a small and medium sized business advisor and investor, and in this period has helped businesses raise hundreds of millions of dollars for growth, investing in numerous businesses himself. Tallat is also founder and Managing Director of SkyPanther Capital where he personally advises small and medium-sized businesses on funding, growth, and exits. 

06 LEADERSHIP | Are your goals aligned with your vision? Get back on track! w/Peter Mellen, Netcito

Peter Mellen, Founder of Netcito, a network of peer advisory groups for entrepreneurs, and Owner of Mellen Investment Properties, discusses the power of visualizing goals that go beyond business metrics, to ensure your business interests and activities are consistent with the things you really want out of life. Peter shows how a simple visioning framework for year-end planning has helped him achieve major life and business milestones, and shares how others can use this powerful tool as part of an ongoing goal-setting strategy. 

---

About Peter Mellen

Peter Mellen is an entrepreneur with 20 years of experience working in online business and commercial real estate. His is the Founder of Netcito, a network of peer advisory groups for entrepreneurs, and Owner of Mellen Investment Properties, a real estate firm that invests in commercial properties. Highlights from his earlier career include:

    • Co-Founder and CEO of Edison|Wright, where he launched one of the first PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) programs in the world.
    • Director, Premium Education Services at AOL, where he managed a portfolio of online education services provided to K-12 students.
    • VP of Business Development for Safari Books Online, where he helped to generate a 5-fold increase in revenue over 3 years.
    • Co-founder of Headlight, an online learning company that raised more than $15 million of venture capital from investors that included Draper Fisher Jurvetson.

Peter currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Tides Network and as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Georgetown University, where he also leads the Georgetown Entrepreneurship Alliance.

Peter was born in Toronto, grew up on a yoga ashram. He earned a BA and MBA from Georgetown University and a Master's Degree in Real Estate Development from the University of Maryland. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland with his wife and two children.

05 FINANCE |Get your next business loan online: TODAY! w/John Lane, Congressional Bank

John Lane, ‎Founder and Vice Chairman of Congressional bank, explains how innovations in technology-enabled lending are allowing business owners to access capital in record time, with less hassle and paperwork than a traditional small business loan. Learn how to leverage lenders like OnDeck, Lending Club, Prosper, and others to get the business loan you need approved in minutes, and funded in as little as one business day.

 

---

About John Lane:

John Lane was one of the original founding board members of Congressional Bank and has been instrumental in the growth of the organization.  John served as the first President and Chief Executive Officer of Congressional Bank from 2003 through 2013. John continues to serve on the board as Vice Chairman and works with the bank to assist in sales and strategic matters. Mr. Lane was born and raised in Lufkin, Texas and attended Texas A&M University (BA) and Steven F. Austin University (MBA).