As part of my series about the “5 Things Every CEO Should Know About Navigating The World Of Finance,” I had the pleasure of interviewing Jason Venturelli.
Jason Venturelli is the owner of JSV Capital. A brokerage firm based in New Jersey that helps small business owners nationwide get working capital they need. They have also recently started lending to Residential and Commercial Real Estate investors. Jason has been in the sector for about 10 years. He comes from a blue collar background working in operation on the ports of New York and New Jersey. Seeing an opportunity to help small business owners get capital he shifted over to the financial side and created JSV Capital.
Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
Sure. I was born and raised in New Jersey, where I studied high school, joined the military and went to college. I came from a blue-collared background. I started in Logistics working at the NY/NJ port. Started as clerk, then supervisor, and finally as operations manager running the whole operation. I came across so many owner operators that were always needing better or more equipment, also looking for working capital for everyday operations. Having the entrepreneur mind set I started looking for an institutional lender that could help these business owners. Then it grew from there. I was able to match an owner operator with a lender and then it was just rinse and repeat.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘take aways’ you learned from that?
Funny story…well I can’t think of a particular story, but I can tell you when I first started I had the mindset of “how hard can this be”. I thought that I could just ask any business owner if they needed money and their answer would be yes. Although “yes” is often the answer, it was a matter of if they wanted to work with me. The money question was always yes, but I had to instill confidence in the client to work with me. I had to know the products in order to translate them to the client.
My takeaway was, Know your market and know your Client.
Is there a particular book that you read, or podcast you listened to that really helped you in your career? Can you explain?
The Book I would say is The X Factor Selling System and Podcast would be New theory Podcast.
Both are by Tom La Vecchia. The book focuses on knowing your Clients and their “why’s” and the Podcast focuses on business and entrepreneurs.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
Our main Focus has been small business loans, our firm now is expanding into Real Estate. We are now lending to Residential and Commercial real estate investors. Real Estate is always exciting. We are not focused on credit or income so this will help those who might not be able to go to banks in the traditional sense.
Thank you for that. Let’s now shift to the central focus of our discussion. Extensive research suggests that “purpose driven businesses” are more successful in many areas. When you started your company what was your vision, your purpose?
My vision was clear. Help business owners get the capital they need. Many business owners do not qualify with traditional banks. 80% are turned down. That’s where our firm comes into help.
Do you have a “number one principle” that guides you through the ups and downs of running a business?
Stay Consistent. Show up everyday and be consistent in your process.
Lead generation is one of the most important aspects of any business. Can you share some of the strategies you use to generate good, qualified leads?
Nowadays there’s no secret on where to advertise. Digital marketing. The key is to target your audience and qualify them. Know the serious inquiries from the tire kickers who will just waste your time.
If a fellow business leader would ask you for advice about whether to bootstrap or to look for VC capital, how would you help them weigh the pros and cons of that decision?
I would advise them to bootstrap as long as possible, but have a plan to VC because that day may very well come. Weighing the pros and cons are very simple. What do you have? What do you need? How do we get there? These simple questions may seem easy, but if you break them down you’ll know where you stand.
What measure do you use to determine the value of a company? What advice would you give to other leaders about how to get an optimal evaluation of their business?
We typically look EBIDTA and then add a multiple based off industry as well if they own any intellectual property.
What would you advise to a founder who initially went through years of successive growth, but has now reached a standstill. From your experience do you have any general advice about how to boost growth and “restart their engines”?
A lot of my clients that I have choose growth through acquisitions which typically accelerates their sales and can save money by getting rid of redundant overhead.
What are the most common finance mistakes you have seen other businesses make? What should one keep in mind to avoid that?
People not having enough capital on hand for emergencies or access to funds to help their business scale.
Ok, here is the main question of our discussion. Based on your experience and success, what are the five most important things one should know in order to succeed in the modern finance industry? Please share a story or an example for each.
1. Stay Consistent
Consistency is key in any endeavor. 1 deal turn to 2 deals, turns to 3 and so on.
2. Show up and do the work everyday
If you want to build your company or brand, show up. This is a marathon that is infinite. If you think you can pop in and out, you’ll lose the race.
3. Learn your market inside out
Know your Clients. Know their needs. Make a connection.The only way to do that is to learn all you can about your market.
4. Don’t buy leads. Cultivate your marketing strategy, that’s what bring leads to you.
The Lead Generation industry is filled with sharks. They’ll sell you one lead and then sell the same lead 100 times over.
5. Network. If nobody knows what you do, they won’t call.
Get out there and shake hands, call people, email, text, social media, throw up a website. Get your name out there.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
To bring banking to low income and poverty stricken areas around the world. 1.7 billion people around the world don’t have access or the ability to use banking resources. Banking shouldn’t just be for the “well off.” This world needs a bank that will provide resources to these places. These people need a helping hand and for them to be able to get a small personal loan or a small mortgage or a small business loan to help them get ahead is important.
How can our readers follow you online?
I will be making guest appearances on New Theory podcast and you can also visit our site www.Jsvcapital.com
