Cash isn't all that's needed for a start-up

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.