Petition to Bring Cuestion Tequila to Your City

Cuestion Tequila, winner of 20 awards in 2011, is only available in a handful of locations in TN, FL and Alabama as of Dec. 31 2011.

Due to the post prohibition three tier system in the United States, Cuestion Spirits Company cannot independently sell without the support of either the State and/or a Distributor.

Please Sign this petition if you want to be able to try one of the best tequilas in the world in your city!

Online Petition by iPetitions.com

Indie Candy on Talk of Alabama showing off some yummy goodness...

Indie Candy was on ABC 33/40's Talk of Alabama today (link) letting everyone know about their yummy organic candy boxes.

They showed off chocolate dipped oreo style cookies, gummies, lollipops and other goodies that are all allergen free and suitable for a variety of specialty diets.

And now that they have moved the store online, in addition to the retail location in Crestline, customers all over the country can enjoy the goodness of a seriously tasty treat, even if they have serious allergies or other dietary sensitivities.

Way to go ladies!!!

Cuestion tequila dominates in local taste test...

What a nice way to start the long weekend.  Jason Fandrich, CEO of Cuestion Spirits Company, Inc., came down from Nashville to meet with some local investors and to participate in a taste test at a local bar/eatery.

There was plenty of good company and fun was had by all, but at least as important for the BAN portfolio company, Cuestion (www.cuestiontequila.com) topped the charts out of all the tested tequilas which included both big names and special reserves.  Only one special reserve was considered close and it's tasting led to a long discussion about the various hints of flavor imparted by the differing barrel types and everyone's personal preferences.

At least one participant noted that they really didn't think that tequila could be a sipping drink, but that they had changed their mind after experiencing how a really good tequila tasted.

Probably the only down side to the afternoon/evening was when Jason had to tell the participants that it would be several months before Cuestion would be available for sale in Alabama.

Of course, he did encourage them to come visit Nashville and check it out in the meantime. 

Two Alabama Teams in the Running for Global Venture Challenge 2010

Teams from both UA and UAH have been selected to advance to the semi-final round of the 2010 Global Venture Challenge hosted March 25-26 by the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Link)

What a great showing by teams from two of our local universities. These are the kind of achievements we need to support and applaud.

According to the website:

"Global Venture challenge is an educational competition featuring entrepreneurial and technology-based business proposals presented by graduate student teams from around the world.

The teams will be judged by panels of energy executives, venture capitalists, technologists, entrepreneurs and legal experts. The winning team will receive $25,000."

Glenn Kinstler and Alabama Launchpad have done a wonderful job putting a spotlight on technology entrepreneurship in our state universities, but we can always stand to see success in national forums as well.

Good job.

So...what is on tap for 2010?

Almost every project I had (or heard about), across multiple industries, had to trudge for most of 2009. Amazingly, a few of our portfolio companies that boot strapped like crazy are poised for launch in the first quarter of 2010, including:

a Premium Tequila Importer,
a Wide Area Wifi company, and
a Web Asset Integration Interface service.

There are a few more that are hanging around and could get into the starting gate if a few things break the right way.

Of course, I know that eventually some are going to have to raise some capital, but it has been impressive to see how far creativity and determination can take a company.

Indie Candy Grand Opening

Please join us for the Grand Opening of my big sister's new store:

INDIE Candy
in Crestline Village
Friday 12/11/09
2:30-5:30

Hot Chocolate, Free samples, Gummie Bingo
(and a special appearance by the Rockettes!)
4:00 Ribbon Cutting with Mayor Oden
73 Church Street

INDIE Candy (IndieCandy.com) is an All Natural Candy store specializing in delicious nut-free, gluten-free and allergen-free sweets! Handmade artisan gummies and marsmallows drizzled with chocolate and we also feature organic candy, nut-free chocolates, lollipops, candy canes and custom gift baskets.

Following up with some prior BAN presenters (Loco-X and Motus)

It's always fun to watch these new companies as they grow and mature. Since we see them so early at BAN, I usually feel pretty paternal and can't help but root them on as they strive for success.

With that in mind, I thought it would be fun to update you all on some of our prior presenters and what they are up to now.

Loco-X (parent and owner of Locomx.com) principals David Scilabro and Greg Brock came down last quarter as the first of (hopefully) many syndicated deals from our sister angel groups in the state. Specifically, Loco-X came from Huntsville as a part of their tour of the state's angel groups. Since that time Loco-X has almost finished there current capital raise, including some of our BAN members, (apparently they are open for about two more weeks) all while working hard to grow their core business and it looks like it is paying off. Dave says Loco-X is ahead of schedule this year and is planning, in about two weeks, to move into their new 50,000 square foot facility in preparation for launching a sister site before Thanksgiving.

Another fairly recent BAN presenter, Motus Motorcycles (www.motusmotorcycles.com), publicly announced a partnership with Pratt & Miller Engineering "to develop a revolutionary sport touring motorcycle." An announcement which has already garnered international attention from the likes of Motorcyclenews.com in their September Issue. (Click link).

Not bad for a couple of little startups from Alabama and I can't wait to see where they go from here.

Freehold Licensing Ltd.

I had an interesting company pass my way that we have begun to work with that I think has some real application to our current financial and liquidity crisis.

Freehold Licensing Ltd. (http://www.freeholdlicensing.com/) of Texas is helping their clients create long-term revenue streams by creating for-profit transfer fee rights in property owned by their clients.

The company says:

Freehold Licensing enters the world of Real Estate Transfer Fee Rights as the creator of a unique business process and the leading experts at advising property owners how to restructure property rights by easily and efficiently creating a long-term income stream.

The process was originally developed in response to a common problem faced by virtually every real estate developer: How To Add Improvements Without Unfairly Burdening The Initial Buyer?

The result is a fully collateralized income stream that continues to grow year after year. The existence of Transfer Fee Rights benefits both current and future buyers and sellers alike. This approach to structuring real estate transactions is well suited for many different types of owners of large portfolios of real estate such as builders, developers, REIT's, bank REO departments and more, as well as work-out professionals and bankruptcy trustees seeking to maximize the value of estates with large real property holdings.

After looking at the process, these revenue streams seem to be ideally suited for banks to utilize as additional assets that can help shore up lagging balance sheets. Furthermore, it appears that recent SEC and FASB guidance (http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2008/2008-234.htm) provides a pretty clear standard opinion on the valuation of non-market assets such as these rights. (Although the company has plans to create a securitized product option that would likely have a market.)

Given that the world governments are being forced to take extraordinary actions to protect our world economy from what appears to be an indirect run on the banks by rapidly deflating balance sheets due at least in part to disfunctional actions of the mortgage backed securities markets it would appear that it is in all our best interests to locate every alternative available for our banking system to "re-flate" their balance sheets and this appears to be a very viable option.