This week, you take a look at some of the tough financial decisions that Companies need to make in

starting, growing and dealing with economic downturns in their business. Some of these challenges can

be exemplified by how to strategically invest in growth to make some hard financial decisions to avoid

your business from going out of business. In building upon the strategic financial decisions that

management must make and consider, you are going to learn a bit about Tactus Technology® and will

address questions related to a real-world case study on the Company. For starters, you can learn a bit

more about the Company by going to their website at the following address:

http://www.tactustechnology.com/

Tactus Technology’s Craig Ciesla and Micah Yairi had a great idea and then were faced with the

challenge of how to fund their start-up. So, and to learn more about their fund raising challenges, you

will read the case study on page 194 – 195 of our ebook that is focused on Tactus Tech. Once you do

this and complete your additional outside research, address the following questions: (please note the

questions here are slightly different than those in the ebook and you should only address the

questions that follow here.)

1. Craig Ciesla and Micah Yairi eventually turned to friends and family for funding. Should they

have done this first? What are the risks with raising money from such individuals?

2. What were the risks and benefits of waiting until they had been granted patents to ask for

customer feedback?

3. The partners gave up equity in their company – part of the ownership – to get the help they

needed. Was this a good idea? Why or why not?

4. Why do you think, even with such bad luck, Ciesla and Yairi stuck it out? What would it take for

you to be so persistent?

5. Building upon the business you would like to open up, what funding source or sources would

you take advantage of in order to initially fund your company? What are some of the

advantages and disadvantages of choosing the funding source or sources you would use?