Originally Posted by Minte

MrMaxwell, I'll pick this one to respond to.

Starting out with any new customer is a risk. Both parties enter into what is hoped to be a long and profitable relationship. We do our research on each other before the first meeting. Dun & Bradstreet is who we use.

If it were a smaller, under financed company we may ask them to participate in the up front costs. As companies get larger, those options aren't on the table any more. If we want to do business with fortune 500 companies not only are we expected to absord the initial costs, after the fact we are expected to finance their receivables for 60-90 days.

Large corporations are rarely going to get in bed with a small unestablished startup company.
If you want to do business with big companies it's the cost of doing business.

The federal government is a big company.