Everything in life is a Sale

Everything you do is a sale, and selling your business is no different. Forget about what you want from the transaction, and focus on what the buyer wants, needs or is suffering from. If you are raising capital, it is no different. What does the investor want?

Which business plan do you expect an investor will enjoy reading?

There are business plans that help you run your business and there are business plans that are going to help you secure and investor or a buyer of your business. The two are related but are they are not the same.
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Is there a pending crisis for Venture Capital?

Yesterday, Intel CEO Paul Otellini was speaking of his concern of a
pending crisis in America for those companies seeking venture capital
backing.
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Exit Risk Management

The whole point of investing in your business is to crystalise a profit at some point. The vast majority of investors are not investing in your business for a dividend income stream, like you might get from Telstra shares for example. Investors in growth stories are after a capital gain, and it is at the point of exit that this happens.

But what if the exit doesn’t happen?

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Warning! Know the difference between PRE and POST Money Valuations

The significance of these two valuations is often not well understood by entrepreneurs seeking capital, but it often used as a negotiating tool by investors when arriving at the eventual valuation they are happy investing at. At the very least an investor will examine both before finalising a deal.

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How do I assess my risk without a maths degree?

How big are your risks? What is the outcome? What can I do about it?

Simply treating all risks that you may be exposed to in your business “as equal” in your business plan doesn’t really help you manage them effectively, nor will it help an investor understand them. Further, whilst you probably know intuitively that some are more likely than others to occur, an investor who doesn’t really know you, will be left thinking you haven’t really thought them through.
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David S. Rose on pitching to Venture Capitalists

Pitching to a VC is all about YOU. An investor is investing in you, as much as your idea and business concept.

Thinking startup? David S. Rose’s rapid-fire TED U talk on pitching to a venture capitalist tells you the 10 things you need to know about yourself — and prove to a VC — before you fire up your slideshow.

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Ready, Fire, Aim :Taking your business from $1m to $10m – lessons from Michael Masterton

In Part One I talked about how a business needs to go from zero to $1m in the eyes of Michael Masterton. This is infancy in the lifecycle of a business.

In infancy, the focus was developing your Optimal Selling Strategy by understanding your marketing, testing different things,  and creating a unique selling proposition. It was also about adding as many new clients as possible.
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"Imagine investing in Google at the start…"

Often you hear people compare a new venture to the opportunity that has passed us by … just as if we had been offered an opportunity to invest in Google (or Microsoft, or eBay, or amazon.com), and passed it up. By not investing in Google, or eBay, or amazon.com …just imagine your loss. If you had that chance now, of course you’d take it. Or so the logic goes. (The recent marketing by Dubli heads down this path…)
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Michael Porter : The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy

Michael Porter is a pioneer in the thinking around competitive strategy. In this interview he outlines his model for an analysis of an industry and the competition within it.

This is an essential part of your business plan.
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