I’ve written many articles on the woes of overvalued startups and why yours isn’t worth £1M. So where is the value in your company? Below are the main areas of value that a startup can influence within their own company. IP, ideally in the form of patents, ideally granted. Patent values increase dramatically when contested […]
Just like prospective employers, investors are interviewing you and assessing everything you say and do. When writing to the investor, check your spelling, punctuation and grammar. Consider using a thesaurus and perhaps seek out a friendly proof reader. When you request a LinkedIn make sure you compose a relevant message that explains why you are […]
I’ve been meeting more and more companies attempting to raise significant sums using Crowdfunding sites. The principle of Crowdfunding is brilliant and has evolved the investment community, enabling anybody to take small positions in exciting startup businesses. This in turn has helped created a vibrant startup ecosphere. However, the crowdfunding platform is a competitive industry […]
Our culture is based around brands and protecting IP and patents. We firmly believe, in our culture, that patents, trademarks and IP should protect the holder, even if the practicalities behind it are less than perfect. Yet culturally, China is at complete odds to our protectionist systems. They believe in sharing IP and collaboration. Brands […]
For any readers interested in this series of blogs, I thought I would compile a list of terms used along with explanations. I try as much as possible to avoid using jargon, but just in case I have strayed to the dark side: Bootstrap – Enough money and facilities to get started Seed – […]
I’ve given a lot of advice to founders seeking mentoring or investment. These are generally big ticket items such as valuation or product development and have been covered in my open blog for a couple of years now. So I thought it time to give some insight into the small “tells” that allow me to […]
So, hype and agenda’s aside, here’s what I’ve learned about the EU and the debate. Brussels is a massive European parliament that we are currently a member of. They pass laws that either enter directly into our statute books or indirectly through our parliament on an almost daily basis. However those laws are almost entirely related […]
Are we approaching a singularity and if so what form will that take. {N.B. Singularity in AI is defined as the moment when general artificial intelligence will surpass human intelligence. The current median estimate from the combined academic community is the year 2040} While nobody knows any answers to these questions, general assumptions are that […]
I’ve dedicated a lot of articles to valuation and explained in great detail why your startup isn’t worth £1M. A few months ago I met a startup who crashed the ceiling with a self valuation of £3M. Yesterday, however, we hit the stars with a startup self valuing at £5M. Now this company does have […]
I am in serious talks with the founders of a startup. I’m not very interested in their business model, although I think it’s decent, but we do have aligned interests. They require premises to run their business out of and I need to invest some money into property having recently sold a couple of buildings. […]