Most Exits Occurring Through Trade Sales
While every entrepreneur should be focused on the exit strategy and the company’s eventual exit, for most early-stage companies, more often than not, an exit will come from closer to home …
Category Archives - Entrepreneur
5 Things You Need to Know Before Crowdfunding for Your Business
With the rise of the number of businesses choosing crowdfunding as a method of raising funds, it’s clear that crowdfunding is here to stay. Crowdfunding has a range of advantages, from being…
The Effect of Grant Funding in the UK
Grant funding is different to equity funding on one, key basis: grant funding involves giving non-repayable money to businesses, whereas equity funding is giving money to businesses in exchange for shares in the business.
What Do We Look for in Early Stage Businesses/Start-Ups?
At Shadow Foundr, the businesses we come across in deal origination can be divided into two categorises – pre-traction and post-traction.
Raising Funds from Angel Investors
Fundraising for an early stage venture is challenging and time consuming – especially for the first time founders – and can become a full time job. The earlier stage the company, the tougher it is …
Introduction To Private Investment
Definition: Angel (also known as private) investing is equity finance. An angel investor is a high net worth individual who makes use of their personal disposable finance to invest into start-up and early stage business opportunities. The investor would normally take shares…
Proof Of Concept
Proof of concept is the evidence, typically deriving from an experiment or pilot project, which demonstrates that a design concept, business proposal, etc. is feasible. In the field of business, proof-of-concept helps to establish the viability of a commercial idea. It isolates potential issues and helps founders and possible investors understand the overall direction of the business.
Valuations – Pre- & Post-Money
Definition: Valuation is an estimation of the worth of something, especially one carried out by a professional valuer. In the startup funding world, pre-money valuation refers to the value of a company not including external funding or the latest round of funding. In contrast, post-money includes outside financing or the latest capital injection..
EIS/SEIS – UK Investment Tax Incentives
Definition: EIS (Enterprise Investment Scheme) and SEIS (Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme) are tax efficient investing schemes created by the UK government to encourage direct investment into early stage businesses. Private investors into early stage businesses in the UK can partially offset..
Building Value For Investors – Start With Your Value Proposition
Definition: Value proposition refers to a business or marketing statement that a company uses to summarise why a consumer should …
Key Legal Issues For Tech Start-Ups
Setting up a tech business can be a relatively quick process. In the run-up to launch, key legal issues, which ideally should be addressed at an early stage, can easily be overlooked. However, it is important to bear the following issues in mind from the outset, to minimise risk and maximise the value of your investment. Structure of the business…
Intellectual Property (IP) UK Law
Every business will own some sort of intellectual property. It could be anything from the product, service, designs, creative branding or know-how. Surprisingly, many businesses fail to protect their assets in the early stages. Before they know it, their intellectual property has been stolen and their reputation damaged. Ownership of IP rights is a neglected aspect of running a business. But when it comes to…
Share Options
Definition: Share option is a benefit in the form of an option given by a company to an employee to buy a share in the company at a discount or at a stated fixed price. Stock Option Plans permit employees to share in the company’s success without requiring a startup business to spend precious cash. In fact, Stock Option plans can contribute capital to a company as employees pay the exercise price for their options…
Rights Issues
A rights offering is a group of rights offered to existing shareholders to purchase additional stock shares, known as subscription warrants, in proportion to their existing holdings. Rights are often transferable, allowing the holder to sell them in the open market. A rights issue is an invitation to existing shareholders to purchase additional new shares in the company. More specifically, this type of issue…
What makes a good deck – pitching for success
Definition: A pitch deck is a brief presentation, often created using PowerPoint, Keynote or Prezi, used to provide your audience with a quick overview of your business plan. You will usually use your pitch deck during face-to-face or online meetings with potential investors, customers…
Investment Value Proposition
Definition: Investment Value proposition refers to a set of business statements that a company uses to summarise why an investor should take part in the investment offering – which can be in the form of an elevator pitch. These statements convince a potential investor that their investment product will provide greater value than other similar offerings. The statement would…
Five Things Investors Look For
The world of start-ups sounds very exciting, and it can be if you back a winner; but the reality is most start-ups fail. With a plethora of opportunities being presented to us daily via various crowdfunding platforms, how does one find the time to understand the deals in order to make a sounds investment decision. Here are five keys things you should look for before investing into any start-up:
Are You Investor Ready?
So, you’re thinking about putting your business in front of investors to encourage a cash injection. It looks great… on the surface. New concept, obvious market, scalable… but apart from the brief, what do your investors really know about your business idea? What questions will investors ask and need answered before they are truly confident of hitting the “invest” button? These…
Respecting Investors & Post-Investment Communications
It is very important that entrepreneurs have in place a strong communications plan for their investors. The more engaged investors are in a venture, the stronger and more beneficial the relationship can become. Of course, every business and each investor is different. It is therefore imperative that your…
Common Legal Mistakes Startup Founders Make While Seeking Investment Funding
Seeking investment funding is not easy but it’s a crucial way to get the capital you need to run and grow your businesses. However, there are a number of common legal mistakes startup founders can easily make while seeking investment funding; mistakes that can derail…