Be it the three F’s (Friends Family & Fools), Grants, Loans, Business Angel Investment and / or Venture Capital the vast majority of startups will need some form of capital to grow. What type of capital you need often depends on what your business does, what stage of growth it’s in and what industry space your company is in.
Which brings us to the point of this article. While it may seem obvious to many, entrepreneurs when faced with the need for Angel or Venture Capital will more often than not seek this anywhere they can find. Meaning, it’s not uncommon to see a business plan for a promising clean tech startup winding up in the bins of Business Angel networks and Venture Capital firms.
This happens predominantly due to two factors.
One. Entrepreneurs send their B-Plans (or we should say executive summaries because you never want to send a 25+ page business plan to a potential investor) to anyone and everyone whose address they can find.
This practice is detrimental for a few reasons.
First. Approaching all BA’s and VC’s in this manner will create negative buzz within the industry. In more mature markets investors speak with one another and a company who has presented everywhere will look amateurish, and this by itself will hinder the possibility of any future investment.
Secondly, this shows that you have not taken the time to conduct due diligence on those people who you want to become eventual business partners in your project. Meaning, if you care so little about who you have invest in your business, why would they take the time to conduct due diligence on you and your company and waste valuable resources that could be applied to a project which will fit their portfolio.
Two. Which leads us to the second point. Do your due diligence. Study the BA networks, he VC’s that actively invest in your industry. Identify what stage in the lifecycle their funds (that apply to you) are in.
This is exceptionally important, because if a fund is nearly exhausted the investor by taking you into their portfolio will not have any contingency capital in the event things go sour.
And most importantly try to get a hold of the management / entrepreneurs that these BA’s and VC’s have invested in to ask how the process when, whether the investor was fair, how they work with the company that has been invested in and /or / if they offer any assistance in terms of strategy.
In closing, you’re offering the investor a product, as they are offering you their services, it’s a two way street and due diligence needs to be conducted by both parties. Not only will this lead to increased synergies between you and the investor, but create a positive working relationship that in all likelihood will also increase your start-ups chances of success.
This video comes from KMVT, which is the public access channel for the Mountain View, Cupertino and Los Altos, California area.
This specific video comes from what has recently become a favorite of ours here in terms of video series – the Silicon Valley Entrepreneur. This specific video we believe is interesting as it’s an interview with Jeff Clavier of Softech and John Cornwell of Sandhill Angels from mid October 2009, so fairly recent regarding the current Investment in Silicon Valley.
Overall it’s an excellent video and if you like it we highly advise watching the others in the “Silicon Valley Entrepreneur” series from KMTV
We attended the BiCE summit this week at ESADE and overall we would say the event was a successful one, some interesting talks, some interesting companies, one that we’ll be covering sooner than later in our Startup Saturday series even.
However what we believe was the most interesting part of the whole thing was the panel of Angel, VC (venture capital), and PE (private equity) investors into the clean tech space, as well as a discussion on the development of clean tech in the CEE region. The low point – a long winded forum of government officials talking about sustainability and efficiency and elaborating on the need to create overly complex programmes to work together with the private sector and banks. So let’s start there –
Government and Clean Tech
Clearly one of the more important roles if any of government is to set policy, and provide incentives for enterprise in it’s own market. This is all good and well, and in our most humble of opinions this is simply something that needs to be done via tax abatement. After all, the stakeholder mentality is undoubtedly focused on the bottom line.
So what’s the problem? There should be none, government should have instituted tax abatement programmes for clean-tech initiatives a long time ago, the same for energy efficiency etc… etc… not only to offset the cost of installation, but also to create incentives for non eco-knowledgeable business to implement eco-friendly methodologies and practices into its day-to-day operations.
But @ BiCE, these governmental entities failed at promoting just that, instead they discusses large bogged down in bureaucracy initiatives, that lacked any sort of clear vision. Notwithstanding what really stood out – in terms of the negative – were comments made by various government individuals that “each case is different” and that a “different programme needs to be established for different companies”. Socialist, sure, but worse that that it screams of 1. Inefficiency, and 2. Higher Taxes. After all someone’s got to pay for all these new programmes.
What’s the solution, simple, Ockham’s Razor – entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily. Create an initiative that fosters the implementation of Clean Tech and Enviro-Friendly practices, give tax breaks to those who participate in the programme, and that’s pretty much all you need.
Clean Tech & Energy in the CEE
Elena Yordanova an investor in the clean tech area with Astra Capital spoke on this topic and although it was brief, it was also very informative. The region as a whole has huge potential for clean tech implementation, specifically in the area of en energy generation.
The SEE is rich in sunshine, there are various opportunities for hydroelectric as well as the north, i.e. Poland, and the Baltics can capitalize on coastal wind farms. Barriers to entry are still fairly low, and the region has massive growth potential across the board, however certain markets such as Romania already have met 2020 targets and over 30{abb65e2b6815f549a727af2ea9f3a377a727ddc064972a198a74f88a6b766686} of their energy production coming from renewable sources.
Investment Outlook for Clean Tech
This is a tricky one, as we all well know – investors want a high margin quick return. Clean tech companies however are not suited for this model, time to market may often be ten years or more, and investments are typically very capital intensive.
At the same time, the industry or sector is as a whole very new, and there is very little if any PE activity within the clean-tech space.The good news however is that you’re starting to see VC’s grouping their funds together for truly large scale capital investments into new technologies that otherwise without this money could not be realized. This is a good thing, the bad thing is the lack to BA’s in the field and their reluctance to throw money at clean tech startups – after all, there needs to be a call to a social cause when investing 500k-2m and expecting generally lower returns over a longer period of time.
Turns out there are groups of Business Angels (BA’s) out there that charge entrepreneurs and startups to pitch. What? Yes you heard that right, Angels charge startups to pitch. These fees range anywhere from €1000 to €18.000 + 3{abb65e2b6815f549a727af2ea9f3a377a727ddc064972a198a74f88a6b766686} of the capital raised to pitch your company to a forum of Angels.
What do you get in return? A fifteen minute slot in front of people that may, or may not invest in your company. Nothing more. Is the price tag worth it? Absolutely not, no angel should require the entrepreneur to pay a fee that will go into their own pocket. These people are after all supposed to be financiers, they are the ones that have the money, not the other way around. Notwithstanding 15 minutes of someone’s time, and especially if they were to have a vested interest in a company is not worth the money.
They will tell you, it’s for screening purposes, they will tell you it’s for x, y, z, but at the end they’re looking to take an equity stake in your enterprise – which according to normal investment criteria should bring them 30x return. Given not all will, but a well differentiated portfolio ought to at least bring in 10-15x return on investment.
Greed, Greed and More Greed?
So why are they charging? Long story short, it’s greed. But it’s not only the angel, there are groups out there that say they will put you in touch with BA’s for a few grand of your “lifeline support system” – basically those few grand that could mean life or death while your company traverses the valley of death. Nonsense. If a filter group wants to earn money through deal flow facilitation there are better ways of doing it than charging the entrepreneur for a fifteen minute slot.
A filter should be paid by all means, no work should go unrewarded, but how? Via percentage of the deal they set up, and a fee – paid for by the BA, and if the startup gets financed from the investment amount.
For example, Joe Filter, finds SuperSatrtup and introduces SuperStartup to BA – BA agrees to pay X for the introduction to Joe Filter, and then after some deliberation BA invests 300k in SuperStartup, due to the positive outcome Joe Filter takes 3{abb65e2b6815f549a727af2ea9f3a377a727ddc064972a198a74f88a6b766686} investment fee, or 9k. What do you have as an outcome, Super Startup is happy, as they now have 291k in cash for operational and growth activities, the BA is happy as the BA has a new high growth company in his/her portfolio, and Joe Filter is happy as he’s made some cash. BA = Expected 30x, Joe Filter = 9k+Intro Fee, SuperStartup = Investment, or Win, Win, Win.
If the startup has to pay Joe Filter, and no deal happens, It’s BA = 0, Joe Filter = 1, Startup = -1; or Null, Win, Loss, zero sum game. Or in layman’s terms – just bad economics.
So what’s this all boil down to? Greed. Once again, BA’s are more concerned about themselves than the nature of their business, and filtration systems target the wrong market segment. A “good” BA should have a vested interest in seeing the startups they want to see, as they will be investing in them, they should also then have a vested interest in helping these startups grow. So what does this all mean? Those BA networks that charge the entrepreneur a grand aren’t worth speaking to, especially since the “best possible outcome” is an equity stake in a company.
Any Value Added?
Is there any value added to the Entrepreneur? Nope. Typically, you pay, you pitch, you get rejected, or if you build interest, you’ll wind up covering additional fees. Then you have new funding initiatives such as Revolutionary Angels – that charge 5k to participate in what is effectively a business plan competition that results in two companies receiving 10{abb65e2b6815f549a727af2ea9f3a377a727ddc064972a198a74f88a6b766686} and 2{abb65e2b6815f549a727af2ea9f3a377a727ddc064972a198a74f88a6b766686} equity investments from the group. But here’s the rub, that equity investment comes from the coffers of other entrepreneurs. An excerpt form their website reads “There is no obligation to submit a plan for review. Companies that are a selected to participate must pay a fee of of $4,995.” – Why do I have the feeling that if you’re willing to dish out 5k, you’ll get selected any way?
Dodgy business practices. By all means?
Value Added Service Fees?
This is different, if as a startup I can get some form of value added service – be it training, non equity mentoring, press, access to a new network, feedback on my business model, where it needs adjustment, how to extend my scalability, how to enter new markets, advice on joint ventures, learning and or education about the process. Then a fee is worthwhile, after all people putting these things together need to eat as well, and as we all know money does not grow on trees, but that value added has to be worth the fee in question. Is that fee worth €18.000 +3{abb65e2b6815f549a727af2ea9f3a377a727ddc064972a198a74f88a6b766686}, absolutely not, is it worth €1000, probably not. Is it worth €100, depends what the service is, and how it will help me as an entrepreneur, but then at the end of the day, it’s a service and not an intro fee, or a 15 minute slot in front of me and my network for a grand.
In summation any BA network charging you for 15 minutes of their time is not worth it. If your company has mettle, BA’s in their nature should be more than willing to speak to you about your enterprise.
To read more about the topic of BA networks charging, click here, here, and here.
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We want to know what you think?
This topic is of very special interest to us at F3FUNDIT, why? Well we’re in the process of putting together a new concept event that will truly be focused on the entrepreneur, yet we plan on charging a nominal application fee along with it. Why? Well we need to pay our staff, we need to pay for parts of the event, speakers, training materials, and our time, as well as put together a winner take all cash prize.
We’re not ready quite yet to let the cat out of the bag, but every startup that applies will get something in return, we’re on the side of the entrepreneur and don’t believe that something for nothing should exist, but nonetheless, we’d like to hear your thoughts.
You’ve done your leg work, you’re business plan’s been refined about ten times, but it seems like at least a hundred, and you’ve spent every weekend working on it. It’s time to go out and get some funding. Great.
But there’s a rub, a business plan is just a couple of pieces of paper, it’s a guideline for you more than anything else, a place where you keep your ideas, collect your thoughts and reference your vision, mission, and business model. It’s great to use when building slides for presentations, and to send the executive summary to bplan competitions, seed funds, and angels, but the sad truth is, that if you don’t have even a semi functional product, you won’t make much headway.
So what do you do? Well, you can ask your 3F’s for money (Friends, Family and Fools), at least enough to develop your product so it’s ready for testing. Why?
Well in this climate, this recessive climate, investors are keen to keep their money in their pockets, long gone are the days of the late 90’s when a few million was given out without so much as the blink of an eye.
But how do you get people to open up their pockets for you? There’s a few ways.
1. If you’re developing a tech platform, be in internet, mobile, or other, look at your burn rate. If you can’t get out of the red within 3-6 months, the odds are stacked fairly high against you. Your idea may be profitable in a year or two, but there’s just no money out there right now to support that. In today’s climate you have to be out of the red quickly.
2. Pool micro Angels. What’s a micro angel you ask? People who are willing to invest €, £, $10-40k. They like to invest and enjoy the risk but don’t have the capital of an angel who can throw 100-300k at your company. Pool a few of these and you’ve got an investment at the capital level of an Angel.
With that being said, remember, you don’t need a check cut out for the whole lump sum in one go. Let the micro angels know when you’ll need the money and at what milestones. Do you need 5k now, and then another 3k in a month, and then 10k three months from then? Small sums are much easier for people to manage than is one lump sum.
As you’re developing your idea, be sure to keep the micro Angels informed of progress. For them the investment means a lot and they’re emotionally betting more on you than a larger Angel network.
3. Once you’ve got a functional prototype, you’re ready for the Angels, now’s the time to network and bring what you’ve worked on to them, you’re ready for the capital injection of 100-300k. Here’s however where you and your Micro Angel need to make a decision, do they stay on with their small % equity stake in your company, or do they convert it into the recently sourced cash?
If possible, use the cash for operational activities, cash at this point in your company’s life is the most important thing in the world, no cash, no progress, and bets are you might not be able to acquire a bank loan due to the stringent climate. All the same, the Angel in all likelihood will not want you to using their money to pay back your rich uncle, so try and keep the micro angels on board until you’re generating healthy cash flows, and / or are ready for Series A funding.
