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What is the best way to approach and work with a venture capital firm? What do venture firms look for in evaluating a new company? How should the entrepreneur go about evaluating that firm and any financing it might provide his company? Venture firms are as different as entrepreneurs. There is thus a wide range among these firms in terms of their industry expertise, business experience and, most importantly, their ability to work effectively with you.
Your process of selecting a venture firm is, therefore, much more analogous to the selection of key managers in your company than it is to the selection of a bank for a loan. With a banker, the appropriate question is How much money will he give me? With a venture firm, the right question is How much money will he make me?
This is because your venture firm, if used effectively, will be an important element in the continuous decision making process of your company. The venture capitalist can bring a broad perspective of experience to your corporate problems based on multiple other corporate situations in your industry with which he has been involved. This experience enables him to recognize patterns within your company and industry niche which may be invisible to you. For example, he would be aware of external factors beyond your control which are already influencing other market niches in your industry and which your company will either capitalize on or be limited by.
When you select a venture firm, you are likely to be embarking on a relationship that will last five to ten years or more and which can be a pivotal factor in turning your company into a major enterprise. Because of the rate at which a high growth venture company encounters new challenges, decision making times can be greatly shortened. Therefore, the relationship with your venture firm can be critical.
A talented venture firm reinforces management's naturally good instincts on solving corporate problems and discerning industry directions. The less experience you have in some matters, the more you may need to rely on your venture firm's advice. The more experience you have, the more you will appreciate the quality of the advice.
The venture firm's investment makes it uniquely dedicated to your success. Venture firms only succeed if you succeed and this frequently depends on their ability to persuade you to do what is in your own self-interest. Therefore, the key question to ask in evaluating a venture firm is: do you believe that you can develop a relationship with the firm such that your confidence in it will accelerate your problem solving and decision making to enable you to emerge as a world class competitor in your industry?
How Venture Firms Evaluate You
This is a two way process: you should be evaluating venture firms and how well they understand your market at the same time they are evaluating you. Unless you have previously known and worked with a venture firm, you should expect to have a number of intensive meetings with the firm's principals to develop a personal relationship. Remember, the venture firm is backing you and your team as individuals. A new start-up is like a marriage - both parties must get to know one another well before any long term plans can be made.
The Business Plan
The business plan you present to a venture capital firm will likely be the single most important written document in the early years of your firm. Investigation of this plan by the venture firm will account for much of the discussion you have with the venture firm. It is the vehicle around which you get to know each other.
The plan should contain the business concept, the marketing, production and technology elements, the backgrounds of the principal founders and how much money will be required. The more specific the plan, the better - both for the venture capitalist now and you later on. Ironically, experience has shown that the longer the plan, the lower the likelihood of success. The concise articulation of a simple but powerful concept for an innovative solution to an emerging but important unmet customer need is the hallmark of a good business plan.
As every business has different needs and goals, one really cannot be much more specific about what should be included in a plan. However, there are some general principles that can be followed, both in developing the plan and in thesubsequent dealings with the venture firm. You can keep these principles in mind and assess your own plans and discussions against them.
Defining Your Contribution
It may seem self-evident to say that a new company ust make a true contribution to prosper, but attention to this fundamental discipline of a free market system is often lost in the enthusiasm to start a new company in a growth market. Unfortunately, despite that growth, market share will only go to a new company if it is adding value by solving unmet customer needs.
A simple formula venture capitalists tend to use in evaluating the potential size of your company is:
Market Size x Market Growth x Your Contribution = Size Naturally, the more experienced the venture capitalist is in your industry, the more readily he is likely to grasp the significance of your contribution to the target customers.
In defining your company's contribution, a balance must be struck between biting off too much too soon and not having adequate value-added to
justify starting the company. If the definition of served customer needs is too narrow, the company will tend to be vulnerable, small and potentially trapped in a limited growth path. On the other hand, too broad a definition requires resources beyond what the company will have for years.
Ideally, a company should initially serve highly specific customer needs that lie within a broader generic category of needs of the same customers or industry. The company can then execute profitably in the short-term as well as grow smoothly through a coherent product line and market expansion. To grow continuously, a company must constantly and more broadly redefine its contribution to the market. Last years' contribution must become next year's feature within a broader definition.
Independent Verification of Key Plan Assumptions
Every business plan rests on certain key assumptions. These often include the technological expertise of the founders, production techniques and marketing strategies.
The analytical role of the venture firm is to identify these key assumptions and then independently correlate them with both independent sources of information and the venture firm's own experience. Time can easily be wasted performing due diligence on irrelevancies.
You can help this process,
and thus speed up decision making, by clearly
stating key assumptions on which your new firm's
success will be based and identifying independent
sources - customers, former employers, or industry
experts - for verification. Of course, the more
knowledgeable a venture firm is in your industry,
the easier it will be for them to recognize
the key assumptions and independently verify
them with their own sources.
Risk Identification
Venture firms approach the venture business
as much from the standpoint of risk reduction
as from opportunity maximization. That is, the
operating assumption is that opportunities can
be realized by eliminating the risks (impediments)
to their achievement.
Almost by definition, the companies in which
venture firms invest will be standing in the
middle of enormous opportunities. The practical
problem then becomes how to eliminate the impediments
to achieve this success.
Thus, your plan and your
discussions with the venture firm must address
the question of risk reduction: how much money
will it take to eliminate each major risk, and
what will be the milestones in measuring whether
that goal is being achieved?
Obviously, risk can never
be fully eliminated; however, there are definite
benchmarks in technical and marketing accomplishments
that represent the lowering of risk levels.
Performing an analysis with respect to risk
reduction will put you on the same wavelength
as your potential venture investors. You can
evaluate in this process whether the venture
firm really appreciates the risks particular
to your industry.
Of course, each milestone
of risk reduction achieved is the basis for
raising additional money for the company.
Competitive Analysis
The absence of good analysis and lack of and
appreciation for the competition are probably
the most common mistakes made by new entrepreneurs.
Therefore, one way to distinguish yourself and
your business plan from the many others a venture
firm is reviewing is through the quality and
completeness of your analysis of the competition.
If you have done such an analysis, you will
be able to easily convince the venture firm
that your key assumptions are realistic and
reasonable. Furthermore, in the process of describing
the competition, you will accelerate the education
of the venture firm vis-à-vis your relative
position in the market. You will find that this
relative information is very important to the
venture firm in reaching a decision.
Insightful understanding
of the competition in your marketplace by the
venture firm can be critical to obtaining their
initial backing. Usually, new technology driven
markets emerge at the intersection of two or
more established markets. A subtle grasp of
why the traditional suppliers will be slow to
cross into this emerging product market category
is critical to comprehending the opportunity
for a new company. Of course, when it comes
to assisting in future product strategy and
money raising, this competitive understanding
by your venture firm is critical.
Openness
Entrepreneurs often worry that venture firms
will be frightened off if they know how many
risks are really involved in accomplishing the
business plan of a new venture. This can be
a fatal mistake for the entrepreneur, because
an experienced venture capitalist is not likely
to make a positive decision until these questions
have been answered.
Your objective, assuming
you want to do business with a particular venture
firm, is to get the venture capitalist comfortable
with the project and management team. The venture
firm must not be made to feel there are unknowns
lurking in the background yet to be discovered.
In your first meetings with a venture capitalist,
it may appear that his limited knowledge about
your particular industry niche makes it unnecessary
or unwise to tell him all the problems that
your company will face. This is a serious error
to make.
When a venture capitalist doesn't know what
the right questions are, he won't make a positive
decision. Rather, he will just keep asking questions
until he feels he has asked the right ones.
Since your objective is to get the venture capitalist
to make a quick, positive decision, you may
as well identify what all the problems are up
front.
Remember: a venture firm
is in the business of working with the problems
you foresee in your company's growth, so you
need not be concerned that identifying these
will frighten off the firm. Dealing with risks
and uncertainties is a venture capitalist's
business, and you need to get him quickly to
the point of feeling he knows what those uncertainties
are.
Most venture firms also
realize that every management team will initially
have significant gaps in its experience. Often
the team has the technical expertise necessary
to build the product but only limited marketing
and general management experience. Actually,
this can be a positive and low-cost approach
to getting started.
The best way to protect
against easily frightened - or worse, less-than-capable
- venture capitalists is to be open about the
problems. If they are frightened off, don't
regret it. When a venture capitalist only wants
to hear about the opportunities and not the
problems, then you should be nervous.
Objective Standards
Evaluate a venture capital firm the same way
you would evaluate any key management team member.
That is, look at the firm's record of experience,
external contacts and accomplishments. How directly
relevant to your company's challenges is this
record? Has the firm done it before? If you
don't feel comfortable with first hand impressions,
check with other entrepreneurs with whom the
firm has worked. Some specific areas about which
you might inquire include:
- What companies has the
firm been involved with in the past, and how
does the history of those companies compare
with the future you envision for your company?
- What was the firm's relationship
with those companies? Was it as a passive investor,
or did it make a constructive contribution?
- What do the entrepreneurs
in those companies say about the firm's contribution?
- What industries is the
firm investing in? Does the firm have sufficient
experience in your industry to understand and
contribute to your potential?
- How helpful is the firm
going to be in the future financing of the company?
What has it done for other companies along this
line in the past? Has it stuck by its companies
in difficult times?
- Does it have a reputation
that will attract other financial sources? Does
it know how to handle investment banks and other
financial sources to minimize the future dilution?
- You should get to know
as many as possible of the principals and consultants
of any firm since they all represent potential
resources available to you in the future.
- Will the firm be helpful
in establishing overseas sales and distribution
for you? For technology companies, overseas
sales can be key to a company's financial success
- Will the firm be helpful
in finding and attracting key managers when
needed by your company? Do the firm's historical
associations suggest: access to high quality
technology managers in your industry, a reputation
that will help attract them to an embryonic
company, and experience in evaluating such managers?
- The answers to these questions
will be infinitely more important to the eventual
value of your company than the terms or amount
of your initial financing. Indeed, while every
entrepreneur's first objective must be to get
a good price for his company, a common mistake
among first time entrepreneurs is to be overly
concerned with this goal.
- Excessive preoccupation
with achieving the best deal can result in a
delayed project or, worse, becoming over shopped
to the point of not being able to be financed.
In practice, the price will not vary much from
firm to firm - after all, venture financings
are a free and competitive market. No venture
firm will remain in business long if its pricing
is not essentially competitive and fair.
- New companies should add
to their management team the highest quality
people who can be found. Never compromise in
favor of someone who can be added for a little
less salary or equity. The higher the quality
of the individuals, the more likely they are
to make key contributions.
- The same advice holds in
evaluating and selecting a venture firm: aim
for the very best.
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