Author: James Vanreusel

In last month’s article I discussed the fact that 1 in 7 ventures are run by solo-founders. These entrepreneurs prefer more control and must maintain a deep mental strength to hold themselves accountable for growth. We also discussed that many startups are led by a small group of co-founders. They prefer speed over control and will give up ownership to build a strong team to maximise growth and stay ahead of the competition. We ended the article discussing securities used to issue employee ownership. Although there are many different types of securities that can be issued to founders and employees, I’ll only mention the...

During a routine conversation with a client and business owner, I noticed a signed photograph on his desk. Two months earlier he had been invited to speak at the opening of the Global Women’s Network event founded by Laura Bush, the former first lady. The trio of smiles, the business owner, former President George and Laura Bush, testified to his rising profile. Last year, he presented at the Forbes 400 Summit on Philanthropy in front of the 400 richest people in the US, including Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg. He has also been invited to mentor startup...

Scaling companies is a constant process of innovation. The following phrase describes these rapid periods of growth: what worked 12 months ago, doesn’t work anymore. Once your product lands squarely in its market, revenues and customers can begin to grow exponentially. In response, the organisation must scale in size and ability to execute. Otherwise, the company’s infrastructure begins to age, processes break, and disharmony sets in among staff. In 2017, a customer of mine saw their annual revenues increase 350%. Furthermore, the company is planning for revenues to double in 2018. With only 4 project managers implementing its enterprise...

INTRODUCTION Early-stage investors focus primarily on backing great teams. Angels will examine your team members’ complementary skills, out-of-the-box thinking, and mental flexibility to pivot whenever needed. Ultimately, they must trust the business owner to make the difficult day-to-day decisions. If the angel has a positive history with a serial entrepreneur, it’s not uncommon for her to write a cheque before ever hearing their new business idea. However, what type of angel would you want to have as an equity owner in your company? WHO DO I CHOOSE It matters greatly who invests the initial capital in your company. As...

INTRODUCTION Entrepreneurs take action first and then clean up afterwards. Their businesses are duct taped together in their initial 2 years. However, after the initial chaos, each business needs to have the organisational maturity to approach investors. The best time to look for capital is when you don’t need it. Otherwise, investors will slap on a ‘desperation discount’ if they know you lack alternatives. The focus of this article is on angel investing. To start, I’ll provide a simple map of the capital raising universe. There is a hierarchy of preference in capital raising. First seek to bootstrap growth,...