THE SEQUENCE OF EVENTS IN SECURING VENTURE CAPITAL
To determine whether venture capital is the right type of funding for a growing venture, entrepreneurs must understand the goals and motivations of venture capi¬talists, for these dictate the potential success or failure of the attempt. VCs process hundreds of business plans every month, so their first priority is to quickly eliminate those that don't meet their most important criteria. They do this by looking for flaws in the business plan that would suggest that this venture is not a good investment opportunity. This is an important point, because a business plan may present a viable and lucrative investment for the entrepreneur, but if it can't achieve the size and returns that the VC needs to be successful, it will not be deemed a good investment opportunity. VCs are fundamentally risk averse, so it is the entrepreneur's job to reduce risk in the three key areas where VCs find it: management risk, technology
risk, and business model risk. A sound business plan demonstrating market research with the customer can help, but proving the concept in the market is even more important. Figure 17.3 depicts the three major stages during which entrepreneurs receive funding: (1) idea and proof of concept stage, which includes start-up and initial survival; (2) early growth and transition; and (3) rapid growth. The first stage, concept development, is the highest-risk stage because uncertainty is at its highest with many questions about the business and the market remaining unanswered until the second stage. VCs rarely invest at this stage even though the returns will be higher because the probability of not achieving those returns is also at its highest. The early growth and transition stage sees the business in operation, having proven the concept and the market, so a significant amount of risk has been reduced. VCs will enter at this stage if the potential to move into rapid growth is imminent. The third stage, rapid growth, is where most VCs invest because this stage is more likely to bring them to the liquidity event they need in three to five years to make the investment worthwhile. Most of the critical questions have been answered, the team has been proven, and now it's a matter of funding rapid growth and preparing the venture for an IPO. At this point, Rinding is used to finance several stages: scale-up of manufacturing and sales, working capital for expanding inventories, receivables and payables, funding for new products, and bridge financing to prepare for an ini¬tial public offering.
When venture capitalists scrutinize a new opportunity, they typically evaluate the market, management, and technology, in that order. Market is usually first because it serves to weed out opportunities that don't have large markets in a fast-growing industry sector that will enable the business to do an IPO in three to five years. If the market is great (year-over-year growth of at least 25 percent and no domination by other companies), the management team does not have to be complete at the time the VC considers investing in the venture. The team does need to have technical skills, industry experience, and a track record that suggests that they could take the company to the next level of growth.2 In addition to experience, VCs are looking for commitment to the company and to growth because they recognize that growing a
company requires an enormous amount of time and effort on the part of the man¬agement team.3 Once they have determined that the management team is solid or that the missing pieces can easily be found, they look at the product to determine whether it enjoys a unique or innovative position in the marketplace. Product uniqueness or "secret sauce,'1 especially if protected through intellectual-property rights, helps crcate entry barriers in the market, commands higher prices, and adds value to the business. All of these characteristics are important because it is from die consequent appreciation in the value of the business that the VC will derive the required return on investment.
The venture capital firm invests in a growing business through the use of debt and equity instruments to achieve long-term appreciation on the investment within a specified period of time, typically three to five years. By definition, this goal is often different from the goals of the entrepreneur, who usually looks at the business in a much longer frame of reference. The venture capitalist also seeks varying rates of return, depending on the risk involved. An early-stage investment, for example, characteristically demands a higher rate of return, as much as 50 percent or more annual cash-on-cash return, whereas a later-stage investment demands a lower rate of return, perhaps 30 percent annually. Depending on the timeframe for cash-out, the VC will expect capital gains multiples of 5 to 20 times the initial investment. Very simply, as the level of risk increases, so does the demand for a higher rate of return, as depicted in Figure 17.3. This relationship is not surprising. Older, more established companies have a longer track record on which to base predictions about the future, so normal business cycles and sales patterns have been identified, and the company is usually in a better position to respond through experience to a dynamic environment. Consequently, investing in a mature firm does not command the high rate of return that investing in a high-growth start-up docs.
THE SEQUENCE OF EVENTS IN SECURING VENTURE CAPITAL
To determine whether venture capital is the right type of funding for a growing venture, entrepreneurs must understand the goals and motivations of venture capi¬talists, for these dictate the potential success or failure of the attempt. VCs process hundreds of business plans every month, so their first priority is to quickly eliminate those that don't meet their most important criteria. They do this by looking for flaws in the business plan that would suggest that this venture is not a good investment opportunity. This is an important point, because a business plan may present a viable and lucrative investment for the entrepreneur, but if it can't achieve the size and returns that the VC needs to be successful, it will not be deemed a good investment opportunity. VCs are fundamentally risk averse, so it is the entrepreneur's job to reduce risk in the three key areas where VCs find it: management risk, technology
risk, and business model risk. A sound business plan demonstrating market research with the customer can help, but proving the concept in the market is even more important. Figure 17.3 depicts the three major stages during which entrepreneurs receive funding: (1) idea and proof of concept stage, which includes start-up and initial survival; (2) early growth and transition; and (3) rapid growth. The first stage, concept development, is the highest-risk stage because uncertainty is at its highest with many questions about the business and the market remaining unanswered until the second stage. VCs rarely invest at this stage even though the returns will be higher because the probability of not achieving those returns is also at its highest. The early growth and transition stage sees the business in operation, having proven the concept and the market, so a significant amount of risk has been reduced. VCs will enter at this stage if the potential to move into rapid growth is imminent. The third stage, rapid growth, is where most VCs invest because this stage is more likely to bring them to the liquidity event they need in three to five years to make the investment worthwhile. Most of the critical questions have been answered, the team has been proven, and now it's a matter of funding rapid growth and preparing the venture for an IPO. At this point, Rinding is used to finance several stages: scale-up of manufacturing and sales, working capital for expanding inventories, receivables and payables, funding for new products, and bridge financing to prepare for an ini¬tial public offering.
When venture capitalists scrutinize a new opportunity, they typically evaluate the market, management, and technology, in that order. Market is usually first because it serves to weed out opportunities that don't have large markets in a fast-growing industry sector that will enable the business to do an IPO in three to five years. If the market is great (year-over-year growth of at least 25 percent and no domination by other companies), the management team does not have to be complete at the time the VC considers investing in the venture. The team does need to have technical skills, industry experience, and a track record that suggests that they could take the company to the next level of growth.2 In addition to experience, VCs are looking for commitment to the company and to growth because they recognize that growing a
company requires an enormous amount of time and effort on the part of the man¬agement team.3 Once they have determined that the management team is solid or that the missing pieces can easily be found, they look at the product to determine whether it enjoys a unique or innovative position in the marketplace. Product uniqueness or "secret sauce,'1 especially if protected through intellectual-property rights, helps crcate entry barriers in the market, commands higher prices, and adds value to the business. All of these characteristics are important because it is from die consequent appreciation in the value of the business that the VC will derive the required return on investment.
The venture capital firm invests in a growing business through the use of debt and equity instruments to achieve long-term appreciation on the investment within a specified period of time, typically three to five years. By definition, this goal is often different from the goals of the entrepreneur, who usually looks at the business in a much longer frame of reference. The venture capitalist also seeks varying rates of return, depending on the risk involved. An early-stage investment, for example, characteristically demands a higher rate of return, as much as 50 percent or more annual cash-on-cash return, whereas a later-stage investment demands a lower rate of return, perhaps 30 percent annually. Depending on the timeframe for cash-out, the VC will expect capital gains multiples of 5 to 20 times the initial investment. Very simply, as the level of risk increases, so does the demand for a higher rate of return, as depicted in Figure 17.3. This relationship is not surprising. Older, more established companies have a longer track record on which to base predictions about the future, so normal business cycles and sales patterns have been identified, and the company is usually in a better position to respond through experience to a dynamic environment. Consequently, investing in a mature firm does not command the high rate of return that investing in a high-growth start-up docs.
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