IDEAS AND RESOURCES
TO GET INVESTMENT READY
THOUGHTS AND RESOURCES ON HOW TO GET INVESTMENT READY AND RAISE FUNDS
We love to help whenever we can: that’s the core mission of our daily job. We are here to help founders and entrepreneurs navigate the fundraising process, no frills attached.
And this means giving you our services at a reasonable price but also sharing with you everything that can support you throughout this journey.
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What Really Matters
OUR MANIFESTO: The world advances thanks to the effort of single brave individuals that innovate starting from zero. All successful…
Your Competitive Landscape
In the competitive world of business, effectively showcasing how your offering stands out from the competition is paramount. The attributes…
The Dilutive Method
While the dilutive method does not provide a definitive valuation figure, it is an indispensable tool for early-stage companies seeking…
WHEN CONSULTANTS PRETEND TO BE INVESTORS
Why is it reprehensible to use words such as "Ventures" or "Capital" when one is not an investor? Because the…
The UniCamel
The unicalmel incarnates the principles of a startup that has a sustainable business model that prioritises profitability over growth. It…
New SEIS Rules 2023
If you are not sure if you are likely to qualify for SEIS, you can ask HMRC before you go…
TAM SAM SOM
Investors are typically well-versed in the market they are investing in, and are likely to scrutinise any claims made about…
Uk Spring Budget 2023
The announcement of the Spring Budget on 15th March showed us further action to deliver on 3 of the Prime…
Income-based Valuations
Income-based valuations are a crucial tool for investors and business owners in determining the value of an asset based on…
Market-Based Valuations
Many factors weigh on the valuation of a company, and for sure there are no two businesses alike. Furthermore, even…
Solo Founders: Myths and Legends
When you’re setting out into the world of business, some widely accepted wisdom states that you need a business partner.…
Why do we publish our prices?
If you know us, you know we don’t really care about what people say. We care about being fair to…
THE CHECKLIST VALUATION METHOD
The Checklist method compares early-stage startups within the same geographical market, taking as highest value the highest valuations in the…
7 Great inventions that changed the world
In a bid to celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week, we are celebrating and spotlighting some amazing inventions that have changed the…
aaa/unbranded
All you need is being unconventional! aaa/unbranded® stands for an unorthodox approach to life, for a different approach to beauty,…
Valuation: Qualitative Methods
When looking at early-stage valuations, our favourite approach is to rely on benchmarks from the market and then compare them…
The Cheesecake Family
First of all, thank you for your kind donations towards the Cheesecake Family in Kyiv! As you probably know, one…
The Rocking Origins Of Crowdfunding
The first successful instance of a crowdfunding campaign was recorded in 1997 when Marillion, a British rock band, pioneered the…
Investment scams: five red flags to look for
The digital age has made it much easier for cowboys to create convincing profiles online to extort young businesses... but…
Skimpflation
Surely you can recall people saying “Now it is not as good as it used to be” or “It was…
EU Trademark Swindle
This is a horror story with a happy ending. It’s a story about dubious marketing practices and fully fledged scams.…
5 Spooky Innovations That Monetise Death
To celebrate the spooky season - but also because we just like the weird and creepy things - we thought…
The Anti-Funnel
We know we could have a bigger mailing list if we had put our downloads behind a paywall, but we…
B2A
Are we on the verge of creating artificial influencers, marketers and salesmen that will target artificial decision makers? Will procurement…
Zzinga
We think the UK market is ready for this delicious honey cider and we are excited to share the news…
KPIs
It is generally agreed that four to ten measurements may be suitable for the majority of companies, but the number…
WITT Energy
A patented remote power technology that is fully scalable, green, and affordable, WITT's tech transforms kinetic energy that exists in…
Disclaimer Template
Whilst it is obviously important for the deck to include a persuasive pitch for investment, it's also vitally important that…
The Scorecard Valuation Method
Have you heard about the Scorecard Valuation Method? It is a way of determining the value of a startup and…
The Abu Dhabi Investment Scam
It recently happened to one of our clients: their company is UK based, with no operations or interests in the…
Lean Startups & Pivots
The lean startup method aims to find and develop a business or product for which there is demand. You start…
The Pitch Deck
Whether you're a start-up business or looking to grow in size, when it comes to speaking with potential angel or…
TRLs
Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) are a type of measurement system to assess the maturity level of a particular technology. TRLs…
A TEAM
Considering we spend, on average, forty hours a week with our colleagues, it’s no surprise that they often become an…
Know your investor
Finding investors can feel like an incredible thing - but make sure you carry out these checks and look before…
SAFE / ASA
Early-stage valuations may feel uncomfortable for both founders and investors... Is there a simple way?
Sophisticated Investors and HNWI
A sophisticated investor is an investor that has sufficient capital and experience to evaluate independently the soundness of an investment…
Who Decides Your Company’s Value?
In the past weeks we have established why valuations are helpful, when it makes sense to get your venture evaluated…
Failing Towards Success
Being a successful entrepreneur is a race all be it, at times, a slow and steady one. There is a…
EIS
In order to encourage investment into startups and early-stage businesses the UK Government has created a tax relief scheme called…
Karma Works
Everybody has a desire to accrue wealth – we all want more money for our families and for ourselves. But…
Cap Table
A capitalisation table offers a breakdown of the shareholder equity that a company has. These tables or spreadsheets are known…
Blind Teaser
If you have decided to sell your business or are looking for investments with Venture Capital, you may be wondering…
Good Stress Vs Bad Stress
Honestly, not all stress is bad! Feeling stressed can be good for you in small doses... There is such a…
Slicing The Pie
When it comes to your start-up, you want to ensure complete equality of equity. Finances are of the utmost importance,…
Creative Destruction
Creative destruction feels like an oxymoron... However, it's a method companies have used for years, combining ideas of innovation with…
Due Diligence Checklist
You have found a few potential investors: they’ve told you they will invest but subject to Due Diligence. What can…
You Can Get It If You Really Want
This tune is not just fun to listen too - it also contains an inspirational message for any entrepreneur. But…
101 Startup Stages
The startup life cycle has 6 stages, no wait 5, no, another website said 7 stages and then if you…
Is it ok to sign digitally?
Even today, not everybody seems confident that agreements and contracts could be signed digitally.
Multipotentialites
Do you have multiple interests, passions and wide-ranging abilities? If so, you could be a multipotentialite.
The Crowdfunding Video
Crowdfunding: you put together a video, ready to let your idea off into the investment stratosphere. But what goes in…
Being A Rebel
Being a rebel isn’t generally considered to be a positive way to live your life. However, in business, being a…
Early Stage Valuations
The question is: how can we evaluate the startup if we have not yet reached the stage where recurring revenues…
Getting To Philosophy
Here is an experiment that you can conduct, right now. Open any Wikipedia page, on any topic of your choosing.…
The Ideal Co-Founder
"Get yourself a co-founder!" routinely tops lists of the best business advice from successful entrepreneurs.
The Funding Dictionary
Here you can find a short summary of the specific vocabulary of the funding process. This is a list we…
Fundraising 101
Managing to raise capital is rarely easy, and can prove to be an uphill battle, even at the best of…
Ideas Are In The Air
Successful businesses are usually borne out of one simple thing: a fantastic idea. But ideas belong to everyone. When the…
Impact Investing
In this guide, we cover everything you need to know about impact investing. From what impact investing is to why…
Business Valuation For Beginners
In order for an investor to gauge how much they are willing to invest in any business, no matter the…
Our Futures – The Game
‘Our Future’ is a game to imagine new ways to involve people in thinking about the future. It was created…
The Optimist/Pessimist Founder
If you are embarking on a new start-up project, one of the most useful things you can do is trying…
Info Memo Checklist
The key to successfully securing investments for a business is a strong information memorandum, also referred to as an info…
9 Negotiating Principles for Investment Success
What are the underlying principles that you should be using in a negotiation? It doesn’t matter whether you’re the one…
A Call For Logical Thinking
REDISCOVER SCIENCE Please let’s start behaving rationally, people. The strain that this coronavirus pandemic is having on our social behaviour,…
NDA Template
WHEN AN INVESTOR SHOULD SIGN ONE? If you think you have a special idea and you are scared somebody could…
Not What But How
WHY COMES FIRST BUT DON’T FORGET HOW! Everything starts with “why”, we can probably all agree on that.
Values First – ESG Later
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria are an almost mandatory aspect of today’s investment markets.…
Lehman Scale
LEHMAN FORMULA So, let’s address the elephant in the room first: the Lehman Scale takes its name from the infamous…
Funders’ Dilution
It’s important to plan ahead and have your exit strategy clear from the start. What do you want to do…
The Trinity of Management
WE ARE MAKERS, MARKETERS AND MANAGERS We believe that in order to deliver amazing results a company must excel at…
DCF Valuation Template
This Discounted Cash Flows technique involves deriving the value of a business by calculating the present value of its expected…
Valuation
How to value my company? Sure, you want to minimize the number of shares you will eventually give to investors,…
Investment Process
Closing an investment is something that could theoretically take less than a month, but this almost never happens. Normally six…