#executive-strategy
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Are we arguing Uber intends to make proper returns?!
What a win!
@Harry Zalk worth a look re TikTok 🤝
Best thing I’ve read in a long time (for anyone interested in Start ups more generally)
Hi all, Pat asked me to share a bit about our .
Background: This is our 4th crowdfunding campaign - we did 1 equity round with (€1.3m) and 3 to finance bougie 3 flagship stores (€1.2m total). We don’t have bank loans or credit lines, but we did also raise €1m earlier on from 18 angels/customers.
The campaign: Raise €500k to develop womenswear
• What: Bond issuance with 7% annual interested and we pay back in 1 tranche after 4 years. Our bank offered 8% interest rate, so this is cheaper.
• What: We launched it in January because it’s a slow month in terms of sale, CPMs are low, and engagement high.
• Why? To get signups for our new womens line, create buzz, and to finance it, of course. We will keep running until €1m raised.
• Setup: Eyevestor platform - there’s no fees and we do everything ourselves, so this is only a good choice if you already have an active community. Otherwise SEEDRS or Crowdabout now or something like that is better.
• Results: We sent 1 newsletter on Friday and posted organically on social. We didn’t know how popular it would be because close to 100% of our customers are men and this was about womenswear. But we got €342k over the weekend. It’s already transferred to our bank account.
• Feelings: We are happy with the engagement and see it as something that lifts the brand and builds goodwill, so all in all we would actually pay a higher interest rate to our customers than we would to a bank…
Great read for trends in health & wellness (applicable generally!)
Hi guys wishing everyone a great Christmas. Hope you all have a great time with your family and are crushing your Christmas offers
We have recently tried a meeting structure with our monthly c suite meeting that has greatly benefited the effectiveness of our team and department meetings within our company.
Sharing the instruction overview I gave to my team, since it may be valuable to some of you who have a bigger team or are building one. Got this structure from someone who has build 8 companies from 0 to 1B+
Here’s the structure:
1. Every C-level exec (or manager for department meetings) files their slides beforehand.
2. Everyone reads them before the meeting and submits 1-2 questions and takeaways via a form.
3. A digital survey compiles these points, and attendees rank them by priority (1-10).
4. The top-priority items are discussed openly in the meeting.
Instead of just sitting through presentations with minimal input (what we used to do), this structure drives active discussions on the most critical topics, making meetings way more efficient and impactful.
Finally: Selling is a massive pain in the ass. Don't have any active working role in a business you intend to sell. The two are not possible to manage side by side.
Last thing (maybe more personal for us compared to most): Earn-outs and exit clauses. Every buyer we met has either asked or made offers contingent on my staying involved. That has probably been not so fun for my sisters who, on paper, get paid way above market rate and who nobody wants to keep around post-exit. That underidentifies their strengths and values but is probably not nice for them regardless. So I guess I'd say think about who is going to get killed off in the story of your exit and who might get hurt. Whatever you can do to manage that; do it. Relationships are worth more than money
Next: Look very carefully at your accountants. When we first spoke to PE the first thing we were told is that we would need new accountants if we wanted a relatively painfree exit. Our accountant had worked with us for 20 years but wasn't an industry expert, wasn't trusted and so this was invariably going to cause loads of pain in the due diligence process. The change caused different types of pain but also highlighted a number of key deficiencies in our accounting processes that would've made a sale virtually impossible.
Next: Talk to tax planners. If you have loved ones and can hive money into tax free trusts then make it happen as early as possible. You never know what is around the corner and ultimately for the UK based people you need to survive 7 years to ensure that money passes on without any tax. There is lots to consider here but typically my best recommendation is to ask the richest person you know to introduce you to someone. Often whatever extra you pay up front comes back out the other side
Think about your life after an exit. In our case we are exiting (in theory) with around an 8-figure valuation. So It's great but there's no guarantees in life that it will last forever. Our intention is to invest a decent portion of the exit amount but that raises the next question for us; are we skilled investors? What is the goal of our investing? In our case we've been making investments of varying sizes for the past twenty years so we have a reasonable sense on this but it's easy to say you'd like to switch from running a trading business to trying to earn a passive income but ask yourself serious questions to determine if you'd have any edge in this or if you'd just become the lemon in the car lot
If you are thinking of exiting in the next 5-10 years then speak to someone today. Depending on your size, Private Equity, a broker in your industry or anyone like that is always happy to have a chat. I've never known a PE guy to say no to a conversation and in almost every instance we have learnt something
Christening this new formed group with some thoughts on exit processes.....ours is a family business and unfortunately the rules and regulations around a lot of stuff 42 years ago when it started are quite different to today. In most cases nobody was paying much attention until we realised we wanted to exit...here are some thoughts which I hope will help others