There are many mistakes to avoid regarding financing, which have put an end to many businesses, and there are ways to prepare yourself to make things easier and be more efficient at finding the right financing route earlier. Different strategies create different valuations, and just like personal interest, the startup story and the milestones achieved[…]
Business valuation dramatically reduces investment uncertainty. It is still a science under development as markets change and more information becomes available. Since valuations are forward-looking, the practice still involves a high degree of judgement. Startup valuation is based on leading practices rather than set standards. Most early-stage valuation decisions take place during negotiations, nevertheless[…]
It’s now easier than ever been to found a business. The cost of starting a simple online venture is low. This has opened up the possibility for many to become entrepreneurs, and the availability of capital also enables many new ground-breaking ideas to get funded. However, the cost to scale a business and to acquire the[…]
When deciding what type of company valuation you need, there are few options available. It usually depends on your specific situation, company size, information available (specifically when the valuation is ordered by an investor) and type of transactions, as well as the expected audience and negotiations. The purpose or transactions for which you may want a[…]
Can Romania be a future hub for innovation? There are reasons to say both yes and no, as Romania is a country with a high potential to bring innovation to world markets, but which is held back by a somewhat antiquated system, leaving the country in-between past and future. Let’s look at a few factors[…]
Working on your customer base potential is the first step to building reliable financial projections for startups. The revenue model that you choose (which types of customers will be charged, how much, and how) defines how you set up your entire business. Many startups decide to focus on a fast-growth with technology development and/or customer[…]
The first step to take to take to build your financial projectsions, after the market analysis and validation, is therefore laying out the expansion strategy with realistic figures. We start from calculating the Total Addressable Market (TAM). Depending on your sector, you can calculate this in terms of value, volume or number of customers. Value is[…]
Any financial plan should start from an analysis of the market. For startups, this is fundamental as product-market fit is still largely unknown or only a hypothesis until a stable revenue is achieved. After the market analysis, validation and drawing your business model, including your potential long-term strategy, it is time to put everything to[…]
Trees grow in size by first expanding their roots in the soil. Every specie of tree is different and it may need a different structure and acidity of the soil. Some need larger and deeper spaces to grow their roots to develop to their full potential, some need less. Different species grow at different speeds,[…]
What was once a myth and rarity is now an everyday story. ‘Unicorns’ are private startups whose valuations have reached $ 1 billion +. Reading out the mythological background of the unicorn out of curiosity, the King of Ethiopia claimed that “it is impossible to take this ferocious beast alive; and that all its strength[…]
As a valuation professional, explaining what value is and how you get to it, is sometimes a challenge. There are so many transactions in the market, especially at the early stages, that concepts have to be simplified to be able to negotiate quickly and effectively. The valuation then becomes a value that you agree on[…]
The development of technology is uncertain, new industries can be created by the market leaders, the commitment and implementation skills of the team are difficult to foresee, much of the investment decision comes down to negotiations. Considering all this, why bother looking into the numbers? Especially for those with purely a technology and marketing background,[…]
Smart money from startup investors follows ever changing trends in terms of sector, region, stage, and instrument. Startup investors, including business angels, VCs, family offices and corporate VCs can invest directly into startup investment rounds, or join co-investment funds, syndicates or invest in other funds. Funds are increasingly set up as specialised sector funds. They[…]
Something that almost all entrepreneurs need to deal with when embarking on a new venture is raising funds. That’s when they start exploring different strategies and demonstrate that their venture has value. When you have a vision of where you want to take your company from the early stage, your financing strategy will go along[…]
It is not always straightforward what value or valuation really means. In the startup world, everyone is talking about it, tech news are filled with funding round valuation analysis and exit stories. Yet the talk often only touches the surface of what there is to know about the valuation of early-stage investments, or even the[…]
Navigating through the countless EU projects for promoting investments into innovative companies can be challenging for entrepreneurs. The reality is that most of the direct financing takes place on a local level – the best source to identify these financial intermediaries that have accessed European funding to finance local companies are listed directly on the official EU database ,[…]
Aswath Damodaran’s webinar on “Narrative and Numbers: A Guide to Disciplined Story Telling and Imaginative Number Crunching” on Sageworks provided some very interesting insights into different approaches to valuation. Damodaran distinguishes between those people who are more comfortable with number crunching, and the storytellers. The ‘Numbers’ people tend to think that valuation is all about[…]
In a valuation, nothing can be viewed in isolation, you always need to consider the overall picture. However, the big picture is also made up of many sources, inputs, logical decisions and methods, without which the overall picture would no longer make sense. Because the value of a company is not to be viewed in isolation,[…]
Until recently few countries had released their own valuation standards. With the market demanding stronger valuation standards, many countries have started working on their own guidelines. The International Valuation Standards Council, for example, seeks to unify these standards. However, the local standards tend to go more into the technical valuation details. The OIV (Organismi Italiano di[…]
Business valuation is a constantly evolving science, shaped by empirical research, opinions of leading experts and the judgement of the valuer. It is impossible to pinpoint the exact intrinsic value of a company, so all methods are aimed at detecting and quantifying as many factors as possible that can have an influence on the company’s[…]
