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,[…]
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[…]