Afleveringen
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Nick Dimmock founded 350PPM as an incubator for various environmental businesses, but has followed a different path from many incubators. In this episode, he discusses how he developed the 350PPM business model, developing companies more generally and the state of environmental investing.
Amongst other items, Nick discusses:
how he developed 350PPM's business modelthe importance of the right systembalancing doing things for a company versus developing internal capabilitieshandling areas that are capital intensivewhere we are in the demand cycle for environmental investmentshow we generate more interest in themthe need for political support and changeNick is naturally forthright and brings some strong opinions which make for a very interesting conversation.
01:50 Nick introduces himself
05:00 what 350PPM is and does
07:40 how did the business model develop - developing a system
13:00 doing stuff for a company vs developing internal capability
18:35 what sorts of companies are of interest and why
22:35 capital intensity
27:30 demand for environmental investments
31:45 how do we sustain interest in environmental investments
33:00 need for removal of subsidies
39:40 next steps
41:15 Favourite questions
Links
350PPM website - https://350ppm.co.uk/
Subscribe to the EIS Navigator podcast on most services here: https://the-eis-navigator.captivate.fm/listen
Suggested books and media
What You See is What You Get by Alan Sugar
Billionaire: The Life and Times of Sir James Goldsmith by Ivan Fallon
The Fifth Risk: Undoing Democracy by Michael Lewis
Bio
Nick Dimmock,
Founder & CEO, 350PPM
Nick has worked in the environmental sector since 2007 and has so far been involved in over 50 environmental projects from Municipal Solid Waste Composting in India, to 1500 MW Hydroelectric projects in Ecuador. Overall, the projects Nick has been involved in have created on-going emission reductions over 9 Million tons of CO2e per annum. From 2017, Nick has been involved with incubating, accelerating and venture...
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Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) founders rightly focus on their product and market, but sound finances underpin any success. Anthony Nitsos founded fractional CFO business SaaS Gurus after working in a couple of successful exits. He has seen the inside of many SaaS businesses so has lots of experience in developing good practice and seeing the mistakes that founders make. In this episode, we tap into that knowledge.
Amongst other topics, Anthony discusses:
balancing different financial metricssensible gross margin targets and when companies should be hitting themchanges in SaaS valuation multiplesthe value of market expertise in generating successsales cycles and how they differ in B2B and B2Cfinding the right first sales person and who the next recruits should bewhen to bring in a CFO (and its earlier than most think)the value of benchmarkingthe difference between finance and accounting in companieshow to prepare for an exitIts a great conversation, with Anthony bringing lots of insights from his vast expertise for founders and investors alike.
00:50 Anthony introduces himself
04:45 what financial metrics matter and the difference between venture-backed and bootstrapped businesses
09:45 gross margin - good targets and when you should be hitting them
13:30 how valuation multiples have changed in SaaS
15:45 patterns in CAC and trends in software purchasers
18:05 how to you know you have product/market fit
20:00 difference in sales cycles between B2B and B2C
23:30 the value of market knowledge and how startups are not for on the job training
24:30 why its easier to move from enterprise to SME than vice versa
25:45 how finding the right first sales person is the biggest challenge
31:45 building a sales team
37:00 when to bring in a CFO
39:30 the merits of building finance function when its pre-revenue
42:20 the value of benchmarking
43:15 most companies have problems
45:00 the difference between accounting and finance
49:20 preparing for exits - how acquirers look at finances
56:00 why founders should know what short of exit they want
60:00 favourite questions
Links
SaaS Gurus website - https://saasgurus.io/
Free ebook on "SaaS Secrets for Financial Triumph" - https://saasgurus.io/lab
SaaS Gurus contact page - https://saasgurus.io/contact/
Subscribe to the EIS Navigator podcast on most services here: https://the-eis-navigator.captivate.fm/listen
Suggested books and media
Measure What Matters by John Doerr
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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How we fit EIS funds and VCTs in an advice process is something that the tax advantaged industry has got many different answers for. Rob Bell of Finova Money has been using these for clients for many years. In this episode we discuss their place in a financial plan, how he chooses between different products and investor perceptions of the industry.
Amongst other topics, Rob discusses:
how he chooses the right scheme for his clientshow he uses what might go wrong in framing discussions and diversificationthe use of a panelassessing track records and their depththe true term of EIS investmentsthe value of managers having several capital poolswhere SEIS fits into the advice processdifferent uses of generalist and specialist managersthe current state of ESG and impact managersimproving investor perception of venture capitalIts a great conversation with lots of insights from Rob for investors, advisers and fund managers.
01:15 Rob introduces himself
02:15 what is Finova Money
03:00 how he chooses between EIS and VCT for a client
06:50 loss relief and how discussing what might go wrong helps
07:50 thinking about diversification
12:15 product selection and producing a panel
13:20 assessing manager track records
16:50 thoughts on the depth of track records
19:30 the real term of EIS investments
22:50 value of managers having several capital pools
25:30 how SEIS fits into the advice process
28:45 specialist vs generalist managers
31:00 ESG and impact investments
36:10 challenges of recommending new managers
38:35 investor perception of venture capital
44:10 how do we improve investor perception of financial advice
48:15 favourite questions
Links
Finova Money website - http://www.finovamoney.co.uk
Rob Bell on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertbell-financialplanner/
Subscribe to the EIS Navigator podcast on most services here: https://the-eis-navigator.captivate.fm/listen
Suggested books and media
They Ask, You Answer by Marcus Sheridan
Bio
Rob Bell,
Founder & Chartered Financial Planner, Finova Money
Rob is a Chartered Financial Planner and one of the founding directors at Finova Money, an independent financial advice business based in London.
Rob is passionate about helping his clients take control of their finances so they can live with confidence knowing they have a solid financial plan for the future in place. Rob’s clients include business owners and professionals with more complex tax positions who can benefit from looking at a broader range of financial planning options. Outside of work Rob’s interest are getting out into the countryside, Munro bagging and scuba diving.
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Manufacturing and operations is an area that has been much neglected by venture capital, but has plenty of issues that can be address. Renan Devillieres of venture builder OSS Ventures focuses on this space, with distinct methods and successful results. In this episode we discuss how he goes about creating successful new businesses, with very good results to date.
In a wide ranging discussion, Renan discusses:
what is venture buildingthe process for finding pain points in factorieshow Renan characterises different operations why there is still so much low hanging fruit in this areawhat sorts of manufacturers are open to changehow to make sure there is enough initial customers and how to work with themworking with different tech stackshow to make sure that companies don't customise for specific clientsmaking the OSS fire itself from each companythe different markets and sales processes he seesfinding the right founders and the skill sets they needthe effect of AIhow the global manufacturing model of the past 30 years is changing nowIts a great conversation with lots of insights from Renan and a must listen for investors and founders who want to build successful businesses.
01:30 Renan introduces himself
02:45 introduction to OSS
04:00 what is venture building?
09:00 finding pain points in factories
13:15 how the regulatory environment can affect go-to-market strategies
17:30 why is there so much low hanging fruit
21:00 how different manufacturers are stuck or open to change
25:30 finding the first customers
29:00 working with clients to build viable solutions without customising too much
32:00 how the OSS team fires itself
37:00 how different software has different sales and decision making processes
41:20 the necessary founder skills
44:15 how AI is affecting manufacturing
49:10 trends in manufacturing and how its all changing now
55:30 favourite questions
Links
OSS Ventures website - https://www.oss.ventures/
Subscribe to the EIS Navigator podcast on most services here: https://the-eis-navigator.captivate.fm/listen
Suggested books and media
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
Empty Planet by Darrell Bricker & John Ibbitson
Bio
Renan Devillières,
CEO OSS Ventures
A graduate of the Ecole Normale Supérieure and the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Renan began his career as a consultant at McKinsey, before becoming an economist at the OECD and then strategic project manager for the Richemont Group. After his various experiences, Renan...
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Governance is all too often seen in startup companies as a chore, or necessary evil when it can be a positive and enable success. Dermot Campbell, founder of CEEIO, is trying bring more of the latter to the venture world. In this episode, he discusses how startups can enable good governance without spending too much time on it and make it a means to the right end rather than an end in itself.
Dermot covers a lot of areas, including:
what is governancethe importance of maintaining stakeholder relationshipswhen startups should start introducing governance structureshow governance should lead growthwho should take the lead on board creationthe role of fund managersgood preparation for board meetingsbuilding effective board agendasthe value in identifying riskssetting up risk assessments and how these can lead to key objectiveshow to generate relevant KPIshow to translate a business plan into something usefulgenerating the right boardthe commons mistakes made by foundersthe rise of ESG and how its different in startups from quoted companiesWhether you are a founder looking to put governance into place or an investor helping or wanting a company to do it, this is an essential discussion.
01:00 Dermot introduces himself
02:00 What is SEEIO
03:10 What is governance
04:20 the importance of maintaining stakeholder relationships
05:40 importance of creating a governance framework
06:15 how should new startups approach governance
08:40 when to create the board
09:45 who takes the lead
11:30 role of fund managers
12:30 the work in preparing for board meetings
15:00 don't just sell - value in identify risks
16:30 setting up appropriate risk assessment
20:30 how to use a business plan and use it to generate objectives
22:10 working on KPIs
24:00 building effective board agendas
27:20 generating the right board and founder relationship with them
30:30 role of independent NEDs in startups
32:10 what mistakes do founders make
33:30 value of governance in improving odds for fundraising
35:50 rise of ESG and how investors care about G - G facilitates E & S
42:20 favourite questions
Links
SEEIO website - https://seeio.co.uk/
Dermot on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dermot-campbell-3178a326/
Subscribe to the EIS Navigator podcast on most services here: https://the-eis-navigator.captivate.fm/listen
Suggested books and media
The Go To Market Handbook for B2B SaaS Leaders by Richard Blunder
MEDDICC: The ultimate guide to staying one step ahead in the complex sale by Andy Whyte
Bio
Dermot Campbell
CEO, SEEIO
Dermot Campbell is an experienced fintech leader,...
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Getting big returns in venture capital can involve stepping away from the mainstream and investing in opportunities that others won't. Will Gibbs of Octopus Ventures has a reputation for investing in areas others see as taboo. We ask him about being a contrarian investor, how to do it well and what needs to change to create a successful investment.
In a discussion filled with numerous examples, Will discusses:
getting big enough markets when the market is somewhat hiddenbalancing new technology and new marketswhen specialist investors are neededjudging whether a company will be ripe for follow-on investmenthow taboo investments can interact with social changesequencing market expansionwhat a company needs to internationalisewhat problems that internationalising doesn't solvebuilding deal flow in taboo areashow the venture capital industry is creating some of the problemsthe value of team diversity in looking away from consensus areaswhether valuations are different in taboo areas.In a wide ranging conversation, Will brings a great perspective on how to bring mainstream venture capital skills to genuinely new areas. Its a great discussion for investors and companies who dare to be different. Enjoy!
01:00 Will introduces himself
03:40 Who Octopus Ventures are
06:30 Contrarian and tabooo investing
07:45 Example: Elvie - silent breast pump
09:50 Example: Pelago - substance use disorder
13:20 the size of taboo markets, challenges in assessing true market size
16:00 new tech and new markets - need for specialists
17:30 Example Overture - improving and automating IVF
19:20 market meets social movements - will someone follow-on?
22:05 assessing the pace of social change - risk of too early
25:30 sequencing the right national / international markets
25:45 Example Skin & Me - getting expansion right and not too quick
29:30 Time and capital to internationalise
31:00 when is the right or wrong time to internationalise
33:30 building deal flow in taboo areas
35:15 to what extent is the venture capital industry part of the problem - value of diversity
38:05 is the industry going in the right direction?
40:00 are valuations different in taboo areas?
42:35 creating communities supporting companies
47:45 prospects
50:20 Favourite questions
Links
Octopus Investments: https://octopusinvestments.com/
Octopus Ventures website: https://octopusventures.com/
Companies mentioned:
Pelago https://www.pelagohealth.com/
Overture https://www.overture.life/
Vira https://www.vira.health/
Elvie https://www.elvie.com/en-gb
Skin and me https://www.skinandme.com/
Subscribe to the EIS Navigator podcast on most services here: https://the-eis-navigator.captivate.fm/listen
Suggested books and media
Essentialism by
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Valuations are always a popular topic. With much discussion about whether we are at the bottom of the current cycle, it seems a good time to revisit and we invited back someone who has experienced several market cycles: John Glencross, co-founder of Calculus Capital.
We had a great discussion on how the current market, how this compares with recent times and how a fund manager handles them. Topics discussed include:
how companies are accepting lower valuationsthe danger of growth at any pricewhere there are still bubbles and what the consequences of these might behow to manage investing when valuations are highthe psychology of down rounds preferential return structures and what John is seeing in the marketreal unicorns versus valuation aberrationshow valuation matters for investinghow Calculus values existing portfolioJohn's sense of valuations in the EIS & VCT market and where he thinks the discrepancies arehow close we are to the bottom of the valuation cycleTalking with someone who has seen several downturns gave a great perspective on all these topics and there's lots for all advisers and investors. Enjoy!
01:00 John introduces himself
04:30 recent exit patterns
06:00 companies accepting lower valuations attraction of investment vs exits
07:30 avoiding growth at any price - US vs UK
10:15 where there is still bubbles
13:15 investing when valuations are high - changed pace of investments in recent years
16:45 the psychology of down rounds
18:45 preferential return structures and the general tightening of terms in market
26:00 when are unicorns a market aberration?
28:30 how valuation matters for investing
31:10 portfolio valuation - lags, being realistic and getting a good process
35:00 how EIS managers are using unrealised performance as marketing, but its not similar to exits
41:00 what is an acceptable band of uncertainty? How exits matter
44:15 are we at the bottom of the valuation cycle?
48:45 favourite questions
Links
Calculus Capital website: https://www.calculuscapital.com/
Subscribe to the EIS Navigator podcast on most services here: https://the-eis-navigator.captivate.fm/listen
Suggested books and media
Sunshine & Shadows
The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
Sing as We Go by Simon Heffer
Bio
John Glencross
Chief Executive and Cofounder, Calculus Capital
John co-founded Calculus with Susan McDonald in 1999, creating one of the UK’s most successful,...
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When we last spoke with Harry Heartfield of Edition, the leisure sector was all about recovering the pandemic. Fortunately, we have moved on so we thought it was time to get him back to discuss where we are now, how his investment philosophy has evolved and what the prospects for exits are now.
We covered a lot areas in our discussion, including:
the unevenness of the current recoverythe difference that geography and target market makesthe need to rebalance portfolio risk nowhow live entertainment and hospitality are doinghow to run live events professionally and Edition's role in supporting thatprospects for exitshow the landscape of purchasers looksthe challenges of making rollups workwhy profitability matters more than everhow and why to set up EIS deals six months in advanceIts another great discussion - Harry is both erudite and insightful, and the lessons are not just about the leisure sector . Enjoy!
00:50 Harry introduces himself
03:00 Why Edition is more than a fund manager
05:00 How does the leisure sector feel now?
08:00 the unevenness of the recovery
10:00 where is recovering and where isn't - geographic and demographic differences
13:40 rebalancing risk in portfolio
15:30 how live entertainment and events are doing
19:30 the return after pandemic
20:30 how to get professionalism in live events
25:30 the prospects for exits returning
28:10 political games amongst the big players in live entertainment and the structure of purchasers
31:20 making rollups work - the danger of multiple arbitrage and focus on synergies
35:45 how long to build a company?
40:15 the importance of profitability in the current market and when there is a trade off vs growth
44:30 messaging around doing something different
47:30 why Edition is lining companies up for investment 6mths in advance
50:20 the challenges of agreeing deals 6 mths in advance
54:00 favourite questions
Links
Edition Capital - https://www.editioncapital.co.uk/
Harry on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/harry-heartfield-2275983a/
Email [email protected]
Subscribe to the EIS Navigator podcast on most services here: https://the-eis-navigator.captivate.fm/listen
Suggested book and media
If This is a Man by Primo Levi
The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson
Bio
Harry Heartfield
Senior Partner, Edition Capital
Harry has over 15 years’ experience in the leisure sector. In 2011, he joined boutique asset manager Ingenious becoming a Senior Investment Manager in their Live Entertainment Team. At Ingenious, he was responsible for working across several investment funds including several Venture Capital Trusts with a focus on leisure assets. During his time at Ingenious, he also developed and launched several investment products aimed at...
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Assessing companies for venture capital investment is often more of an art than a science. Richard Blakesley is trying to change that with Venture Cubed. Its rating system aims to objectively assess how investible new companies are. We asked him to talk about how they built their rating system, what it tells us about the venture industry and how it might change it going forward.
This is the second part of our excellent discussion. In the previous episode, we spoke about his rating system and what matters when assessing companies for investment. In this one, we discuss scaling the UK venture capital industry, indexation and investing at scale. In particular, we talk about:
the proportion of companies that should be getting investmentthe challenge of getting more investment into different companies instead of boosting valuationswhether support and investment should come from the same organisationcreating a index for venture capital and benchmarkinghow to make that index investibledata and creating systems for intermediate valuationsbuying and selling a venture capital indexdifferent investment models that might be usedwhy bigger funds would expect to outperform smaller fundsAs you can see, we covered a lot of ground. This is a really important discussion for the venture capital industry: there could be an opportunity for it to scale up dramatically in the near future, but how it does that really matters. This discussion may not produce all the answers, but at least it asks the questions. And don't forget part 1!
00:45 How many companies get funding that deserve it and what's the shortfall in companies not being funded that should?
05:00 inflating valuations versus broadening the range companies getting investment - need new channels for pension funds
08:00 why the industry needs to change - case for passive management
10:00 the challenges of indexing venture capital
11:00 separating investment and support - how passive managers might arrange that
14:30 the real role of a fund manager
21:00 issue of intermediate valuation (before exit) - data collection on private countries
26:20 data protection & confidentiality
27:40 how to make index investible / expand coverage - without diluting quality
33:00 buying & selling index - fund types, physical vs derivative
35:00 creating funds where industry can write a big cheque
35:45 bigger diversified funds outperform
37:00 the power law and reversion to mean
42:00 co-investment model and role of BBB - public plus private models
45:30 favourite questions
Links
Venture Cubed website - https://www.venturecubed.com/
Richard's email: [email protected]
British Business Bank venture capital reviews: https://www.british-business-bank.co.uk/uk-venture-capital-financial-returns-2023/
Subscribe to the EIS Navigator podcast on most services here: https://the-eis-navigator.captivate.fm/listen
Suggested books and media
Superforecasting by Philip Tetlock
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Assessing companies for venture capital investment is often more of an art than a science. Richard Blakesley is trying to change that with Venture Cubed. Its rating system aims to objectively assess how investible new companies are. We asked him to talk about how they built their rating system, what it tells us about the venture industry and how it might change it going forward.
We had such a good discussion that we have split it into two parts. In this episode, we discuss how he measures companies. In the second part, we talk more about the wider industry. Here we discuss:
what their rating system aims to measurehow they assess how good the ratings arewhat are the important factors in the ratingthe weights that are given to those factorshow they quantify factors that are more qualitativethe challenges in analysing financial modelswhere founders don't understand what investors wanthow founders can get good advice on fundraisingthe process of giving feedback to founders and how receptive they arethe mistakes that founders often makethe proportion of companies that are really investiblewhat investible really meanswhere funding gaps areAs you can see, we covered a lot of ground. Whether you are an investor thinking about how to assess companies or a founder considering fundraising, there's a lot for you here. And don't miss part 2!
01:00 Richard Blakesley introduces himself
02:20 What Venture Cubed does
03:45 What are Venture Cubed scoring? - investibility
06:00 How he measures the success of ratings
09:25 What are the most important factors
12:20 How they quantify qualitative factors
14:20 Issues are around bias in interviews
18:10 Assessing companies without interviewing management
19:00 How founders often don't understand the desires of investors
22:00 Getting good advice on how to fundraise
26:30 How founders get feedback from the rating process
30:20 The receptiveness of founders to feedback
32:45 What mistakes do founders often make?
38:50 How does Venture Cubed weight the factors?
42:40 What proportion of companies are investible?
45:15 How many companies get funding that deserve it and what's the shortfall in companies not being funded that should?
Links
Venture Cubed website - https://www.venturecubed.com/
Richard's email: [email protected]
Subscribe to the EIS Navigator podcast on most services here: https://the-eis-navigator.captivate.fm/listen
Bio
Richard Blakesley
Founder & CEO, Venture Cubed
**tbc
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Investing in companies that are starting out presents different challenges from when they are more established. Oxford Technology has probably been investing in new science and technology companies for longer than than anyone else in the (S)EIS/UK VC world. We get Director Andrea Mica to discuss how to go about it.
In a discussion that is full of examples, both successful and unsuccessful, we cover a wider range of areas:
how to validate the science / technology when there is no saleshow to invest without specialist knowledgebuilding appropriate experimentslooking beyond the first experimentthe importance of testing commercialityavoiding solutions looking for a problemdeveloping founder skills and encouraging them to try salesthe value of contrarianismWith lots of experience, Andrea gives lots of great insights into how they approach the challenge and there is plenty for investors and founders to learn from. Hope you enjoy it!
00:45 Intro to Andrea
06:00 History of Oxford Technology
09:40 Geographically close companies versus distant
12:30 Validating the science / product at the early stage
16:00 Example - viral pathway
21:00 The usefulness of specialist knowledge
26:30 How to building experiments - appropriate size and looking to future experiments
28:30 Testing commerciality: balancing exploration vs definitive answers
33:00 Example - value of testing hand strength vs recovering hand functionality
36:00 Solutions looking for a problem
40:00 Challenge of products that reduce pay of those buying. example - technology to discriminate moles
43:00 Founder skills
46:00 Importance of sales and persuading founders to learn to like it
50:00 Recent trends and the value of contrarianism
55:30 Favourite questions
Links
Oxford Technology website - https://www.oxfordtechnology.com/
Subscribe to the EIS Navigator podcast on most services here: https://the-eis-navigator.captivate.fm/listen
Suggested book and media
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Bio
Andrea Mica
Director, Oxford Technology
Investment Career
Oxford Technology Management Ltd – OT(S)EIS Fund Director. Responsible for souring selecting and supporting companies in the fund. The Fund now has invested £11m.
2009 - Royal Society Enterprise Fund at the Royal Society.
Short term role to help structure the investment evaluation process, train an incoming analyst and help carry out due diligence on the first investments.
2005 IP Group Plc - Responsible for selecting investment opportunities in the partner universities, conducting technology and market due diligence , building startup up team and presenting the investment case to the investment board.
This was followed by a period as director of the companies formed
1999: CFB Technology, Flintstone Plc - Responsible for investigating the technologies in which the group invested and then in helping the teams/companies get started.
Other
Oxford Creativity Trainer and Problem Solver
Cleansteel Ltd – (Business developing and running a recycling process) Co- Founder
Oxford University Begbroke Business Development Fellow
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Yet again, the EIS navigator team has got its all-star panel to discuss what happened in 2023 and how 2024 is shaping up. Christiana Stewart-Lockhart, Director General of EIS Association, Neil Cole, Head of Private Markets Distribution, UBS Wealth Management, and Kealan Doyle, Director, Symvan Capital join Brian to pick through the events of the past year and the prospects for 2024.
We chat through many areas of interest:
how has fundraising gonewhether some VCTs are sitting on too much cashhow easy is it for companies to raise moneythe need for discipline when making follow-on investmentswhether valuations have bottomedhow UK venture capital compares with the US and Silicon Valleythe renewal of the tax advantaged schemes (EIS, VCT and SEIS)whether the increase in SEIS limits is having an effect yeteffect of the new Consumer Duty ruleswhether some risk warnings are flawedAnd, as usual, we get our guests to look forward to 2024 and make some predictions.
Links:
EIS Assocation - https://eisa.org.uk/
Symvan Capital - https://www.symvancapital.com/
UBS Wealth Management - https://www.ubs.com/uk/en/wealth-management/home.html
Subscribe to the EIS Navigator podcast on most services here: https://the-eis-navigator.captivate.fm/listen
Bios
Neil Cole
Neil Cole is the Head of Private Markets Distribution at UBS Wealth Management. He has responsibility for the Private Markets product range offered to UBS clients in UK and Jersey, which includes all of the tax efficient investment world including EIS, VCTs, inheritance tax, ISAs, and other relevant product types.
Kealan Doyle
Kealan is CEO and co-founder of Symvan Capital. He has worked with venture capital companies for 15 years, both in a corporate finance advisory capacity as well as a fund manager. He prefers to invest in a wide range of technology companies, but is also very interested in finding synergies within the Symvan portfolio of companies. Company interests include big data analytics, fintech, SaaS, 3D printing and network security. Before his involvement in venture capital investing, Kealan previously lead a structured equity products team at HSBC, and has worked at Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch and UBS. Together with Nicholas, he has since founded his own entrepreneurial businesses to focus on VC investing. Kealan holds degrees from the London School of Economics and the University of Toronto.
Christiana Stewart-Lockhart
Christiana Stewart-Lockhart is the Director General of the Enterprise Investment Scheme Association (EISA). She previously spent more than a decade working in Westminster including ten years at the Institute of Economic Affairs. She also founded EPICENTER, a Brussels based network of some of the most respected think tanks from across Europe. Christiana holds a BA in Politics from the University of York. She is a member of TISA’s Children’s Financial Education Policy Council and also sits on the Advisory Board for the All Party Parliamentary Group for Entrepreneurship.
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In this episode we take another look at debt funding for high growth companies. Juice has a novel approach using marketing data and its CEO, Katherine Chan, comes on to discuss their approach and the wider funding market.
We cover a lot topics., including:
why alternative funders have arisen in the marketthe pros and cons of using revenue based fundingwhen debt finance is appropriate in high growth companieshow Juice uses marketing data in its approachwhat makes reliable marketing datahow to navigate the risk of rising CAC/CPAhow lenders can give support to companiesthe concerns that borrowers have and how these can be addressedWe finish off by discussing some recent market trends, including the change in availability of funding. Its a great discussion!
Links
Juice website - https://velocity-group.com/
Subscribe to the EIS Navigator podcast on most services here: https://the-eis-navigator.captivate.fm/listen
Suggested books / media
Clara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
Atomic Habits by James Clear
Bio
Katherine Chan
Chief Executive Officer, Velocity Juice
Katherine serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Juice, a forward-thinking financial services company dedicated to providing growth capital for digital-first businesses. Katherine's journey in the financial sector spans over 19 years, marked by roles in banking and risk management at institutions including Commerzbank AG, HSBC, and Deutsche Bank.
Transitioning from banking to the startup world, Katherine joined Juice in 2019 as the Chief Financial Officer and has played a pivotal role in the company's development and rebranding from Velocity Juice to Juice. Her expertise in finance and risk management has been a key driver in Juice's evolution, leading to her recent advancement to the position of CEO.
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Amongst EIS funds and VCTs, consumer companies is less popular than B2B investments but still have their attractions. VGC Partners is one of the few managers that focus on this area and we get Investment Director, Phoebe Scriven to discuss it.
In a fascinating discussion we cover many topics:
why consumer is still attractive despite the economyhow the dynamics of returns in consumer venture capital investments is different from B2Bhow to understand the consumer when its not something that you would buy yourselfgetting conviction when data is limiteddeveloping investment thesesfinding quality within a group of companies within the same spacehow creative companies can find a formula for repeat successPhoebe brings lots of real life examples and really brings out her thought processes and approach to making investments.
01:00 how Phoebe became involved in venture capital
02:40 what VGC does
04:45 why is consumer attractive now
07:00 consumer brands don't scale as quickly - don't need unicorns to get good returns
13:00 B2C vs B2B investing -
14:00 understanding the consumer if you aren't the consumer
19:00 how to get insights into consumers - qualitative insights
23:15 quantitative insights
26:45 thinness of data and using opinions: testing beliefs and getting conviction
32:45 looking for differentiation when you see a lot of similar companies
36:45 example of circular economy companies
41:30 other areas of current interest - VR gaming,
46:45 creating formulas for repeated creative success
49:50 favourite questions
Links
VGC website - https://vgc.partners/
Phoebe's email - [email protected]
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/phoebescriven/
Subscribe to the EIS Navigator podcast on most services here: https://the-eis-navigator.captivate.fm/listen
Suggested books
Creativity Inc by Ed Catmull
Culture Code by Daniel Coyle
Bio
Phoebe Scriven
Investment Director, VGC Partners
Phoebe leads early-stage EIS investing at VGC Partners.
After reading English at Oxford, Phoebe began her career in product innovation and strategy, working with major FMCG companies and travelling across the globe to better understand different consumers. From there, she moved into consulting and development finance, while (outside of her day job) getting increasingly involved with the London start-up ecosystem via DevelopHer, a non-profit organsiation. In 2019, Phoebe made the move into venture capital, joining Supernode Global, where she made her first investments and exit. Phoebe joined VGC Partners at the beginning of 2023.
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B2B SaaS is a very popular business model amongst venture capital and (S)EIS/VCT investors. Haatch Ventures specialise in investing in this sector and we get Partner Fred Soneya and Principal Jeremy Luzinda to talk about how they work and how they help the companies scale.
We look at several topics about managing these companies:
what B2B SaaS is and why it is attractive to investors. We discuss the merits of additional service revenue and when its a positive or a distraction.when a company should add new features or when it should expand its product range.what metrics are of interest, with Jeremy going deep into how they look at a couple of these.Haatch has a particular interest in supporting sales processes. Within this we talk about:
how to develop the right channels and what factors to consider.how lead times on sales affects how companies operate.how investors can support companies in developing their sales.We also discuss some of the typical mistakes that founders make and the prospects for the future for B2B SaaS and venture capital investors in this area.
00:45 Fred & Jeremy introduce themselves
04:30 What Haatch does
05:50 What is B2B SaaS
08:00 Why is B2B SaaS attractive for investors
12:00 Merits of recurring revenue versus service revenue
15:00 adding features, roadmaps
18:30 12 metrics of interest - net revenue retention
21:30 how to develop the right channel
23:00 lead times in sales cycles
28:00 expanding from narrow to broad
32:30 when to expand product ranges
36:30 how managers can support companies in these processes
40:45 typical mistakes founders make:
47:00 prospects for the future
51:20 Favourite questions
Links
Haatch website - https://www.haatch.com/
Fred Soneya - [email protected]
Jeremy Luzinda - [email protected]
Subscribe to the EIS Navigator podcast on most services here: https://the-eis-navigator.captivate.fm/listen
Suggested book and media
My Life and Work by Henry Ford
Ashville Weekly by Daniel Ashville (Youtube)
https://www.youtube.com/@thisisashville
Bios
Fred Soneya, Co-founder & Partner
Fred was responsible for a number of high-profile, large-scale innovation projects across Kiddicare.com and, post-acquisition, Morrisons. Fred created award-winning digital customer experiences by working with cutting-edge early-stage technology start-ups, bridging the online-offline gap at Morrisons. This included the launch of browse-and-order points, mobile payments and electronic shelf-edge labels.
Having co-founded Haatch in 2013, Fred is responsible for the day-to-day running of the Haatch funds. He has led both the completion of over 150 investments into 70+ companies over the lat 10 years and the on-boarding of over 600 investors into the funds.
Jeremy Luzinda, Principal
Jeremy began his career as Chief Operating Officer at a VC-backed start-up that raised from venture funds Forward Partners and Founders Factory, as well as esteemed angel investors such as Sir John Hegarty and Tom Teichman, amongst the first investors in the likes of lastminute.com, MADE.co and notonthehighstreet.com. It ultimately failed, but he learnt a lot in the process.
He then became Managing Director at Surechill, a software-enabled cold-storage company co-founded by...
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While there is much discussion in the media of the macro-economy, its effect on startups is not always a obvious as it is for quoted companies. Ewan MacKinnon, a Partner at Maven, has been investing for almost a decade and half and draws on this experience to give us some insights.
In the discussion we focus on three big areas:
recruitment and wages: we talk about the tightness in the job market and how the effect on startups has changed over the past year. We also talk about hybrid working and how the balance of power in negotiating terms seems to be changing.inflation and pricing power: Ewan discusses the different ways that inflation and its various causes are affecting different companies. We also look at pricing power and how startups set prices and negotiate with customers.funding: interest rates and the money supply both affect the availability of funding for SMEs. We discuss the lending market and how that has evolved, particularly the difficulty of getting bank funding.Finally, we look forward to how the economy will develop over the next couple of years and whether founder optimism is justified.
01:00 Ewan introduces himself
04:00 what Maven does
06:30 how the macro economy affects startups
10:00 recruitment challenges
13:00 knock on from big tech redundancies
15:00 hybrid working and trends
21:30 Inflation - differential effect, supply chains
23:40 price setting and price raising - push back,
27:00 different client types - SME vs enterprise
32:40 Interest rates, money supply, ease of funding
34:30 difficulty of bank funding
40:25 Looking forward
44:50 Favourite questions
Links
Maven website - https://www.mavencp.com/
Subscribe to the EIS Navigator podcast on most services here: https://the-eis-navigator.captivate.fm/listen
Suggested book
Bad Blood by John Carreyou
Bio
Ewan MacKinnon
Partner, Maven
Ewan joined Maven in September 2009 and is based in their Glasgow and Edinburgh offices. He is responsible for new Private Equity investments across Scotland and North East England and is a member of the Maven Investment Committee.
Ewan has 25 years’ experience managing, advising and investing in SMEs. He joined Maven in 2009, having previously worked in Johnston Carmichael’s corporate finance team. Ewan has extensive industry experience, having been managing director of MacKinnons of Dyce Limited, a specialist retail business which was sold to a FTSE 250 listed company in 2006. He has a first-class honours degree from the Aberdeen Business School and is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.
Outside of work, Ewan enjoys keeping fit, following Manchester United and Aberdeen FC and has a keen passion for music.
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Elliot Limb is co-founder and CEO of Cubed and spends his days supporting fintech companies scale. Having worked with many startups, he has a broad insight into their challenges and difficulties. He also has some strong views, which makes for a very interesting discussion!
We covered a huge number of areas, including:
- why fintech has a long way to go
- what causes startup companies to fail: Elliot gives the two most essential metrics monitor
- the relationship on boards between founders and VCs and how both sides often get it wrong
- the importance of getting the right staff and board members
- how to thrive with a weak board
- the merits of generalist vs specialist investors
- whether work/life balance is possible for founders
- how founders can pull through when crisis hits
- how keeping the wrong customers can ruin a business
- generating a path companies in crisis to recovery
- the importance of transparency between founders and investors.
And this only scratches the surface! We planned to focus on fintech, but ended up with a much wider discussion which is essential listening for any founder, VC or investor.
Links
Cubed website - https://www.cubed.company/
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/cubedcompany/
Subscribe to the EIS Navigator podcast on most services here: https://the-eis-navigator.captivate.fm/listen
Suggested books
The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons in Creative Leadership from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company by Bob Iger
Rules For Revolutionaries: The Capitalist Manifesto for Creating and Marketing New Products and Services by Guy Kawasaki
From Brian:
The Power Law by Sebastian Mallaby
Lying for Money by Dan Davies
Bio
Elliot Limb
Co-founder and CEO, Cubed
In a career spanning over 20 years, he has held multiple prestigious positions in the Banking and Fintech industry.
Realising the depth of opportunities available as the finance industry reached an inflection point, he founded CoBa - where collaboration and agile (cross eco-systems) operating models have true alignment from strategy through to value realisation, digging deeper than technology, API and standard platform level. CoBa is his vision of how to build sustainable business models, based on collaboration between banks, fintech, regulators and corporates to maximise profitability on an individual and collective...
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Since its founding eight years ago, British Business Bank has established itself as an important participant in the funding markets for UK SMEs and startups. In this episode, its CEO Louis Taylor tells us what it is doing and how it is going about it.
We start by discussing how the Bank fits into the UK ecosystem. Louis discusses the bank's mandate and how it goes about fulfilling it. It aims to change market failures through a variety of projects. Louis discusses several of these and how the Bank aims to catalyse others to fill the gaps.
There are several specific areas that concern EIS and VCT investors and we look at some of those. The gap in regional equity funding is well known and BBB has some tailored programmes to address them. We also talk about the challenges of improving diversity and addressing issues in the green economy.
Links
British Business Bank website - https://www.british-business-bank.co.uk/
Subscribe to the EIS Navigator podcast on most services here: https://the-eis-navigator.captivate.fm/listen
Suggested book
The Entrepreneurial Myth: A manifesto for real business by Louise Nicolson
Bio
Louis Taylor
CEO, British Business Bank
Louis Taylor is CEO of the British Business Bank, the UK’s government owned economic development Bank. Prior to that, he was Chief Executive of UK Export Finance (UKEF), the UK’s export credit agency, for seven years. He also held roles as a Director General in the Department for International Trade, and a member of its Executive Committee and Management Board.
Before joining UKEF, Louis held a range of senior roles at Standard Chartered Bank, including from 2013 to 2015 as Chief Operating Officer of Group Treasury, based in London. Before that, he spent three years as the bank’s CEO for Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, based in Ho Chi Minh City. During this time he was also Vice Chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (Eurocham). He joined Standard Chartered in London in 2004, working in Group Corporate Development, which undertakes the bank’s acquisitions, divestments and other inorganic growth initiatives.
His earlier career included eight years working for JP Morgan in debt capital markets and mergers and acquisitions, and five years in corporate development and strategy with two industrial companies, Cookson Group plc and BTR plc.
Louis is a trustee of the charity Sightsavers, which prevents sight loss and avoidable blindness, and promotes equal rights for the disabled. He is also a former chair of trustees of the charity Music in Prisons, which runs music education projects to help rehabilitate offenders, and a former chair of governors of the Royal Grammar School in Newcastle upon Tyne. He has an MA in Law from the University of Cambridge.
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Hardware startups have often struggled to get funding, but Damon Bonser of British Design Fund is trying to change that. In this episode, he talks about his experiences and how hardware can be more attractive than many investors think.
The first half of our discussion focusses on how companies can mitigate risk. Damon discusses how he avoids investing in a warehouse of unsold goods, focussing instead on more normal VC ideas of satisfying customer needs by getting the product into their hands early on.
We discuss how and when companies should tool up and start production. We also talk about where, with Damon highlighting how reshoring into the UK is starting again, especially post-pandemic. We also talk about intellectual property and how to protect it.
Links
British Design Fund website - https://www.britishdesignfund.co.uk/
Subscribe to the EIS Navigator podcast on most services here: https://the-eis-navigator.captivate.fm/listen
Suggested book
Rebel Ideas by Matthew Syed
Bio
Damon Bonser
CEO, British Design Fund
Damon Bonser is the Founder and CEO of the British Design Fund. A serial entrepreneur with over 20 years’ experience building and running product development and manufacturing businesses.
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Anyone with a passing interest in technology or venture capital cannot have missed the rapid increase in interest in AI over the past few months. We are overdue talking about it on the podcast, so we got an expert in James Pringle. He used AI as a founder and it now impacts how he invests so he is the ideal guest to discuss the topic.
We start off by covering some of the basics, drawing out what AI is currently capable of. We discuss broadly how AI works, how it has developed over the past few years and what has changed to bring it to such prominence now.
James explains how AI affects startups and what he is investing in. He discusses how it can supercharge employees, enabling them to move faster with less resources and how management needs to handle that. He talks about how this leads to an investment approach that focuses on applications rather the fundamental building blocks of AI.
Finally, we discuss some of the risks around AI, especially around the speed of change and how that affects James as an investor as well as workers and the wider economy.
PS Encouraged by James, we used AI to generate the title for the podcast - hope you like it!
Links
Portfolio Ventures website - https://portfolio.ventures/
James on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/thejamespringle/
Subscribe to the EIS Navigator podcast on most services here: https://the-eis-navigator.captivate.fm/listen
Suggested book
The Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman
Bio
James Pringle
Portfolio Ventures
James Pringle is a VC investor at UK venture capital fund Portfolio Ventures. James also co-hosts Riding Unicorns, one of Europe's top venture podcasts. Prior to investing, James founded a VC-backed SaaS company.
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