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A Candid Conversation on the Future of Family Businesses
AAB / Business Advisory
Research and Development in the Textile Sector.
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The quantity and quality of scale-up technology businesses continues to increase in Scotland with technology incubators such as ONE in Aberdeen, Codebase in Edinburgh and Stirling and universities such as Heriot Watt, Napier and Strathclyde providing a clear pathway for entrepreneurs to turn their ideas into a business.
Since leaving the world of investment banking in 2001, I’ve been working predominantly in, or alongside interesting and ambitious companies looking to grow. I’ll try to collect my thoughts about what successful fundraising looks like or maybe put myself in an entrepreneur’s shoes. Or more likely, trainers…
One of the most regular scenarios I come across is where founders try to boot-strap. Bootstrapping is building a company from the ground up with nothing but personal savings, and with luck, the cash coming in from the first sales. Quite often a founder will attempt to do this while still in employment elsewhere. But how can the company effectively scale with only a part-time founder? I think the key next step is when the founder leaves their other job and works in the new business full-time.
To do this, a founder will need some personal savings (or a Partner willing to pay the rent or mortgage for the family on their behalf!) or to have won some customers already through the minimum viable product he or she has developed. Often young companies will seek 4 or 5 customers who will help them develop the product through paid-for trials. Often a good way to get some cash in the door.
The alternative to boot-strapping which allows the founder to leave his full-time job, is trying to raise, let’s say £150,000-£250,000. With this size of fundraise, it will give the founder and early co-workers the ability to pay their own rent or mortgage and feed themselves for about 12-18 months maybe, while they see if the business can scale. I think this raise is key. I have seen countless good ideas wither away at the vine because the founders have been unable to raise this level of funding. And I have seen some terrible ideas get to scale only because they had access to funding. At the end of the day, money makes money. Most of the time…
There is undoubtedly a supply gap in the market at this level of fundraise that I wish could be filled by significant stakeholders in our economy. Perhaps a rant for another day! (look at how easily £50,000 bounce-back loans were distributed when banks were ordered to lend…)
So, how can a founder in Scotland access this kind of cash? £250,000 might take the form of 5 Angel/High Net Worth-type investors all investing £50,000 of their own money. If you don’t have wealthy friends or family, you’ll have to do your research to find out which individuals are investing these amounts in early stage technology businesses. Use Companies House to find out the names of Directors or shareholders in some of the raises which have been announced recently. You will begin to see the same names pop up in different companies. Perhaps look for individuals who have sold their businesses in the last 3-5 years.
There are hybrid alternatives to pure Angel/Seed investment, such as grant funding from the likes of Innovate UK but they will often require matched funding from the company to release grant funding. This usually means the Directors have to stump up, or you’re back looking for an investor to help you secure this grant.
So, what do you need to have in your locker to persuade investors to participate in a fundraise at this level? Investors will almost certainly require some sort of business plan before writing their cheque (bit of an old fashioned phrase now, but you catch my drift) and are unlikely to settle for teaser document.
From a finance point of view, I find myself thinking more and more that if I were to start a business tomorrow, I would do it armed with a set of 5-year projections done by a very good financial modeller. (Did I mention that we happen to have an experienced team who can do this and not charge the earth?)
Far too many times potential investors, often more familiar with numbers than the founder, may nod along during a pitch, but try to catch the founder out on their detailed numbers right at the end. Why not just remove this painful interaction on the numbers from the process by handing over the projections before the pitch? In any case, I think founders should know how many widgets they are going to try to sell each year, at what price and at what cost, don’t you?
If you have any questions or would like more information, please do not hesitate to contact Ian Marshall, Head of Tech Strategy.
What is ATED?
Many businesses have had to think on their feet in the past year as a result of COVID-19, but none more so than those in the charitable sector. The pandemic has provided new challenges, not only in providing core services to those in need but also in keeping on top of the day-to-day finances.
Business Owners will most likely be aware of the important Inheritance Tax (“IHT”) relief currently available on the value of their businesses. Business Relief (“BR”) can relieve the full value of the business and it has long been recognised that the policy objective behind the relief is to prevent the breaking up or sale of businesses on death. Whilst this may be hugely advantageous for all businesses, the benefit is perhaps most keenly felt by family businesses where the legacy is as much about heritage and history as it is about a continuing trade.
The cost to the taxpayer of Covid by the end of the next financial year is predicted to be £407 billion, much of which has been funded by debt.
With the end of the festive season, the New Year is traditionally a time for us to reflect on the year just gone and identify areas for improvements which can be made in the next year. Whilst this is traditionally done on a personal sense (how to lose 40lbs in January!), this is also the perfect time to review your business processes to see if they are truly working for you and not the other way around!
Maintaining high levels of client service during a pandemic when your entire employee base is working remotely may have filled most partners and professional service firms with dread 12 months ago. But fast forward several months and this thinking has certainly changed.
2020 has been a hugely difficult year for many, particularly in respect of concerns about health, wellbeing and financial security. The Office for National Statistics estimated in September that the UK economy was around 20% smaller than at the end of 2019, bringing unprecedented headwinds for the UK’s businesses. The pressures on Public Sector bodies and third sector organisations have varied; needs have been considerable, combined with “lockdown” making delivery challenging, whilst funding from usual sources has declined significantly.
At the beginning of 2020, we were expecting this to be another strong year for the Scottish Tech scene, and in particular the Edinburgh ecosystem. Record levels of investment were forecast, and we hoped to see that next generation of young ambitious companies coming through. We’re sure the showcase Tech investor event in Scotland, EiE, would have been their best attended in its history, rather than a virtual event as it turned out to be.
However, despite the COVID-19 curveball thrown at the world, there are still exciting developments happening in the sector. On 12 November we learned that Symphonic Software had been sold to Ping Identity, with Par Equity’s stake alone being valued at $31 million. Another great spin-out from Edinburgh’s Napier University, headed up by the legendary Professor Bill Buchanan.
As in any time of adversity, there will be both drawbacks and opportunities. This is exactly the case for companies operating in the Tech sector this year. Like the rest of the world, Tech companies have realised that remote working is here to stay. Our view is that the vast majority of companies globally will, where they can, facilitate employees working from home either 2 or 3 days a week going forward.
Scotland is desperately short of coding talent, so the realisation that teams of employees could be set up from remote locations will really help Tech companies in Scotland scale. As a result, the Tech to facilitate remote working will therefore continue to grow and develop. While there are amazing stories of COVID-busting sectors (think Zoom, Amazon, Just Eat etc.) and even COVID-busters like Tag Games and My Online Schooling here in Scotland, talk of the global economy not recovering for years to come will undoubtedly impact the Tech sector just as it has every other sector.
What have our clients made of all this? Well, we’re glad to report that remote working has helped their businesses rather than hindering them across the board. Companies have had to change the way they communicate for the better. When lockdown started, Tech companies were really given their chance to shine. With high expectations and high pressure timescales, it encouraged teams to push their innovative boundaries even further than before, and come together to fight the good fight for the sake of the whole nation. Certain Tech businesses are now the glue holding other businesses together and this will only help with idea generation for future technologies, and encourage young talent to enter the sector.
Where has Tech come a bit unstuck during the year? For us it’s the purported cost and usability of the COVID-19 Track & Trace app in England. A real low-point for the sector that understandably has been the talk of the town. To balance this out, a high point could be the vital role that Tech played in developing multiple vaccines so quickly.
Our Corporate Finance Team will be extremely busy with delayed deals being resurrected again. For us as a team, our clients have relied on us in 2020 more than ever before, and we are looking forward to focusing our efforts on continuing to serve Tech focused companies.
Tech company incubators like Codebase in Edinburgh and ONE Codebase in Aberdeen have been organising virtual workshops for their tenants. AAB delivered the first of 3 finance-focused sessions in mid-November. The always challenging ‘Ask Me Anything’ final 15 minutes revealing continued interest in Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI) schemes, so it’s great to hear that Tech founders continue to want to reward loyal staff by giving them skin in the game.
Sadly, without a crystal ball to hand, it’s been difficult to answer questions like ‘when will get back to normal?’ and ‘how quickly will the economy recover?’ But we have been on hand to encourage, support, energise and listen as well as deliver on the technical pieces of work.
With vaccines starting to be administrated to our key workers, there is definitely a feeling of optimism in the air. As economies start to recover, it will be Tech leading the way to stability.