ICON66 – Volume 4
Contents
Selling Your Business – The Million Dollar Questions
Selling A Technology Company – Avoid The Bear Traps
The IPO Is Dead – What Do You Do Now
Raising Venture Capital – Don't Bore Your VCs
Doing Business In The US – Brown, Rudnick, Freed & Gesmer
Cool Business – The ICON Interview
Raising Venture Capital – 7 Common Myths
Welcome
The Only Way Is Up
Clearly the transition between the hyper values of 1999 and early 2000 and a more down to earth market is hard to stomach for many. However, the best thing for entrepreneurs, management teams, VCs and advisors is to accept it and get on with it.
Selling Your Business
The Million Dollar Questions
So a buyer is identified, the price has been agreed and a deal is looking likely. Easy from now on isn’t it? You just sit back and reflect on how well all your hard work has paid off… [If only]
Selling A Technology Company
Avoid The Bear Traps
Symetris, which was sold for £4.4 million to the Mettoni Group plc, successfully avoided the many bear traps in the sale process. Nonetheless, with the frenzied buying of last year a distant memory, it is ever more important to remember some of the key pitfalls that vendors face in selling their business.
The IPO Is Dead
What Do You Do Now
With public markets closed to technology companies for now, what are the current fund raising and exit opportunities?
Raising Venture Capital
Don't Bore Your VCs
Raising funding takes approximately six months for each funding round and there are effectively six stages to the process.
Inside Primal Pictures
Market conditions for raising equity finance have changed dramatically over the last eighteen months. Consequently, many companies are struggling to stay afloat as they fail to attract second and third funding rounds.
The MBO
ICON Book Review
Here’s a book that tries to make common sense more common! Are you needlessly complicating your business decisions by paying too much attention to management knowledge, experience or philosophies? None of these things, argues O’Connell, can hold a match to good old common sense.
Doing Business In The US
Brown, Rudnick, Freed & Gesmer
The United States is obviously a major player in the global economy and entering the United States in some fashion will be necessary for any company looking to make a true global impact and to position itself for expansion, growth and prosperity.
Cool Business
The ICON Interview
Jeff Thomas is the man behind one of the most exciting new property developments for science, technology and media businesses. His company Hartham Park Ventures is developing specialist business parks throughout the UK, Europe and North America. He talked to ICON about his plans to create high value environments for fast growth, knowledge based companies.
Technology Profile
Java, FT
Internet veterans will remember the first application of the language – it was used to make a little cartoon figure in the shape of a yellow triangle with a red nose and tiny arms and legs who turned cartwheels across the user’s browser window. That all seemed terribly exciting in 1995, but pales into insignificance when set against the current applications of Java.
Raising Venture Capital
7 Common Myths
‘it would be easier if i was raising £20 million instead of £2 million.’ Wrong - they are both equally hard – there is no easy way to raise capital no matter what the amount. In fact there exists an excellent range of venture capital investors at the £1m - £5m range.
