Part of Go4Venture’s advisory proposition is to continue assisting companies from the initial financing right through exit.
M&A Sellside I Back to top
There comes a time when shareholders want to exit. If we are an incumbent advisor, we are able to support our client on the basis of the trust we have establishes, For new clients, we prefer to focus on a handful of niches where we have demonstrable superior understanding, in particular:
- IT services
- IT security
- Mobile software
One of the reasons to involve Go4Venture on fund-raising is to maximise the chances of a positive outcome. As the market for refinancings has got tougher in the last few years, we have been increasingly involved in dual tracking exercises, where “Plan A” may be a refinancing but where we also look at “Plan B” in the form of a possible trade sale. Confidentiality is obviously key in order not to compromise the primary fund-raising exercise.
IPO Advisory I Back to top
It is our experience that entrepreneurs find it difficult to get impartial advice from banks offering to float their business, particularly with regard to the appropriate timing of a possible Initial Public Offering (IPO), due to a number of factors:
- Often, the advice is self-serving as banks try to maximise their own fees with little regard for long-term shareholder value
- Banks are marketing experts (glossy Brochures, ambiguous and spurious statistics) and can make it difficult for an entrepreneur to figure out their actual track record and likely commitment
- Bankers adopt a rather liberal approach to making promises - remember that those same bankers will probably be working at a different bank within the next twelve months
- Worst of all, and despite their claims to the contrary, banks are not particularly worried about their long term reputation since the growth company investment banking market is virtually a cartel (7% fee on Nasdaq, no questions asked) and investors easily forget yesterday’s “duds”
Even the entrepreneur’s partner, the VC, can be no better, rarely offering appropriate checks and balances since they too have their own short-term pressures. By definition, VCs are not long-term investors in public companies and have their own agenda of building long-term relationships with investment banks.
Finally, when it comes to execution, entrepreneurs are usually at a loss to understand the intricacies and jargon of the IPO market. VCs can be helpful in guiding the entrepreneur, although as stated previously they have their own interests to consider and may or may not spend the necessary time to educate the entrepreneur.
On all of these issues, Go4Venture is experienced at providing advice and help to the entrepreneur on how to keep a strong degree of control over its advisors.
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