Advisory and corporate finance
While there is extensive analysis available on how boards of established companies should operate, especially those in the public interest or publicly traded shares, there is very little guidance on how to make venture boards (for fast growing scale up businesses) work effectively. Most companies have a set of obligations in their Articles that are … Continue reading Five steps to creating an effective Venture Board
‘Only 4% of UK businesses grow to have more than 10 staff’ is the worrying statistic released in this year’s Scale Up Institute report. Whilst the UK typically ranks highly when it comes to the level of entrepreneurship, James Anderson of Baillie Gifford’s Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust acknowledges that ‘the UK culture doesn’t celebrate the … Continue reading Top five reasons why businesses fail to scale
In 2021 Office of National Statistics estimated that the UK was in sixth place for productivity compared to other G7 countries, with output per worker being 10% less than the average, and output per head in the US being 1.5 times higher. Despite the need to improve productivity never being more important for business leaders, … Continue reading Are you missing two hacks to improve productivity?
High growth businesses rarely stumble into success instead consciously develop a growth mindset. Based on our experience of creating high growth cultures to deal with disruptive markets and competitive challenges, successful leaders focus on getting these four hacks right: We work with scale up businesses to established businesses to help them accelerate business outcomes, drawing … Continue reading Four hacks for creating a Growth Mindset
As the due diligence planning starts off, buyers will typically scope out financial and tax, legal teams and commercial due diligence but rarely is tech included, despite the potential significance tech can have on any deal. Similarly post-acquisition plans rarely anticipate IT work streams beyond replacing the systems of one company with another. This ‘black … Continue reading Does Your Due Diligence Include Tech?
Despite current economic turmoil, tech companies are still highly sought after by many buyers across trade, venture capitalist and private equity and as a result many businesses will highlight their tech credentials to potential buyers. However, very few companies make sure that their IT capabilities are prepared for due diligence and can withstand rigorous analysis. … Continue reading Selling Your Tech Capabilities
For scaling businesses IT can be one of the most frustrating aspects of the business, especially if tech development is not a core discipline. We’ve seen countless occasions where the leadership team cannot understand why their development does not seem to get out of the blocks and build traction. And the warning sign is just … Continue reading Has Your Tech Development Stalled?
ESG is an acronym used to consider matters affecting the relationship between a business and its stakeholders covering environmental concerns, social impact and governance. While the number of B Corp businesses (meeting certified high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability) is increasing, a wide reading of the press demonstrates that some regard … Continue reading ESG in Value Creation
If you are considering selling your business, here are seven things to consider: 1. Not planning is the first mistake. “Nothing comes from nothing”: It’s common sense. Sure, we’ve helped businesses that had not planned, but we can count on one hand the number who achieved a decent sale as a result. 2. Planning to … Continue reading Exit Hacks – 7 Exit Pitfalls to Avoid
Value creation is an integrated approach to optimising shareholder value. Value creation is based on developing and applying value drivers (sometimes called ‘value builders’) that help articulate commercial development and also support higher transaction values. By not drawing on the experience of best practices successfully applied by other businesses, founders can risk leaving money on … Continue reading Time to focus on value creation