tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.comments2023-09-23T14:59:34.457+01:00The Accelerator Group (TAG)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01521572484004437523noreply@blogger.comBlogger107125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-70030851411636590942015-04-30T05:37:16.801+01:002015-04-30T05:37:16.801+01:00Second Home offers a different way of working.Ther...Second Home offers a different way of working.There is something hugely seductive about Second Home.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.arcdeco.co.uk/painter-and-decorator-in-beaconsfield/" rel="nofollow">Decorator in Beaconsfield</a>Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09611586000008536957noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-28747700377847121342014-06-24T09:40:22.717+01:002014-06-24T09:40:22.717+01:00Robin, thank you, I really enjoyed reading this. ...Robin, thank you, I really enjoyed reading this. <br /><br />Passion, drive and ambition is the solid foundation of strong companies. We are in talks with Angels, and these 3 attributes along with our solid business model, due diligence, understanding of business, and already established product has propelled us to further talks in everyone of our meetings!<br /><br />Everyday matters. Be phenomenal or be forgotten.<br /><br />Believe in what you do, talk from the heart and it will effect peoples hearts. <br />AnxAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16368651988738098206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-90007089532169911462014-05-12T11:31:54.843+01:002014-05-12T11:31:54.843+01:00Something I know I am certainly guilty of and a re...Something I know I am certainly guilty of and a really interesting observation that isn't talked about very often. I would love to see observations from other markets outside of the US/UK.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-11092013282618697692013-05-28T18:29:32.791+01:002013-05-28T18:29:32.791+01:00There's an excellent interview of Alicia Navar...There's an excellent interview of Alicia Navarro (Skimlinks Founder) on<br />http://interviewsummary.com/2013/04/23/alicia-navarro-of-skimlinks/<br />for anyone interested in more of her and how she came up with SkimLinks.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-20385872209406470902013-04-16T10:50:36.118+01:002013-04-16T10:50:36.118+01:00Nice article. It is very refreshing to read someth...Nice article. It is very refreshing to read something of late that is not "Maggie bashing". W Paulhttp://www.localplumberssolihull.com/wp/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-54576453900649892972013-03-27T00:04:09.548+00:002013-03-27T00:04:09.548+00:00Robin,
Great insights, and from James in the comm...Robin,<br /><br />Great insights, and from James in the comment above. When I dug into the CB Insights data a bit, and looked at another of their reports, I found that the size of seed deals has been increasing significantly over the past 2 years. I am sure some of this is a function of VCs moving downstream and putting more money to work earlier, but I believe it is also a function of smart entrepreneurs looking for a middle ground between the two approaches James outlines. By taking more money at seed (even with more dilution) they can chase growth and still have a decent runway.<br /><br />...TimTim @ An Entrepreneurial Lifehttp://anentrepreneuriallife.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-42139335731349983852013-03-21T08:06:35.048+00:002013-03-21T08:06:35.048+00:00James, You are spot on! The issues you highlight a...James, You are spot on! The issues you highlight are at the heart of the argument: 'why doesn't europe create world beating companies'.<br />My belief is that the next 10 years will produce many more than the last 10.<br />As you say, both approaches are valid.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01521572484004437523noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-8086544393082138992013-03-21T06:17:47.645+00:002013-03-21T06:17:47.645+00:00Robin,
I think it's interesting to contrast ...Robin, <br /><br />I think it's interesting to contrast attitudes to repeat revenue funding. As I read it the key objective in the US is growth as king, with monetization and profits playing second fiddle. <br /><br />By contrast in the UK and Europe breakeven is the ultimate protection from whims of an unpredictable finance industry.<br /><br />So consider a company with an opportunity to market growth in profitable repeat business say LTV / CAC > 3<br /><br />In the UK the temptation is to under-invest and save for a rainy day. (A cohort of metrics may go south)<br /><br />In the US the temptation is to push for growth. Why not spend until Marginal cost = marginal Revenue<br /><br />Clearly both are right !<br /><br />This is a trade-off between market risk (growth can secure a dominant position) with financial risk (cash-flow is essential to keep a company afloat).<br /><br />In this context, it makes sense that UK companies are more conservative (more likely to survive) but somewhat less likely to "knock it out of the park".<br /><br />Our attitude to failure maps in the same way, and is reflected in the relative cost of early stage funding.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16147216664824249359noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-16026951301723891872013-02-03T19:32:21.225+00:002013-02-03T19:32:21.225+00:00Robin
This is a fab post.
I have a couple of que...Robin<br /><br />This is a fab post.<br /><br />I have a couple of questions. The data is so sparse and you obviously sit over a lot of it.<br /><br />In general, what kind of capital is required before a company generates £1m in revenue and then £1m in profits per month? Could you share the mean, as well a the most and least capital that was required? How long did it take those companies to get there? <br /><br />What do the revenue and traction curves look like for businesses that end up breaking out. Some of this (at a financial level) is available at companies house. And a business like Wonga (which appeared from the outside to look like it went like a rocket from the getgo) is less interesting, because of its success, than some of the others that are successful but perhaps let's adrenaline-fueled!!<br /><br />I'd personally be fascinated to understand MindCandy or Erply to see what their first five years looked like? (Is Erply even five?) What were the operational metrics that gave people comfort that this thing was going to be big? (How many users, user growth, attrition, unit economics, etc) <br /><br />best<br /><br />Azeem <br /><br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-22887455353106147422013-01-28T04:52:44.540+00:002013-01-28T04:52:44.540+00:00There is a strong case, given the convergence of t...There is a strong case, given the convergence of these computerised systems, to create one single super-bank to look after our basic banking needs. <br /><a href="http://www.hemcoind.com/" rel="nofollow">Load Systems</a> hemcoinedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10947273467727961373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-15503847906326872432013-01-10T17:27:11.030+00:002013-01-10T17:27:11.030+00:00customer service is so important... you really nee...customer service is so important... you really need the feedback in order to QC your product. especially <a href="http://www.radparts.com" rel="nofollow">medical equipment</a> which is important to keep up with as far as safety and functionality Luisanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-57718057816938384492012-02-10T09:30:47.278+00:002012-02-10T09:30:47.278+00:00I'm still holding out for a lack of angel inve...I'm still holding out for a lack of angel investment being the biggest challenge facing the UK. Every founder (or co-founder, of which Wozniak was one) I know says raising the money takes too long, is too hard and tends to be poor valuation, making future investment rounds more difficult.<br /><br />While it seems a little unfair that CGT for early employees is not as generous as for founders, the founders put in a lot of work getting the company to the point where it can employ people - and I'm not hearing many people saying they're struggling to recruit into start-ups because of the CGT issues for equity parts of the remuneration package.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08302909185448268811noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-59170296893118318422012-01-13T13:29:41.687+00:002012-01-13T13:29:41.687+00:00early employees, most definitely. Someone coming f...early employees, most definitely. Someone coming from a well paid, 'safe' job at a large corporate joins a startup swapping income for potential capital gain. The number of shares they will seek is often directly related an expected outcome. The difference between 50% and 10% tax is material.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01521572484004437523noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-59009623634824500132012-01-13T12:51:32.026+00:002012-01-13T12:51:32.026+00:00Totally agree!
One point I would add on this one...Totally agree! <br /><br />One point I would add on this one Robin is that EMI relief on approved options is still capped at £120,000 of market value (unlike Entrepreneur relief at 10M!). Seems like this should be increased.<br /><br />If you join in a senior role in a startup that already has a strong valuation, you are very likely to have some or all of your options open to full whack income tax.<br /><br />Ideally, tax incentives should help build big successes where we create multiple millionaires in each company!Doughttp://adzuna.co.uknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-60953423554024312642012-01-05T11:50:55.152+00:002012-01-05T11:50:55.152+00:00+1 for a more tax efficient way of providing stock...+1 for a more tax efficient way of providing stock options to non-full time staff.<br /><br />Adding industry influencers, mentors or advisors to a company is an essential step in expanding experience, connections and guidance. These people usually take a non-full-time role which means their stock options must be unapproved. Stock options are a great incentive in these cases, but 50% tax really takes the icing right off the cake. Would love a better way.samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13988429377078097271noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-40545656109335849732012-01-04T10:56:41.471+00:002012-01-04T10:56:41.471+00:00Do tax breaks really motivate founders or early em...Do tax breaks really motivate founders or early employees ?Michaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-13311021044522619072011-09-13T04:18:56.409+01:002011-09-13T04:18:56.409+01:00Robin, thanks for a great update on last week'...Robin, thanks for a great update on last week's seedcamp. Delighted to see how it's progressing.Kelly Broughhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07024011631084668630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-4506984239413870622011-08-10T21:36:15.430+01:002011-08-10T21:36:15.430+01:00China is experiencing such radical development acr...China is experiencing such radical development across the country, turning 1,000's of miles of rural villages to hi-tech cities. Starting with that crazy dam they just built, now the largest man made lake in the world. The sad part is they just destroy so much of their history for progress, we'll see how they come out of it all in the next decade.SEO Best Tipshttp://www.seobesttips.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-41929433811533020442011-05-05T23:51:53.113+01:002011-05-05T23:51:53.113+01:00I can offer a simpler explanation.
The companies ...I can offer a simpler explanation.<br /><br />The companies do "talent acquisition" simply because there is no easier way to grab all those talented people. In Europe the market is less hot and hence you can recruit talented people even the "normal" way.Max Ischenkohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04804052850217494476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-17723483066387001422011-04-04T12:17:43.109+01:002011-04-04T12:17:43.109+01:00The EU has itself been looking into this and concl...The EU has itself been looking into this and concluded that it is a function of the size of the home market. Going to the next country with an idea is loaded with problems - even the cloud regs change across borders. IT Europa has been reporting on this for years, but national interest always seems to win.John Garratthttp://www.iteuropa.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-9736313904455898092011-04-03T09:24:00.142+01:002011-04-03T09:24:00.142+01:00It's a good question. There are a few pieces ...It's a good question. There are a few pieces to the puzzle that I think outweigh the ones you mentioned.<br /><br />European companies like to be acquired rather than go all the way. Even Skype sold themselves, which seemed odd even at the time. Lots of relatively big European startups decide to sell out rather than see if they could become the platform company that acquires others.<br /><br />This also depends on funding levels. Consider Playfish versus Zynga. Playfish got a hefty $21 million in funding in 2008, but in that same time period Zynga pulled in $39 million. Playfish decided to sell out, and Zynga became the category leader (with a mind-blowing $480 million in funding since). Philosophy and personal wealth (Mark Pincus already had sold a couple of companies) had much to do with that, but perhaps the war chest played a role as well.<br /><br />In contrast, European companies don't seem to like being the acquirer. Look at SAP versus Oracle.<br /><br />Europe is also still paying the price for not creating more winners over the last 15 years. Apart from Skype, I can't think of any European companies playing in the same league as Yahoo, Google, Facebook, etc. Not only does that limit acquisitions, it means those investment returns to founders and investors never flowed back into the ecosystem. So we're stuck playing catch-up.<br /><br />The real trouble is that this feedback cycle is an ongoing one. European companies selling out for a few hundred million now won't grow to be tomorrow's patron companies (in Mark Suster's words). I certainly can't fault those teams for selling, of course, but it does shape the landscape.Greg Gentschevhttp://www.brekiri.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-26147017586849245142011-03-09T11:24:04.305+00:002011-03-09T11:24:04.305+00:00I think you're very much right on this. I find...I think you're very much right on this. I find the diversity of the London startup community far more than Silicon Valley and New York.<br /><br />My firm, OpenGamma, was founded by an American, a Canadian, and a Brit. The three of us have been joined by employees from Nigeria, Finland, Norway, Belgium, and Greece. In our London-based HQ (where all R&D is done) we're only 50% British born.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-38889338919397713132011-03-05T13:08:09.997+00:002011-03-05T13:08:09.997+00:00This is great Robin. Really helpful. I'd be in...This is great Robin. Really helpful. I'd be interested to know what tools people using for capturing KPIs and accounting info. I've ended up using excel and not sure my templates are the best.Paul Millerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00726510392155751909noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-54483981584734034202011-02-16T17:00:00.640+00:002011-02-16T17:00:00.640+00:00I am not in a position to give an opinion on Group...I am not in a position to give an opinion on GroupSpaces' mission focus. However, there does seem to be an important lesson for startups here. Being focused on a clear user need means that you are able to be more flexible and responsive to market changes. If you are continually shifting core goals in reaction to competitors, you will never be able to take advantage of unplanned opportunities.Steve Daleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15830593552955348061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-35943546190393471832011-02-16T15:17:57.442+00:002011-02-16T15:17:57.442+00:00I would say in general that you are correct, but w...I would say in general that you are correct, but what do you think of GroupSpaces' recent focus on MeetUp and it's disgruntled customers? If it hadn't kept an eye on one of their competitors then it would have missed a great opportunity to convert customers as it is successfully doing now.Christophernoreply@blogger.com