tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242464942024-03-06T20:02:09.453+00:00The Accelerator Group (TAG)Working with entrepreneurs and world-class venture capital firms to create and build fast growing Internet services, eCommerce and Digital Media
businesses.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01521572484004437523noreply@blogger.comBlogger193125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-63058118297121494832015-12-24T17:28:00.000+00:002015-12-24T17:28:07.551+00:00Startups' biggest mistake - Avoid it. Please.<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Startups’ biggest mistake<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are many mistakes that can and are made in the
challenging pursuit of building a great company.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Here is a list – not exhaustive of course. I’d love to see
yours</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Choosing the wrong co-founder? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Marketing before product has been validated? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Choosing the wrong technology stack? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Addressing a market which is far too small to
build a substantial business? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Incorrect pricing model? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Deferring monetisation for too long?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Monetising too soon? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Appointing the wrong CTO? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Not appointing a CTO? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All these are significant potential pitfalls, certainly. But
none is irreversible – <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">provided</b> you
have raised enough money.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Without question the most common mistake we’ve observed in
funding well over 100 startups is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">not raising
sufficient capital.</b> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
About 20 years ago, my wife and I were fortunate to have the
opportunity of building our own award winning home. It was an ambitious project
and we were determined to create something exceptional. A good friend of ours,
a property developer with years of experience came around to see how we were
getting on – about half way into the life of the project. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
His summary, after walking around, nodding sagely: “there’s
nothing here that can’t be solved with time and money!”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Without money, you’ll run out of time – and if you take to
long, you’ll run out of money.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Unfortunately the process of raising funds is neither
enjoyable nor particularly instructive. There is a tendency of angel investors
to want to invest as little as possible and to encourage reaching breakeven as
early as possible.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Neither of these is a good way to go for an ambitious
founding team.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m not recommending a high spending approach – on the
contrary achieving a lot with very little is one of the clear indicators of
future success.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">But the Series A
crunch is a very real phenomenon and even in the hottest markets, will always
be a feature of the funding landscape.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ideally the Seed round should aim to fund the business to a
brilliant Series A – ie one with a top tier investor, a Series A that takes
weeks – rather than months – to raise. The speed and ease of the raise is
directly related to how much progress the business has made and how well
prepared you are for the process.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, how much should be raised at Seed? The answer is: enough
to ensure that the necessary Series A milestones can be reached – comfortably.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Allowance should be made for the ‘speed bumps’, the
‘pitfalls’, the ‘pivots’ etc.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And never assume revenues in these calculations – unless
they are 100% assured. Even then, the ability to focus entirely on building a
product that will delight customers without distractions is very liberating.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We’d generally say that 18-24 months of runway is what is
needed. Expecting – or hoping – to dash for a Series A, after 6 or 9 months ,
will often result in a frustratingly long, painful A round process. This is
typically followed by difficult conversations with inside investors to lengthen
the runway, raise a bridge or similar.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eighteen months goes by pretty quickly and there is so much
to do. The last thing you want is to be spending hours with potential investors
on raising money – what a waste of time that is! I’d rather spend hours
recruiting the best team – any day.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
<w:UseFELayout/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="false"
DefSemiHidden="false" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="380">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footnote text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footer"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of figures"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope return"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="line number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="page number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of authorities"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="macro"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="toa heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Closing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01521572484004437523noreply@blogger.com0London, UK51.5073509 -0.1277582999999822351.1912379 -0.77320529999998222 51.8234639 0.51768870000001777tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-4538219611887520142015-12-14T10:01:00.000+00:002015-12-14T10:03:03.517+00:00"Approaching the 'Uber Moment' in Financial Services" - Antony Jenkins<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><b>Approaching the 'Uber Moment' in Financial Services: How Technology Will Radically Disrupt the Sector</b></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<i><span class="s1"></span>This is a guest post by Antony Jenkins, ex Group CEO of Barclays Bank.</i></div>
<div class="p3">
<i>Antony has had a glittering career to date as one of the world's pre-eminent bankers.</i></div>
<div class="p3">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="p3">
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">[Wikipedia: <span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 22.4px;">Antony Jenkins began his career in finance at</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 22.4px;"> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barclays" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 22.4px; text-decoration: none;" title="Barclays">Barclays</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 22.4px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 22.4px;">as a graduate in 1983, but subsequently moved to</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 22.4px;"> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citigroup" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 22.4px; text-decoration: none;" title="Citigroup">Citigroup</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 22.4px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 22.4px;">and rose to head the company's branded credit card business. In 2006, he returned to Barclays to take over the company's Barclaycard division. In 2009, Jenkins was promoted to chief executive of the retail and business banking group and asked to join the executive committee.</span><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-APJ-B-H-03_1-2" style="color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antony_Jenkins#cite_note-APJ-B-H-03-1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;">[1]</a></sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-APJ-B-H-04_4-0" style="color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antony_Jenkins#cite_note-APJ-B-H-04-4" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;">[4]</a></sup></span></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Jenkins was appointed as the group chief executive of Barclays on 30 August 2012.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-GT-DEX-2012-71_5-0" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antony_Jenkins#cite_note-GT-DEX-2012-71-5" style="background: none; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;">[5]</a></sup> In February 2014, Jenkins announced he would be declining his bonus for 2013 following <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barclays#Controversies" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Barclays">a series of scandals</a>.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-6" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antony_Jenkins#cite_note-6" style="background: none; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;">[6]</a></sup> On 8 July 2015 it was announced that he had been sacked by Barclays after a dispute with the board over the size of the investment bank and the pace of cost cutting]</span></i></div>
<div class="p3">
<i>We've been fortunate to spend time with Antony talking about the future of Fintech and specifically about some of the more exciting developments. Antony's view is that we are the very beginnings of a revolution some of which is taking place right here in London.</i></div>
<div class="p3">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="p3">
<i>The post below is a speech which Antony delivered at Chatham House, London on 24. Nov. 2015. Extracts received wide coverage in the UK press - here it is published unabridged.</i></div>
<div class="p5">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
It is an honour to be here tonight at Chatham House, an institution dedicated to building a sustainable, peaceful and just world.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
I have worked in financial services for over 30 years, in many different businesses and places around the world, and have been privileged to observe first hand the impact of technology on financial services.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
When I began my career fax machines and electronic typewriters were the order of the day. Portable computers weighed 20 pounds and were called “luggables.” And mobile phones were the size of bricks.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Email arrived in the late 80s and it was provided to senior executives who of course had their PAs print them out so the boss could hand write a response. Which was then typed into an email by the long-suffering PA.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
And I remember in the mid 90s building a business for corporate customers to electronically display certain financial documents. The business case hinged on whether the economics would support two so-called T1 lines, which are lines to carry data and phone conversations. Today those lines would only cost somewhere between $200 and $1200 per month, a fraction of the price back then.</div>
<div class="p13">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
But I also experienced how new technologies started to make consumers’ lives easier. I remember how in the mid 2000s, contact-less payment systems started to transform the way we all travel on the tube and bus.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
And during my time at Barclays, we launched Pingit, a market leading system to send and receive money via mobile phones.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
All these experiences have made me a passionate believer in the transformative power of technology. It is an unstoppable force which often has a hugely positive impact on the way we live, work, consume and learn.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Many wonder how these new technologies will transform the financial services industry, a sector which is already being reshaped by current and prospective macro economic weakness as well as regulatory change. You might ask who the winners and losers will be.10. It’s an important question, as an effective, fair and transparent financial services sector is vital for economic growth and also for a functioning and healthy society. That’s especially true as the industry itself has not always delivered its side of the bargain.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
I’m predicting that over the next 10 years we will see a number of very significant disruptions in financial services -- let’s call them “Uber moments’’ -- driven by companies in the so-called Fin Tech sector, the world where financial services and new technologies link together.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
We will see massive pressure on incumbent banks which will struggle to implement new technologies at the same pace as their new rivals. And that will make it increasingly challenging for them to deliver the returns and profitability their shareholders demand.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Ultimately, those forces will compel large banks to significantly automate their businesses. I predict that the number of branches and people employed in the financial services sector may decline by as much as 50 percent. Even in a less harsh scenario, I expect a decline of at least 20 percent.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"><i>HOW NEW TECHNOLOGIES DISRUPT INDUSTRIES</i></span></div>
<div class="p13">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
So what exactly is an Uber moment?<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p15">
I know that most of you will be familiar with Uber and some may even have travelled with them here tonight.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Uber is typical of what I saw when I recently spent a week in Silicon Valley meeting venture capitalists, technology companies and entrepreneurs in the Fin Tech sector.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
If you analyse how technology has already disrupted many industries – ranging from publishing, telecoms and music to retail and even transport – you can detect a similar pattern.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p17">
It starts with a small group of founders using new technologies such as mobile phones and fast data networks to dramatically improve or "disrupt" a so-called vertical, a market that is focused on a single niche.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
In Uber’s case, it was as simple as providing a car and driver in San Francisco, available via a touch on your smartphone.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p17">
And once a company dominates a vertical, the service gets rolled out across the globe to the point where many of us have the Uber app installed on our mobiles today.</div>
<div class="p17">
This demonstrates how the digital revolution is making many aspects of life easier. And services that used to be out of reach for many, can now be made available to nearly all, globally.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p6">
<span class="s1"><i>THE FINANCE INDUSTRY’S UBER MOMENT</i></span></div>
<div class="p15">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
In other sectors, we have seen how fast-growing companies with an entrepreneurial mindset led to the demise of once powerful brands such as Nokia or Kodak.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Now, thinking about an Uber moment in Financial Services, we can see from the example I have given what such a moment would look like.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Firstly, and most importantly, it must be disruptive. That is to say, it needs to dramatically improve the customer experience. Some people say it must be at least 10 times better. Or it can create a whole new customer experience that didn't even exist before, as in the case of Facebook.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Secondly, technology must power the service and be at its core.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p13">
<br /></div>
<div class="p13">
Thirdly, there must be a ubiquity to it. Uber is now in 300 cities in 58 countries<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p13">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Finally, while there may be others doing the same thing, there is usually a dominant leader.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p17">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"><i>HOW SILICON VALLEY’S VALUES WILL SHAPE THE FIN TECH REVOLUTION</i></span></div>
<div class="p13">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Of course, much of this activity is based in Silicon Valley. The moment you arrive in Silicon Valley, it’s impossible not to feel the incredible energy and be impressed by the vibrant and mutually supporting ecosystem of investors, venture capital, founders and academia.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
In every coffee shop or restaurant it seems, there are 20-something founders talking to 30-something investors about seed funding.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
But while it appears to be casual and laid back, it is at the same time a ruthless meritocracy where the best ideas win. It’s a unique place.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
There is a massive wave of capital going into start-ups. One of the people I’ve met even expressed a strong view that there was maybe even too much money around at the moment, which could lead to poor businesses being started.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p17">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
The efficiency and ruthlessness of Silicon Valley is mirrored in its clear start-up model.</div>
<div class="p3">
It goes like this: pick your niche. Figure out how to transform it through technology. Prototype it. Scale it. Make it profitable. Finally, IPO it.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1">THE STATE OF PLAY IN FIN TECH</span></div>
<div class="p13">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
In Silicon Valley, I got a real sense of how the next wave of transformation is targeted at more complex markets such as financial services, health-care and education.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
In the finance industry, we already have seen the emergence of peer-to-peer lending sites such as Lending Club, Prosper and Ratesetter that allow individuals or institutions to lend directly to others without involving a bank. And exchange platforms such as Kantox allow customers to trade foreign exchange directly. Start-ups such as TransferWise charge less than some traditional banks to send money across borders.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p17">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
In the payment sector, the activities of many start-ups are still extensions of the traditional system, such as Square, an application that allows small merchants to plug credit card readers into a smartphone.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
The wealth-management industry is another sector waiting to be transformed, with a whole range of start-ups such as Nutmeg and Wealthfront using algorithms to help you manage your money.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p17">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
However, I view much of this activity as Version 1.0 of the Fin Tech revolution. Some would even argue there’s really not that much Tech so far in many Fin Tech companies.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
For example, some of the lenders in the U.S. make extensive use of that twentieth century marketing channel, direct mail. Most payment activity rides on top of the traditional banking systems and no one has yet cracked the code in wealth management.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p17">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Most start-ups so far struggle with the challenges of winning customers in a cost effective way and scaling their business to the next level.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
The same is also true for this side of the Atlantic. While there is a burgeoning start- up scene in the U.K., we’re still waiting for the really transformative projects, the ideas that will revolutionise financial services.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
But with the Tsunami of capital and talent working in this sector we cannot be far away from truly disruptive breakthroughs, from the versions 2.0 and 3.0. of the Fin Tech revolution.</div>
<div class="p3">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="p3">
<i>KEY DRIVERS OF THE FIN TECH TRANSFORMATION</i><span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p13">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
You can already see the big digital drivers that will disrupt the finance sector.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p13">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
In the future, new companies will deliver financial services at a fraction of the cost. Truly digital banks will be able to spend most of their resources on the development and deployment of technologies, and won’t need to sustain a network of physical branches and offices.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
The deluge of available data in today’s world will lead to much more personalised financial products and services.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Just imagine for a moment how much information is actually hidden in a bank statement. The data about how much we spend each month on groceries, rent, school fees or mortgage payments reveals a lot about how we live our lives.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p17">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Smart digital companies will use this data to advise us on the best mortgage deals or wealth management services tailored to our individual needs. And then allow us to manage our finances with easy-to-use apps on our phones and tablets.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Also, the long-term demographic changes mean huge parts of the world are becoming more affluent. Just look to Africa, where new services allow consumers and businesses to use mobile phones to pay bills, make purchases or manage savings.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p17">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Relatively few consumers in those markets have traditional bank accounts while most now own a mobile phone.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"><i>HOW CUSTOMERS LEARN HOW TO EMBRACE NEW TECHNOLOGIES</i></span></div>
<div class="p13">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Of course, we need the right regulatory framework to make sure that our data is used with our permission.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p17">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Also, cyber-security will become an even bigger issue and a key element to win customers’ trust. The coverage of the TalkTalk hack in October has shown how the public can get rightly and highly concerned by hacking scares and talk of their bank accounts being emptied by electronic thieves.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
But the overwhelming majority will embrace those new services where there are significant and compelling benefits over the status quo. But those services cannot only be incrementally better -- they will need to be at least 10 times better.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p17">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
This is exactly the pattern we have seen with other digital services, be it Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Uber or services that allow us to store our family pictures in the cloud.</div>
<div class="p3">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="p3">
<i>THE CHALLENGE FOR THE INCUMBENTS</i><span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p13">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Financial service companies face the same challenges as their counterparts in other industries. Earlier this year, I visited a large retailer in North America, and in a meeting with the CEO it become crystal clear how difficult it is to come up with the right strategy.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p17">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
For example, would you make an acquisition of brick and mortar stores when the rise in online orders could slash the value of those assets? Or should you abandon your traditional business, even if it’s profitable, to focus on the digital business side?<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
You might actually believe that many in the banking sector have fully embraced new technologies and are well prepared. You just need to read some of the recent headlines in the financial press:<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p17">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p18">
<span class="s2">• </span><span class="s1">Banks desert high street for the digital superhighway.</span></div>
<div class="p13">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p18">
<span class="s2">• </span><span class="s1">European Banks Use Online Platforms to Find Borrowers.</span></div>
<div class="p13">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p18">
<span class="s2">• </span><span class="s1">Banks to allow account access using fingerprint tech.</span></div>
<div class="p13">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
But the impression that we get from these headlines is misleading.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p15">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Despite the appearance of change, the incumbents will need to undergo the transformation seen in so many other parts of the economy. According to McKinsey, the digital revolution is set to wipe out almost two-thirds of earnings on some financial products.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
For example, the consultancy estimates that profits from retail lending, including offerings such as car loans and credit cards, could shrink by as much as 60 percent in the next 10 years.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p17">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
The boom in online banking is already forcing banks to change the way they conduct business.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s3">Last year, U.S. banks closed a record number of branches. And in the U.K., </span><span class="s1">the use of bank branches fell by 6 percent. As a result, the financial service sector will employ fewer people.</span><span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Some of Europe’s biggest banks -- including </span><span class="s5">Standard Chartered, Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse – have in recent weeks </span><span class="s1">unveiled plans to cut more than 30,000 jobs, partly because </span><span class="s5">stricter capital rules are eroding profitability. And the forces of the </span><span class="s4">digital revolution </span><span class="s1">will put even more pressure on banks to slash costs.</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">The unique set of skills needed to succeed in the digital world represents a huge challenge for the incumbents. Many of them have been touring Silicon Valley looking for inspiration for their management teams. But all seem to struggle with the different culture and skills that are needed to be successful in the new digital world.</span><span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
There is obviously already a lot of technology used in financial services today, much more than it used to be. I remember filing paper statements at the South Kensington branch in my first job at Barclays. If you walk into that bank branch in London today, you will see a plethora of technology, from ATMs and Cash and Deposit Machines to iPads for digital banking<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
But incumbents must ask themselves how much of it has been truly "disruptive" or transformational as opposed to merely substituting capital for labour.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Just take ATMs, or cash machines. While they made our lives much easier and allowed us get cash abroad out of a domestic account -- a brilliant innovation -- they didn’t transform the existing system and hierarchy of the banking world. They only made it easier to use. And call centres and Internet banking may have helped to improve customer service. But they are only used about twice a month on average. These are not transformative services.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
On the other hand, customers on average use their mobile banking applications up to 30 times a month – indicating how smartphones have the potential to clearly transform the customer experience.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
But we have to keep in mind that not all technologies are a force for good. In the institutional banking sector, new technologies facilitated the creation of the complex derivatives that contributed to the financial crisis of 2008. That was clearly disruptive, but not in a good way.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
While it’s clear that incumbent banks are vulnerable to the disrupters, we shouldn’t ignore that the incumbents also have some real advantages. They have well-known powerful brands that many customers trust, a large number of customers and a wealth of marketing expertise. They understand and can navigate the regulatory landscape and have enormous financial resources to take on new rivals.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"><i>FROM BARCLAYS TO SILICON VALLEY</i></span></div>
<div class="p13">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
You may have noticed that my time as CEO of Barclays recently came to an end. But I’m very proud of what we achieved.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p17">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
My team and I always saw digital innovation as a way to improve services for our customers. And it helped us to simultaneously reduce costs, improve control, and enhance customer experience.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p6">
<span class="s1">I’m passionate about technology. To the point where I often tested the patience of my colleagues around the user experience, down to how many digits we should have in the log on code. I argued 4 was better than 5, a battle I ultimately lost!</span></div>
<div class="p17">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
I realised early that financial services need to embrace new technologies, and not reject them. During my time at Barclays, we mentored new Fin Tech companies through our Accelerator programme and we introduced the Digital Driving License, a free service where people can teach themselves new skills.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Other initiatives included Code Playground, a program that helps children learn coding, and our Digital Eagles - 28,000 specially trained colleagues who advise clients on technology.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p17">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
My aim was to make Barclays the most technology-savvy and automated bank in the world and this was never about replacing colleagues with robots. My goal always has been to deploy technology effectively to free up people to do what they do best.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
In doing this work and engaging with other CEOs around the world, it became clear to me that the incumbents will have to address three significant issues.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Firstly, boards need to accept that we live in a discontinuous world and they should ask executives to take significant but calculated risks by working on initiatives that no one else is working on. Looking for simple linear progression just won't cut it today.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Secondly, there should not be a technology strategy, there should only be a strategy with technology at its core. There is a crucial difference.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
And thirdly, executives need to lead differently. In my experience, leaders become more risk adverse the more senior they become. In fact doing the same old a bit better is infinitely more risky than being bold and seeking true transformation.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p17">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"><i>THE FIN TECH TRANSFORMATION NEEDS TO BE BASED ON VALUES</i></span></div>
<div class="p13">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1">But this leadership in the digital age needs to be based on a set of values. The current controversy about Uber and the way it disrupts taxi markets across the world highlights that values need to be at the heart of the debate.</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<br /></div>
<div class="p7">
In the 80s and 90s, the emphasis of the business community shifted - to create as much shareholder value as possible.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Long-standing business practices that prioritise customer and colleagues and had a positive impact on local communities and societies were suddenly cast aside.83. But the key lesson from the financial crisis of 2008 is that business and finance need to be based on values that balance the long and the short term<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Banks were too aggressive, too self-serving and too focused on the short term. The impact of these mistakes is still being felt and we have seen public trust and confidence in the industry sink to an all time low.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p17">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
But this is as much as commercial imperative as a moral one. For example, in my experience the branches with the highest level of customer satisfaction had the highest level of colleague engagement -- and were actually also the most profitable.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
My absolute conviction is that there can be no choice between doing well financially and behaving responsibly in business.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
In Silicon Valley I was struck by a similar ethos of innovation and business creation, as they’re driven by building the best possible product to help customers improve their lives. It may surprise you to know that no one I talked to woke up in the morning wanting to be the next billionaire, but they all wanted to change the world.</div>
<div class="p13">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Many of the fast-growing technology companies have a sense of citizenship. They see wealth creation as a by-product, not an end in itself.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p6">
<span class="s1"><i>CONCLUSION: A SERIES OF UBER MOMENTS</i></span></div>
<div class="p15">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
We have a great opportunity to build a more sustainable and just finance industry that will enable consumers and businesses to experience banking in a radically new and better way.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Considering the whole range of powerful forces that already support and feed each other, I have no doubt that the financial industry will face a series of Uber moments.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Firstly, the global financial services market is huge and provides large profits. That guarantees that many smart people and lots of capital will try to disrupt and transform it.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
The huge influx of capital might create some interim bubbles but that won’t change the final outcome.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Secondly, the cost of new technologies will continue to decline and new cloud and storage systems will make it even easier for new players to enter the financial services market and then aggressively scale their business.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Thirdly, there’s tremendous work being done in the Artificial Intelligence space.</div>
<div class="p3">
Those software applications allow robots, computers and smartphones to recognize patterns and learn on their own, allowing them to make increasingly better predictions about our behaviour and financial needs.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
There are already virtual assistants such as Apple's Siri and Google Now, but the future will bring us much more intelligent applications that will use natural language to interact with human beings.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<br /></div>
<div class="p7">
This is going to have huge implications for the nature of work and our lives.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p13">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Fourthly, the incumbents are already under considerable pressure from a relatively weak macro economic environment and regulatory change causing poor returns on equity.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Customer expectations and the need to respond to the disrupters will exacerbate this return problem.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
The incumbents risk ending up as mere capital-providing utilities that operates in a highly regulated, less profitable and capital-intensive market segment, a situation unlikely to be tolerated by shareholders.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
However, in my view only a few will have the courage and decisiveness to win in this new world.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p17">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
In conclusion, as I stated at the start of my speech, I predict that over the next 10 years we will see a number of “Uber moments” driven by Fin Tech companies.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Initially I expect the first Uber moments will be in payments and lending, two key areas for many incumbents. For the traditional banks and service providers, already under pressure from lower growth and regulation, profits and returns will be harder to come by.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p17">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
And inevitably, customers will demand more automated and cheaper products and services. Incumbents will struggle to respond, leading to a 20 to 50% reduction in branches and people employed in the traditional sector of the industry over the next decade.<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<br />
<div class="p11">
<span class="s1">Ladies and gentlemen, the Uber moment in financial services approaches.............Thank you.</span></div>
<div class="zemanta-related" style="clear: both; margin-top: 20px; overflow: hidden;">
<h4 class="zemanta-related-title">
Related articles</h4>
<ul class="zemanta-article-ul zemanta-article-ul-image" style="margin: 0; overflow: hidden; padding: 0;">
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://www.biometricupdate.com/201509/barclays-bank-launches-online-business-portal-to-be-used-with-hitachi-biometric-reader" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="//i.zemanta.com/363964817_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://www.biometricupdate.com/201509/barclays-bank-launches-online-business-portal-to-be-used-with-hitachi-biometric-reader" style="background-image: none; display: block; height: 83px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Barclays Bank launches online business portal to be used with Hitachi biometric reader</a></li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://revolutionradio.org/?p=108681" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="//i.zemanta.com/noimg_89_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://revolutionradio.org/?p=108681" style="background-image: none; display: block; height: 83px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Big Banks Cutting Tens Of Thousands Of Jobs; Huge Implications</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01521572484004437523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-76291428488902105182015-05-24T20:05:00.000+01:002015-05-24T20:05:41.053+01:00Lets tackle inequality NOW<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:UK_National_Minimum_Wage.svg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="A graph of the UK's National Minimum Wage over..." border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted zemanta-img-configured" height="254" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/06/UK_National_Minimum_Wage.svg/350px-UK_National_Minimum_Wage.svg.png" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="350" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 350px;">A graph of the UK's National Minimum Wage over time. Information taken from The Low Pay Commission - Historical Rates. Low Pay Commission. Retrieved on . (Photo credit: <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:UK_National_Minimum_Wage.svg" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="graf--p" name="99e2">
I’m not an economist but it seems to me that we have a great opportunity, here in the UK and across the developed world, to improve the lives of millions of people by simply increasing the minimum wage and actively promoting the payment of a “<a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_wage" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_wage" rel="wikipedia" title="Living wage">Living Wage</a>”.</div>
<div class="graf--p" name="99e2">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf--p" name="0a7a">
<strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">The <em class="markup--em markup--p-em">Living Wage</em> is an hourly rate of pay, calculated according to the basic cost of living in the UK.</strong></div>
<div class="graf--p" name="f3c6">
It provides an acceptable standard of living for employees and their families and a benchmark for employers who are able to pay more than the National Minimum Wage.</div>
<div class="graf--p" name="e5f5">
There are two Living Wage rates, the UK Living Wage and the London Living Wage. New Living Wage rates are announced in November each year and published by <a href="http://www.livingwage.org.uk/" target="_blank">The Living Wage Foundation</a> - amongst others.</div>
<div class="graf--p" name="e5f5">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf--p" name="1056">
<strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">The current <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Minimum_Wage_Act_1998" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="National Minimum Wage Act 1998">minimum wage in the UK</a> is £6.50/hour and the Living Wage (set independently and annually) is £7.85/hour and £9.15/hour in London</strong></div>
<div class="graf--p" name="1056">
<strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong"><br /></strong></div>
<div class="graf--p" name="d420">
I have worked in, evaluated and invested in many companies and right now, I feel that the circumstances could not be better — nor the arguments so cogent — for companies to pay a living wage and for the Government (and the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_wage" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Minimum wage">Low Pay Commission</a>) to raise the National Minimum.</div>
<div class="graf--p" name="d420">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf--p" name="492e">
<strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">We can afford some inflationary pressures:</strong></div>
<div class="graf--p" name="15d4">
The spectre of deflation hangs over many economies, although the implications are not fully understood, some rises in the cost of production and services can certainly be passed on to consumers.</div>
<div class="graf--p" name="79a9">
Much of the additional wages paid will be re-cycled through the economy by consumer spending, fuelling much needed growth in demand.</div>
<div class="graf--p" name="79a9">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf--p" name="7f44">
With <strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">unemployment rates low</strong> and employment levels at their highest, there is real competitive advantage to be gained by companies being seen as good payers and attracting the best workers.</div>
<div class="graf--p" name="6c70">
Paying a living wage (not just the minimum statutory) can have positive effects on staff wellbeing and team morale.</div>
<div class="graf--p" name="5b24">
It can mean increased productivity, reduced absenteeism, better retention and improved quality of work.</div>
<div class="graf--p" name="5b24">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf--p" name="42e4">
Front line staff, like shop assistants for example, are absolutely key to the performance of the business. The recruitment training and retention of these people comes at a huge cost and their motivation, how they feel about their jobs is crucial to the delivery of the brands' promise.</div>
<div class="graf--p" name="42e4">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf--p" name="d077">
Clearly putting the salaries of all low paid workers up will add to the cost burden of such organisations and this is where the Government’s role in setting minimum wages at a “Living Wage level” is needed to level the ‘playing field’ for companies competing with one another.</div>
<div class="graf--p" name="5df0">
The counter argument runs that many companies will be forced to reduce their work forces (or invest in increasing productivity?) — the alternative is of course to raise prices.</div>
<div class="graf--p" name="5df0">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf--p" name="060f">
With a Conservative government in power, a move to push for further increases in the minimum wage could be seen not as ‘anti-business’ but simply the right thing to do — there are too many in our society who despite having jobs, struggle to get by from day to day.</div>
<div class="graf--p" name="2278">
Most of the readers of this post will be working for companies that already pay a Living Wage — and a rise in the statutory minimum will make no impact. We can however do a lot to influence others.</div>
<div class="graf--p" name="2278">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf--p" name="b95b">
This is what we can do, <strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">today</strong>:</div>
<div class="graf--p" name="bbcd">
1. Ensure that we and our service subcontractors are paying a living wage (eg cleaning companies)</div>
<div class="graf--p" name="f314">
2. Lobby Government to increase the minimum wage and to give a commitment to keep its increases well above inflation, closing the gap on the Living Wage.</div>
<div class="graf--p" name="1e42">
3. Use Social media to spread the message @livingwageuk, become accredited to the Living Wage Foundation <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LivingWage1500?src=hash" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LivingWage1500?src=hash">#<strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">LivingWage</strong></a></div>
<div class="zemanta-related" style="clear: both; margin-top: 20px; overflow: hidden;">
<h4 class="zemanta-related-title">
Related articles</h4>
<ul class="zemanta-article-ul zemanta-article-ul-image" style="margin: 0; overflow: hidden; padding: 0;">
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/14/pf/minimum-wage-countries-australia/index.html?sr=recirc0515bestminwage0930astory" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="//i.zemanta.com/342593605_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/14/pf/minimum-wage-countries-australia/index.html?sr=recirc0515bestminwage0930astory" style="background-image: none; display: block; height: 83px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">minimum wage</a></li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://www.kspr.com/life/money/this-country-has-the-best-minimum-wage-in-the-world/21052342_33014752" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="//i.zemanta.com/342350421_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://www.kspr.com/life/money/this-country-has-the-best-minimum-wage-in-the-world/21052342_33014752" style="background-image: none; display: block; height: 83px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">This country has the best minimum wage in the world</a></li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/low-pay-commission-will-ensure-workers-take-home-decent-wage-1.2201770" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="//i.zemanta.com/340961804_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/low-pay-commission-will-ensure-workers-take-home-decent-wage-1.2201770" style="background-image: none; display: block; height: 83px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Low Pay Commission will ensure workers take home 'decent' wage</a></li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/ireland-losing-its-edge-with-fourth-highest-oecd-minimum-wage-31207475.html" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="//i.zemanta.com/341500813_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/ireland-losing-its-edge-with-fourth-highest-oecd-minimum-wage-31207475.html" style="background-image: none; display: block; height: 83px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Ireland 'losing its edge with fourth highest OECD minimum wage'</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01521572484004437523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-26129109708584427272015-03-30T07:20:00.000+01:002015-05-08T08:34:15.841+01:00UK Election - its importance to the Innovation Economy<div style="border: 0px; color: #383838; font-family: gotham, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
It's that time again. Elections in the United Kingdom (or disUnited Kingdom if you prefer).</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #383838; font-family: gotham, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
It's the time when Politicians and the Media seem to be on the edge of hysteria, the time when love/hate relationships become strained due to ill-judged pronouncements and sorting out who believes in what is extremely difficult. </div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #383838; font-family: gotham, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #383838; font-family: gotham, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
I'd be preaching to the converted were I to stress the importance of all those eligible casting their votes. I consider myself privileged to being able to do so as a UK citizen, having qualified some 36 years ago. Like many who were not born here, I'm profoundly grateful for the opportunity to live in this open, tolerant, free society and to be able to contribute in some way to it. </div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #383838; font-family: gotham, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #383838; font-family: gotham, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
It seemed like that to me, even on our arrival in the UK in December 1976 - a time of depression, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-Day_Week" target="_blank">3 day weeks</a>, strikes, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_of_Discontent" target="_blank">the winter of discontent</a> etc.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #383838; font-family: gotham, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #383838; font-family: gotham, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
What a transformation we've been through! From the "sick man of Europe" to the heart and soul of Enterprise and Entrepreneurship in Europe in just a generation. </div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #383838; font-family: gotham, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
During this time, I've led the building of 2 successful companies as Entrepreneur, invested in more than 50 startups in the UK ...(and a fair few in the US and Europe) and helped Saul in the formation of <a href="http://www.seedcamp.com/" target="_blank">Seedcamp</a> (Europe's premier accelerator program) so I have 'lived' this transformation through its ups and downs.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #383838; font-family: gotham, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #383838; font-family: gotham, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
There is still much wrong, still too many under-educated, under-employed, too many clinging on to past glories. Too many of our leading FTSE 100 companies have yet to embrace or recognise the impact of the digital revolution and are under-investing in transformation.<br />
Nevertheless, the cultural shift towards Enterprise and all that it's capable of delivering has been profound.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #383838; font-family: gotham, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
For this, some credit must be given to successive Governments who have helped create the framework in which we now operate.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #383838; font-family: gotham, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #383838; font-family: gotham, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
My own experience of involvement in "Tech City" has provided some insights into how governments can enhance or hinder progress. </div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #383838; font-family: gotham, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
When Tech City was conceived -or rather <a data-mce-href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-announces-east-london-tech-city" href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-announces-east-london-tech-city" style="border: 0px; color: #047ac6; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">named</a>- in November 2010, I was one of the sceptics. After all, <a data-mce-href="http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-02/06/silicon-roundabout" href="http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-02/06/silicon-roundabout" style="border: 0px; color: #047ac6; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Silicon Roundabout</a> had been named by <span style="line-height: 1.571428em;">software designer Matt Biddulph</span>, of Dopplr (later sold to Nokia) in the Moo shared workspace on the Old Street Roundabout some years previously - in 2007. Those of us in the startup tech scene had seen the cluster building rapidly for at least 5 years. We'd been banging the drum for London as a global centre for Tech development since the turn of the century.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #383838; font-family: gotham, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #383838; font-family: gotham, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
It seemed to us "insiders" that the Government was jumping on a bandwagon, using their large megaphone to drown out the other noise and claim the credit for itself. All of which it did very effectively.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #383838; font-family: gotham, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #383838; font-family: gotham, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
Tech City sat inside a framework of a larger ambition which seeks to make Britain "the best place to start and build a business" - the fact that Europe's brightest and best keep setting up here must mean we are on our way to achieving this aim.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #383838; font-family: gotham, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #383838; font-family: gotham, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
Tech City was simply a brand, a name to give a set of policies designed to encourage enterprise, get government out of the way and encourage a mutually supportive community. Some of these policies have had a profound effect.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #383838; font-family: gotham, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
Tech City proved to be a forum in which No10 (and 11) could listen to people in the industry from which many of the policies were derived.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #383838; font-family: gotham, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #383838; font-family: gotham, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
Some examples of these policies include:</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #383838; font-family: gotham, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<ul style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.571428em; list-style-position: outside; margin: 0.2857em 0px 0.714285em 2em; padding: 0px;">
<li style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The EIS scheme has attracted many millions to the startup world by channeling tax incentives via angels directly to individual companies - far better use of funds than some government agency investing in companies who can't obtain funding elsewhere. </li>
<li style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The entrepreneurs visa continues to bring talented, enterprising people to these shores</li>
<li style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Entrepreneurs tax relief. ....10% capital gains tax for founders</li>
<li style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Encouragement of the LSE to create the "fast growth sector" </li>
<li style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Promoting successful entrepreneurs as role models</li>
<li style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Facilitating regulations enabling new Fintech models such as Funding Circle, Transferwise, CrowdFunding platforms, P2P lending to be developed. </li>
<li style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Enabling - (or at least not blocking) sharing economy platforms. These platforms release entrepreneurial activity and utilise under-used assets</li>
</ul>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
The UK has a lot going for it - with or without Tech City and the close interest shown in it by David Cameron and George Osborn. Much would have been achieved anyway thanks to:</div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<ul style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.571428em; list-style-position: outside; margin: 0.2857em 0px 0.714285em 2em; padding: 0px;">
<li style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The attractiveness of London as a city for young people</li>
<li style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The UKs geographic position between East and West ( which accounts for much of the City's pre-eminence too)</li>
<li style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Having the world's business language, English</li>
<li style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Having 3 of the world's top universities </li>
<li style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">A strong creative industries base ....film, books, music, arts, advertising <strong style="line-height: 1.571428em;">AND</strong></li>
<li style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Being part of the European Union </li>
</ul>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
Britain has to continue to embrace new technologies and new business models, adapting regulation as rapidly as possible to accommodate them. We have to continue to be outward looking and to compete globally for talent as well as investing heavily in developing our own. </div>
</div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
The enormous challenge of the New Industrial Revolution which is bringing greater prosperity but destroying many jobs in its wake can only be faced by a rapid acceleration of our education programme and in this regard, the introduction of computer coding into primary schools is a welcome step as is the acceleration of independently governed free schools.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #383838; font-family: gotham, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
So, however you voted on May 7th, this is a plea to all political parties to recognise the role that the tech sector plays in driving growth and prosperity and the importance of building on the enterprise culture now so well established in Britain. </div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #383838; font-family: gotham, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #383838; font-family: gotham, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
Further reading:</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #383838; font-family: gotham, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<a data-mce-href="http://www.scaleupreport.org/scaleup-report.pdf" href="http://www.scaleupreport.org/scaleup-report.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #047ac6; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The Scale-Up Report on UK Economic Growth</a> - Sherry Coutu</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #383838; font-family: gotham, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<a data-mce-href="http://www.coadec.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Startup-Manifesto.pdf" href="http://www.coadec.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Startup-Manifesto.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #047ac6; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.571428em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The Startup Manifesto. How the next Government should support Digital Startups in the UK</a></div>
<div class="zemanta-related" style="clear: both; margin-top: 20px; overflow: hidden;">
<h4 class="zemanta-related-title">
Related articles</h4>
<ul class="zemanta-article-ul zemanta-article-ul-image" style="margin: 0; overflow: hidden; padding: 0;">
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2014/09/03/uk-startups-call-on-politicians-to-improve-visas-broadband-skills-regulation/?ncid=rss" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="//i.zemanta.com/295295458_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2014/09/03/uk-startups-call-on-politicians-to-improve-visas-broadband-skills-regulation/?ncid=rss" style="background-image: none; display: block; height: 83px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">UK Startups Call On Politicians To Improve Visas, Broadband, Skills, Regulation</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01521572484004437523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-10275519198126866032015-03-09T12:55:00.000+00:002015-03-09T12:55:09.167+00:00SecondHome - changing the way we workOne of my passions is Architecture.<br />
I'm a firm believer that one's environment is fundamental to state of mind and informs our attitudes and thought processes.<br />
Today, this seems pretty self evident but its remarkable for how long work (and home) spaces had been designed for minimum cost, maximum return without sufficient thought to how effective and productive the users of these spaces could be with imaginative space design.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrw5N8QV6J_aRnIwE8lRjlYAz2ilaAoq18s1cplsepMeu4Ts9BDEH26mCIg4y9ku6fZ6kO_WULmXakMB57xQQB1ibnO368bItzbY3PzsPSP6Bf7GL8nqIYfhOpCrtQ7G-GglMvzg/s1600/Second+Home.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrw5N8QV6J_aRnIwE8lRjlYAz2ilaAoq18s1cplsepMeu4Ts9BDEH26mCIg4y9ku6fZ6kO_WULmXakMB57xQQB1ibnO368bItzbY3PzsPSP6Bf7GL8nqIYfhOpCrtQ7G-GglMvzg/s1600/Second+Home.jpeg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Shared workspaces have proliferated, clusters are recognised as drivers of innovations, serendipitous meetings in the corridors, kitchens and coffee bars increasingly result in positive collaborations.<br />
<br />
Now <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=158446668" target="_blank">Rohan Silva</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=120791133&authType=NAME_SEARCH&authToken=WnPr&locale=en_US&connectionParam=member_desktop_search_search-bar&trk=tyah2&trkInfo=idx%3A1-1-1%2CtarId%3A1425896074624%2Ctas%3ASam+Aldenton" target="_blank">Sam Aldenton</a> with the active support of a few hand picked investors and <a href="http://www.selgascano.net/" target="_blank">Selgas Cano</a>, Madrid based architects have created <a href="http://www.secondhome.io/" target="_blank">SecondHome</a> with the mission to move the whole concept of "Cluster" on a decade.<br />
<br />
And what a debut SecondHome has made!<br />
The members love it, the press loves it, Selgas Cano have been selected to design this year's Serpentine Pavilion, even the in-house restaurant gets rave reviews ..eg:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck">
Our fabulous in-house restaurant <a href="https://twitter.com/jagorestaurant">@jagorestaurant</a> bags 4 stars from The <a href="https://twitter.com/Telegraph">@Telegraph</a>. Well done, guys! <a href="http://t.co/KANLFYyXGg">http://t.co/KANLFYyXGg</a><br />
— SECOND HOME (@SECONDHOMELDN) <a href="https://twitter.com/SECONDHOMELDN/status/573786324408233985">March 6, 2015</a></blockquote>
<br />
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>But its not just the design of SecondHome which has been so appreciated. The team that manages the East London based first SecondHome are really engaged with the members, nothing is too much trouble - all delivered in a relaxed, friendly and efficient way.<br />
<br />
Its hard to put one's finger on exactly what it is that makes you feel happy inside SecondHome.<br />
It could be the 1000 indoor plants. I could be that every chair and lamp in the place is of mid-century design and is different from every other one.<br />
Or perhaps its the use of colour, light, transparency.<br />
<br />
The permanent studio members, in SecondHome, Hanbury Street include<br />
US companies like: <a href="https://www.surveymonkey.com/" target="_blank">Survey Monkey</a>, <a href="https://www.taskrabbit.co.uk/?gclid=Cj0KEQjwifWnBRCB5PT57KSVw-kBEiQASV7aRJ8bUQhv0C4jtpPM3O45EJT-b6OSi78n_7xcDeYjsIMaAoL88P8HAQ" target="_blank">Task Rabbit</a>, <a href="https://www.artsy.net/" target="_blank">Artsy</a> , <a href="https://foursquare.com/" target="_blank">Four Square</a>, <a href="https://generalassemb.ly/" target="_blank">General Assembly</a>, <a href="https://www.bluestatedigital.com/" target="_blank">Blue State Digital</a>;<br />
Creative Agencies like: <a href="http://fueled.com/" target="_blank">Fuelled</a>, <a href="http://visualise.com/" target="_blank">Visualise</a>, <a href="http://roosterpunk.com/" target="_blank">Rooster Punk</a> and <a href="http://www.kleinandsons.tv/" target="_blank">Klein & Sons</a> and<br />
Home grown startups like: <a href="http://www.kovertdesigns.com/" target="_blank">Kovert Designs</a>, <a href="http://chineasy.org/" target="_blank">Chineasy</a> and <a href="http://signal.uk.com/" target="_blank">Signal</a> all find they're in good company with <a href="http://www.santander.co.uk/uk/infodetail?p_p_id=W000_hidden_WAR_W000_hiddenportlet&p_p_lifecycle=1&p_p_state=normal&p_p_mode=view&p_p_col_id=column-2&p_p_col_pos=1&p_p_col_count=3&_W000_hidden_WAR_W000_hiddenportlet_javax.portlet.action=EventLauncherIdContentAction&_W000_hidden_WAR_W000_hiddenportlet_base.portlet.view=ILBDInitialView&_W000_hidden_WAR_W000_hiddenportlet_cid=1324572399011&_W000_hidden_WAR_W000_hiddenportlet_tipo=SANContent" target="_blank">Santander's $100m Fintech fund</a> and Christian Henandez's VC firm <a href="http://whitestarvc.com/" target="_blank">WhiteStar Capital</a><br />
<br />
<br />
Read what the press have said about SecondHome...<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">SECOND HOME - SELECTED MEDIA COVERAGE </span></b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Second Home is a workplace of the future."</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> - Evening Standard<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/are-you-cool-enough-for-this-workspace-why-second-home-is-a-workplace-of-the-future-9902677.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/are-you-cool-enough-for-this-workspace-why-second-home-is-a-workplace-of-the-future-9902677.html</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Second Home offers a different way of
working... There is something hugely seductive about Second Home... You want to
work here."</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> - RIBA Journal<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.ribaj.com/buildings/second-home-offers-a-different-way-of-working?previewId=6io9qki"><span style="color: #1155cc;">http://www.ribaj.com/buildings/second-home-offers-a-different-way-of-working?previewId=6io9qki</span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
</span><b><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Tucked away inside
a former carpet factory in trendy east London is a futuristic office space that
London's most innovative companies all want to join."</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> - Business Insider<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/second-home-london-office-2015-1"><span style="color: #1155cc;">http://uk.businessinsider.com/second-home-london-office-2015-1</span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
</span><b><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"It is sometimes
said that the more virtual the world becomes, the more the physical is needed
as its counterweight. Second Home is an elegant demonstration of this
idea."</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> -
Observer architecture critic Rowan Moore<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/dec/14/second-home-review-london-office-selgas-cano"><span style="color: #1155cc;">http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/dec/14/second-home-review-london-office-selgas-cano</span></a><br />
<br />
</span><b><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Located in a
former carpet factory in Shoreditch, Second Home is a collaborative workspace,
featuring transparent acrylic walls, over a thousand plants and a so-called
'flying table'."</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> -
Dezeen<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.dezeen.com/2014/12/08/second-home-selgascano-london-office-orange-tunnel-flying-table/"><span style="color: #1155cc;">http://www.dezeen.com/2014/12/08/second-home-selgascano-london-office-orange-tunnel-flying-table/</span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
</span><b><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"A new
co-working paradigm." </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">- Architizer<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://architizer.com/blog/second-home-coworking-space/"><span style="color: #1155cc;">http://architizer.com/blog/second-home-coworking-space/</span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
<b>"How 1,000 plants, a greenhouse bubble and Stella McCartney could
change the way we work." </b>- Fast Company<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/3041976/how-1000-plants-a-greenhouse-bubble-and-stella-mccartney-could-change-the-way-we-work#2"><span style="color: #1155cc;">http://www.fastcompany.com/3041976/how-1000-plants-a-greenhouse-bubble-and-stella-mccartney-could-change-the-way-we-work#2</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>404</o:Words>
<o:Characters>2307</o:Characters>
<o:Company>Index Ventures</o:Company>
<o:Lines>19</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>5</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>2706</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>14.0</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
<w:UseFELayout/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="276">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-ansi-language:EN-US;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The experience of moving through the building is
delightful... Second Home is a calming and wonderful space to be
in." </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">-
Architectural Review (attached)</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01521572484004437523noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-46154647889974435232014-12-07T11:40:00.000+00:002014-12-07T11:40:47.581+00:00Growth champions are different from other businesses<div class="WordSection1">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I recently<b> </b>had the opportunity of working with </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.sctconsultants.com/who-we-are/margaret-exley/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Margaret Exley</span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> of </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.sctconsultants.com/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">SCT consultants</span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> and we started talking about the characteristics of hyper-growth companies and how they differed from others.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u></u><u></u></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Margaret's client list is the who's who of giant British business - a decent chunk of the FTSE100. She advises them on improving board effectiveness generally and specifically on increasing their strategic focus.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><u></u><u></u></span></div>
<span class="im" style="background-color: white; color: #500050; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">She has </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">conducted a very interesting piece of research which has many lessons for the slow growing giants as well as those early stage companies aspiring to becoming hyper-growth businesses.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;">The paper, entitled </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Designed to grow </b>has not been made public before and<b> </b>is reproduced below by kind permission.</span><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;">Thank you Margaret.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: -13.9pt; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><b>How growth champions differ from
other business and what it takes to become one</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Summary of research<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The research surveyed 214 companies across the USA and Europe to
identify high growth companies, and what makes them different. The overwhelming
majority of senior executives said organic growth was a primary goal for them
and their organisations. However, only 12% had exceeded their organic growth
objectives in the last three years. Barely half rated themselves as having been
effective in achieving growth in the same period and a majority believed that
creating growth from within will become harder in the next three years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">We identified 23 companies who are growth champions. All had consistent
year on year growth as a distinguishing feature. Most had consistently
delivered growth in revenue, net operating income and share price over a period
of five years, at twice the rate of the rest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The growth champions have six practises or types of behaviour which
clearly distinguish them from the rest. Differences between the growth
champions and the rest are clear, marked and statistically significant.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">These practices do not include some of the things which have been said
to be important by consultants and others in the past, eg creating radically new
products and services, risk taking, having an internal venture capital process,
or financial incentivisation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The growth champions transcend sectors, geography, size and business
model. There is a mixture of public and privately owned businesses and the
growth practices are key differentiators. They work together to give a
distinctive footprint. Practices include: creating clarity on sources of growth
and well articulated profit models, combined with disciplined execution of
those strategies backed up with strong measurement and feedback to the
team.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Growth champions focus on a few things and make clear trade-off
decisions. They are able to grow because they have few management levels,
develop their own leaders and create a culture of continuous adaptability. They
are disciplined, focused and minimalist rather than risk-taking opportunist or
complex. Not only are the practices mutually reinforcing, but they reflect a
clear difference in priorities between growth champions and other businesses. They
put companies at a significant competitive advantage. They can be measured and
they can be learned.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">As a result we are now able to assess companies against the high growth
practices, identify where they are weak and focus on the specifics needed to
drive organic growth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<!--[if !mso]>
<style>
v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
.shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
</style>
<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>3751</o:Words>
<o:Characters>21387</o:Characters>
<o:Company>benjam ltd</o:Company>
<o:Lines>178</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>50</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>25088</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>14.0</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:PixelsPerInch>96</o:PixelsPerInch>
<o:TargetScreenSize>800x600</o:TargetScreenSize>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-GB</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="276">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br clear="all" style="mso-break-type: section-break; page-break-before: auto;" />
</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Our starting point<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Profitable growth is central to the creation of any company’s economic
value, providing the cornerstone for ongoing competitiveness. In turn,
successful company growth fuels the wider economy and therefore has broader benefits
for society. But in the Conference Board’s recent study of the top priorities
for CEOs (the CEO Challenge Survey, 2006) over 650 CEOs rated sustained and
steady top line and profit growth as the top two challenges for them in 2006.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">We have been looking at the characteristics of companies who achieve
high ratios of organic growth, ie growth which does not rely on acquisition. Whilst
much has been written about the key to organic growth, most of the previous
work is prescriptive, ie it suggests a particular strategy or solution to the
problem of growth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">We set off in our study with a more open mind.
The questions we sought to answer were: are there common practices between high
growth companies that transcend sectors, business size, positioning in the
business cycle and history? And can such
practices or behaviours be clearly detected and therefore potentially learned?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Much has been written about mergers and acquisitions, and about
inorganic growth as a key to success. Less has been published on organic
growth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In a 2004 ‘Industry Week’ article, James McNerney, Chief Executive of
3M, was quoted as saying “In today’s world, our overall business objectives are
to be simultaneously strong in operating excellence and unusually strong in
organic growth”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In a 2002 survey of 120 British firms, Edengene found that organic
growth topped executive agendas, though few companies were succeeding in
achieving it. A subsequent study by Marakon in 2004 showed that for 59% of
senior managers worldwide, organic growth is their key issue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Many of the books written on organic growth focus on the reasons why
organic growth fails to take root in companies. Problems range, for example,
from the absence of entrepreneurial leadership to poor incentive systems that
don’t support growth goals and include the inability to capitalise on the
synergies which exist across a company. Those management theorists who have a
point of view about how to grow companies, usually promote one or two
initiatives with little detail about what they are actually doing. Some talk
about innovation, others advise focusing on cultural transformation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The study set out to:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 1.0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -1.0cm;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">1.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Learn what organisational
practices best support organic growth, how they relate to one another and what
types of companies are employing them;<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -1.0cm;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">2.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Determine which practices can be
tied to actual financial growth;<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 1cm; text-indent: -1cm;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">3.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Develop guidance for executive teams who are trying
to grow from within, so that they can most cost effectively focus their time,
energy and creativity in the right ways.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Distinguishing exceptional financial performance<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In launching this work, a team assembled data from a literature review,
and from our own experience which was distilled into a set of 35 practices that
purport to create organic growth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In addition to questions about the 35 organic practices, a small number
of questions were included to characterise the role and importance of organic
growth in the participating companies and their industries. Three financial
criteria were assessed: the extent to which participating companies are falling
short, meeting or beating their organic growth goals for:<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 1.0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -1.0cm;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">sales;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -1.0cm;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">earnings;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 1.0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -1.0cm;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">cashflow.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The sample included CEOs, CFOs, and other members of the executive team
and data was gathered by a combination of face to face interviews and
questionnaire completion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In some cases participation was delegated to one level below the
executive team. All the respondents in this study are senior executives in
prime positions who know what their companies are doing to grow from within,
how those actions are supporting organic growth, and what is actually being
achieved.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The data was collected in 2005 and 2006. From the data given and as a
first screen we created a pool of growth champions, ie those who reported that
they were beating expectations for the last three years on all three dimensions.
Once the database was complied, published financial information for the
publicly traded companies was reviewed as a second screen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In this way we were able to corroborate the financial performance of the
companies in our sample over the period. Furthermore we examined revenue, net
operating income and share price over the previous five years. By doing a
further check in this way, we reduced by two the number of companies who we
identified as growth champions, ie those who had grown consistently over the
period, giving us an identifiable group of 23 such companies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">A majority of organisations in the total sample (56%) believe that
creating organic growth will become harder in the next three years. However a similar
proportion (50%) believe their own company’s capabilities to drive organic
growth are not getting any stronger. So not only is growth important, not only
is it a struggle to achieve, but it is predicted to get harder.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">It is not surprising therefore that given the right conditions, many
large businesses choose to grow inorganically through acquisition rather than
building their core business. The bad news is that many of these acquisitions
then do not deliver good financial performance and therefore may not be the
solution to underlying financial growth that companies hope for.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">A large proportion of the sample (59%) had articulated specific,
quantifiable goals for organic growth for which senior leaders were being held
to account. A further 30% reported that they had tasked their managers to grow
the business organically. It is not that companies do not seek to grow, or task
their leaders to focus on growth, but some are inherently incapable of
delivering growth. Most companies have strategies for growth and task their
leaders to deliver them. However the challenge is to ensure that delivery.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Profile of participating companies<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">We surveyed a total of 214 companies across the USA and Europe. We
believe this to be the largest investigation into organic growth to date. Participating
companies included some of the world’s largest and most successful businesses,
eg. Procter & Gamble, as well as some of the smallest, eg Piatkus Books (a
small publishing firm with a turnover of $15 million).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Further checks were undertaken, having identified the growth champions,
to see whether there was any revenue size or industry bias among the 23 in
relation to the rest of the sample.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">No revenue size or industry bias was found. Growth champions can be
large or small companies, and can come from almost any sector as can be
demonstrated by the charts following.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Participating
companies – industry breakdown<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: -7.1pt; margin-right: -28.15pt; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600"
o:spt="75" o:preferrelative="t" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f"
stroked="f">
<v:stroke joinstyle="miter"/>
<v:formulas>
<v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"/>
<v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"/>
<v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"/>
<v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"/>
<v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"/>
<v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"/>
<v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"/>
<v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"/>
<v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"/>
<v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"/>
<v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"/>
<v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"/>
</v:formulas>
<v:path o:extrusionok="f" gradientshapeok="t" o:connecttype="rect"/>
<o:lock v:ext="edit" aspectratio="t"/>
</v:shapetype><v:shape id="Object_x0020_4" o:spid="_x0000_i1025" type="#_x0000_t75"
style='width:264pt;height:192pt;visibility:visible' o:gfxdata="UEsDBBQABgAIAAAAIQCTXr2S+wAAAOEBAAATAAAAW0NvbnRlbnRfVHlwZXNdLnhtbJSRQU7DMBBF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">
<v:imagedata src="file://localhost/Users/robinklein/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/msoclip/0clip_image001.png"
o:title="" croptop="-1464f" cropbottom="-2891f" cropleft="-2033f"
cropright="-9087f"/>
<o:lock v:ext="edit" aspectratio="f"/>
</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYvpEp-vOYhF8JMpKn9gjKlR3c7hQsw9weeL_ICaY99BWrp1gmNp-xu1yTx9db0gEt58BFxWKfL44s4aUtdIK_hU1YGdw1Wbx7mP5FXv8aCEEc3u1dvnrUV3mK8RkUerMF7MIrSw/s1600/exley+3+participating+cos.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYvpEp-vOYhF8JMpKn9gjKlR3c7hQsw9weeL_ICaY99BWrp1gmNp-xu1yTx9db0gEt58BFxWKfL44s4aUtdIK_hU1YGdw1Wbx7mP5FXv8aCEEc3u1dvnrUV3mK8RkUerMF7MIrSw/s1600/exley+3+participating+cos.png" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi01UqcPgQqVIqelz5hthosTG2g7sNVicziVrF87wzkLcBWE_A8zXhXblLoYBtelbviq168YqhvEy-B04ZB41LO8_JfReWjAJsA85Tw_gZaxC4FPt8MJCb7Ekc-5AlcSnjDD8b2Tg/s1600/exley+2+participating+cos.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi01UqcPgQqVIqelz5hthosTG2g7sNVicziVrF87wzkLcBWE_A8zXhXblLoYBtelbviq168YqhvEy-B04ZB41LO8_JfReWjAJsA85Tw_gZaxC4FPt8MJCb7Ekc-5AlcSnjDD8b2Tg/s1600/exley+2+participating+cos.png" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi01UqcPgQqVIqelz5hthosTG2g7sNVicziVrF87wzkLcBWE_A8zXhXblLoYBtelbviq168YqhvEy-B04ZB41LO8_JfReWjAJsA85Tw_gZaxC4FPt8MJCb7Ekc-5AlcSnjDD8b2Tg/s1600/exley+2+participating+cos.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi01UqcPgQqVIqelz5hthosTG2g7sNVicziVrF87wzkLcBWE_A8zXhXblLoYBtelbviq168YqhvEy-B04ZB41LO8_JfReWjAJsA85Tw_gZaxC4FPt8MJCb7Ekc-5AlcSnjDD8b2Tg/s1600/exley+2+participating+cos.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi01UqcPgQqVIqelz5hthosTG2g7sNVicziVrF87wzkLcBWE_A8zXhXblLoYBtelbviq168YqhvEy-B04ZB41LO8_JfReWjAJsA85Tw_gZaxC4FPt8MJCb7Ekc-5AlcSnjDD8b2Tg/s1600/exley+2+participating+cos.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 19.85pt; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: #4b5457; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_4"
o:spid="_x0000_i1027" type="#_x0000_t75" style='width:473pt;height:157pt;
visibility:visible'>
<v:imagedata src="file://localhost/Users/robinklein/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/msoclip/0clip_image005.wmz"
o:title=""/>
<v:textbox style='mso-rotate-with-shape:t'/>
</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--></span></b><b><span style="color: #4b5457; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Ninety-three percent of companies in the total sample indicated that
organic growth is critical to the success of their companies, even though only
half report that organic growth is the dominant growth strategy in their
industry. Only 51% of companies rated themselves as having been effective in
achieving organic growth in the last years on all three criteria (sales,
earnings and cashflow).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The growth champions<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Only 23 of the 214 companies had consistently exceeded their organic
growth objectives. For these companies who answered the questionnaire in 2005,
we covered the five year period leading up to that year. For those who answered
the questionnaire in 2006, we covered the five year period leading up to 2006.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Therefore we were able to select those companies who had shown
consistent growth over five years in all three dimensions, ie revenue, net
operating income (profit after tax and interest), and share price. The
performances for each are shown below in the following tables. They show that
the growth champions on average hit more than twice the growth rate of the
other companies over the period, for all three dimensions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Five year revenue performance (annual increase)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> Year
1-2 Year 2-3 Year 3-4 Year
4-5 5-year av. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse; margin-left: 7.2pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 461px;">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 14.2pt; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td style="background: #D7E4BD; border-bottom: solid white 3.0pt; border: solid white 1.0pt; height: 14.2pt; padding: 3.6pt 7.2pt 3.6pt 7.2pt; width: 4.0cm;" width="113"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Growth
champions </span></b><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #EAF1DD; border-bottom: solid white 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: solid white 1.0pt; height: 14.2pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; padding: 3.6pt 7.2pt 3.6pt 7.2pt; width: 69.45pt;" width="69"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">10%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #EAF1DD; border-bottom: solid white 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: solid white 1.0pt; height: 14.2pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; padding: 3.6pt 7.2pt 3.6pt 7.2pt; width: 69.45pt;" width="69"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">77%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #EAF1DD; border-bottom: solid white 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: solid white 1.0pt; height: 14.2pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 69.45pt;" width="69"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">37%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #EAF1DD; border-bottom: solid white 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: solid white 1.0pt; height: 14.2pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 69.45pt;" width="69"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">21%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #EAF1DD; border-bottom: solid white 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: solid white 1.0pt; height: 14.2pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 69.5pt;" width="70"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">38%<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 14.2pt; mso-yfti-irow: 1; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="background: #BFBFBF; border-top: none; border: solid white 1.0pt; height: 14.2pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 3.0pt; padding: 3.6pt 7.2pt 3.6pt 7.2pt; width: 4.0cm;" width="113"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Other companies <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-bottom: solid white 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 14.2pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 3.0pt; padding: 3.6pt 7.2pt 3.6pt 7.2pt; width: 69.45pt;" width="69"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">8%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-bottom: solid white 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 14.2pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 3.0pt; padding: 3.6pt 7.2pt 3.6pt 7.2pt; width: 69.45pt;" width="69"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">6%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-bottom: solid white 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 14.2pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 3.0pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 69.45pt;" width="69"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">22%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-bottom: solid white 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 14.2pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 3.0pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 69.45pt;" width="69"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">14%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-bottom: solid white 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 14.2pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 3.0pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 69.5pt;" width="70"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">10%<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Five year
net operating income performance (annual increase)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> Year
1-2 Year 2-3 Year 3-4 Year
4-5 5-year av. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse; margin-left: 7.2pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 461px;">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 14.2pt; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td style="background: #D7E4BD; border-bottom: solid white 3.0pt; border: solid white 1.0pt; height: 14.2pt; padding: 3.6pt 7.2pt 3.6pt 7.2pt; width: 4.0cm;" width="113"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Growth
champions </span></b><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #EAF1DD; border-bottom: solid white 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: solid white 1.0pt; height: 14.2pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; padding: 3.6pt 7.2pt 3.6pt 7.2pt; width: 69.45pt;" width="69"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">49%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #EAF1DD; border-bottom: solid white 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: solid white 1.0pt; height: 14.2pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; padding: 3.6pt 7.2pt 3.6pt 7.2pt; width: 69.45pt;" width="69"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">162%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #EAF1DD; border-bottom: solid white 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: solid white 1.0pt; height: 14.2pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 69.45pt;" width="69"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">68%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #EAF1DD; border-bottom: solid white 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: solid white 1.0pt; height: 14.2pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 69.45pt;" width="69"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">42%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #EAF1DD; border-bottom: solid white 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: solid white 1.0pt; height: 14.2pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 69.5pt;" width="70"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">83%<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 14.2pt; mso-yfti-irow: 1; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="background: #BFBFBF; border-top: none; border: solid white 1.0pt; height: 14.2pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 3.0pt; padding: 3.6pt 7.2pt 3.6pt 7.2pt; width: 4.0cm;" width="113"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Other companies <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-bottom: solid white 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 14.2pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 3.0pt; padding: 3.6pt 7.2pt 3.6pt 7.2pt; width: 69.45pt;" width="69"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">8%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-bottom: solid white 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 14.2pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 3.0pt; padding: 3.6pt 7.2pt 3.6pt 7.2pt; width: 69.45pt;" width="69"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">48%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-bottom: solid white 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 14.2pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 3.0pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 69.45pt;" width="69"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">24%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-bottom: solid white 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 14.2pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 3.0pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 69.45pt;" width="69"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">32%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-bottom: solid white 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 14.2pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 3.0pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 69.5pt;" width="70"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">26%<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Five year
share price performance (annual increase)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> Year
1-2 Year 2-3 Year 3-4 Year
4-5 5-year av. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse; margin-left: 7.2pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 461px;">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 14.2pt; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td style="background: #D7E4BD; border-bottom: solid white 3.0pt; border: solid white 1.0pt; height: 14.2pt; padding: 3.6pt 7.2pt 3.6pt 7.2pt; width: 4.0cm;" width="113"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Growth champions </span></b><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #EAF1DD; border-bottom: solid white 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: solid white 1.0pt; height: 14.2pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; padding: 3.6pt 7.2pt 3.6pt 7.2pt; width: 69.45pt;" width="69"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">12%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #EAF1DD; border-bottom: solid white 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: solid white 1.0pt; height: 14.2pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; padding: 3.6pt 7.2pt 3.6pt 7.2pt; width: 69.45pt;" width="69"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">42%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #EAF1DD; border-bottom: solid white 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: solid white 1.0pt; height: 14.2pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 69.45pt;" width="69"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">21%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #EAF1DD; border-bottom: solid white 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: solid white 1.0pt; height: 14.2pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 69.45pt;" width="69"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">29%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #EAF1DD; border-bottom: solid white 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: solid white 1.0pt; height: 14.2pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 69.5pt;" width="70"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">25%<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 14.2pt; mso-yfti-irow: 1; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="background: #BFBFBF; border-top: none; border: solid white 1.0pt; height: 14.2pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 3.0pt; padding: 3.6pt 7.2pt 3.6pt 7.2pt; width: 4.0cm;" width="113"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Other companies <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-bottom: solid white 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 14.2pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 3.0pt; padding: 3.6pt 7.2pt 3.6pt 7.2pt; width: 69.45pt;" width="69"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">8%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-bottom: solid white 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 14.2pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 3.0pt; padding: 3.6pt 7.2pt 3.6pt 7.2pt; width: 69.45pt;" width="69"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">9%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-bottom: solid white 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 14.2pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 3.0pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 69.45pt;" width="69"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">6%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-bottom: solid white 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 14.2pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 3.0pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 69.45pt;" width="69"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">26%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-bottom: solid white 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 14.2pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 3.0pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 69.5pt;" width="70"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">12%<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">This data therefore supports the self-reported financial performance of
the companies concerned.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The growth champions not only have tremendous revenue growth
performance, but they also accomplish it without compromising net operating
income. This should also put to rest the argument that a company has to
sacrifice profitability in order to grow.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Furthermore the market rewarded the publicly traded growth champions,
compared with those in the other companies, for their performance. In this way
financial performance feeds through directly to share price.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Size doesn’t matter<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">One could speculate that very large companies may be more severely
challenged than smaller companies in implementing certain practices due simply
to their organisational complexity. An alternative hypothesis is that the
larger the company, the more financially able it may be to deploy particular
practices to grow from within. Neither case is true.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Executives were asked to rate the extent to which their companies are
engaging effectively in each of the 35 practices. The statistical correlation
between their deployment of each of these practices and company annual revenues
was close to zero. One important conclusion therefore is that the size of the
company is irrelevant to its ability to act in a way that supports organic
growth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Therefore, based on the self reported scores for growth, the demographic
comparisons with the balance of the sample, and most importantly the comparative
financial results among the publicly traded companies, the label ‘growth
champions’ is more than reasonable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Having identified this pool of high growth companies, we then examined
the best practices for organic growth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Best practices for growing from within<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0.2pt 0.0001pt 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0.2pt 0.0001pt 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The
executives rated each of the 35 organic growth practices on a five point scale
in terms of the extent to which their company is deploying the practice. The
questions asked included the strategic direction and deployment of resources,
the basic work patterns and how people work together, culture and commonly well
regarded behaviours such as innovation, and team working, as well as people
aspects, ie the characteristics of those who are responsible for organic
growth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">For each of these factors we compared the scores of the growth champions
against the rest. There were a small number of growth practices which were
consistently highly rated, and when tested the differences between the growth
champions and the rest were statistically significant.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">There were six practices which were statistically different at the 98%
level of confidence. That is to say it is almost impossible that the
differences occurred by chance. The chart which follows shows the results for
the growth champions and the rest of the sample.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Key practices of growth champions<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The growth champions have clear and well articulated profit models which
are linked with strong metrics and feedback. They are very clear on their
sources of growth and make effective trade-off decisions about where to invest
for growth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">These businesses focus on a few things and this focus is amplified by a
capability to engage in disciplined execution at all levels. These practices
are noticeably much less present in the remaining 189 companies, who put effort
into a variety of other practices.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">It is also worth noting the practices the growth champions do not pursue.
Very few of them focus on building radically new products or services. They
stick to what they know. They do not support multiple business models
simultaneously, preferring instead to operate a single clear business model. Just
over half report that they foster innovation, but this is not significantly
different from the non-growth champions. Few of them have an internal venture
capital process or share resources across the organisation to fund initiatives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br clear="all" style="page-break-before: always;" />
</span></b>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The top six key practices<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCvkdlA-Z6lHgKZLcPlxgqasoDN9qkpBbZICNB5mwM4AJi12v9U-sNaCw8HRu12af7yMwkAO8G0eesMliPLA-6TzmL9I2aET0AIGR0pCSarvBiqfPmfPkl4n2wPQp9K5JCkJ4p2w/s1600/exley1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCvkdlA-Z6lHgKZLcPlxgqasoDN9qkpBbZICNB5mwM4AJi12v9U-sNaCw8HRu12af7yMwkAO8G0eesMliPLA-6TzmL9I2aET0AIGR0pCSarvBiqfPmfPkl4n2wPQp9K5JCkJ4p2w/s1600/exley1.png" height="367" width="640" /></a></b></div>
<br />
<!--[if !mso]>
<style>
v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
.shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
</style>
<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Characters>2</o:Characters>
<o:Company>benjam ltd</o:Company>
<o:Lines>1</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>1</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>2</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>14.0</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:PixelsPerInch>96</o:PixelsPerInch>
<o:TargetScreenSize>800x600</o:TargetScreenSize>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-GB</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="276">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt -14.2pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_3"
o:spid="_x0000_i1028" type="#_x0000_t75" style='width:599pt;height:344pt;
visibility:visible'>
<v:imagedata src="file://localhost/Users/robinklein/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/msoclip/0clip_image007.emz"
o:title=""/>
<v:textbox style='mso-rotate-with-shape:t'/>
</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The four enablers<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">There are also a series of enabling practices which support the six high
growth practices identified above which are statistically significant at the
95% level of confidence. These are four further practices which are
statistically different between the growth champions and the rest and which
relate to the way the companies are organised and led.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 15pt 1cm; text-indent: -1cm;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">1.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The first of these is that the growth champions
build leaders to grow from within. They put considerable effort into building
leadership capability which will focus on organic growth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 15pt 1cm; text-indent: -1cm;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">2.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">A significantly larger number of them also have
fewer levels of management.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 15pt 1cm; text-indent: -1cm;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">3.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">They engage in cross-cutting forums to drive
innovation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 1cm; text-indent: -1cm;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">4.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Finally, the growth champions have developed a
culture of adaptability. They actively encourage their employees to be
adaptable and flexible to a changing environment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The ten distinguishing practices of the high growth companies, which are
statistically different in those companies from the remaining lower growth
businesses, are set out below.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br clear="all" style="page-break-before: always;" />
</span></b>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The growth practices<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-alt: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-insideh: 1.5pt solid white; mso-border-insidev: 1.5pt solid white; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="background: #D6E3BC; border: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 246.4pt;" valign="top" width="246"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 2.0pt;">
<br /></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D6E3BC; border-left: none; border: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="128"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 2.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Growth champions<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 2.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">% practiced<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #BFBFBF; border-left: none; border: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.6pt;" valign="top" width="128"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 2.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Non-growth champions<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 2.0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">% practiced<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background: #D6E3BC; border-top: none; border: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 246.4pt;" valign="top" width="246"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 2.0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Top six practices<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D6E3BC; border-bottom: solid white 1.5pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.5pt; border-top: none; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="128"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 2.0pt; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #BFBFBF; border-bottom: solid white 1.5pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.5pt; border-top: none; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.6pt;" valign="top" width="128"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 2.0pt; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-top: none; border: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 246.4pt;" valign="top" width="246"><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 2pt 0cm 2pt 21.3pt; text-indent: -21.3pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">1.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Create
clarity on sources of growth<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #EAF1DD; border-bottom: solid white 1.5pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.5pt; border-top: none; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="128"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 2.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">96%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-bottom: solid white 1.5pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.5pt; border-top: none; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.6pt;" valign="top" width="128"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 2.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">74%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-top: none; border: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 246.4pt;" valign="top" width="246"><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 2pt 0cm 2pt 21.3pt; text-indent: -21.3pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">2.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Clearly
articulate and have well understood profit models<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #EAF1DD; border-bottom: solid white 1.5pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.5pt; border-top: none; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="128"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 2.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">91%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-bottom: solid white 1.5pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.5pt; border-top: none; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.6pt;" valign="top" width="128"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 2.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">56%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-top: none; border: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 246.4pt;" valign="top" width="246"><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 2pt 0cm 2pt 21.3pt; text-indent: -21.3pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">3.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Engage
in disciplined execution at all levels and promote excellence in execution<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #EAF1DD; border-bottom: solid white 1.5pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.5pt; border-top: none; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="128"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 2.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">78%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-bottom: solid white 1.5pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.5pt; border-top: none; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.6pt;" valign="top" width="128"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 2.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">44%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-top: none; border: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 246.4pt;" valign="top" width="246"><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 2pt 0cm 2pt 21.3pt; text-indent: -21.3pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">4.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Make
effective trade-off decisions about which opportunities to invest in<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #EAF1DD; border-bottom: solid white 1.5pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.5pt; border-top: none; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="128"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 2.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">70%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-bottom: solid white 1.5pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.5pt; border-top: none; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.6pt;" valign="top" width="128"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 2.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">45%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-top: none; border: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 246.4pt;" valign="top" width="246"><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 2pt 0cm 2pt 21.3pt; text-indent: -21.3pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">5.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Have strong
metrics and feedback loops<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #EAF1DD; border-bottom: solid white 1.5pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.5pt; border-top: none; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="128"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 2.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">70%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-bottom: solid white 1.5pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.5pt; border-top: none; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.6pt;" valign="top" width="128"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 2.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">38%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-top: none; border: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 246.4pt;" valign="top" width="246"><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 2pt 0cm 2pt 21.3pt; text-indent: -21.3pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">6.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Focus
the business on a few initiatives<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #EAF1DD; border-bottom: solid white 1.5pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.5pt; border-top: none; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="128"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 2.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">70%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-bottom: solid white 1.5pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.5pt; border-top: none; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.6pt;" valign="top" width="128"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 2.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">44%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-top: none; border: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 246.4pt;" valign="top" width="246"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 21.3pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 2.0pt; text-indent: -21.3pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The four enablers<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #EAF1DD; border-bottom: solid white 1.5pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.5pt; border-top: none; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="128"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 2.0pt; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-bottom: solid white 1.5pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.5pt; border-top: none; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.6pt;" valign="top" width="128"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 2.0pt; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-top: none; border: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 246.4pt;" valign="top" width="246"><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 2pt 0cm 2pt 21.3pt; text-indent: -21.3pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">7.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Build
leaders’ capabilities to grow from within<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #EAF1DD; border-bottom: solid white 1.5pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.5pt; border-top: none; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="128"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 2.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">70%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-bottom: solid white 1.5pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.5pt; border-top: none; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.6pt;" valign="top" width="128"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 2.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">49%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-top: none; border: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 246.4pt;" valign="top" width="246"><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 2pt 0cm 2pt 21.3pt; text-indent: -21.3pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">8.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Develop
a culture in which people readily adapt to change<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #EAF1DD; border-bottom: solid white 1.5pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.5pt; border-top: none; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="128"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 2.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">70%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-bottom: solid white 1.5pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.5pt; border-top: none; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.6pt;" valign="top" width="128"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 2.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">48%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-top: none; border: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 246.4pt;" valign="top" width="246"><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 2pt 0cm 2pt 21.3pt; text-indent: -21.3pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">9.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Maintain
fewer levels of management to enable faster decisions<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #EAF1DD; border-bottom: solid white 1.5pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.5pt; border-top: none; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="128"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 2.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">61%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-bottom: solid white 1.5pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.5pt; border-top: none; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.6pt;" valign="top" width="128"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 2.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">49%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-top: none; border: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 246.4pt;" valign="top" width="246"><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 2pt 0cm 2pt 21.3pt; text-indent: -21.3pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">10.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Engage
in formal, cross-functional or regional forums to drive innovation<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #EAF1DD; border-bottom: solid white 1.5pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.5pt; border-top: none; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="128"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 2.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">61%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D9D9D9; border-bottom: solid white 1.5pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.5pt; border-top: none; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.6pt;" valign="top" width="128"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 2.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">35%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">A further analysis was performed to examine the average
inter-correlation of the ratings of these ten best organic growth practices. The
inter-correlation was high and statistically significant. This supports the
premise that these practices are contingent upon one another.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">They go hand-in-hand, and are mutually reinforcing and supportive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In CB Richard Ellis, a worldwide real estate business, for example,
every year the company examines which businesses to enter and exit. They avoid
getting into what might appear on the surface to be related business lines (eg
maintenance services) because they recognise they are not expert in those
businesses. They are clear on their sources for growth and they steadfastly
refuse to invest in businesses unless both can work synergistically with
existing CBRE businesses. They also strive to keep things simple.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Brett White, the CEO, explained “We don’t spend weeks in seclusion
working on strategic plans because the business changes faster than we plan”. Brett
and his colleagues have focused their management team on six key objectives
which have remained consistent for many years. People understand the sources of
growth and the financial metrics that count. Furthermore, they focus on
building leaders. Every year thousands of people (employees and customers),
attend their in-house university for up to a week.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">However CBRE does not spend a lot of time investing in new products or
going on management retreats. Instead, CBRE executives focus their business
meetings on tactical initiatives with a goal of keeping things practical and
action oriented. Brett reports that “We are very empirical. We’ve cut out the
nonsense and focuses on what makes money. The question is always “How does the
action you are taking today tie to revenue margin and EBITDA?”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The final component of CBRE’s success is the disciplined approach to
measuring business performance. The company has an established comprehensive
set of financial metrics which track the growth performance of each manager and
which are visible to all. People are measured on top line as well as bottom
line growth.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br clear="all" style="page-break-before: always;" />
</span></b>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The growth blueprint<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The diagram below summarises the growth champion ‘blueprint’, ie the
distinctive footprint of the 23 companies which exhibited outstanding growth. These
companies are focused and very selective, and not radically innovative. They
execute very effectively because they are so focused and have simple structures
and move quickly to respond to their environment. The culture is disciplined
and adaptable. These are not organisations that ‘let a thousand flowers bloom’,
but they do expect people to continually adapt. The various elements of the
distinctive blueprint are mutually supportive and together fuel organic growth.
The elements are inter-correlated – ie they move together and are
inter-dependent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The growth champion blueprint<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIB9UY3RnubfDC9aIC3sGOiLyNAjrsxdlhmtpAiXOdCGvwTwaCtxStoBMwlBMoiD9KgLexTBMZ_GEeAcp1mplOcpnZom2dkIVH9HGrfdzeUMj3sSzVe7E-1I9x4WKJOKdkB41bRg/s1600/exley+4+growth+champion+blueprint.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIB9UY3RnubfDC9aIC3sGOiLyNAjrsxdlhmtpAiXOdCGvwTwaCtxStoBMwlBMoiD9KgLexTBMZ_GEeAcp1mplOcpnZom2dkIVH9HGrfdzeUMj3sSzVe7E-1I9x4WKJOKdkB41bRg/s1600/exley+4+growth+champion+blueprint.png" height="340" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The $60 billion Procter & Gamble company (P&G), now the world’s
largest consumer goods company, is a good example of this. Its health, beauty
care, household and food products are used an estimated two billion times a day
by consumers around the world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Its success in sustaining growth is based on continuous attention to
detail, sound processes and conservative decision making. Disciplined
leadership, disciplined execution and remaining faithful to the consumer is the
key to P&G’s success.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Amongst the growth champions, the organisation arrangements are simple, have
few management levels, and strong metrics and feedback loops. P&G has
reorganised from five divisions into three to simplify its operations and is
quick to eliminate brands that aren’t profitable and growing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">P&G is remarkably centralised and aligned towards a set of shared
goals. Divisions don’t head off on their own. Shared processes have a lot to do
with this, as does the fact that P&G executives are grown from within; they
know each other and they understand the procedures that need to be followed. While
some companies would find this centralisation a barrier to creativity and
innovation, P&G uses its structure to do just the opposite: force
innovation where it is required and cut off unsuccessful investments early on
before they drag the division or company down. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Similarly, if you understand your profit model and focus on a few key
initiatives, this gives a solid basis for having strong measures and feedback
loops.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Texas Capital Bank was founded in 1998, and targets small to mid-size
businesses, providing the full gamut of banking services. Its revenues grew 22%
from 2002 to 2003 and another 29% between 2003 and 2004. In the same period,
operating income grew 16% and 49% respectively.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Texas Capital takes a P&L view of all its work: each customer
relationship has the full P&L. Each person controls and bills his or her
own business and this creates a real sense of ownership and an incentive for
individual initiative. Each month everyone sees their performance and that of
their colleagues. Texas Capital has not lost anyone in the top 80% of
performers, and the bottom 20% of performers get the message and weed
themselves out of the organisation. The bankers’ relationships however focus
not on short-term revenue production but on long-term profitability. Because of
this long-term measure, a banker’s incomes may drop, but over the first few
years of their time with the bank their income will exceed that of competitors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The relationship between sales, earnings and cash
growth<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">We looked at the organic growth practices to see the extent to which
statistical modelling might show how combinations of the ten best organic
growth practices correlate with the three financial performance outcomes
against which executives rated their companies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">We looked at the extent to which the participating companies are falling short, meeting or
beating their growth objectives for sales, earnings and cashflow, and explored
whether there was a specific link between any particular practices and these
aspects of financial performance. The regression analysis identified subsets of
the ten best organic growth practices that have statistically significant
correlations with different financial outcomes. The results were interesting
and are shown in the table below.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">This analysis shows that sales growth is associated with disciplined
execution and a culture of adaptability. Earnings growth is linked with good
decision making and focus, whilst cash flow growth is strongly related to
measurement and promoting excellence in execution.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">These findings provide insights for organisations who are interested in
launching internal efforts to grow particular financial outcomes. However,
while different practices correlate more strongly with one outcome than another
it is important to remember that the practices themselves are contingent on one
another. Leaders who focus their
companies on growth and who pay attention to the ten growth practices are
likely to see the needle move on all three dimensions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The key practices which drive financial outcomes<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse; margin-left: 7.2pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 496px;">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 24.45pt; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td style="background: #D7E4BD; border-bottom: solid white 3.0pt; border: solid white 1.0pt; height: 24.45pt; padding: 3.6pt 7.2pt 3.6pt 7.2pt; width: 165.35pt;" width="165"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Practices that best support growth in sales </span></b><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D7E4BD; border-bottom: solid white 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: solid white 1.0pt; height: 24.45pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; padding: 3.6pt 7.2pt 3.6pt 7.2pt; width: 165.4pt;" width="165"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Practices that best support growth in earnings </span></b><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #D7E4BD; border-bottom: solid white 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: solid white 1.0pt; height: 24.45pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; padding: 3.6pt 7.2pt 3.6pt 7.2pt; width: 165.4pt;" width="165"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Practices that best support growth in cashflow </span></b><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 16.35pt; mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td style="background: #EBF1DE; border-top: none; border: solid white 1.0pt; height: 16.35pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 3.0pt; padding: 3.6pt 7.2pt 3.6pt 7.2pt; width: 165.35pt;" valign="top" width="165"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Disciplined execution at all levels <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #EBF1DE; border-bottom: solid white 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 16.35pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 3.0pt; padding: 3.6pt 7.2pt 3.6pt 7.2pt; width: 165.4pt;" valign="top" width="165"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Focus whole business on a few initiatives <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #EBF1DE; border-bottom: solid white 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 16.35pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 3.0pt; padding: 3.6pt 7.2pt 3.6pt 7.2pt; width: 165.4pt;" valign="top" width="165"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Maintain strong metric/feedback loops <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: .7pt; mso-yfti-irow: 2; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="background: #EBF1DE; border-top: none; border: solid white 1.0pt; height: .7pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.0pt; padding: 3.6pt 7.2pt 3.6pt 7.2pt; width: 165.35pt;" valign="top" width="165"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Develop a culture in which people readily adapt to change <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #EBF1DE; border-bottom: solid white 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: .7pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.0pt; padding: 3.6pt 7.2pt 3.6pt 7.2pt; width: 165.4pt;" valign="top" width="165"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Make effective trade-off decisions about investment opportunities <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="background: #EBF1DE; border-bottom: solid white 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid white 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: .7pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid white 1.0pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid white 1.0pt; padding: 3.6pt 7.2pt 3.6pt 7.2pt; width: 165.4pt;" valign="top" width="165"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Promote excellence in execution <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Conclusions<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In summary, there are clear and distinctive practices which
differentiate growing companies and which are mutually reinforcing. These
exclude many which the literature says should fuel growth. They transcend size,
sector, and history, but the growth is consistent year on year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The practices are characterised by focus, simplicity and discipline and
dispel some misunderstandings about the importance of, for example, risk
taking, radical innovation and involvement of high potential leaders in growth
opportunities. Not only are they mutually reinforcing, but they reflect a clear
difference in priorities between growth champions and other businesses.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In short: these companies have deliberately chosen this set of practices
and have become good at them. The practices put them at a significant
competitive advantage. They can be measured and they can be learned.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01521572484004437523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-22692194486561593082014-10-08T15:35:00.000+01:002014-10-08T16:06:52.773+01:00Cash is still King - or should be!<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve been reading the great posts on the subject of ‘burn rate’ of late and found myself nodding furiously in agreement with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/marc-andreessen-on-startup-burn-rates-worry-2014-9" target="_blank">Marc Andreesen</a>, Fred Wilson and others.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; white-space: pre-wrap;">In this age of very well (and over) funded startups, I’ve almost forgotten the Number1 piece of advice to new CEOs.</span><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Have your closing bank balance put on your desk first thing </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>every</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> morning.”</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Firstly, why single out this of all the possible KPIs?</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; white-space: pre-wrap;">Many will find this very curious piece of advice.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1; white-space: pre-wrap;">Simply because there is no better way to have your figure on the pulse of the business by understanding the flows of cash – in and out.</span><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Secondly, why have someone else involved. Why not just look at your on-line balance. Yes, you should do that too – to see the movements - but making it another person’s job means that 2 of you will be aware of this ultimate, most important KPI.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most startup CEOs keep an eye on their cash only in terms of ‘length of runway’. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They also have a decent idea of their ‘burn rate’. Assuming that this number is constant and will follow the cashflow forecast done in the budget is dangerous. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Its often the case that founders tend not to look at cash balances when they have more than 12 months cash left. Its amazing how one month later, 12 month’s cash suddenly becomes 9 months (and then 6 months when closure costs are factored in)</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The daily movements of cash prompt closer examination of cost and revenue areas, working capital movements, spikes in and out. Like a really good Medical Doctor who can tell the health of a patient via very few vital signs, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a good CEO in close touch with his/her company’s vital signs</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> – the most important of which is CASH..</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In all but the simplest of businesses, the ‘length of runway’ is not just cash on hand divided by cash consumed in the month. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most businesses have elements of some or all of the following: payments in advance (received and paid), security deposits, accounts receivable, payable, inventory etc.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A daily balance sheet would answer all the questions, but this is simply not a practical way to manage. The daily cash balance tells (and digging into the changes from the previous day) will tell you most of what you need to know.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most of all, don't take your eye off the cash ball just because you've raised a chunky round.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Further reading: <a href="http://avc.com/2011/12/burn-rate/" target="_blank">Fred's post from December 2011</a> and </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/New%20York's%20No.%201%20VC%20Has%20An%20Ominous%20Warning%20For%20The%20Tech%20Industry%20%20Read%20more:%20http://www.businessinsider.com/fred-wilson-on-startup-burn-rates-2014-9#ixzz3FZATcK7X" target="_blank">New York's No. 1 VC Has An Ominous Warning For The Tech Industry</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01521572484004437523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-63810705641266879112014-05-04T20:31:00.000+01:002014-11-28T15:14:34.252+00:00Lost in Translation?<br />
<div style="background-color: #f9f9f9; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3e433e; font-family: open_sansregular, HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">This post originally appeared in Techcrunch ..<a href="http://techcrunch.com/2014/05/03/lost-in-translation-dont-mistake-british-reserve-for-lack-of-ambition/">http://techcrunch.com/2014/05/03/lost-in-translation-dont-mistake-british-reserve-for-lack-of-ambition/</a> May 3rd 2014.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #f9f9f9; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3e433e; font-family: open_sansregular, HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
This post has been ‘brewing’ in my mind for a number of years now. It’s only taken a shape worthy of publication thanks to Julian Rowe, principal at <a href="http://www.horsleybridge.com/" target="_blank">Horsley Bridge</a> (that Blue Chip investor in the world’s great tech VCs). During a recent meeting, Julian and I were talking about the cultural differences we’d observed between the US and UK, and discovered how much we agreed on. The words that follow are largely Julian’s, the thoughts are ones we share.</div>
<div style="background-color: #f9f9f9; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3e433e; font-family: open_sansregular, HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
It has often been said that Silicon Valley is not a place, rather a state of mind; a state of mind that celebrates ambitious innovation, coupled with a healthy disregard for fear of failure. As Britain’s tech start-up scene has blossomed in recent years, there are signs that something of a Valley mindset has evolved with it, with the very best British tech entrepreneurs now seeking to build companies as large and disruptive as anything emerging from the West Coast.</div>
<div style="background-color: #f9f9f9; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3e433e; font-family: open_sansregular, HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
However, as the Irish playwright <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bernard_Shaw" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="George Bernard Shaw">George Bernard Shaw</a> observed, Britain and America are two nations divided by the same language — an observation which points not only to what each understands by ‘gas’ or ‘pants’, but also to how they expresses themselves more broadly. British reserve and American exuberance may be well-worn clichés, but like most clichés they carry an underlying truth. While British and American entrepreneurs increasingly harbour similar ambitions, when it comes to articulating them, cultural norms have a tendency to reveal themselves. In pitch situations, this can materially hamper British entrepreneurs’ ability to raise money.</div>
<div style="background-color: #f9f9f9; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3e433e; font-family: open_sansregular, HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
As a broad generalisation, US entrepreneurs tend to be adept at treading that fine line between confidence and arrogance when pitching their ideas and ambitions. Clearly there will be exceptions to this in both directions. However, the proportion of US entrepreneurs who can articulate a big idea, while demonstrating the energy to execute, is remarkably high.</div>
<div style="background-color: #f9f9f9; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3e433e; font-family: open_sansregular, HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
The evidence is mounting that in Britain there are growing numbers of entrepreneurs with the talent and ambition to go toe-to-toe with the best from the US. Yet after years of sitting in pitches with both British and American entrepreneurs, it has become clear to me that Britons struggle to express their drive and ambition more often than their US counterparts. This is certainly not to say that they don’t have the drive in the first place. Rather that where a British VC (or, like me, an investor who has lived in Britain for many years) may recognise a steely resolve lurking below the surface, US VCs can be left scratching their heads and underwhelmed. Much is lost in translation. Even European VCs with high levels of exposure to US entrepreneurs – and to investing in the ‘West Coast’ style — may not be attuned to a British entrepreneurs’ more reserved approach.</div>
<div style="background-color: #f9f9f9; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3e433e; font-family: open_sansregular, HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
To be clear, it is not being suggested here that entrepreneurs should go into pitches with VCs promising the world (unless, of course, you have a clear plan that demonstrates that you can actually deliver the world). Rather that an understated ‘under-promise and over-deliver’ type of approach does not always work well when raising capital.</div>
<div style="background-color: #f9f9f9; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3e433e; font-family: open_sansregular, HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
We’re also not advocating that a tub-thumping entrepreneur is necessarily more effective than a more reserved, follow-my-example type. This is not the primary assessment that VCs are making when looking for energy and conviction from the entrepreneur. But they do want to sense – and see — that the ambition is there to build a massive company, as stated goals can quickly become the targets towards which people end up aspiring. VCs also want to see that a founder will have the self-belief required to weather the inevitable challenges and setbacks along the way.</div>
<div style="background-color: #f9f9f9; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3e433e; font-family: open_sansregular, HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
It is undoubtedly a positive for the British tech ecosystem that in recent years US VCs have proven willing to invest more frequently and at earlier stages in the most promising British tech start-ups. The experience they bring of helping build early fledgling companies to massive sustainable success stories can be invaluable. Furthermore, with the US a vital market for most large tech companies — and with most of the world’s tech giants headquartered there — the deep US networks some VCs can bring are immensely powerful.</div>
<div style="background-color: #f9f9f9; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3e433e; font-family: open_sansregular, HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
A number of British-based companies are likely to attest to this such as Huddle, Just Eat, Hailo, SkyScanner, NewVoiceMedia, Far Fetch, ViaGoGo, Funding Circle and TransferWise, all of which have attracted top-tier US venture capital. Moreover, at Index we routinely partner with US VC firms in backing tech companies from across Europe. Take Criteo, elasticsearch, iZettle, Mimecast, Soundcloud and Zendesk, for example.</div>
<div style="background-color: #f9f9f9; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3e433e; font-family: open_sansregular, HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
Yet in order for more British tech startups to tap into this trend, perhaps tech entrepreneurs in the UK need to get better at speaking to American investors in their own ‘language’.</div>
<div style="background-color: #f9f9f9; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3e433e; font-family: open_sansregular, HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
Perhaps, too, US investors need to recognise that the understated, self-deprecating British entrepreneur may in fact have the hidden depths required to build a really big business. Don’t mistake reticence for lack of ambition, nor a seemingly modest plan for a lack of confidence.</div>
<div style="background-color: #f9f9f9; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3e433e; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: open_sansregular, HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">There’s every chance they have both in abundance. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They just have</span><span style="font-family: open_sansregular, HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"> a different way of communicating it.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #f9f9f9; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3e433e; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Postscript: I've been fortunate, because of the fact that I've lived in this green and pleasant land for so long and can recognise the traits, to have backed some pretty extraordinary UK born entrepreneurs. </span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: #f9f9f9; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3e433e; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Think Alex Chesterman (Zoopla), Richard Moross (Moo) Michael Smith (Mind Candy) Graham Bosher (Graze), Iain Dodsworth (Tweetdeck), Alex Saint and Tom Valentine (Secret Escapes), Greg Marsh (OneFineStay), Ed Molyneux (FreeAgent), Bec Clarke (Astley Clarke), Ian Hogarth (Songkick) and Simon Nixon (MoneySupermarket). Not all "tub thumpers" by any means.</span></span></div>
<div class="zemanta-related" style="clear: both; margin-top: 20px; overflow: hidden;">
<h4 class="zemanta-related-title">
Related articles</h4>
<ul class="zemanta-article-ul zemanta-article-ul-image" style="margin: 0; overflow: hidden; padding: 0;">
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2014/05/03/lost-in-translation-dont-mistake-british-reserve-for-lack-of-ambition/?ncid=rss" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/268480468_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2014/05/03/lost-in-translation-dont-mistake-british-reserve-for-lack-of-ambition/?ncid=rss" style="background-image: none; display: block; height: 83px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Lost In Translation - Don't Mistake British Reserve For Lack Of Ambition</a></li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://davidcummings.org/2014/05/01/15-first-time-entrepreneur-misconceptions/" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/noimg_91_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://davidcummings.org/2014/05/01/15-first-time-entrepreneur-misconceptions/" style="background-image: none; display: block; height: 83px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">15 First-Time Entrepreneur Misconceptions</a></li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://www.hiscox.co.uk/business-blog/technology/blossoming-tech-industry-ray-of-light-in-economic-gloom/" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/176734501_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://www.hiscox.co.uk/business-blog/technology/blossoming-tech-industry-ray-of-light-in-economic-gloom/" style="background-image: none; display: block; height: 83px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Blossoming tech industry ray of light in economic gloom</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">
<a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/?px" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=dbbb9a4b-dc59-4803-ab74-6ec51e658d44" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01521572484004437523noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-56166886228470950292013-11-20T16:46:00.001+00:002013-11-20T18:54:20.121+00:00Kano - A computer anyone can make<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">Introducing Kano ............</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="360" scrolling="no" src="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/alexklein/kano-a-computer-anyone-can-make/widget/video.html" width="480"> </iframe></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Back it now on <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/alexklein/kano-a-computer-anyone-can-make" target="_blank">Kickstarter</a> and get yours......</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="zemanta-related" style="clear: both; margin-top: 20px; overflow: hidden;">
<h4 class="zemanta-related-title">
Related articles</h4>
<ul class="zemanta-article-ul zemanta-article-ul-image" style="margin: 0; overflow: hidden; padding: 0;">
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/11/19/kano-kickstarter/" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/222505235_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/11/19/kano-kickstarter/" style="display: block; height: 80px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Kano Kickstarts A Pi-Based, DIY Kit Computer Designed To Make Learning To Code Child's Play</a></li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://thenextweb.com/gadgets/2013/11/19/kano-99-diy-raspberry-pi-powered-pc-building-kit-lego-style-step-step-instructions/" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/222523633_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://thenextweb.com/gadgets/2013/11/19/kano-99-diy-raspberry-pi-powered-pc-building-kit-lego-style-step-step-instructions/" style="display: block; height: 80px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Kano launches a Kickstarter campaign for its $99 DIY, Raspberry Pi-powered PC building kit</a></li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://makezine.com/2013/11/19/the-kano-kit-building-a-raspberry-pi-computer/" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/222517470_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://makezine.com/2013/11/19/the-kano-kit-building-a-raspberry-pi-computer/" style="display: block; height: 80px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Kano Kit - Building a Raspberry Pi Computer</a></li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://alternativenewsalert.com/kano-launches-a-kickstarter-campaign-for-its-99-diy-raspberry-pi-powered-pc-building-kit.html" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/222497944_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://alternativenewsalert.com/kano-launches-a-kickstarter-campaign-for-its-99-diy-raspberry-pi-powered-pc-building-kit.html" style="display: block; height: 80px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Kano launches a Kickstarter campaign for its $99 DIY, Raspberry Pi-powered PC building kit</a></li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/alexklein/kano-a-computer-anyone-can-make" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/222561100_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/alexklein/kano-a-computer-anyone-can-make" style="display: block; height: 80px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Kano: A computer anyone can make</a></li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://venturebeat.com/2013/11/19/kano-launches-kickstarter-for-a-pc-kit-that-anyone-can-assemble-into-a-computer/" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/222499727_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://venturebeat.com/2013/11/19/kano-launches-kickstarter-for-a-pc-kit-that-anyone-can-assemble-into-a-computer/" style="display: block; height: 80px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Kano launches Kickstarter for a PC kit that anyone can assemble into a computer</a></li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://www.webpronews.com/dont-give-your-macbook-to-a-monkey-2013-11" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/noimg_39_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://www.webpronews.com/dont-give-your-macbook-to-a-monkey-2013-11" style="display: block; height: 80px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Don't Give Your MacBook To A Monkey</a></li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://www.dezeen.com/2013/11/19/kano-computer-kit-by-map/" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/222513954_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://www.dezeen.com/2013/11/19/kano-computer-kit-by-map/" style="display: block; height: 80px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Kano computer kit by MAP</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">
<a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/?px" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=b36553fd-d16b-4e3f-9102-03217897e80c" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01521572484004437523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-49309701744666838112013-04-09T13:46:00.000+01:002013-04-09T13:46:58.996+01:00Entrepreneurs .... you may have Maggie to thank!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Margaret_Thatcher_cropped1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher" border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="200" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f6/Margaret_Thatcher_cropped1.png/300px-Margaret_Thatcher_cropped1.png" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="149" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 300px;">Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (Photo credit: <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Margaret_Thatcher_cropped1.png" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">The passing of Margaret Thatcher has caused me to pause and think back on just what a </span><span style="font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">determined</span><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;"> leader can accomplish.</span></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">Reams have and will be written about her achievements and the changes she brought about. This post is a personal one and not intended as a general tribute.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">I never actually voted for Mrs Thatcher - nor for the Tory party who seemed to me to stand for privilege - in any of the 8 elections for which I have been fortunate enough to qualify. I guess at the time I didn't fully appreciate that her rather uncomfortable, uncompromising approach was exactly what was necessary to change a declining, deeply troubled Britain.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">We came to the UK from South Africa at the end of 1976...immigrants like many others. Attracted by the relative freedom and open democracy but fearful of my ability to thrive as an entrepreneur.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">The liberalism of Britain was like a breath of fresh air but the country was in a dreadful state. Morale was rock bottom. People could not understand why one would choose to come to a country where nothing worked.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">British Steel, British Leyland, British Rail, British Airways were a national laughing stock, labour strikes were crippling. The great in Great Britain was entirely absent.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">The winter of 78/79, named the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_of_Discontent" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Winter of Discontent">Winter of Discontent</a> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">brought the country to a standstill.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">There seemed to be a complete absence of enterprise, the major industries and institutions were run by the great and the good who went to the right schools and belonged to the right clubs (the aristocracy). They were clueless as to how to deal with industrial relations. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">In my view, one of Thatcher's greatest and lasting achievements was the ruthless reduction of the power of the aristocracy - from within the Tory party - through deregulation, privatisation and the unleashing of a meritocracy.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">The transformation of Britain was not comfortable nor easy - especially for those with a liberal social conscience. A lot of what Mrs Thatcher did was done in an arrogant and heavy handed way and her demise, 11 years later in 1990 was at least partly due to her stubbornness and divisive style.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">Interesting how many of her fundamental economic policies were adopted by Tony Blair and new Labour, enabling him to win 3 terms as PM.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">Although the grocers daughter would never have allowed Govt spending to get so out of hand as did in the new century. 'Living within ones means' and 'good housekeeping' were among her favourite mantras.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">How different is the UK of today. Today, I believe the UK is the best place in Europe to start and build a business. The nation has its pride back and is, by and large, at peace with itself - in it's multi- cultural and cosmopolitan skin.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">The challenges that remain are immense and one does have to wonder whether we have the global leaders today with the clarity of purpose and determination to overcome them.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">I guess we have a lot to thank Mrs T for.</span><br />
<div class="zemanta-related" style="clear: both; margin-top: 20px; overflow: hidden;">
<h4 class="zemanta-related-title">
Related articles</h4>
<ul class="zemanta-article-ul zemanta-article-ul-image" style="margin: 0; overflow: hidden; padding: 0;">
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://r.zemanta.com/?u=http%3A//news.sky.com/story/1075292/margaret-thatcher-dies-after-stroke&a=158273202&rid=8dd43e84-ff38-4a27-90fc-6e11d145169c&e=6f8672ca2489a8da70a105dcb371c271" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/158273202_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://r.zemanta.com/?u=http%3A//news.sky.com/story/1075292/margaret-thatcher-dies-after-stroke&a=158273202&rid=8dd43e84-ff38-4a27-90fc-6e11d145169c&e=6f8672ca2489a8da70a105dcb371c271" style="display: block; height: 80px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher Dies After Stroke</a></li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/margaret-thatcher-dies-british-prime-2547179" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/158271402_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/margaret-thatcher-dies-british-prime-2547179" style="display: block; height: 80px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Margaret Thatcher dies: Former British prime minister stands tall in the history books</a></li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-margaret-hilda-thatcher-britains-first-and-only-female-prime-minister-8564559.html" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/158292033_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-margaret-hilda-thatcher-britains-first-and-only-female-prime-minister-8564559.html" style="display: block; height: 80px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Obituary: Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Britain's first and only female Prime Minister</a></li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://www.toledoblade.com/World/2013/04/08/Britain-s-iron-lady-Margaret-Thatcher-dies-spokesman-says.html" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/158281276_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://www.toledoblade.com/World/2013/04/08/Britain-s-iron-lady-Margaret-Thatcher-dies-spokesman-says.html" style="display: block; height: 80px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Britain's 'iron lady' Margaret Thatcher dies</a></li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/04/09/britains-first-woman-prime-minister-prevailed-almost-unchallenged-for-more-than-a-decade/" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/158510199_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/04/09/britains-first-woman-prime-minister-prevailed-almost-unchallenged-for-more-than-a-decade/" style="display: block; height: 80px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Britain's first woman prime minister prevailed almost unchallenged for more than a decade</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">
<a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/?px" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=8dd43e84-ff38-4a27-90fc-6e11d145169c" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01521572484004437523noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-31492946208845810732013-02-03T13:00:00.002+00:002013-02-03T13:00:40.094+00:00$1bn has 'gone' in 4 years<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Startup_financing_cycle.svg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="English: Diagram of the typical financing cycl..." border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="201" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8e/Startup_financing_cycle.svg/300px-Startup_financing_cycle.svg.png" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 300px;">Diagram of the typical financing cycle for a startup company. (Photo credit: <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Startup_financing_cycle.svg" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><b>Should tech angels stop investing in startups?</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The current debate raging
in relation to the so-called <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Series_A_round" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Series A round">Series A</a> crunch has highlighted for me the
importance of startups and more specifically, angel investors, working more closely with VCs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The Series A crunch is
absolutely nothing new. Sometimes called the ‘valley of death’ for a startup
business, the period between raising the initial friends and family or seed
round and the first institutional money is a very difficult one and requires very careful navigation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://pandodaily.com/2012/12/19/finally-actual-data-series-a-crunch-will-kill-1000-companies-1b-in-angel-money/"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Sarah Lacy at Pandodaily</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana;"> has called this situation absolutely correctly and
referenced a good piece of research from </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><a href="http://www.cbinsights.com/blog/trends/seed-investing-report">CB Insights</a> who clearly state:</span><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<h3 style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 30px; margin: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-transform: uppercase;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">"1000+ STARTUPS WILL BE ORPHANED; $1 BILLION+ LOST"</span></h3>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">For me , the question is
what should startup companies do to mitigate and how can angel investors
minimize the ‘death rate’ of their investments? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">At TAG we know a thing or
two about the valley of death and the Series A crunch having invested in more than
60 tech startups.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Understandably, startups
are obsessed with getting their seed round closed so that they can get on and
make their first hires and building their products and markets. A bit more work
and thought needs to go into where to get their seed funding and just how much cash is
necessary.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">A lot has been written
about the so-called ‘signaling effect’ of taking seed funding from a top tier
VC. The phenomenon and the concern is easy to understand. An investment from a top VC at Seed
who then does <i>not</i> follow-on (for any
number of reasons) provokes suspicions in prospective Series A investors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The research by CB
Insights proves the fallacy of this widely held theory.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana;">“</span></i><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">On average, 39.4% of seeded companies
go onto raise follow-on financing. Interestingly and contrary to what the
punditry have often said, seed deals in which VCs participate have a
historically higher rate of getting follow-on financing as compared to seed
deals in which VCs are not participating.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">This result makes perfect sense to
me. VCs are better at predicting what VCs are likely to want to invest in at
Series A.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">This truism has been at the
cornerstone of the TAG Seed philosophy from the very start and is largely the
reasons why more than 70% of our seed investments have gone on to raise Series
A.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Raising a Series A is, of course,
no guarantee of building a decent business. Many companies need further rounds
of capital to get to the point where they are generating cash. Getting a VC to back your series A is just the beginning. Sustaining and building on the relationship by delivering results is what will cement the partnership.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana;">No fewer than 4 of the current TAG portfolio are generating profits in excess of £1m per MONTH and another 7 of them have reached profitability while growing strongly.[No prizes for guessing the names, list excludes profitable 'sold' companies].<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana;">The majority of these companies are less than 6 years old.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">These companies have had the financial and other support to get them there – as well as the necessary talent and hard work – but their focus on being capital efficient and on profitable revenue marks them out. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Raising funds for startups is
generally much more difficult in Europe than it is in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region> –
particularly in the valley. As a result, the companies that do get funded tend
to be more conservatively managed and focus on getting to breakeven quicker and
on revenue and profitability at the expense of growth in users/customers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">During tough fund raising cycles,
this approach has its advantages – but also leads to better habits and company
culture – in my experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">In addition to the usual criteria
for investing in great entrepreneurs addressing large markets etc, angel
investors really need to look at the opportunities with “VC eyes”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">A good understanding of the
workings of Series A investors is a decided advantage. My time at Atlas
Ventures in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">London</st1:place></st1:city>
– a day a week as Venture Partner - and more recently with Index has given me
insight as to what to look for in a solid venture backed opportunity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">How will the founders play to an
investment committee of a top tier VC firm? Can you envisage the business being
large enough to ‘move the needle’ for the fund which is likely to be a
candidate for series A?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Will we have sufficient runway to
hit the milestones necessary to make it clear that product/ market fit has been
achieved? Will we have the time and the resources necessary to ensure that the
“go to market” strategy has been tested and validated? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">So, Angels should definitely NOT
stop investing in tech startups but do need to define their entry criteria
really well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">It should seldom be about
valuation but always revolve around the person or people being backed, their
vision and how they are thinking of going about building something big. The initial valuation should take into account what has been achieved with scant resources but more importantly must reflect what the ultimate value of the company is likely to be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Angels need to cultivate strong
relationships with a <i>few</i> VCs and take time to understand them and their needs. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">In turn, most VCs are on the
lookout for active angels – often their best source of quality dealflow. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">A
big dose of mutual respect goes a long way.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Returns available for angel
investors who take the time to study the markets and apply the appropriate
disciplines are really very strong indeed and the opportunities available today
exceed anything I have seen in 15 years of active investing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="zemanta-related" style="clear: both; margin-top: 20px; overflow: hidden;">
<h4 class="zemanta-related-title">
Related articles</h4>
<ul class="zemanta-article-ul zemanta-article-ul-image" style="margin: 0; overflow: hidden; padding: 0;">
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2013/01/15/lots-of-vc-deals-not-so-much-money-in.html?ana=RSS&s=article_search" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/138449856_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2013/01/15/lots-of-vc-deals-not-so-much-money-in.html?ana=RSS&s=article_search" style="display: block; height: 80px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">VCs may be feeding into the Series A crunch</a></li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/01/ask-a-vc-foundation-capitals-anamitra-banerji-talks-about-twitter-ads-becoming-a-vc-and-more/" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/142393876_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/01/ask-a-vc-foundation-capitals-anamitra-banerji-talks-about-twitter-ads-becoming-a-vc-and-more/" style="display: block; height: 80px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Ask A VC: Foundation Capital's Anamitra Banerji Talks About Twitter Ads, Becoming A VC And More</a></li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://tbjinvestments.typepad.com/tbj_investments_llc/2013/01/beat-the-series-a-crunch-through-ma.html" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/141036324_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://tbjinvestments.typepad.com/tbj_investments_llc/2013/01/beat-the-series-a-crunch-through-ma.html" style="display: block; height: 80px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Beat the Series A Crunch through M&A</a></li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2012/12/22/from-silicon-valley-to-europe-is-the-u-s-series-a-crunch-affecting-european-startups/" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/133453611_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2012/12/22/from-silicon-valley-to-europe-is-the-u-s-series-a-crunch-affecting-european-startups/" style="display: block; height: 80px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">From Silicon Valley To Europe: Is The U.S. Series A Crunch Affecting European Startups?</a></li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/15/report-8-3b-was-invested-in-3267-vc-deals-in-2012-seed-funding-hits-record-levels/" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/138448328_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/15/report-8-3b-was-invested-in-3267-vc-deals-in-2012-seed-funding-hits-record-levels/" style="display: block; height: 80px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Report: $8.3B Was Invested In 3,267 VC Deals In 2012; Seed Funding Hits Record Levels</a></li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://grasshopper.com/blog/2012/04/how-to-find-the-right-investors-for-your-startup/" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/84761387_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://grasshopper.com/blog/2012/04/how-to-find-the-right-investors-for-your-startup/" style="display: block; height: 80px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">How To Find The Right Investors For Your Startup</a></li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/31/chris-dixon-wins-crunchies-2012-angel-of-the-year-peter-thiel-is-named-vc-of-the-year/" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/142189509_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/31/chris-dixon-wins-crunchies-2012-angel-of-the-year-peter-thiel-is-named-vc-of-the-year/" style="display: block; height: 80px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Chris Dixon Wins Crunchies 2012 "Angel Of The Year;" Peter Thiel Is Named "VC Of The Year"</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">
<a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/?px" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=03bfee7c-93a3-47b1-88cf-8aa3b6607043" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01521572484004437523noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-27215206900523697622012-10-21T22:09:00.000+01:002012-10-21T22:09:25.509+01:00European Tech companies are ready to show their mettle<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">...and why Institutional Investors need not be wary of Venture-Backed Tech Companies</span></b><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">The ‘campaign’ to kickstart the London tech IPO market has kicked off. The </span><a href="http://the-accelerator.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/techs-and-city.html" style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;" target="_blank">blog posts</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"> that </span><a href="http://blog.indexventures.com/go-big-stay-at-home/" style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;" target="_blank">Neil Rimer</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"> and I both published have attracted a lot of press attention. The engagement we’ve had with No10 and the LSE should result in some small but important regulatory changes that should be seen as important steps towards making London a major hub for tech IPOs.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">As we have consistently said, however, regulation is not the primary barrier to a robust IPO market. A number of other parts of the ecosystem need to evolve simultaneously. Over the past month, </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 19px;">I've</span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"> heard a number of concerns that Europe’s public markets are not ready for international tech companies. What rot!</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Below I list a number of the specific concerns and, where relevant, address them. The main takeaway, to my mind, is that institutional investors should not be wary of venture-backed tech companies—indeed, they should seize on the opportunity to learn more about and invest in this space, a rare ray of light in an otherwise gloomy economy.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="im" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">
<div style="color: #500050; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><u></u><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">1.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><u></u></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: blue;">How good are the governance structures and procedures?</span><span style="color: #500050;"><u></u><u></u></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #500050; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Companies that are backed by venture capital firms have strong governance built in from their first investment, which is typically a Series A funding round. Formal board meetings are held, usually monthly. Compensation and Audit committees are commonly set up and meet at least annually. Key decisions will normally need Investor Director approval or shareholder approval. The governance rules are set out </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 19px;">in</span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"> the companies articles and shareholders agreement. By the time the typical fast growth technology company is ready to come to the market, governance would have been refined and tightened. Good governance is in the DNA.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><u></u><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">2.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><u></u></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: blue;">Are there dominant shareholders, directors or founders who run the company?</span><span style="color: #222222;"><u></u><u></u></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Tech companies seeking IPO will typically not have any controlling shareholder. All preference shares would be converted to common stock. The founders will generally own less than 50% and there will be at least 2 VCs, often 4 or more. The company will typically have little or no debt. Venture backed companies are, by nature, equity funded. The </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 19px;">distinction</span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"> between this and the typical PE backed company could not be clearer?<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="im" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">
<div style="color: #500050; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm;">
<u></u><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">3.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><u></u></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: blue;">How difficult will it be for founders to adapt to life running a public company?</span><span style="color: #500050;"> <u></u><u></u></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #500050; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">Clearly this is a challenge for founders who have never been in that position before. But these challenges will not be those of being accountable to a board or shareholders. Founder/CEOs and CFOs will have raised multiple rounds of finance, involving many detailed presentations to investment committees and will have been required to take investors through detailed accounts, budgets and 3 - 5 year plans. Missing quarterly targets cause real consternation and are frequently damaging to valuations achieved at funding rounds - so managing expectations and getting forecasts right are very important.<u></u></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><u></u><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">4.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><u></u></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: blue;">Won’t share prices be volatile if market capitalisation is low and only 10% of a company is floated?</span><span style="color: #222222;"><u></u><u></u></span></span></div>
<div class="im" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">
<div style="color: #500050; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">This is undoubtedly true and will probably eliminate many investors from the share register – at least at floatation. Since a number of the early shareholders (Seed, Series A, Employees) will want to exit at some time in the subsequent year or 2, the float will inevitably rise and opportunities to build stakes will present themselves.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">The initial low float should not be a reason for a company not to be listed.</span></div>
<div style="color: #500050; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><u></u><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">5.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><u></u></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: blue;">Is the floatation designed to allow founders and other shareholders a quick exit?</span><span style="color: #222222;"><u></u><u></u></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">The main reason for our pushing for the minimum float rule to be reduced from 25% to 10% is to align founders’ longer-term interests with incoming investors in terms of floatation price. 25% dilution is a large one for a founder </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">to take whose business is growing at more than 50% per annum. It feels more like 'selling out' than another funding round on the road to building a large successful company.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">VCs and other early stage investors will undoubtedly wish to exit over time and a consistent strong performance from the company will facilitate this.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm;">
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">
<span style="color: blue; font-size: 14pt;">6. Are there really enough suitable tech IPO candidates in Europe?</span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">Quoting from Neil's blog post that kicked off this whole debate:</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"<span style="line-height: 18px;">We’ve seen over the past few years how most of the successful exits by European companies in our portfolio have been trade sales (MySQL, Skype, Playfish, Lovefilm, Net-a-Porter, Last.fm, PanGenetics, etc.) while only a few went public (Genmab, Betfair, Asos, Addex). We hope the future will tell a different story however. At the Index Ventures annual meeting last week, we presented some data to our LPs (yes, VCs have investors too) that reminded us of the depth of the value pool in Europe. We counted 20 companies (Criteo, Adconion, Photobox, Moleskine, JustEat, King, to name a few) born in Europe, that are at or fast approaching a point of being IPO-ready.</span><span style="line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="color: #7b6953; line-height: 18px;">"</span></span><br />
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">
<span style="color: #7b6953; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">
<br /></div>
<span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just looking at the <a href="http://www.fasttrack.co.uk/fasttrack/leagues/tech100leaguetable.asp?siteID=3&searchName=&yr=2012&sort=num&area1=99" target="_blank">Tech Track 100</a>, published by the Sunday Times, we see that the 100 fastest growing tech companies in the UK:</span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- had average growth from 2010 to 2011 of <b>81%</b></span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- had Total Revenues of <b>£2.7bn</b> (what will the total be in 2012?)</span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- Employ <b>11,000</b> people (adding 7500 in the year)</span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- <b>75%</b> of them had operating profits - as well as rapid growth</span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- 51 companies are still majority owned by their founders</span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- 40 are backed by VCs (6 by TAG and Index) or PE firms</span></span><br />
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">The tech IPO market in the US is <a href="http://www.pehub.com/167230/sequoia-in-the-most-venture-ipos-since-facebook-bessemer-greylock-are-close-seconds/" target="_blank">heating up again</a> - post the Facebook debacle. It really is time to get the first steps taken here in Europe!</span></div>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="im" style="background-color: white; color: #500050; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<br />
<span style="color: #161f21; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">What were the most significant (>$250m) tech exits in Europe in the past 3 years? </span></span><br />
<a href="http://www.quora.com/What-were-the-most-significant-250m-tech-exits-in-Europe-in-the-past-3-years-And-who-were-some-of-the-main-investors">http://www.quora.com/What-were-the-most-significant-250m-tech-exits-in-Europe-in-the-past-3-years-And-who-were-some-of-the-main-investors</a><br />
<div class="zemanta-related" style="margin-top: 20px; overflow: hidden;">
<h4 class="zemanta-related-title">
Related articles</h4>
<ul class="zemanta-article-ul zemanta-article-ul-image" style="margin: 0; overflow: hidden; padding: 0;">
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://www.pehub.com/167230/sequoia-in-the-most-venture-ipos-since-facebook-bessemer-greylock-are-close-seconds/" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/114457788_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://www.pehub.com/167230/sequoia-in-the-most-venture-ipos-since-facebook-bessemer-greylock-are-close-seconds/" style="display: block; height: 80px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Post-Facebook, Sequoia Has Most IPOs; Bessemer, Greylock Trail Closely</a></li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://www.pehub.com/168928/venture-investors-see-mixed-results-from-dual-stock-ipos/" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/117602324_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://www.pehub.com/168928/venture-investors-see-mixed-results-from-dual-stock-ipos/" style="display: block; height: 80px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Venture Investors See Mixed Results from Dual Stock IPOs</a></li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://www.pehub.com/168055/venture-backed-ipos-flat-q3/" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/115980035_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://www.pehub.com/168055/venture-backed-ipos-flat-q3/" style="display: block; height: 80px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Venture-Backed IPOs Flat in Q3</a></li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2012/08/lockups-and-insider-selling.html" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/noimg_23_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2012/08/lockups-and-insider-selling.html" style="display: block; height: 80px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Lockups and Insider Selling</a></li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://blog.zintro.com/2012/10/facebook-continues-to-see-fall-out-from-ipo-part-1/" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/116774351_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://blog.zintro.com/2012/10/facebook-continues-to-see-fall-out-from-ipo-part-1/" style="display: block; height: 80px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook continues to see fall out from IPO: Part 1</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">
<a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/?px" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=1023ffe0-c0c4-413e-bb74-8a6a67f1e8d3" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01521572484004437523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-63491064420739755392012-09-16T13:44:00.000+01:002012-09-16T13:46:43.383+01:00Wonga: a successful British tech company worthy of UK Government support<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div class="zemanta-img">
<div class="zemanta-img">
<div class="zemanta-img">
<a href="http://www.daylife.com/image/02hf4HLc1ygoP?utm_source=zemanta&utm_medium=p&utm_content=02hf4HLc1ygoP&utm_campaign=z1" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="MUNICH, GERMANY - JANUARY 23: Errol Damelin, ..." border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="100" src="http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/02hf4HLc1ygoP/150x100.jpg" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="150" /></a></div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 150px;">Errol Damelin, CEO of Wonga,</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
How often do we hear the refrain “why doesn’t the UK produce the $bn companies that are churned out in Silicon Valley?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
Reams have been written about this issue and many hours have been spent in think-tanks – in and out of Government – figuring out how we can get the universities to commercialise their innovations, how we can pump more money into start-ups, how we should be training more engineers, more entrepreneurs, or how we can create effective clusters etc.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
Successive governments have created enterprise schemes including NESTA, The <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.innovateuk.org/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Technology Strategy Board">Technology Strategy Board</a> and, more recently, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_London_Tech_City" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="East London Tech City">Tech City</a>. Countless millions have been spent too – some of it to good effect, but much of it wasted. This Government has adopted a supportive and pro-active approach and some of the initiatives are having a very positive effect [see my post:
<a href="http://the-accelerator.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/i-think-uk-government-is-listening-to.html">http://the-accelerator.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/i-think-uk-government-is-listening-to.html</a> ].</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
It is widely acknowledged that one the major factors encouraging innovation and entrepreneurial activity is the celebration of success and the making of ‘celebrity’ entrepreneurs. We need the Zuckerbergs, the Bezos’, the Elon Musks. And we do have Richard Branson, James Dyson and Stelios – all great business innovators – but where are the new tech heroes (who have not sold their businesses) whom young entrepreneurs can aspire to emulate?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Based here in London, Wonga is one of the fastest growing companies Europe has yet seen. It may well rank in the top five growth businesses of all time by these measures. After less than five years, it is employing more than 300 people and is still growing at an enormous pace. What’s more, it is continuing to innovate and develop new products spending millions a year on its NPD (new product development) and R&D activities. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
Its results for the year ended 31st December 2011, just announced ... just serve to emphasise how strongly the company is growing and just how many customers it is now serving.</div>
<br />
<ul style="margin-top: 0cm;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Revenue growth, up 225% to<b> £184.7m</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Net income up 225% to <b>£45.8m</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Number of loans provided up 296% to <b>2.46m</b></span></span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
It employs engineers, mathematicians and statisticians (more than 20 in its risk team alone, including several PhDs). It is a truly international business employing people from more than 40 nationalities. And in its founder and CEO, <span class="il" style="background-color: #ffffcc;">Errol</span> Damelin, there is a charismatic, thoughtful and hard-working leader and entrepreneur - in many ways just the role model the UK Government should want to embrace and promote - or at the very least endorse.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
In addition, Wonga is exactly the type of company that we love to hail – disruptive of a failing, oligopolistic industry and doing so using really smart technology to make its processes super-efficient and its service designed around its many customers. Independent research shows they generally love using it as a result and its Net Promoter Score consistently exceeds 70. UK Banking average is Zero.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
It is either helping to solve a problem which has existed and been ignored for many years – or is facilitating and empowering hundreds of thousands of consumers. Probably both.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
Yet there is a problem. Regulation of the financial services industry is complex and difficult, lags behind product innovation and is highly political. It was not designed for entirely new products such as very short term loans offered on the web in ‘real-time’ and with interest applied daily. The entirely inappropriate <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representative_APR" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Representative APR">Representative APR</a> measure, which is required to be prominently displayed, despite the average duration of these loans being little more than a couple of weeks (16 days), has been more of a focus than the innovation or customer feedback.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
It is difficult to think of a more certain way to potentially mislead or confuse consumers, than to show them a calculation based on an annual loan and a daily compounding of interest. The real test is customers being told in clear terms – and up front - how much the loan will cost including all interest and charges in a transparent way .Would that all financial services companies provided that information.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
Wonga’s APR has been a lightning rod for virulent and often completely unjustified criticism from sections of the media and some politicians. Many assumptions based on a nonsense number or instances of the company making mistakes has made it a ‘controversial’ company.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
But rather than be blinded by hype and headlines, this Government should be looking at the real facts, reading the customer research and hailing Wonga as a triumph of British technology innovation and entrepreneurial brilliance. They should accept the advice of the recent BIS Select Committee that included the strong suggestion that “APR should no longer be used to measure and compare the cost...” Rather than relying on APR, they should <i>enforce clear and upfront indication of the total amount to be repaid</i> as the minimum requirement for all providers and [implicitly] endorse the important role that Wonga is playing in the modern economy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
Wonga has developed an important service, which has enabled many hundreds of thousands of users to manage tricky cash flow situations and not be left in long-term debt or paying a price they weren’t expecting. It’s a difficult subject, but this company really ought to get the credit it deserves. Instead, I have read many column inches on Wonga, most of it regurgitated from snippets of factually incorrect or grossly misleading reports.<br />
<br />
Wonga recently opened a new site: <a href="http://www.openwonga.com/">www.openwonga.com</a> on which they have published a raft of statistics relating to its business - these provide real insight into the scale of the business, the profile of its customers and details of the loans its makes. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
I do understand the government’s dilemma. Speaking at the Times CEO summit earlier this year, George Osborne ticked off the CEOs and chairmen present for not making the case for free markets and wealth creation to a ‘public that badly needs to hear it’. The current climate, he argued, makes it difficult for the Chancellor to cut corporation tax and offer other inducements to business.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
Wonga is not asking for either. Just for some recognition for the outstanding achievement of building a world-leading technology company here in Britain … and the modernisation of the regulation of financial services to create a level playing field (*) and recognition of new financial products unlike any previously offered.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">(*) Banks providing unauthorised overdrafts have a 'carve out' in the regulations which does not require them to publish the effective APR of these 'loans' which would run into many thousands in most cases.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="zemanta-related" style="margin-top: 20px; overflow: hidden;">
<h4 class="zemanta-related-title">
Related articles</h4>
<ul class="zemanta-article-ul zemanta-article-ul-image" style="margin: 0; overflow: hidden; padding: 0;">
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://gigaom.com/europe/how-the-olympics-could-help-change-london-startups/" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/102881768_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://gigaom.com/europe/how-the-olympics-could-help-change-london-startups/" style="display: block; height: 80px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">London's tech scene has been craving its golden moment: now it's had three</a></li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://the-accelerator.blogspot.com/2012/07/a-national-grid-for-banking-radical.html" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/101307686_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://the-accelerator.blogspot.com/2012/07/a-national-grid-for-banking-radical.html" style="display: block; height: 80px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">A National Grid for Banking - radical thinking by Errol Damelin</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">
<a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/?px" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=7176dce1-93d9-4962-8108-5d25d24feb8d" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01521572484004437523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-80710726617486035862012-07-30T13:49:00.000+01:002012-07-30T13:49:54.660+01:00Techs and the City<br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="font-weight: bold;">The post below first appeared on the <a href="http://bit.ly/OvYBtM" target="_blank">Index Ventures blog</a> and formed the basis for articles in the <a href="http://goo.gl/xa1Kp" target="_blank">Telegraph</a> and <a href="http://goo.gl/nhD7H" target="_blank">City AM</a></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
At Index and TAG we feel strongly that a healthy IPO market is an important element of maintaining the strong tech startup momentum that has been building in Europe over the past 5 years.</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="font-weight: bold;">Together we can get the Tech IPO market going in London</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
From our vantage point at Index, the centrality of the Tech sector to economic growth -- particularly during the economic slowdown of the last few years -- is all too clear.</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
A recent piece in the FT reiterated this point. Ed Hammond, the paper's property correspondent reviewed the shifting make-up of the City and the steady transformation of the tenant mix in the Square Mile.</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
Examples Ed quotes of recent office moves help to illustrate the point:</div>
<ul style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<li>Bloomberg: 500,000sq ft on Walbrook Square</li>
<li>Skype: 88,000 sq ft on Waterhouse Square</li>
<li>Expedia: 81,000 sq ft on St John St</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
Those of us working in the tech world or, more accurately, the tech-enabled sectors, have known for some time that the Old Economy is being slowly replaced by the New Economy. Retail is being replaced by eCommerce, Old Media by New Media, enterprise software by SaaS. While industries like law and finance have experienced sluggish growth over the past 5 years, companies in the tech sector are seeing revenue growth of at least 30%/annum, and frequently upwards of 100%/annum. Both start-ups and larger companies like <a href="http://www.moshimonsters.com/" mce_href="http://www.moshimonsters.com/" target="_blank">Moshi Monsters </a>and <a href="http://www.king.com/" mce_href="http://www.king.com/" target="_blank">King.com</a> are beneficiaries of this explosive growth. In fact, one of our portfolio companies, <a href="http://www.moo.com/" mce_href="http://www.moo.com/" target="_blank">Moo.com</a>, has moved or expanded office space seven times in as many years to accommodate its rapid and continuous expansion.</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
Yet a disconnect remains between the economic vigor in the tech world and the dynamism of the City. My partner, <a href="http://www.blog.indexventures.com/who-will-open-the-london-ipo-window/" mce_href="http://www.blog.indexventures.com/who-will-open-the-london-ipo-window/" target="_blank">Neil Rimer, wrote an interesting and challenging post</a> recently decrying the fact that the door to London’s IPO market is shut tight for tech companies. Little wonder, then, that despite London’s place as a global financial centre, so many European tech companies like Yandex and Qlik Technologies ended up listing in New York.</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
What makes this trend even more remarkable, and even more regrettable, is the fact that the UK’s internet economy is one of the most vibrant in the world. Online retail accounts for 13.5% of total UK retail sales, a higher percentage than in any other G-20 country, according to a recent BCG report. The UK is also dominant in online advertising, which accounts for 28.9% of total advertising spend in the country. By comparison, in the G-20 country with the next most developed online advertising market, Japan, only 21.6% of the advertising market has gone digital.</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
It just does not seem right to me that the City of London, with all its smart investors, would allow the largest seismic shift in the economy to take place without their active participation. Particularly when evidence of this shift can now be found in the buildings outside their back door.</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
Our sense at Index is that a collective effort needs to be made to kick-start the IPO season for tech companies. And so, in an attempt to invigorate companies, policymakers and the City alike, we’ve put together some recommendations. All it will take is a three-pronged attack from policy-makers, entrepreneurs, and the City alike to make this happen, but it will only work if all the pieces come together.</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
For the companies capable of listing:</div>
<ol style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<li>An approach to an IPO needs to be one which recognises that the listing is a fund raising and liquidity event <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="font-style: italic;">on the way</span><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="font-style: italic;"> </span>to building a large and great company. It is NOT an exit.</li>
<li>It is important to be IPO ready. This means having the right governance structure in place: an appropriate board with an independent head of audit committee, and well-established remuneration and nomination committees. A well-drilled quarterly rhythm to re-forecasting and a good history of hitting the numbers is also essential.</li>
<li>It is important to communicate a company’s story to the market with clarity and precision.</li>
<li>Ideally VCs will help their company get ready, and be willing and able to hold the stock post float for at least one year. It is the price one year from the float that is most relevant to inside shareholders, so the pricing of the floatation shouldn’t be optimized to the nth degree.</li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
For the policymakers:</div>
<ol style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<li>The minimum public float requirement of 25% is too high to create a healthy IPO market. Entrepreneurs don’t want to give away so much of their company, particularly when equity is given to the bankers hired to help list the company as well. It would behoove both Europe’s tech companies as well as the public markets if the minimum threshold either dropped to 10%, or a minimum valuation was assigned to companies interesting in listing. The public float is likely to grow over time as early investors (VCs and others) sell their shares.</li>
<li>The stamp duty on shares should be revoked, given that the UK has the joint highest rate of stamp duty in the world. This puts London at a competitive disadvantage when it is competing with New York.</li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
For the Institutional Shareholders and Fund Managers:</div>
<ol style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<li>It is important to understand the fundamental difference between PE-backed companies and VC-backed companies. PE houses are generally seeking to exit their investments through an IPO or replace debt in the company. VCs generally fund their portfolio without debt and a listing is often seen as a way of raising the company's profile and providing access to further capital.</li>
<li>Strategic investments by city firms are needed to build up specialist analysis and the research required to properly evaluate hyper-growth tech companies and become familiar with the diverse business models and KPIs.</li>
<li>There is a big difference between 2000's tech stocks and 2010's growth stocks. Whilst many of the tech companies will not offer sufficient market liquidity and be sub scale at this stage, it is not hard to see that this situation will not pertain for too long.</li>
</ol>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
Finally, I should add that the motivations for investors like Index in helping strengthen the London IPO market is very similar to those we applied when we began to help build the European start-up ecosystem ten years ago. We believe that a healthy tech sector needs funding at all stages of a company’s life. Without an active IPO market, there is bound to be less capital for startups and early stage businesses.</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
Follow Robin Klein on Twitter @robinklein</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01521572484004437523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-16329365257693688092012-07-18T11:57:00.000+01:002012-07-18T11:57:00.803+01:00A National Grid for Banking - radical thinking by Errol DamelinThe article below is an extract from an opinion piece published in the Times of London from <a class="zem_slink" href="http://twitter.com/ed_wonga" rel="twitter" target="_blank" title="Errol Damelin">Errol Damelin</a>, founder, CEO of Wonga. It appeared on Monday July 16th. The complete article is here: http://thetim.es/NcY9Ee<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.crunchbase.com/person/errol-damelin" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="Image representing Errol Damelin as depicted i..." border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="166" src="http://www.crunchbase.com/assets/images/resized/0008/2202/82202v2-max-250x250.jpg" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="250" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 250px;">Image by Wonga.com via <a href="http://www.crunchbase.com/" target="_blank">CrunchBase</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
What Errol proposes here would require a radical shake up of the way in which banking works in the UK - or anywhere else for that matter.<br />
Radical does not, however, mean it is impossible to achieve. The idea, is in essence, the reverse of privatisation and suggests that the infrastructure, the backbone, the networks of the banking system be placed in public ownership (or at least independent ownership from incumbent FS companies) thus creating a level playing field for businesses to build services on top this infrastructure. A little like the <a href="http://www.nationalgrid.com/uk/" target="_blank">National Grid</a> - for bits, bytes and packets rather than <span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">for electricity and Gas.</span><br />
<br />
Wonga as a business has begun by shaking up and transforming the murky world of unsecured consumer lending and I would not bet against Errol and the team at Wonga doing similar to other financial services.<br />
<br />
Errol writes (in part) as follows:<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">"It would help to think of high street banking services in the same way as basic utilities such as water or electricity.</span><br />
<blockquote style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" type="cite">
Just as millions of us depend on the water companies to keep the water flowing and our lives working, so we rely on the banks in the same way. Indeed, when a bank's computer system fails and customers cannot get hold of their money, we feel it as keenly as a burst water pipe.<br />And just as water that flows from our tap comes from a sprawling network of tunnels and pipes, so our ability to withdraw cash at an ATM depends on vast interconnected information networks<span style="background-color: white;"> </span></blockquote>
<blockquote style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" type="cite">
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. Just as we have one interconnected network for water and energy, or standardised systems for road, rail and air transport, or uniform protocols for the internet and phone systems, so we could have a single, transparent and easy-to-access platform for basic banking services.<br />This super-bank could be founded and overseen by the Treasury. It would only provide bread and butter services such as a safe place to deposit your money.<br />You could think of this super-bank in the same way as iOS, the operating system for Apple's iPhones. It is always there, running smoothly in the background, and most people don't even know about its existence.<br />Similarly, this super-bank would flawlessly send and receive data, facilitating everyday banking needs.<br /><br />Of course, customers also have more specialised needs — they want mortgages, pensions, loans and ISAs. As individuals we need a wide array of services to suit all kinds of situations. That's why we would need a second layer of services, developed by private companies, on top of the super-bank's superstructure. These companies would compete with each other to offer products at different rates.<br /><br />Just as the smartphone platform has unleashed apps for everything from telling you when the next bus will arrive to ordering groceries, so the super-bank platform would stimulate cost-efficient solutions to everyday needs on a vast scale. For Wonga, linking our technology systems to a super-bank would let us make consumer and business loan decisions even faster and allow us to bring ideas for new products to market in a fraction of the time.<br />Our expectations have rocketed since the advent of the internet. We expect to have 24/7 access, to easily be able to make comparisons, to crowd source, order or apply online, pay electronically and receive goods at our home the next day. Although online banking has brought improvements, there has been a lack of fundamental change in banking overall.</blockquote>
<blockquote style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" type="cite">
At this time of economic torpor, we need to inject new life into the finance sector more than ever.<br />Ever since the establishment of the Bank of England in 1694, Britain has led the way in financial innovation, and the country has profited from it. Surely it's time to take the lead again."</blockquote>
<br />
For the complete article in the Times go to: <a href="http://thetim.es/NcY9Ee">http://thetim.es/NcY9Ee</a><br />
TAG is an investor in Wonga<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">Related articles</span><br />
<div class="zemanta-related" style="margin-top: 20px; overflow: hidden;">
<ul class="zemanta-article-ul zemanta-article-ul-image" style="margin-left: 0; padding: 0;">
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 12px; height: 240px; list-style: none; margin: 10px 40px 20px 0px; text-align: left; width: 80px;"><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/07/wonga-extends-its-payday-loans-to-small-businesses-in-uk/" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/87580875_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; box-shadow: 1px 1px 3px #999; margin: 0; padding: 0;" width="80" /></a><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/07/wonga-extends-its-payday-loans-to-small-businesses-in-uk/" style="display: block; height: 90px; line-height: 14pt; overflow: hidden; text-decoration: none; width: 80px;" target="_blank">Wonga Extends Its Payday Loans To Small Businesses In UK</a><div style="clear: both; margin: 10px 0 10px 0;">
<hr style="margin: 0;" />
</div>
</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 12px; height: 240px; list-style: none; margin: 10px 40px 20px 0px; text-align: left; width: 80px;"><a href="http://r.zemanta.com/?u=http%3A//www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jul/09/ed-miliband-banking-industry-reform&a=99292108&rid=4265cec9-72dc-4579-a4f0-9252536b0a18&e=c4288dc628d0f3a30c4e4ae0914405d3" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/99292108_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; box-shadow: 1px 1px 3px #999; margin: 0; padding: 0;" width="80" /></a><a href="http://r.zemanta.com/?u=http%3A//www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jul/09/ed-miliband-banking-industry-reform&a=99292108&rid=4265cec9-72dc-4579-a4f0-9252536b0a18&e=c4288dc628d0f3a30c4e4ae0914405d3" style="display: block; height: 90px; line-height: 14pt; overflow: hidden; text-decoration: none; width: 80px;" target="_blank">Ed Miliband to call for 'root and branch' banking industry reform</a><div style="clear: both; margin: 10px 0 10px 0;">
<hr style="margin: 0;" />
</div>
</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 12px; height: 240px; list-style: none; margin: 10px 40px 20px 0px; text-align: left; width: 80px;"><a href="http://www.uswitch.com/blog/2012/07/13/consumers-favouring-supermarkets-over-high-street-banks/" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/100304066_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; box-shadow: 1px 1px 3px #999; margin: 0; padding: 0;" width="80" /></a><a href="http://www.uswitch.com/blog/2012/07/13/consumers-favouring-supermarkets-over-high-street-banks/" style="display: block; height: 90px; line-height: 14pt; overflow: hidden; text-decoration: none; width: 80px;" target="_blank">Consumers favouring supermarkets over high-street banks</a><div style="clear: both; margin: 10px 0 10px 0;">
<hr style="margin: 0;" />
</div>
</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 12px; height: 240px; list-style: none; margin: 10px 40px 20px 0px; text-align: left; width: 80px;"><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2012/05/15/the-big-disruptor-to-banking-has-just-gone-international/" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/89067475_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; box-shadow: 1px 1px 3px #999; margin: 0; padding: 0;" width="80" /></a><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2012/05/15/the-big-disruptor-to-banking-has-just-gone-international/" style="display: block; height: 90px; line-height: 14pt; overflow: hidden; text-decoration: none; width: 80px;" target="_blank">The Digital Disruptor To Banking Has Just Gone International</a><div style="clear: both; margin: 10px 0 10px 0;">
<hr style="margin: 0;" />
</div>
</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 12px; height: 240px; list-style: none; margin: 10px 40px 20px 0px; text-align: left; width: 80px;"><a href="http://r.zemanta.com/?u=http%3A//www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/profiles/9263147/Wongas-Ice-cool-chief-Errol-Damelin-can-take-the-heat.html&a=88682300&rid=4265cec9-72dc-4579-a4f0-9252536b0a18&e=58b42b82f12433ac8a6c20f5633b1e9e" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/88682300_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; box-shadow: 1px 1px 3px #999; margin: 0; padding: 0;" width="80" /></a><a href="http://r.zemanta.com/?u=http%3A//www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/profiles/9263147/Wongas-Ice-cool-chief-Errol-Damelin-can-take-the-heat.html&a=88682300&rid=4265cec9-72dc-4579-a4f0-9252536b0a18&e=58b42b82f12433ac8a6c20f5633b1e9e" style="display: block; height: 90px; line-height: 14pt; overflow: hidden; text-decoration: none; width: 80px;" target="_blank">Wonga's Ice-cool chief Errol Damelin can take the heat</a><div style="clear: both; margin: 10px 0 10px 0;">
<hr style="margin: 0;" />
</div>
</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 12px; height: 240px; list-style: none; margin: 10px 40px 20px 0px; text-align: left; width: 80px;"><a href="http://leaderswedeserve.wordpress.com/2012/05/13/the-ancient-business-of-money-lending-as-updated-by-wonga/" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/88592497_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; box-shadow: 1px 1px 3px #999; margin: 0; padding: 0;" width="80" /></a><a href="http://leaderswedeserve.wordpress.com/2012/05/13/the-ancient-business-of-money-lending-as-updated-by-wonga/" style="display: block; height: 90px; line-height: 14pt; overflow: hidden; text-decoration: none; width: 80px;" target="_blank">The ancient business of money-lending as updated by Wonga</a><div style="clear: both; margin: 10px 0 10px 0;">
<hr style="margin: 0;" />
</div>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">
<a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/?px" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=4265cec9-72dc-4579-a4f0-9252536b0a18" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01521572484004437523noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-25122667527650323812012-07-01T13:58:00.000+01:002012-07-01T13:58:13.763+01:00Getting your foot in a VC's door<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;"><i>This post first appeared in the Financial Times on Saturday 2nd June and was written specifically for the FT. </i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">A lot of start-ups ask me how to get a meeting with a
venture capitalist. The first question I would ask them is why they would want
a meeting with a VC firm.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">The obvious answer is to raise capital for their
venture. However, the more important question might be whether a VC is the
best, most appropriate partner and source of funds at this stage – or at all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">Assuming their analysis of this point results in the conviction
that venture capital is the way for them to go and they have figured out approximately
how much they wish to raise (yet another subject) then here is how I suggest
they proceed.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">Firstly, take a highly targeted approach. A scatter
gun will not only not yield the desired meeting but if by chance it does, then
it is very unlikely to result on an investment from a suitable partner. What
you want is a well aimed rifleshot.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">Secondly, review the landscape of funding available.
VC firms come in many different shapes and sizes. However, they can broadly be
categorised along three dimensions: size of typical investment, geographical
focus and sector or theme within sector.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">Having narrowed the candidate VC firms down by these
rough parameters, look very carefully at their most recent investments. How
many have they made? What types of companies did they invest in? If possible
estimate the size of their investment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">How many partners are there in the firm? Do they tend
to specialise?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">Next, read what the firm says about such things as their
investment philosophy, approach and sector focus, and see how closely this
matches with their most recent investment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">Remember that not all VC firms invest at early stage
or do seed investment. The majority of what are called VC firms should probably
be better described as private equity investors because they prefer providing
growth capital to established companies.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">Once you have identified the three or four candidate
VC firms, you now really need to dig in to the data and start your networking
research. Note that no approach should yet be made. An unsolicited approach
will invariably fail. It is not rudeness for even the most well crafted email,
letter or other communication to be ignored. </span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">If my inbox is anything to go by,
it is simply impossible to reply to all – many look like they’ve been sent to
multiple investors and being unqualified in any way have to be filtered out. A
polite, but canned response is of no value to the recipient.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">The best way to approach a VC firm is to identify the
partner, principle or associate most likely to be a match to your requirements.
Find out all you can about this person. Read their blog, follow their tweets,
check out their <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.linkedin.com/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="LinkedIn">LinkedIn profile</a> and find anyone you know who may know them,
been funded by them, know someone who knows them. Try also to get hold of
another founder who has been
funded by them.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;"><i>The next step is the key that unlocks the door.</i> Get an
introduction from a trusted third party. Someone who has recent and better
still frequent contact with your target and whose judgement they are likely to
respect.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">If yours is a technology startup, there is an enormous
amount of data available today and resources like <a class="zem_slink" href="http://google.com/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Google">Google</a>, LinkedIn, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.techcrunch.com/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="TechCrunch">Techcrunch</a>
(<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.crunchbase.com/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="CrunchBase">Crunchbase</a>), <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.seedcamp.com/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Seedcamp">Seedcamp</a>, <a href="http://angel.co/">Angelist</a>, to name but a few, are invaluable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">All of this desk research and networking is time
consuming but will save an awful lot of wasted hours cold calling, mailing and
meeting one potential investor after another.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">If all this sounds difficult or impossible,
remember it is easy compared with building a great business, which is what you
want to do, is it not?</span>
<br />
<div class="zemanta-related" style="margin-top: 20px; overflow: hidden;">
<h4 class="zemanta-related-title">
</h4>
<h4 class="zemanta-related-title">
Related articles</h4>
<ul class="zemanta-article-ul zemanta-article-ul-image" style="margin-left: 0; padding: 0;">
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 12px; height: 240px; list-style: none; margin: 10px 40px 20px 0px; text-align: left; width: 80px;"><a href="http://venturebeat.com/2012/05/29/five-tips-to-master-the-art-of-vc-speed-dating/" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/91494212_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; box-shadow: 1px 1px 3px #999; margin: 0; padding: 0;" width="80" /></a><a href="http://venturebeat.com/2012/05/29/five-tips-to-master-the-art-of-vc-speed-dating/" style="display: block; height: 90px; line-height: 14pt; overflow: hidden; text-decoration: none; width: 80px;" target="_blank">Five tips to master the art of VC speed dating</a><div style="clear: both; margin: 10px 0 10px 0;">
<hr style="margin: 0;" />
</div>
</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 12px; height: 240px; list-style: none; margin: 10px 40px 20px 0px; text-align: left; width: 80px;"><a href="http://nfcdata.com/blog/2012/05/29/venture-capitalists-show-wireless-the-money/" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/noimg_21_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; box-shadow: 1px 1px 3px #999; margin: 0; padding: 0;" width="80" /></a><a href="http://nfcdata.com/blog/2012/05/29/venture-capitalists-show-wireless-the-money/" style="display: block; height: 90px; line-height: 14pt; overflow: hidden; text-decoration: none; width: 80px;" target="_blank">Venture capitalists show wireless the money</a><div style="clear: both; margin: 10px 0 10px 0;">
<hr style="margin: 0;" />
</div>
</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 12px; height: 240px; list-style: none; margin: 10px 40px 20px 0px; text-align: left; width: 80px;"><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/16/as-earlybird-lands-linkedin-co-founder-euro-vcs-look-to-the-valley/" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/89222764_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; box-shadow: 1px 1px 3px #999; margin: 0; padding: 0;" width="80" /></a><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/16/as-earlybird-lands-linkedin-co-founder-euro-vcs-look-to-the-valley/" style="display: block; height: 90px; line-height: 14pt; overflow: hidden; text-decoration: none; width: 80px;" target="_blank">As Earlybird Lands LinkedIn Co-Founder, Euro VCs Look To The Valley</a><div style="clear: both; margin: 10px 0 10px 0;">
<hr style="margin: 0;" />
</div>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">
<a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/?px" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=be07ba9c-4af2-4179-a602-c3afbf323b40" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01521572484004437523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-90022967365986497672012-02-21T13:36:00.000+00:002012-02-21T13:36:16.113+00:00Trust Me .....<br />
<div class="AA-BodyCopy">
<span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is a <b>Guest Post</b> from Martin Lee, Partner, <a href="http://www.acacia-avenue.com/index.php" target="_blank">Acacia Avenue</a>, a leading Market Research company with a different approach to discovering how brands interact with their customers.</span></span></div>
<div class="AA-BodyCopy">
<span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Martin Lee and Wendy Gordon (co-founder) are very experienced researchers whose clients include </span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; line-height: normal;">Barclays, eBay and PayPal, BP, EDF Energy and many others.</span> </span></div>
<div class="AA-BodyCopy">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px;">I'm particularly interested in their work on 'trust'. As regular readers will know, I believe strongly that putting customers/users at the centre of product development and service delivery is a powerful approach to building strong brands.</span></span><br />
</div>
<div class="AA-BodyCopy">
<span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The question of trust has always been at the heart of commerce on the web. Will the goods I'm ordering live up to the great photography? Will they delivered on time? or at all? Are my credit card details safe?</span></span></div>
<div class="AA-BodyCopy">
<span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Funny how one thinks less about these things when ordering from John Lewis, Amazon, ASOS - these brands have earned the trust.</span></span></div>
<div class="AA-BodyCopy">
<span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="AA-BodyCopy">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 120%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="AA-BodyCopy">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 120%;"><i>“Trust me.” The
two least trustworthy words you can hear somebody say. But why?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="AA-BodyCopy">
<br /></div>
<div class="AA-BodyCopy">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 120%;"><i>Nearly all our clients have become absorbed with the
issue of brand trust recently, to the point where it’s often become a dedicated
project brief in its own right. It’s not
surprising. Look at what’s happening:
the banking crisis; MPs’ expenses and Catholic Church sex scandals. All erode trust in public institutions.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="AA-BodyCopy">
<br /></div>
<div class="AA-BodyCopy">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 120%;"><i>As we listen to the public talk about trust, we’re
hearing emphatic messages, and it turns out that how trust operates with brands
is very similar to how it operates with people.
The most important thing to emerge is the distinction between trust and
trustworthiness. A person (or brand) can
come across as trustworthy, based on what you see of them from remote
observation or hearsay. But trust itself
only happens when you get to know that person or brand. And crucially, trust is only conferred upon
you or your brand by the person who <b>chooses</b> to trust. This is why “trust me” is such a bad thing to
say. We all recoil from this, and
effectively say, “I’ll be the judge of that.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="AA-BodyCopy">
<br /></div>
<div class="AA-BodyCopy">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 120%;"><i>I’ve highlighted the word ‘chooses’ deliberately. The other vital thing we’ve learnt about
trust from consumers is that trust operates in environments where people have a
choice. I’ll maybe trust BA more than
Virgin, or Barclays more than RBS, for my own reasons. But the choice to trust involves <b>risk</b>. In choosing your brand, I’m turning away from
alternatives. </i></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 120%;"><i>And here is the nub of
it. What if the trust turns out to be
misplaced (e.g. over charging or poor service)?
The loss of trust that follows is not just about that experience, but
makes me feel bad about myself as well – I could have made a better
choice. This is why it’s so important
not to betray customers’ trust and why lost trust is so hard to win back. You’re not just letting them down; you’ve
made them let themselves down. And
that’s a lot harder to recover from.</i><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 120%;"><i><br /></i></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 120%;"><i><br /></i></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 120%;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="zemanta-related">
<h6 class="zemanta-related-title" style="font-size: 1em; margin: 1em 0 0 0;">
Related articles</h6>
<ul class="zemanta-article-ul">
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://blog.edelman.com.au/2012/02/21/trust-barometer-and-its-implications-for-social-media/" target="_blank">Trust Barometer and its implications for social media</a> (edelman.com.au)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-tools/the-top-tens/ten-ways-to-build-up-your-personal-brand/article2342035/" target="_blank">Ten ways to build up your personal brand</a> (theglobeandmail.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/trustedadvisor/2011/11/16/when-trust-is-down-the-trustworthy-get-going/" target="_blank">When Trust is Down, the Trustworthy Get Going</a> (forbes.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://charlotteclark.wordpress.com/2012/02/17/barclays-pingit-safe-mobile-banking-depends-on-you/" target="_blank">Barclay's Pingit: Safe mobile banking depends on you</a> (charlotteclark.wordpress.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://londoncalling.co/2012/02/you-take-care-in-developing-your-offline-brand-so-why-not-your-online-brand/" target="_blank">You take care in developing your offline brand so why not your online brand?</a> (londoncalling.co)</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">
<a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=f55e7fd1-89c9-4dbd-95d2-284f357ed833" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01521572484004437523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-29006810642382618412012-01-02T18:48:00.001+00:002012-01-04T10:59:55.466+00:00The cult of the founderIn the world of technology, the founder is rightfully 'top dog'. Founders are put up on pedestals, its a badge of honour, the most admired of roles.<br />
Settling for co-founder is certainly a better moniker than even CEO.<br />
<br />
Founders take the risk, make the leap, make the sacrifices.<br />
And we need the heroic and iconic founders - the Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Marc Andreessen, Nikolas Zennstrom et al to inspire future ones. Their tales are the stuff of legends.<br />
<br />
We all know, however, that it is far more complicated than that.<br />
Seldom has a founder been able to realise a dream (or even formulate that dream) without the commitment, blood, sweat and tears of at least a few others. Think Steve Wozniak, Paul Allen, <a href="http://goo.gl/kuHnw" target="_blank">Kevin Colleran (who??)</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/facebooks-first-20-employees-2011-5#" target="_blank">bunch of others</a>, Janus Friis, <a href="http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-businessmen/craig-silverstein-net-worth/#" target="_blank">Craig Silverstein</a>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-auewQfVplEw/TwQracrrIhI/AAAAAAAAJhY/8qZZXUoURj4/s1600/4522384506_7c0ce7a12a_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-auewQfVplEw/TwQracrrIhI/AAAAAAAAJhY/8qZZXUoURj4/s320/4522384506_7c0ce7a12a_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Founders often get disproportionate rewards - both financial and in terms of recognition.<br />
<br />
Most recently, I have been consulted - along with many others - by the UK Government asking for ideas as to how to stimulate further the growth of entrepreneurialism in the tech sector.<br />
The Government has been listening and have implemented some important tax and visa changes which are most helpful in this regard. Two of the policies illustrate just how founder focused they have been - and where there is room for further important enhancement.<br />
<br />
Firstly, <a href="http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/helpsheets/hs275.pdf" target="_blank"> UK capital gains tax</a> - the tax on the first £10m for entrepreneurs is now only 10%.<br />
However, if you did not have founder shares, but joined after the founding of the company and have an option package, then providing its an <a href="http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?itemId=1074486440&type=RESOURCES" target="_blank">approved scheme</a> - eg EMI - then you'll be taxed at 28% - or if unapproved then possibly at 50%. Doesn't seem right, does it?<br />
Often senior execs in a startup have taken considerable risk, leaving highly paid jobs, accepting far lower salaries in the expectation of making a significant capital gain.<br />
We need to attract more of this type of talent to our startup companies and a change to the CGT rules will help significantly.<br />
<br />
Secondly, the Entrepreneurs Visa. A big step forward enabling non EU entrepreneurs, with recognised backing to enter the UK. This does not yet apply to talented people - non founders.<br />
<br />
So, lets hear it for the unsung backup teams - its tough to build a great company but doing it on your own is simply impossible.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01521572484004437523noreply@blogger.com5Rayol-Canadel-sur-Mer, France43.1594444 6.462543.1362789 6.4230180000000008 43.182609899999996 6.501982tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-3748835044207757482011-11-11T15:16:00.001+00:002011-11-11T15:27:48.374+00:00Breakfast at No10 Downing Street<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is a guest post from Rob Keve, Founder, CEO of Fizzback Group Ltd, a company backed by TAG and others.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<a href="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/38e2b1da679353cb4b14de6ae3c4dbbe?d=https%3A%2F%2Frapportive-proxy.heroku.com%2Fproxy%3Furl%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fmedia.linkedin.com%252Fmpr%252Fmprx%252F0_JhxB8kHyQRRyNHcZJiuX8FR1E4D29aQZUFwH8Fd_vjJpdEl4v67UabgSknS1vdbN4igW78RwVXul&s=80" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/38e2b1da679353cb4b14de6ae3c4dbbe?d=https%3A%2F%2Frapportive-proxy.heroku.com%2Fproxy%3Furl%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fmedia.linkedin.com%252Fmpr%252Fmprx%252F0_JhxB8kHyQRRyNHcZJiuX8FR1E4D29aQZUFwH8Fd_vjJpdEl4v67UabgSknS1vdbN4igW78RwVXul&s=80" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"Last week I was invited to present to some MPs over breakfast in Parliament, about UK start-ups. In the first few minutes, their full English fry-up was clearly winning the battle for their attention. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The only serious question on all MPs lips is how to stimulate economic growth and they didn’t see the relevance of a venture capital backed start ups on economic growth. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I told them that we were only a five year old business having raised modest amounts of funding but had created over 100 jobs in the UK alone – they stopped sipping their tea from the exquisite House of Commons porcelain teacups. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Next I explained we had generated more in direct tax income for the economy than the amount we raised in the first place <i>and</i> had just injected a further $80M indirectly into the economy by way of sale pro-ceeds from an overseas buyer – they put down their forks and put away the HP sauce. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Finally, I explained that a small group of brethren calling themselves Fizzback had won some of the world’s largest brands as clients, was improving these brand’s competitiveness all whilst putting British technology on the global map – they looked up to see who was talking. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tonight, when they go home, I hope that as they are pulling up the draw-bridge they will ‘get it’. Economic growth comes from innovation and self-initiative. It comes from a just a few dozen individuals in a few square feet of space designing a unique solution, garnering deep in-sight, selling & servicing to the top brands in the world. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That creates growth. That is economic leverage. The answer isn’t to be found in public sector spending, in UK policy board rooms or in banking regulation. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The answer is to be found at Fizzback and the other ground breaking start-ups like us. We create economic activity, jobs and wealth."</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Rob Keve</b></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01521572484004437523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-16010876583176337662011-09-19T11:05:00.000+01:002011-09-19T11:05:25.998+01:00Fizzback does a NICE deal<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY7xDJJK3RS9VN_E1v8VPGmzsGiTPYgix_BpxSIh7hUgB0c68_dwGwqvJMJgFs27HCXwnHc9QCI2C76lnGWvYXjuotOhQz0GoznplbCpyKVL_A9CEio4T0RiqQzGaguwd5ozC8yQ/s1600/fizzback.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY7xDJJK3RS9VN_E1v8VPGmzsGiTPYgix_BpxSIh7hUgB0c68_dwGwqvJMJgFs27HCXwnHc9QCI2C76lnGWvYXjuotOhQz0GoznplbCpyKVL_A9CEio4T0RiqQzGaguwd5ozC8yQ/s1600/fizzback.gif" /></a></div>
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt;">Readers of this
blog may have noticed that <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www2.fizzback.com/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="The Fizzback Group">Fizzback</a>, an investment we made in 2005, gets lots
of coverage – here in and in tweets <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/robinklein">@robinklein</a>. Aside from the fact that I’m
passionate about customer service being a fundamental competitive advantage and
one of the pillars of a great brand, I have a strong personal connection with
the company.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt;">Today we are
announcing that a sale of Fizzback to <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.nice.com/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="NICE Systems">Nice Systems</a> <a href="http://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ:NICE">(NASDAQ: NICE)</a> for approximately $80m has
been agreed. The transaction is scheduled to close in a few weeks.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt;">In many ways this
is a great result for the team and the investors to be celebrated. Nice is a
very good home for Fizzback and Fizzback is going to add considerably to Nice
(see product/market details below)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt;">On the other hand,
its a disappointment that a company which had begun to make a global impact in
the world of Customer Experience Management, had captured some of the <a href="http://www.fizzback.com/?page_id=379">largest corporate clients worldwide</a>, is not going solo ‘all the way’.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt;">The TAG philosophy
has always been to support founders and to recognize that entrepreneurs’ own motivation must ultimately be the deciding factor in these types of decisions.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt;">Some history of
this super company is relevant and I think interesting.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt;">Our relationship with
Rob Keve, Fizzback's founder, goes back about 15 years and we invested in IMI
(Instant Market Intelligence – its former iteration) in 2005 - as part of the
company's small seed round. I well remember the 4 hours Rob and I spent driving to and
from the Cotswolds every month during 2003 for the<a href="http://www.cotswoldco.com/"> Cotswold Company's</a> board
meetings. Rob was thinking about starting IMI.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt;">Like many successful
companies, the vision for Fizzback made a few pivots along the way. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt;">Its initial vision was to
address demand for rapid market research and new forms of customer insight- kind
of vox pop via SMS. Selling a product to the market research community didn’t
seem to me to be a place where we’d find good sized budgets. Rob had another
much more appealing idea which he was running in parallel. A service to
retailers and service providers which enabled consumers to provide feedback at
the point of experience – in store, on the train etc – via their mobile phones
– via SMS. IMI would interpret the message (using NLP appropriate to SMS
‘speak’), categorise and direct the message to the appropriate department for
action.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt;">This latter idea got me
excited. I agreed to invest and join the board as Chairman. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt;">Rob and I pulled
together a small group of angels – including <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/search/fpsearch?fname=jonathan&lname=mckay&searchLocationType=Y&page_num=1&search=&pplSearchOrigin=MDYS&viewCriteria=1&sortCriteria=R&redir=redir">Jonathan
McKay</a> – and what a great decision that was! Jonathan, who is a real
enterprise software/services guru, took over the Chair in 2008 and helped Rob
build the stellar sales team and been an invaluable guide to the business.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt;">Step one back in 2005 was
hire a small team. Tech head was <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/hfisherman">Herx
Fisherman</a> who conceived and built the original Fizzback Enterprise platform.
Operations head was <a href="http://goo.gl/u2Knp">Jonathan Morris</a> (my
son-in-law) – still the Operations Director of the group, often holding things together …. another reason for the
soft spot for this company.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt;">Step two was creating a
brand which would define a category. With the help of <a href="http://www.loewygroup.com/2010/03/05/branded-develop-brand-strategy-and-positioning-for-seesaw/">Phil
Ley of Branded</a>, Fizzback emerged. This was not about market intelligence,
it was about actionable feedback.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt;">The learnings gleaned
from early clients like Butlins, National Express and others helped the
evolution of the product.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt;">The 2 relatively modest
funding rounds – first from Advent £2.5m in October 2006 and later, at the end
of 2009 £1.6m from Advent, Nauta and TAG helped focus the company on bravely
targeting giant accounts like Tesco, Carphone Warehouse, BT, Vodafone, Virgin, O2, Waitrose, Eurostar and the rest.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt;">These kinds of
customers ensured that the Fizzback platform was always at full stretch – not
just in terms of scaling but in their demands for enhanced functionality. Great
customers demand great products and service!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt;">The support from our VC
backers has been magnificent – in the very early days from our good friends at
Advent - first Frederic Court </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px;">and then from Mike Chalfen – who is a master at the insightful
intellectual challenge and has been an active practical support all the way.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt;">Jordi Vinas, the Nauta
board member provided the Euro perspective and his knowledge of the mobile
vertical in particular has been hugely valuable.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 9pt;">So another great European company gets sold to a foreign company just 6 years after its foundation. No problem with that -and I do expect we'll see more of the proceeds being re-</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">cycled</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 9pt;"> and re-invested in the growing Euro tech eco-system.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Extracts from the
press release:</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
<div class="Default">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Fizzback
SaaS offering is a real-time operational VoC solution. It sends consumers
requests for feedback relating to a specific interaction or transaction via
mobile, web or social media. The consumer is engaged at the point of
experience, for example in the contact center, branch, point of sale (POS),
mobile application, or web. The feedback is analyzed by the system to determine
a relevant response, and automatically conduct a dialog with the consumer in
natural language rather than a survey format. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Fizzback’s
unique approach generates game-changing response rates of up to 50%,
significantly higher than industry norms at under 10%, as it motivates
consumers to provide relevant feedback, at the moment of interaction.
Additionally, consumers provide feedback about their experience rather than
only about what was asked in a survey. With more than 150 million feedbacks
collected annually, Fizzback enables organizations to better understand their
customers’ perceptions, and be agile across the organization, while improving
customer experience at the various enterprise touch points. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The combination of Fizzback
and NICE will both improve CEM as well as operationalize VoC both for the
contact center and across the enterprise. Correlating customer feedback to
specific interactions or transactions helps improve performance enterprise-wide
with statistically validated responses, as well as enhance quality management
and processes. Key efficiency metrics that can be significantly improved
include First Contact Resolution (FCR) and Average Handle Time (AHT) in the
contact center and employee <a href="http://draft.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=24246494" name="_GoBack"></a>performance in direct
customer facing roles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Capturing, analyzing
and acting on the Voice of the Customer (VoC) is critical to the success of any
Customer Experience initiative. NICE’s cross-channel analytics solutions
support VoC programs by: (1) analyzing customer interaction content (indirect
feedback), whether the customer is interacting with the organization or talking
about the organization through the contact center, social media, or other
channels, and by extracting insights from these interactions; and (2) by
analyzing customer behavior (inferred feedback), such as transaction and web
browsing patterns or their journey along different touch points. By adding
direct customer feedback with the Fizzback solution, NICE now provides a
complete CEM solution that delivers a holistic understanding of the customer by
combining on one platform the VoC from each of the three feedback dimensions:
direct, indirect and inferred.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Zeevi Bregman, President and CEO of NICE said, "
The adoption of and demand for CEM solutions, at all levels of the
organization, including Marketing, Finance and Operations, is on the rise. With
the addition of Fizzback, NICE is expanding the scope of its capabilities of Impacting
Every Customer Interaction by introducing a Customer Experience Management
solution with the most complete Voice of the Customer offering. This enables<span lang="EN-GB">
our customers to more effectively capture, understand and leverage VoC as the
foundation to a cross-enterprise CEM strategy.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Rob Keve, CEO of Fizzback said, “Our unique solution
has been enabling our customers to achieve exceptionally high response rates
from their customers, and to receive feedback in real-time. This combination
allows them to take immediate action for increasing customer loyalty and
driving efficiency across the enterprise. This has resulted in extremely high
usage rates for our customers, making Fizzback a strategic part of how our
customers make decisions and run the business. Thus, we are proud to have
experienced rapid growth and high rates of product adoption. We are looking
forward to combining these capabilities with NICE’s real-time, cross-channel
analytics to provide both NICE and Fizzback customers greater access to even broader
capabilities with a more complete VoC solution.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Under the terms of the agreement, NICE will acquire Fizzback for a
total cash consideration of approximately $80 million. Subject to certain
conditions and satisfaction of terms, the transaction is scheduled to close in
the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2011 with 2 to 3 cents dilution of fully
diluted Non-GAAP EPS for that quarter. In 2012, the acquisition is expected to
add approximately $20 million to NICE’s non-GAAP revenues, to be slightly
dilutive, and to become accretive to fully diluted Non-GAAP EPS within four
quarters post closing. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="Default">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/nice-to-acquire-fizzback-introducing-the-most-complete-customer-experience-management-offering-with-the-integration-of-revolutionary-real-time-voice-of-the-customer-solution-2011-09-19">http://www.marketwatch.com/story/nice-to-acquire-fizzback-introducing-the-most-complete-customer-experience-management-offering-with-the-integration-of-revolutionary-real-time-voice-of-the-customer-solution-2011-09-19</a><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">About Fizzback<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Founded in 2004 headquartered in the UK and backed
by Advent Venture Partners, Nauta
Capital and TAG, Fizzback is a global provider of Voice of the Customer
solutions, providing software solutions
for Real-Time Customer Feedback that drive customer loyalty and employee
performance. The award winning Fizzback solution helps companies listen,
respond and act in real-time to their customers’ comments. Fizzback customers
include tier-1 organizations from a variety of vertical industries, including<span lang="EN-GB">,
British Telecom (BT), O2, Best Buy Europe, Everything Everywhere, National
Express Virgin Media, Tesco </span>and
several Tier 1 North American telecom carriers.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>About NICE Systems<br />
</b>NICE Systems
(NASDAQ: NICE), is the worldwide leader of intent-based solutions that capture
and analyze interactions and transactions, realize intent, and extract and
leverage insights to deliver impact in real time. Driven by cross-channel and
multi-sensor analytics, NICE solutions enable organizations to improve business
performance, increase operational efficiency, prevent financial crime, ensure
compliance, and enhance safety and security. NICE serves over 25,000
organizations in the enterprise and security sectors, representing a variety of
sizes and industries in more than 150 countries, and including over 80 of the
Fortune 100 companies. <a href="http://www.nice.com/">www.nice.com</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoBlockText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Previous posts re Fizzback:</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">http://the-accelerator.blogspot.com/search?q=fizzback</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">http://the-accelerator.blogspot.com/2009/01/strong-momentum-for-fizzback.html</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">http://the-accelerator.blogspot.com/2008/07/fizzback-tops-them-all.html</span></div>
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">
<a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=fefcb348-9026-4e78-8eb4-d163d4044429" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01521572484004437523noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-13721469298580531422011-09-12T14:33:00.000+01:002011-09-12T14:33:43.475+01:00TAG commits another 250K Euros to extend runway for Seedcamp companies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiVLrQHpmlMHwWcH2XpdiggsM-oL1shXZ4U00_zT4_l1uLUZGSv6Uzy42_zcToE0C5wMb7IJhxlneyNKVxLAleB2aMf0eoCLmv37sCwycQSr1UNJx0ygHFYaTktZLlMy-eR7CMbg/s1600/seedcamp.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="80" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiVLrQHpmlMHwWcH2XpdiggsM-oL1shXZ4U00_zT4_l1uLUZGSv6Uzy42_zcToE0C5wMb7IJhxlneyNKVxLAleB2aMf0eoCLmv37sCwycQSr1UNJx0ygHFYaTktZLlMy-eR7CMbg/s200/seedcamp.bmp" width="200" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Times;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Seedcamp is obviously in our bones at TAG, but for a little colour, </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Times;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I remember: </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br />
<ul>
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; list-style-type: disc; margin-left: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">brainstorming the </span><a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://www.slideshare.net/seedcamp/seedcamp-background" style="color: #3333cc;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">concept</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> while it was a </span><a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://localglobe.blogspot.com/2007/02/y-europe-can-seed-growth-of-its-new.html" style="color: #3333cc;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">twinkle</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in Saul and Reshma’s eye </span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; list-style-type: disc; margin-left: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">being on the first Board with </span><a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://localglobe.blogspot.com/2009/11/seedcamp-thoughts-on-evolution-of.html" style="color: #3333cc;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mattias, Sara, Paul, Sumon and Jason</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; list-style-type: disc; margin-left: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">pitching to new investors and writing the first cheques to </span><a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://techcrunch.com/2007/07/19/techcrunch-partners-with-seedcamp-europe/" style="color: #3333cc;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Seedcamp I</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://techcrunch.com/2010/11/16/seedcamp-closes-a-new-3-million-fund-plans-to-expand-globally-tctv/" style="color: #3333cc;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">II</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; list-style-type: disc; margin-left: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">funding Zemanta, MyBuilder and Kublax in 2007; Toksta in 2008; Erply in 2009 and </span><a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://www.seedcamp.com/companies/editd" style="color: #3333cc;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Editd</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in 2010</span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; list-style-type: disc; margin-left: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">going to Mini Seedcamps in Ljublianga, New York, Tel Aviv, Paris, Copenhagen </span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; list-style-type: disc; margin-left: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">working closely on </span><a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://seedsummit.org/blog/adding-transparency-to-european-seed-market/" style="color: #3333cc;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Seedsummit</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and the latest </span><a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://seedsummit.org/legal-docs/" style="color: #3333cc;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Term Sheet</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> program </span></li>
</ul>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So we love Seedcamp - that's a given.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But having just spent the </span><a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2011/09/08/tech-startups-get-tough-love-at-bootcamp/" style="color: #3333cc;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">week at Seedcamp</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in London, its clear that the Seedcamp platform and </span><a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/08/seedcamp-expands-adds-e2-million-to-its-coffers-partners-with-500-startups-angellist/" style="color: #3333cc;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">network has moved to a new level</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and finally there is also </span><a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://www.seedcamp.com/2011/09/top-20-seedcamp-teams-present-at-demo-day.html" style="color: #3333cc;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">serious capital</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> available. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But most importantly the </span><a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://www.seedcamp.com/2011/09/seedcamp-week-breaking-records-yet-again.html" style="color: #3333cc;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">latest group of Seedcamp</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> companies are totally inspiring by: <br />
</span><br />
<ol>
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; list-style-type: decimal; margin-left: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the progress they have made, </span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; list-style-type: decimal; margin-left: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the scale of their ambition </span></li>
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; list-style-type: decimal; margin-left: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the amount they have achieved with little to no money.</span></li>
</ol>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Seedcamp has never shied away from the fact that to </span><a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://eu.techcrunch.com/2011/05/23/crunching-some-data-after-3-5-years-of-seedcamp/" style="color: #3333cc;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">build something great takes time</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> - and to building an ecocystem takes decades. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We still have a long way to go in the markets we operate, TAG is not ready to </span><a avglsprocessed="1" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/every-y-combinator-startup-will-get-150k-from-yuri-milner-and-ron-conway-2011-1" style="color: #3333cc;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">buy a tracker</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (and also we are fundamentally "stock pickers").</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">We’ve had our successes and
failures at TAG, that’s part of investing and its especially so at the earliest
stages. However, we are inspired by the progress we’re seeing - especially from
<st1:place w:st="on">Eastern Europe</st1:place> - and want to make sure that at
least some of this year's 20 teams will have at least double their run-way and
be able to take some more time to develop the right product, find the right
customers and discover which investors share their vision and values.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">So we are offering €50k as a convertible loan to 5 teams from this week’s Seedcamp in order to help extend their runways further and look forward to contributing in a small way to the continuation of their journey from seed to
start-up to superstar.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">As frequently happens, Techcrunch got a sniff and published this offer here:</span></span><br />
<a href="http://eu.techcrunch.com/2011/09/12/seedcamp-week-2011-meet-the-finalists-the-winners-and-one-good-samaritan/">http://eu.techcrunch.com/2011/09/12/seedcamp-week-2011-meet-the-finalists-the-winners-and-one-good-samaritan/</a><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">We would of course invite any other investors - European or otherwise to join us in this funding - this is </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a promising group and they deserve our support </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Here are some edited highlights of Seedcamp Week.<br /></span></span></span></span><br />
<ol>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>Daily Video Highlights: </b></span></span></span><ul>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>Day 1 Founders - (Yandex)</b> - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnRBUCCWTE4" style="color: #3333cc;" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=PnRBUCCWTE4</a></span></span></span></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>Day 2 Product - (Mozilla, Soundcloud etc)</b> - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1TJ_TZ7pK8&feature=related" style="color: #3333cc;" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=A1TJ_TZ7pK8&feature=related</a></span></span></span></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>Day 3 Growth - (FON, McClure)</b> - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ygYMB58FO8&feature=related" style="color: #3333cc;" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=9ygYMB58FO8&feature=related</a></span></span></span></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>Day 4 Demo Day</b> - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xffj0TcXUf0&feature=related" style="color: #3333cc;" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=xffj0TcXUf0&feature=related</a></span></span></span></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>Some of the news coverage:</b></span></span></span><ul>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>Techcrunch:</b> <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/08/seedcamp-expands-adds-e2-million-to-its-coffers-partners-with-500-startups-angellist/" style="color: #3333cc;" target="_blank">http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/<wbr></wbr>08/seedcamp-expands-adds-e2-<wbr></wbr>million-to-its-coffers-<wbr></wbr>partners-with-500-startups-<wbr></wbr>angellist/</a></span></span></span></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>Forbes: </b><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2011/09/08/tech-startups-get-tough-love-at-bootcamp/" style="color: #3333cc;" target="_blank">http://www.forbes.com/sites/<wbr></wbr>parmyolson/2011/09/08/tech-<wbr></wbr>startups-get-tough-love-at-<wbr></wbr>bootcamp/</a> and <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2011/09/09/y-combinator-challenged-by-growing-rival-seedcamp/" style="color: #3333cc;" target="_blank">http://www.forbes.com/sites/<wbr></wbr>parmyolson/2011/09/09/y-<wbr></wbr>combinator-challenged-by-<wbr></wbr>growing-rival-seedcamp/</a></span></span></span></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>WSJ:</b> <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/tech-europe/2011/09/08/seedcamp-strengthens-its-core/?mod=google_news_blog" style="color: #3333cc;" target="_blank">http://blogs.wsj.com/tech-<wbr></wbr>europe/2011/09/08/seedcamp-<wbr></wbr>strengthens-its-core/?mod=<wbr></wbr>google_news_blog</a></span></span></span></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>Wired:</b> <a href="http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-09/08/seedcamp-announcements" style="color: #3333cc;" target="_blank">http://www.wired.co.uk/news/<wbr></wbr>archive/2011-09/08/seedcamp-<wbr></wbr>announcements</a></span></span></span></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>GigaOm:</b> <a href="http://gigaom.com/2011/09/08/can-seedcamp-join-the-ivy-league-of-startup-schools/" style="color: #3333cc;" target="_blank">http://gigaom.com/2011/09/08/<wbr></wbr>can-seedcamp-join-the-ivy-<wbr></wbr>league-of-startup-schools/</a></span></span></span></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>NextWeb:</b> <a href="http://thenextweb.com/eu/2011/09/08/seedcamp-partners-with-500-startups-and-angellist-aims-for-the-startup-program-ivy-league/" style="color: #3333cc;" target="_blank">http://thenextweb.com/eu/2011/<wbr></wbr>09/08/seedcamp-partners-with-<wbr></wbr>500-startups-and-angellist-<wbr></wbr>aims-for-the-startup-program-<wbr></wbr>ivy-league/</a> and<a href="http://thenextweb.com/eu/2011/09/09/10-startups-to-watch-from-seedcamp-week-2011/" style="color: #3333cc;" target="_blank">http://thenextweb.com/eu/2011/<wbr></wbr>09/09/10-startups-to-watch-<wbr></wbr>from-seedcamp-week-2011/</a></span></span></span></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>HackerNews:</b> <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2978676" style="color: #3333cc;" target="_blank">http://news.ycombinator.com/<wbr></wbr>item?id=2978676</a></span></span></span></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>BBC:</b> <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14808977" style="color: #3333cc;" target="_blank">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/<wbr></wbr>business-14808977</a></span></span></span></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>Seedcamp announcements:</b></span></span></span><ul>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>Teams:</b> <a href="http://www.seedcamp.com/2011/09/seedcamp-week-breaking-records-yet-again.html" style="color: #3333cc;" target="_blank">http://www.seedcamp.com/2011/<wbr></wbr>09/seedcamp-week-breaking-<wbr></wbr>records-yet-again.html</a></span></span></span></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>New partnerships:</b> <a href="http://www.seedcamp.com/2011/09/seedcamp-partners-experts-and-angels.html" style="color: #3333cc;" target="_blank">http://www.seedcamp.com/2011/<wbr></wbr>09/seedcamp-partners-experts-<wbr></wbr>and-angels.html</a></span></span></span></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>New advisors & investors:</b> <a href="http://www.seedcamp.com/2011/09/our-new-advisory-board-and-investors.html" style="color: #3333cc;" target="_blank">http://www.seedcamp.com/2011/<wbr></wbr>09/our-new-advisory-board-and-<wbr></wbr>investors.html</a></span></span></span></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>New corporate relationships:</b> <a href="http://www.seedcamp.com/2011/09/seedcamp-founders-pack-sponsors-and-seedhack.html" style="color: #3333cc;" target="_blank">http://www.seedcamp.com/2011/<wbr></wbr>09/seedcamp-founders-pack-<wbr></wbr>sponsors-and-seedhack.html</a></span></span></span></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><b>Investors at Demo Day:</b> <a href="http://www.seedcamp.com/2011/09/top-20-seedcamp-teams-present-at-demo-day.html" style="color: #3333cc;" target="_blank">http://www.seedcamp.com/2011/<wbr></wbr>09/top-20-seedcamp-teams-<wbr></wbr>present-at-demo-day.html</a></span></span></span></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ol>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></span></span><br />
<div class="zemanta-related">
<h6 class="zemanta-related-title" style="font-size: 1em; margin: 1em 0 0 0;">
<br /></h6>
<ul class="zemanta-article-ul">
</ul>
</div>
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">
<a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=9dc1cb33-a58c-4b1e-b2ff-efaf7dd5410e" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01521572484004437523noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-1806506887031796302011-08-30T20:23:00.000+01:002011-08-30T20:23:26.815+01:00Do we need more engineers in government?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Its very interesting that the number of students applying for Engineering and Science courses at University has - at last - started to rise. In the UK anyway.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Have you ever thought about why it is that there are so few engineers and scientists in UK and US government. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The UK’s cabinet has six PPE (Politics, Philosophy and Economics) degrees, five history degrees, three law degrees, and plenty of other arts and humanities graduates.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The fact that most come from a couple of universities concerns me less than the fact that the 'gene pool' in terms of education, experience, ways of thinking </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">and problem solving seems very narrow indeed.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;">Politicians in the UK are often heard decrying the fact that we don't have enough engineers - they presumably don't mean in Government. They mean in industry. </span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;">Countries like China on the other hand have its politburo full of scientists and engineers. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 15px;">Hu Jintao, the country’s president, graduated with a degree in water conservancy engineering, while the rest of the group consists of chemical, electrical and radio engineers and the the odd geologist.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 15px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'd like to advance a theory as to why this very obvious disparity between some western democracies and China in the people we get to lead us and take the profound decisions which affect our and our children's lives.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;">In the UK and the US, to get elected you need to be an orator, have the 'gift of the gab', be charismatic, media friendly, articulate, persuasive. Not necessarily the strengths of the average engineer or scientist - or anyone else with left-brain hemi-spherical dominance.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;">Does our democratic process unfairly disadvantage the engineers and the scientists?</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;">In China, those that get top marks in the Sciences, its seems, get to the top.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01521572484004437523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-43123170363538101632011-08-11T16:46:00.000+01:002011-08-11T16:46:24.635+01:00Stick or Twist. Sell or swing for the fences.A number of the companies in the TAG portfolio are at very tricky junctions in their lives. Its the point where they are now faced with multiple options. I'm guessing there are many companies at this particular point.<br />
None of these options is bad - but deciding on which to take is not at all easy.<br />
Many startups of the 2006-2008 vintage are reaching the point where they are real businesses, generating cash and growing well.<br />
So what is the problem?<br />
Simply put - where to next?<br />
The options broadly fall into these 4 categories:<br />
1. Sell<br />
2. Continue building with cash internally generated<br />
3. Raise more cash at a good valuation and go for growth<br />
4. A combination of 1 and 3 - ie take some cash off the table, raise more funds for the company and really go for it. [This can be done by an IPO or raising VC/Private Equity funds - but that's another issue]<br />
<br />
Many entrepreneurs - mostly those outside of the US - are criticised for selling too early. I'm pretty sympathetic to a first time entrepreneur who having sweated for 5 years or more is sorely tempted to convert his/her shares into cash.<br />
The amounts of cash a founder will receive for a good business are literally life changing - in a good way.<br />
<br />
Investors often see the situation very differently. Especially if the company is still growing rapidly and is addressing a large market. There is frequently great frustration at the lost opportunity to build something really big - something fund returning.<br />
<br />
Increasingly, enlightened investors are working closely with founders to enable option 4 - ie allow founders to sell ordinary shares - at nominal (or no) discount to the price paid for new preferred shares.<br />
<br />
This would seem to be a good way forward for a founder who still has 'fire in the belly', wants to continue to build a huge company but also has the need to get their personal finances on a sound footing.<br />
<br />
The lesson in all this for startups is that choosing investors who can help navigate through this rather tricky phase is pretty important.<br />
<br />
<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01521572484004437523noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-46984058113302891202011-05-02T19:52:00.000+01:002011-05-02T19:52:10.620+01:00A Bubble? - Chinese Style.<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You think we are experiencing a bubble? Sure we are - but in China, everything is bigger – much bigger.</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I've just returned from China and made a couple of illuminating visits.</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">First to <a href="http://www.crunchbase.com/financial-organization/innovation-works-china" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;">Innovation Works</a>. The brain-child of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kai-Fu_Lee" rel="wikipedia" title="Kai-Fu Lee">Kai-Fu Lee</a>, <a href="http://cnreviews.com/business/companies/kaifu-lee-innovation-works_20090906.html" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;">Innovation Works</a> is an incubator, Beijing style.</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lee, having been with Apple and Silicon Graphics in the US, Microsoft China and then Google China, Kai-Fu knows a thing or two about identifying, attracting and nurturing talent.</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He tells me that they have 120,000 graduates on their database on which to call to help staff the dozens of companies being incubated in his Beijing offices, a few blocks from Beijing University.</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Innovation Works houses 400 young people working away at building a wide range of companies. About 30 of these are directly employed by Innovation Works and are called the ‘platform team’. These folks (average age I guess about 27/28) are business, finance and marketing graduates whose job it is to attend to the formation, funding, administrating, recruiting for the start-up companies and helping them with their ‘go to market’ plans.</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In fact, they do everything other than build the product itself.</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This was how incubators were meant to work during the ‘first bubble’ of the late 90’s and 2000.</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The difference – as we all know - is that now the cost of building a product and getting it market tested is a fraction of what it once was AND in China it is a fraction of what it costs in the US or Europe.</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Not only is working space extraordinarily cheap but engineers and graduates generally earn 1/5<sup>th</sup> of their US/Euro counterparts – AND are apparently of high quality and in plentiful supply.</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The effect of this is that the $200,000 which Innovation Works invests in these start-ups takes them a very long way indeed. So far that a typical Series A, Kai-Fu tells me, commands a <i>$50m post money Series A</i>.</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yes, that's $50m! I checked twice. Not $15m but $50m.</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Given the number of $1bn+ funds which have been raised recently in China [Sequoia etc etc], it is not surprising that VCs aren’t much interested in placing a couple of million in a number of start-ups.</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">During my visit, <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?authType=name&goback=.nppvan_%2Fevdemon&locale=en_US&id=1917000&authToken=z9gd" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;">Chris Evdemon</a>, who runs the incubator, was just finalizing the judging for next crop of start-ups to join the line – following what I understood was a Seedcamp type application and review process.</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was difficult to get a good picture of what all these start-ups were working on and how their evolution may impact on world markets but my impression was that the vast majority (approx 90%) were aimed at the Chinese market – in ecommerce, mobile apps, social, Android development platforms and games.</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The latter category being the most likely to be reaching global markets any time soon.</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I expect that retaining star talent and building large, meaningful companies will become challenging as it becomes ever easier for talent to get their own backing and the skills required to build serious global businesses go beyond engineering and towards marketing, finance and management.</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My second visit was to a relative veteran of the Chinese ecommerce world – <a href="http://www.1888pressrelease.com/interview-with-b2b-site-dhgate-ceo-diane-wang-pr-99183.html" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;">Diane Wang</a>, founder and CEO of <a href="http://www.dhgate.com/" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;">DH Gate</a>.</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.prweb.com/releases/201008/dhgatenews/prweb4385174.htm" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;">DH Gate is a B2B marketplace</a> matching (with a number of important added value elements) SME buyers worldwide to Manufacturers in China.</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">DHgate.com was founded in early 2004. Before founding DHgate, Diane was one of the founders of Joyo.com, where she successfully led the company through the Internet boom, downturn and revival. After a year of its establishment, Joyo became the top B2C brand in China. Diane was also the Country Marketing Director of Cisco Systems. From 1993 to 1999, Diane was the Marketing Service Manager and Head of Business Development Department for Microsoft (China).</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Thus far in her career, Diane has received "Outstanding Woman of China" and "Outstanding Woman of Beijing" awards—two of the highest forms of recognition given to professional women in China.</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">TAG was fortunate in investing a small amount in DH Gate’s $6m Series B round in 2007. At the time its gross monthly trading volume was around $1m. Today its at least 15X that and employs over 700 people.</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Its interesting that the Chinese Government, as part of its recently published 5 year plan, has included information technology as a fundamental part of their strategy for stimulating internal demand and as a driver of growth. The focus on infra-structure development is truly astounding and with it will inevitably come very rapid growth.</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Driven by ongoing urbanization, improving broadband infrastructure, and an influx of affordable smart devices and applications, China’s mass market consumers are starting to take up applications in Internet entertainment, e- commerce, digital content, and mobile Internet.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">With an expected 750m netizens by 2015 and the Chinese telecom operators competing to take up broadband speed, and promote 3G wireless data with attractive tariff plans, subsidized smart phones and tablets for consumers the future looks bright for the Chinese technology sector.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">[ref Jeffreys Asia Equity Research, April 2011]<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Comparing China’s adoption of the web to the rest of the world is instructive.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Almost one quarter of everyone on the planet connected to the web is resident in China.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">They have twice the web population of the US and 9 times that of the UK- today.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">That said, the market to foreign web services is pretty inaccessible (unlike luxury goods)– as Google and others are finding. Local companies are adept at replicating, improving and adapting to their market.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjstL8gSmoBZSnvx2DTjJMirfzCteE5VLZOU3wVVo-0XGIRA0xa8EbjygzLMrZk0BudCSZgCW4UGa_GUettmsIK5a97jrhrhHLmbpzhbH6970sWn1xpZnlj0oW26qc2XHGnaP77WA/s1600/top+20+countries.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjstL8gSmoBZSnvx2DTjJMirfzCteE5VLZOU3wVVo-0XGIRA0xa8EbjygzLMrZk0BudCSZgCW4UGa_GUettmsIK5a97jrhrhHLmbpzhbH6970sWn1xpZnlj0oW26qc2XHGnaP77WA/s400/top+20+countries.png" width="381" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"></div></div><div class="zemanta-related"><h6 class="zemanta-related-title" style="font-size: 1em; margin: 1em 0 0 0;"> Related articles</h6><ul class="zemanta-article-ul"><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://jyorr.com/post/4622300101/former-google-vp-kai-fu-lee-got-a-nickname-start-copy">Former Google VP Kai-Fu Lee Got a Nickname, Start-Copy Lee</a> (jyorr.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://thenextweb.com/asia/2011/04/01/china-internet-clones-get-funding-from-startup-incubator-innovationworks/">China Internet clones get funding from startup incubator, InnovationWorks</a> (thenextweb.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://techrice.com/2011/02/17/innovation-works-launches-video-platform-for-the-startup-community/">Innovation Works Launches Video Platform for the Startup Community</a> (techrice.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/225560/beijings_it_professionals_plunge_into_startups.html">Beijing's IT Professionals Plunge Into Startups</a> (pcworld.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/kai-fu-lee-innovation-works-clones-china-startups-2011-4">The Guy Who Ran Microsoft And Google In China Is All About Cloning US Startups Now (MSFT, GOOG)</a> (businessinsider.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://r.zemanta.com/?u=http%3A//www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/8350654/Beijings-Silicon-Valley-is-taking-off.html&a=36753718&rid=71358b7c-abd3-49cc-a004-9adaec91e561&e=662a07026210187b935a57e65bc466e1">Beijing's Silicon Valley is taking off</a> (telegraph.co.uk)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2011/05/google-says-efforts-in-china-running-like-%25e2%2580%2598normal%25e2%2580%2599.html">Google Says Efforts in China Running Like 'Normal'</a> (marketingpilgrim.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://r.zemanta.com/?u=http%3A//tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/04/15/googles-ordeal-in-china/&a=40927472&rid=71358b7c-abd3-49cc-a004-9adaec91e561&e=14fe86ef782bedf3d3f8bc6c8a43ddeb">Inside Google's China misfortune</a> (tech.fortune.cnn.com)</li>
</ul></div><div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=71358b7c-abd3-49cc-a004-9adaec91e561" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01521572484004437523noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24246494.post-71378903920744801072011-04-03T07:13:00.000+01:002011-04-03T07:13:45.929+01:00Where are all the Euro talent acquirers?Facebook, Google, Microsoft et al routinely make 'talent acquisitions'.<br />
In the last 10 years, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acquisitions_by_Google">Google has made 93 acquisitions </a><br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acquisitions_by_Google"></a>- the majority of these have been to get their hands on the talented founders and teams who have built some technology or have demonstrated such a capability. 75 of these acquisitions have been in North America and most of these in the San Francisco Bay Area.<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acquisitions_by_Microsoft">Microsoft have made 140 acquisitions</a> in the last 20 years - again the vast majority in the US.<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acquisitions_by_Yahoo!">Yahoo made 62 acquisitions</a> in 15 years - only 10 outside the US.<br />
<br />
Even the new kid on the block, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acquisitions_by_Facebook">Facebook, has made 14 buys</a> - 10 in the US.<br />
<br />
The possible answers to why the predominance of targets are US based are these:<br />
1. They have better engineers in the US. [this I very much doubt - though no doubt I'll be corrected]<br />
2. Tech companies in the US are building stuff targeted to be bought by one of the big boys.<br />
3. If you're going to buy a company for their talent - you want to keep that talent and integrate it with your own operations or development teams.<br />
4. The eco-system is such that the corporate development teams know the startups and vice versa. Not just know them but meet regularly at the many events and in the coffee bars on University Avenue and elsewhere.<br />
5. Buying a talented team elsewhere (ie outside the US) is risky - there is the cultural gap, the legal hurdles, the distance, the time shift etc<br />
<br />
These transactions - 250 of them between just the 3 mentioned - power the whole ecosystem. The funds generated for the founders, the VCs, the LPs are considerable and get recycled in a sometimes perfect virtuous circle.<br />
<br />
So, where are all the Euro based talent acquirers?<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="zemanta-related"><h6 class="zemanta-related-title" style="font-size: 1em; margin: 1em 0 0 0;"> Related articles</h6><ul class="zemanta-article-ul"><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.simplyzesty.com/business/facebook-about-to-buy-big/">Facebook about to buy big?</a> (simplyzesty.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.webpronews.com/yahoo-acquisition-spree-2011-03">Yahoo Exec Predicts Acquisition Spree</a> (webpronews.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-acquiring-and-why-2011-3">Silicon Alley Insider: Google Will Continue Its Acquisition Binge This Year (GOOG)</a> (businessinsider.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/facebook-said-to-hire-google-exec-for-ma/">FaceBook Said to Hire Google Exec for M&A</a> (dealbook.nytimes.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://theinformativereport.com/2011/03/07/google-searches-for-acquisitions/">Google searches for acquisitions</a> (theinformativereport.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/microsoft_news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=229400752&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_ALL">Microsoft Needs Tech, Not Torts, To Beat Google</a> (informationweek.com)</li>
</ul></div><div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=19c782a2-f4bf-4944-8e80-c485e091b835" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01521572484004437523noreply@blogger.com3