PROVEN STRATEGIC NAVIGATION

Startup Britain figures show that there were 5,974 startups in the Cardiff CF postcodes last year. That’s an impressive number of new businesses for the size of Cardiff, despite the debate about lack of access to finance and support. As is normal, some of these businesses will fail. 

There is funding for startups in Wales. Funding is hard to get. It will always be hard to get and so it should be. Some feel they are entitled to funding simply by virtue of having started a business.

This simply shouldn’t be the case.

In a year that has been called shocking for venture capital in Australia, the Corporations and Markets Advisory Committe (CAMAC) state that Australia has 'fared reasonably well post the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) in comparison to the USA and Europe and therefore it is less certain that CSEF (crowd sourced equity funding) will ever have an equivalent influence in Australia".

Having spent the last month cruising aboard my yacht with family through the Greek Islands from Turkey to Sicily, I noted many parallels between business and sailing.

Our journey began in Didim, Turkey, site of the temple of Apollo and of the Medusa. Cruising through the Dodecanese and Cyclades islands we reached the Greek mainland at the site of the temple of Poseidon, close to Athens. Transiting the Saronic Gulf, the Corinth Canal and Gulfs of Corinth and Patras, our Greek voyage ended at the island of Zakynthos. We then crossed the Ionian to Sicily, where this journey ended. 

Here are ten lessons sailing can teach you about running a business.

One of the hardest discussions in the negotiation of an investment is “what is a fair value of a very early stage business?” Traditional valuation techniques are of little use when there are no meaningful numbers and outrageously optimistic projections.

The business valuation will determine the share of the business relinquished in return for funding. This can be a classic deal-killer if a balance can’t be struck between the interests and risk profiles of the entrepreneur and investor.

Dragons Den Episode 4: Prepare to escape “Business Narnia”

1 September 2013

Episode 4 of Dragons Den showed an easy lifting drain cover, a bra measurement system, modern craft takeaways, a sawhorse and a pregnancy yoga franchise. The Dragons spat fire at the poor preparation of the investment pitches. Chainsaws ripped and the Dragons thought they were in “business Narnia”.