Top 10
Geo-political investing, intermediaries and surging forward in 2023
Published
2 months agoon
By
admin
Jeb Buckler, CEO of Startup Giants PLC discusses how VCs and intermediaries can actually use these uncertain times to narrow their focus and source the Founders with the mettle to keep going in the face of all odds in new investment times …
Investment leads, whether they’re VCs or intermediaries, can use this challenging time right now to expedite their process of elimination for the next brilliant Founders to invest and believe in and Founders, if they’re tenacious and confident can use this time to surge forwards.
The good element about tough times is that they always shine a light on the tough people – in business, this means that the highly motivated, tenacious and adaptable Founders will not only survive, they’ll thrive.
Predicting the mindset of new Founders is usually a tough challenge, however, I believe it’s actually easier in uncertain times as the investor can see the Founder’s attitude to change and adapting to new circumstances.
Founder evidence carries more weight in a recession
As Gary Vaynerchuck once famously said: ‘The most important thing in a recession, is money in the bank.’ People and businesses analyse their spending and tighten up their purse strings to survive a recession. Therefore the marketing, mission and messaging needs to work twice as hard to get them to open them and to ensure that if they do spend, they spend it with you. Investment spending is no different. Investors are being cautious right now until market valuations are stronger so if a Founder presents themselves with strong letters of intent or sales already for their tech concept, it’s going to make a much stronger statement to potential investors in this climate that people want, need and are prepared to pay for their product or service. I’d say even more so than usual give the overly cautious with budget nature of the current climate.
In terms of investing in startups, valuations are generally lower at the moment which poses better deals for investors. I think to get the investment over the line some of the investors are quite content to see that the founders are growing slightly less aggressively and experiencing growth in a safer, more sustainable way. If the company’s revenue is more consistent and the growth is stable then they view the company as healthy. Once again, management of cashflow and a Founder’s mindset is essential to build trust for investment.
Both investors and Founders can benefit from the mass layoffs
On the flip side this mass layoff actually helps another crisis – the skills shortage. This is actually a very positive and key time for people looking to recruit techies that they might not have had access to without the layoffs.
Also, as we saw from the last recession, a number of techies that had been laid off used the opportunity to create their own businesses – Netflix and Air BnB to name a few – without having the constraints of full time work and board members’ vetoing concepts. Whilst people may be grappling with layoffs, it might be a good time for Founders to recruit and think of out of the box ways to attract the techie talent to their door. For example: if they can’t afford the top dollar wages and bonuses, perhaps offer a a lesser salary with equity in the business in exchange for key deliverables or milestones to be met. Having a key techie in place within the business, shows belief in the concept and is extra brownie points when it comes to investment rounds as it’s more proof that the Founder can do what they promise.
Is AI the main way forwards for 2023?
The sector that I think is going to be really big in 2023 is openAI. The likes of Dall-e and ChatGPT have taken the internet by storm and with Microsoft investing billions into the concepts, I think it’s going to change the way that people create imagery and content. Moving forwards, open AI is really going to propel the largest shift in tech that we’ve seen in a while because building AI into a tech concept or the future of one, is a good way to stay relevant.
It’s all about adapting for the future and changing to the requirements of the economy
With the state of the world at the moment, the days of investing in one singular country are over. Geo-political investing is the way forward to mitigate the risk across multiple countries and continents in order to rally against potential lockdowns, wars and inflations.
Everyone in business has to adapt though and of course we’re no exception. As the search for true and tested Founders continues we’ve adapted how we source and present Founders to investors with the release of our global Atlas Partner Programme and app. Now our tech venture partners around the world, can upload their tech founders to our selection process and if they pass then they’re put forward for demo days and inclusion on our app which is seen by investment leads. Everyone is looking for qualified deals, quickly, we knew ourselves that we’d have to adapt to push forwards and we’re excited to see where this goes.
I2023 will be the year for intermediaries to really push forward again because they will have the opportunity to take many more concepts at the earlier stage over to their investors and maintain deal flow on a geo-political, global basis.
Finance
Budgeting the unknown, forecasting the uncertain
Published
6 days agoon
March 25, 2023By
admin
Tarka Duhalde, Vice President, Financial Controller, IRIS Software Group
Volatility and uncertainty are still looming large. In late March the Bank of England raised interest rates from 4% to 4.25%. While many think interest rates will peak at 4.5% in Summer 2023, no one knows for sure. Likewise, no one knows what the price of fuel or the price of energy will be in six months, despite the UK not falling into a recession, as announced by the Chancellor in his Spring Budget.
Nevertheless, the high level of uncertainty will not disappear overnight, making the tasks of budgeting and forecasting even more difficult than they normally are, as there are simply so many unknown quantities at play. However, senior business leadership are continuously looking to their finance team for clarity – often asking them to generate accurate forecasts at a faster pace. In many ways, this request makes sense. After all, in a climate of uncertainty, who doesn’t want visibility?
However, generating multiple forecasts can put a lot of pressure on already-overworked finance teams. What’s more, when it comes to budgeting and forecasting, speed and accuracy can be at odds with each other. Too often, finance teams feel they have to choose between turning around an accurate forecast at a slower pace or a less accurate forecast at a quicker pace. Obviously, neither option is ideal.
That said, hope is not lost. If the right tools are in place, it is possible to turn around accurate forecasts at a rapid pace.
Eliminate guesswork and assumptions
Businesses and finance teams should want their forecasts to be as close to reality as possible. Yes, forecasts are about predicting the future, but they’re not magic, they’re science.

Tarka Duhalde
There are many ways to generate an accurate forecast, but the first step should always include cutting out wishful thinking, guesswork, and assumptions. If this isn’t done, businesses run the risk of inaccuracies. The ‘single truth’ is the goal and a wildly conservative forecast is just as incorrect as a wildly optimistic forecast.
Instead of relying on wishful thinking, guesswork, and assumptions, finance teams and businesses should base their forecasting on robust quantitative and qualitative techniques, including strong research, reliable data, and facts. As well as assessing the accuracy of previous budgets and forecasts, looking at the business’ historical data, checking the latest industry analysis, and seeing how the competition is doing. All of this will help get forecasts as close to reality as possible.
Embrace artificial intelligence
In addition, businesses should consider investing in automation, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning as the right tools will be less error-prone than humans. On top of this, they can help with eliminating conscious and unconscious bias and will spot data patterns finance teams cannot. They can also vastly reduce cycle times – freeing up team members’ time to focus on adding strategic value.
It is crucial to remember, the aim is not to replace employees with AI tools, rather the ultimate goal is for AI to work with people – helping to optimise the budgeting and forecasting process.
What’s more, the tools are only going to get more sophisticated as time goes on. Businesses and finance teams should seriously consider getting ahead of the curve and adopt these technologies sooner rather than later.
Adopt rolling forecasts
Instead of finance teams just generating a yearly static budget, they should also look to adopt rolling forecasts – ideally revisiting and reforecasting on a quarterly or even monthly basis. This will maximise visibility, giving leaders the crucial insight into how the business is performing in real time or near-real time, allowing more informed business decisions to be made. Especially in more uncertain times, it’s important to stay agile and rolling forecasts can facilitate this.
Whilst static budgets have their place, they cannot adapt to change. For example, if shortly after generating a budget, the business loses a major client or the wider economy takes a turn for the worse, the budget will already be out of date. However, rolling forecasts can adapt to change. In this way, they are more accurate and, by extension, more useful than static budgets.
Once a business is up and running, rolling forecasts can be highly efficient. What’s more, if AI and automation have already been embraced, there won’t be a need to sacrifice accuracy for speed.
If businesses and finance teams want to generate accurate budgets and forecasts during these uncertain times, they will need the right tools, the right strategy, and the right mindset. For maximum visibility, casting aside assumptions, embracing automation, and adopting rolling forecasts are three great places to start.
Top 10
5 Often-Overlooked Investment Options To Consider Exploring In 2023
Published
2 weeks agoon
March 17, 2023By
admin
When choosing what to invest in, many people will initially focus on the stock market which is considered a more mainstream investment. However, investments are more than stocks, and there is a wide range of alternative investments you can add to your portfolio to not only add growth to your long-term returns but also to spread the risk. If you’re looking to diversify your investments or if you simply want to get started with something different, this guide will cover the overlooked investment options that you should consider in 2023. From investing in EIS schemes and commercial property to commodities and collectables, there is plenty to discover.
EIS Schemes
One of the first on our list of overlooked investments is EIS investment opportunities, one of many flagship policies developed by the UK government to support early-stage companies. With an EIS investment, you would be helping to support businesses in exchange for various tax reliefs. Depending on your circumstances, this could include 30% income tax relief, tax-free gains, CGT deferral, loss relief, or inheritance tax relief. To understand more about investing in EIS schemes and their benefits, head over to Oxford Capital, to learn more.
Property Bonds
When property developers are looking to finance new commercial or residential projects, they typically do so with property bonds. These bonds are used to raise capital for the projects from investors and typically last for a fixed term, between two and five years. This form of investment is attractive due to the higher interest rates, ranging from 4% to 15%, offered in comparison to traditional government bonds, which generally perform at under 4%.
While there is a risk that the project could be abandoned due to external factors such as a rise in material costs, disruptions to supply, and a lack of finances, if the project goes to plan, you will see a return of your original investment as well as any interest accumulated. However, you can also opt to receive the interest payments monthly, quarterly, or annually throughout the course of the project, in which case, at the end of the project, your original investment will be returned with any leftover interest that has not yet been paid.
Commodities
The term commodity encompasses a variety of physical investments you can make. Unlike traditional investments such as stocks, bonds, or funds, these investments have both a use-value and an exchange value. This is because when you invest in commodities, you gain ownership over a small amount of the resource you are investing in. As there is always a need for physical goods, these commodities are an excellent way to diversify your investment portfolio and hedge against inflation, market changes, and the depreciating value of different currencies.
Some of the most common commodities you can invest in include:
- Gold.
- Agricultural products.
- Crude oil.
- Precious metals.
- Timber.
- Diamonds and other precious stones.
- Spices, sugar, and salt.
Commercial Property
When looking into properties to invest in, many people choose residential options as they can renovate and sell or rent these homes. However, as the property market can be particularly volatile, a great option when you want to invest in properties is to look to commercial options instead. When it comes to commercial property, there are many ways you can invest, and these include:
- Direct investment:This means buying a share or all of a property, which can then be rented out to businesses.
- Direct commercial property funds:Often referred to as bricks-and-mortar funds, this is the most popular way to invest in commercial property. With this fund, you invest into a scheme that invests directly into an existing portfolio of commercial properties, which pays out the interest of your investment monthly, quarterly, or annually.
- Indirect property funds:Similar to the direct commercial property fund, with this fund, you would invest in a collective investment scheme that invests in the shares of property companies in the stock market.
Peer-To-Peer Lending
Peer-to-peer lending is a risky venture where you would invest directly into start-up enterprises in order to help them get off the ground. It’s an excellent way to help small business owners get going with their dreams while also creating a lucrative investment. When you choose peer-to-peer lending, you loan the start-up a specific amount with the promise to pay back with interest. You can determine a timeline for this, or you can also choose to have the interest paid back monthly, quarterly, or annually.
However, as already mentioned, peer-to-peer lending is a risky venture, as the company you invest in could fail, and in that case, they would default on your loan. With this in mind, before you choose peer-to-peer lending, you should always thoroughly research the start-up’s fundamentals first, as this will give you a better insight into the viability of the business.
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