Financiers decode business plans, looking for the secrets of probable success. If yours shows a customer-driven opportunity that your company’s talent, passion and skin in the game can actually pull off, they’re more likely to be impressed.
When cash flow turned positive and profits started coming in, the co-founder of an Internet start-up sought his advisory board’s approval for new expenses. What he got was a barrage of questions: “Where are next year’s projections? What’s your mission statement?” As the business grew, the board made sure it stayed on track financially, raising prices as well as morale. And when the company was acquired, everybody cashed in.
Small and growing companies are discovering lucrative new markets abroad. Developing countries are importing products, tech know-how and system support and offering franchising, licensing and distribution opportunities. If your company is expanding abroad, you need to know what you’re getting into.
Founding a business was so much fun for three Harvard juniors that they did it several times–until they found something that worked. They begged, bartered and borrowed resources, with a little help from their folks. And, because they knew their industry and added value as managers, they grew their temp agency for Web professionals into a permanent, international leader.
Businesses become more valuable when they have certain characteristics that add up to strategic advantages in the marketplace. Regardless of a company’s ultimate objective–growth, acquisition or IPO–its owners can create, maximize and sustain value by driving it toward those characteristics. A management consultant explains the tools of his trade and reminds readers that price and value are not identical. Some factors, such as growth, are industry-specific, which is why new-economy companies and their stocks are fetching such extraordinary prices.