Recent research shows that the CFO role is significantly undervalued in all stages of the startup cycle, with only 1 in 3 venture-stage companies in the UK having a CFO. Our experience is that a strong, properly incentivized and aligned CFO can make a big difference to the performance of a company a...

With the overall trend of tech companies staying private for longer, private share marketplaces are moving further into institutional trading, and even, according to Marc Andreessen* “the third configuration – beyond the false binary of simply private or public – is here.” This is the se...

If you have ever tried, as a technopreneur, to sell shares in your startup somewhere in its evolution through to exit, in order to increase personal liquidity, you will know the challenges. However, this is changing with more options emerging, such as marketplaces for the secondary sale of private s...

Stanford researchers have a warning for technopreneurs (and everyone else): Those video calls (and not just on the Zoom platform) are likely tiring you out. Their article provides tips for consumers and organisations on how to leverage the current features on videoconferences to decrease fatigue, wi...

Global cross-regional M&A deal volume declined for the fifth consecutive year, falling by 20% in 2020, mainly out of Asia-Pacific, driven by increased regulatory scrutiny, the need to localise supply chains and more recently by Covid-19 concerns, according to the newly-released Bain & Compan...

Whilst the latest insurance industry data shows a very tough 2020, with an overall reduction in Gross Written Premiums of 8% and losses at unprecedented levels, we believe that there has never been a better time to raise capital for Insurtech deals. Attending a family office investment event last ye...

The conventional investment thinking is that strategics are great for exits, but not ideal for early stage investment. However, it may well be the best investment solution, depending on the technopreneur’s goals, the type of strategic investor, the reason why the investor would like to invest, and...

This question prompted a holiday season re-read of boo hoo (a dot.com story from concept to catastrophe), to re-discover what mistakes were made in the dot.com era, and whether they are being repeated today. It was jaw-dropping to be reminded of what went on, but equally re-assuring that the startup...

The consolidation in the payments industry has proceeded apace in 2020 with regional and even global consolidation, where the highly digital nature of payments makes a grand case for building scale and efficiencies, and broadening services beyond pure payments. However, consolidations in this catego...

Building a media profile for your startup over time forms a solid basis for establishing strategic relationships, selling and generating leads, increasing the brand value (and thus even the enterprise valuation), and increasing success in capital raising (as per our article earlier this year). Whil...