Early Exits – Your Golden Opportunity – Presented at ORIC in Kelowna June 18, 2009
This is a Golden Era for Entrepreneurs and Early Stage Investors
ORIC the Okanagan Research & Innovation Centre invited me to Kelowna to talk about early exits. This event was co-sponsored by Axel Partners.
Riiplay.tv did brilliant editing on this in full HD (high definition) video. I am also grateful to the team at Ezekiel Video in Kelowna who did a great job on the shoot.
Highlights of Early Exits – Your Golden Opportunity – Part 1:
- Entrepreneurs have complex motivations – why are you doing this?
- The truth about investors.
- The big news today is the large number of small exits.
- Most exits are under $20 million.
- Examples of great companies that sold for under $30 million.
- Why this is happening now. How early can you sell your company?
Highlights of Early Exits – Your Golden Opportunity – Part 2:
- Why you might not need investors. Your financing options.
- Bootstrap if you possibly can. New definitions for venture capital.
- Traditional Venture Capital is broken – but don’t worry.
- There is lots of capital available.
- The differences between angels and venture capital funds – it’s about exits.
- Why angel investors and entrepreneurs are better aligned.
- Entrepreneurs should chose angels or traditional VCs, but not both.
- Should your company should be financed by angel investors or VC funds?
Highlights of Early Exits – Your Golden Opportunity – Part 3:
- There is lots of venture capital available today.
- Why entrepreneurs need an exit strategy before they contact the first investors.
- Check the compatibility of the DNA before you add investors to your company.
- What needs to be in your exit strategy?
- The importance of building alignment on the exit strategy.
- Target an exit under $30 million.
- Summary of why early exits are today’s golden opportunity.
Many of these lessons are described in my new book on selling businesses for entrepreneurs and angel investors – www.Early-Exits.com.
If you enjoyed this video, you might also like Don’t Blow the Biggest Deal of Your Life, , or or this series on Maximizing Exit Value.
