Business Direction

To Fail to Plan is to Plan to Fail!      

Without knowing where you are now, where you want to be in the future and how you are going to get there your business will struggle to succeed.  Setting out your business goals and driving the business to achieve them is essential from day 1. 

Our Business Direction team provides hands on assistance with key internal issues such as:

  • Intellectual Property
  • Company Structure and people
  • Business Planning
  • Finding investors and raising investment


INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

  • What have you got and how do you protect it? 
  • What value does it have with regard to market lead and barriers to entry for competitors?
  • How will potential investors view the intrinsic value of your IP?
Intellectual Property is the most valuable commodity that you have.  It is what gives your business value and provides the competitive edge that will help you secure market share.  Knowing how to protect it and use it's business value to your advantage is critical.

In addition to our in-house knowledge and expertise in this area, VisionMatch works with a number of professional Intellectual Property consultants and Patent Lawyers who can advise and help you secure your IP through patents, both regional and global.  Before you do anything you should make sure your idea is protected - it is not as complex or as expensive as you might think!


COMPANY STRUCTURE AND PEOPLE
  • Has your team got experience in all the required business disciplines?
  • Team Dynamics - how will your team work together especially under pressure?
  • How do you set up a company and what is the right company structure for you?
  • Legal and Shareholder issues - get it right now or you will have problems when you come to raise Private Equity finance.
  • Gap analysis - what skills don't you have and how can they be filled cost effectively?  Should you recruit or contract?
Your company and the people that work for it are the second most important commodity in your business.  Investors don't invest in a good idea.  Investors invest in the people that they believe can take a good idea and turn it into a good business.  Having the right mix of skills and experience is vital to any management team and identifying what skills you need for your business is key.

In addition to our in-house knowledge and experience of setting up and running a technology business, VisionMatch works with a number of professional Human Resources specialists who can get into real detail about all of the people issues that you will have to address.  Investors invest in people not technology and the people issues are the most critical ones you will face in the first stages of commercialisation.


BUSINESS PLANNING
  • What are the key elements of the Business Plan?
  • Who is responsible for the Business Plan?
  • How do you prepare a realistic Business Plan for potential investors?
  • How do you avoid all of the classic mistakes in Business Planning?
  • Getting the right level of detail.
  • How do you know if you are "on track"?
This area is key especially when seeking Private Equity finance.  Without one there is no chance of raising money.  Having one is no guarantee of raising money but having the right document will maximise your chances of success.

VisionMatch has vast experience of preparing Business Plans for investors and we can make this experience available to help you maximise your own chances.  Don't underestimate the time and effort that you will have to put into it - it has to be YOUR Business Plan.  VisionMatch will help reduce the time and effort in getting it right.


FINDING INVESTORS AND RAISING INVESTMENT
  • Where do you find sources of Private Equity Investment and how can you get in front of them?
  • What are investors expecting and how are you expected to meet those expectations?
  • Getting the message and the pitch to investors RIGHT.  You are selling them your BUSINESS not your PRODUCT so the whole sales message is different.
  • How do you value your business?  Investors want valuations low whereas you want your valuation high.  How do you get it right?
Almost every business needs some financial help to get started.  For new high technology companies one of the best routes is through Private Equity finance.  There are a number of Business Angel investment groups providing both private and matched government investment funds specifically for technology commercialisation.  They are backed by high net worth private investors who are keen to add high risk, high return technology investments into their portfolio.

At VisionMatch we have first hand experience of securing Private Equity Finance from business angels and Venture capital sources and we can bring this experience to bear in your own quest for early stage funding and subsequent funding rounds to help you build a successful business.

For more information on Business Direction email info@visionmatch.co.uk