Not only must you navigate an industry that is full of smoke and mirrors, confusing jargon and conflicts of interest, you must do so while attempting to keep your business running smoothly.
As an investor, I’ve seen the imbalance of knowledge between investors, advisors and entrepreneurs put too many businesses at a disadvantage. The unspoken reality is that identifying funding options, getting investment ready and surviving a process isn’t ground-breakingly difficult, it’s just unfamiliar.
While entrepreneurs are busy pushing the boundaries and disrupting their industries, the investment industry has remained largely unchanged for decades. Investors still use the same maths to value companies, the same terms to define the working relationship and the same approach to diligence the books.
It’s not as clever as we like to think it is, and if we were only willing to share this expertise, we would give many more businesses the confidence and tools to step forward.
In an industry where first impressions are critical and quick judgements are made, this would also make our lives, as investors, so much easier. Businesses should get a “yes” or a “no” for the right reasons, and only by getting entrepreneurs and investors speaking the same language can we be sure that something hasn’t been lost in communication.
Here at Capitalex we aim to correct this imbalance. We are a team of experienced current and former investors that have pulled together our collective knowledge of the fundraising landscape – drawn from our experience of investing hundreds of millions into UK SMEs.
By making the industry an open book, we hope to encourage and empower more business owners to successfully raise funding and deliver their ambitions.
