Helping businesses to raise finance from Venture Capital Funds or Business Angels we spend a lot of time with management working out how best to get the message across, and how to get that WOW factor into the executive summary which will hopefully catch the attention of the VCs.    Then perhaps they'll read the business plan.   Assuming they read their emails or answer the phone once in a while.

Just as important is what not to say.    Never say "All we have to do is get 1% of the market".

Guy Kawasaki puts this well calling it the Chinese soda analogy.  "If a company can get just 1% of the people in China to drink its soda, it'll be selling a ton of soda. This is true. At the same time, it glosses over the difficulty of getting 1% of any market to use a particular product".

He also points out that investors really want to back companies to get a significant, and therefore defensible and valuable share of a market.  99% would be good, but even 30 -50% builds real value.  1% just looks threatened.

More info on oneof the deals mentioned in my last post.  Perceptions 2000 acquired Bury St Edmunds based design consultancy KWD with funding from The Royal Bank of Scotland.

Perceptions is a corporate communications business with large blue chip customers like French Connection for whom it designed their annual report shown here, Hannover Life Re, Unilever, Isotron, API Group, Encore Management SA, and The General Medical Council.

KWD is a long established ISO accredited design consultancy providing Corporate & brand communications, Financial report design, Packaging & technical illustration, Website & e-media

The two businesses have worked closely together for over 6 years and are well known to each other.

We worked with Gordon Murray, Managing Director of Perceptions on all stages of the purchase from negotiation through to funding.  It is a great fit for them both geographically and in terms of their range of services.  Val Dring and Paul Marks at The Royal Bank of Scotland who helped to deliver the financing package for the transaction, and Clive Wadham-Smith of Kester Cunningham John did the legal work.

A plug for some up and coming music events that I'm performing in.

20th May a concert with the Balsham Singers, amongst other things Durufle Requiem and Schubert Mass in G.   In the church at Balsham Saturday 20th May.  Just to prove that I sing some "proper" music on occasion.

I'm performing Frederick in Pirates of Penzance with Swaffham Bulbeck Summer Theatre 8th to 10th June.  Lots of great music and swords too! Venue is a victorian grain barn which miraculously converts to a theatre for the occasion. This is the company's 25th anniversary production so expect some good special effects.   Alas its also the last year in this fantastic venue as it is to become housing over the next year.