[ Date Index ] [ Thread Index ] [ <= Previous by date / thread ] [ Next by date / thread => ]
Aaron Trevena wrote: > > Also read James Dyson's book for more about how VC in the UK was > bloody awful - he had a good idea, minimal risk and couldn't secure VC > or Bank loans and like pretty much anyone who has succeded in > kick-starting a business in the UK had to borrow heavily against his > home and invest every penny and moment he had. I think Aaron must have had very bad experiences somewhere.... I did significant work for 3 venture capital backed ventures, two new UK businesses, and 1 established US one. The US one did a lot better but I think was entirely down to being an established company at the core, with market share, clueful and experienced in house support and engineering. The venture largely fell down because of the demands of the VC, and focusing on the VC needs over those of key customers. One of the UK ones clearly was never going to succeed, it didn't require an MBA to workout it needed to obtain such a large share of the European market to recover the money invested, that it could never have succeeded. The other one was more plausible, and failed I suspect due to inadequate sales effort, and excessive ambitions. Perhaps the problem is the model described, it doesn't allow for slow steady growth, which is what most companies can hope for. They all wanted to be number one in huge, new and expanding markets, but with too many generals, and too few troops, and without offering those troops the kind of incentives that would make them do the near impossible. It also encourages those seeking funding to over promise, overstate the market, etc. I think with the US one, with a fifth of the money, and twice the imagination, I could have made the company a major player in its market. But it would have required smaller revenues for several years, and a few years ramping up the sales and services side. But it is very scary to see people with big sums of money, pouring it into things that are obviously never going to repay. -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html