Malcolm Evans in his excellent blog - Corporate Finance North West - has made a great point. And so I have popped it below.He was chatted about:
"the seemingly endless overhang of investment funds in the region – VC, PE, mezzanine, banks saying they want to lend, the RGF, the BGF……goodness you’d think that potential growth companies could gorge themselves in a region flowing in milk and honey. (Not something we have seen at goAugmented - the independent Augmented reality development company I have been working with.)
Somehow, through, all this seems to work like the amusement arcade penny falls – money accumulates and accumulates but precious little of it ever seems to tumble out.
And I am absolutely convinced about what is going on – it is a situation which has long been evident but which has been radically heightened post-Credit Crunch.
Just about all of the tides of capital are looking to drip feed super-performance. By this I mean that they will only cherry pick the prospect of exceptional returns over relatively short periods. That disqualifies the vast majority of the business world, which I categorise as performance. I would estimate that some 2% of the SME market comprises super-performance and 98% performance.
Just as debt is an inappropriate funding vehicle for financing the development effort of a pre-revenue digital startup, so venture capital will also likely be inappropriate for replacing plant within a long-established componetry supplier embedded deeply within multi-national supply chains.
There are many such subtleties – and, indeed, thousands of funding applications out there that are sheer rubbish! But the trend is that just about everything sub the bottom end of super-performance, or at least the very top end of performance, is too often no longer getting a look-in.
We have become very poor capitalists – possibly the worst at any time since the Industrial Revolution. State initiatives tend to end up mired in the “mushy middle” of public sector bodies which appear more and more to be creeping back to swallow up cash, if, for that matter, many of them actually went away in the first place.
The banks have decidedly – and often by their own admission – undergone a revised risk profiling. Whilst the question used to be “is this business and this person capable of repaying this loan”, lending assessment has now entered the realms of super-performance. Just being good enough in business to service loans is no longer deemed good enough. But performance is enough – it is what makes the economy go round. The banks don’t do this very much anymore – we need to find ways in which performance is validated with appropriate investment.
We need new funding mechanisms – and we need to be precise, practical and determined about it. There was talk today about regional business investment banks.
That’s great – but we will need to be extremely vigilant and determined lest all the investment money continues just to feed the penny falls operators."
Myself I am wondering if Malcolm has every heard of the likes of USA crowdfunding portal Kickstarter which seems to be doing rather well.
It is interesting what this all might mean for finance. As Fred Wilson from America rightly points out here... in Gigacom.
And I think it is this crowdfunding route I am going to go down with for my next venture in mobile marketing - Massmob - a platform for mobile game developers for the business to business market place.
The question is.... is it a good idea?
Showing posts with label goaugmented. Show all posts
Showing posts with label goaugmented. Show all posts
Tuesday, 3 July 2012
Monday, 21 May 2012
I just returned from SAScon. And met with some very cool and clever people.
I just returned from SAScon. And met with some very cool and clever people (and some fools too)
The below are comments from a former rather than latter i.e. a clever person - called Barry Adams who is the senior internet marketer for search at Pierce Communications in Belfast.
When he’s not helping his clients achieve online world domination, he writes blogs for State of Search and Search News Central as well as the occassional rant on his own blog www.BarryAdams.co.uk
Here are his SAScon Six…
Don’t follow hypes
Whenever you read about the latest app, new social website, or exciting new technology to hit the internet, always put things in perspective before you eagerly jump on the bandwagon.
Put your client first
The first thing you should be contemplating whenever you want to use a new channel or tactic is ‘what’s in it for the client’? Never do something just for the sake of doing it, even if it’s the hip & trendy thing to do.
Distrust industry ‘thought leaders’
The people who are most famous in any industry – especially SEO and social – are usually the ones that have a vested interest in being and staying famous. That means they usually have something to sell. Keep their commercial interests in mind whenever you read expert advice, and you’ll soon be able to spot the gaps in their logic.
Try stuff out
Don’t just use tried & tested methods. Don’t stick to ‘best practices’ because someone else told you to. Try stuff out – preferably on test sites rather than client properties – and see for yourself what works and what doesn’t.
Break the mould
Following the rules religiously is rarely the most effective method for achieving success. The biggest winners are those that are willing to do things differently.
Get drunk
Or, more specifically, get industry veterans drunk. Catch them at a post-conference social event and buy them a few beers. Chances are they’ll share interesting tidbits with you that would otherwise never be shared. ;)
The below are comments from a former rather than latter i.e. a clever person - called Barry Adams who is the senior internet marketer for search at Pierce Communications in Belfast.
When he’s not helping his clients achieve online world domination, he writes blogs for State of Search and Search News Central as well as the occassional rant on his own blog www.BarryAdams.co.uk
Here are his SAScon Six…
Don’t follow hypes
Whenever you read about the latest app, new social website, or exciting new technology to hit the internet, always put things in perspective before you eagerly jump on the bandwagon.
Put your client first
The first thing you should be contemplating whenever you want to use a new channel or tactic is ‘what’s in it for the client’? Never do something just for the sake of doing it, even if it’s the hip & trendy thing to do.
Distrust industry ‘thought leaders’
The people who are most famous in any industry – especially SEO and social – are usually the ones that have a vested interest in being and staying famous. That means they usually have something to sell. Keep their commercial interests in mind whenever you read expert advice, and you’ll soon be able to spot the gaps in their logic.
Try stuff out
Don’t just use tried & tested methods. Don’t stick to ‘best practices’ because someone else told you to. Try stuff out – preferably on test sites rather than client properties – and see for yourself what works and what doesn’t.
Break the mould
Following the rules religiously is rarely the most effective method for achieving success. The biggest winners are those that are willing to do things differently.
Get drunk
Or, more specifically, get industry veterans drunk. Catch them at a post-conference social event and buy them a few beers. Chances are they’ll share interesting tidbits with you that would otherwise never be shared. ;)
Tuesday, 20 September 2011
How do we create a company people want to work in?
More than 100 studies have now found that the most engaged employees — those who report they're fully invested in their jobs and committed to their employers — are significantly more productive, drive higher customer satisfaction and outperform those who are less engaged.
But only 20 per cent of employees around the world report that they're fully engaged at work.
Which for me is scary as I love what I do for a living - it would be nicer if I was a multi millionaire as well - but I geniunely / usually love what I do.
But for others this is not the case - so what's the solution?
Where is the win-win for employers and employees?
The answer is that great employers must shift the focus from trying to get more out of people, to investing more in them by addressing their four core needs — physical, emotional, mental and spiritual — so they're freed, fueled and inspired to bring the best of themselves to work every day.
It's common sense. Fuel people on a diet that lacks essential nutrients and it's no surprise that they'll end up undernourished, disengaged and unable to perform at their best.
Our first need is enough money to live decently, but even at that, we cannot live by bread alone.
Think for a moment about what would make you feel most excited to get to work in the morning, and most loyal to your employer. The sort of company I have in mind would:
Commit to paying every employee a living wage.
Give all employees a stake in the company's success, in the form of profit sharing, or stock options, or bonuses tied to performance.
Design working environments that are safe, comfortable and appealing to work in. In offices, include a range of physical spaces that allow for privacy, collaboration, and simply hanging out.
Provide healthy, high quality food, at the lowest possible prices, including in vending machines.
Create places for employees to rest and renew during the course of the working day and encourage them to take intermittent breaks.
Ideally, leaders would permit afternoon naps, which fuel higher productivity in the several hours that follow.
Offer a well equipped gym and other facilities that encourage employees to move physically and stay fit. Provide incentives for employees to use the facilities, including during the work day as a source of renewal.
Define clear and specific expectations for what success looks like in any given job. Then, treat employees as adults by giving them as much autonomy as possible to choose when they work, where they do their work, and how best to get it accomplished.
Institute two-way performance reviews, so that employees not only receive regular feedback about how they're doing, in ways that support their growth, but are also given the opportunity to provide feedback to their supervisors, anonymously if they so choose, to avoid recrimination.
Hold leaders and managers accountable for treating all employees with respect and care, all of the time, and encourage them to regularly recognize those they supervise for the positive contributions they make.
Create policies that encourage employees to set aside time to focus without interruption on their most important priorities, including long-term projects and more strategic and creative thinking.
Ideally, give them a designated amount of time to pursue projects they're especially passionate about and which have the potential to add value to the company.
Provide employees with ongoing opportunities and incentives to learn, develop and grow, both in establishing new job-specific hard skills, as well as softer skills that serve them well as individuals, and as managers and leaders.
Stand for something beyond simply increasing profits. Create products or provide services or serve causes that clearly add value in the world, making it possible for employees to derive a sense of meaning from their work, and to feel good about the companies for which they work.
This is what we are trying to do with goAugmented - a leading augmented reality design company based in Manchester. But it's hard to be all the above and a start up at the same time. As Tony Schwartz, who wrote the article and Be Excellent at Anything says:
"In more than a decade of working with Fortune 500 companies, I've yet to come across a company that meets the full range of their people's needs in all the ways I've described above. The one that comes closest is Google. I'm convinced it's a key to their success."
We want to be like Google - which is why we have bright colours ;) Seriously
But other to you how does your company measure up?
What's the impact on your performance?
Which needs would your company have to meet for you to be more fully engaged?
But only 20 per cent of employees around the world report that they're fully engaged at work.
Which for me is scary as I love what I do for a living - it would be nicer if I was a multi millionaire as well - but I geniunely / usually love what I do.
But for others this is not the case - so what's the solution?
Where is the win-win for employers and employees?
The answer is that great employers must shift the focus from trying to get more out of people, to investing more in them by addressing their four core needs — physical, emotional, mental and spiritual — so they're freed, fueled and inspired to bring the best of themselves to work every day.
It's common sense. Fuel people on a diet that lacks essential nutrients and it's no surprise that they'll end up undernourished, disengaged and unable to perform at their best.
Our first need is enough money to live decently, but even at that, we cannot live by bread alone.
Think for a moment about what would make you feel most excited to get to work in the morning, and most loyal to your employer. The sort of company I have in mind would:
Commit to paying every employee a living wage.
Give all employees a stake in the company's success, in the form of profit sharing, or stock options, or bonuses tied to performance.
Design working environments that are safe, comfortable and appealing to work in. In offices, include a range of physical spaces that allow for privacy, collaboration, and simply hanging out.
Provide healthy, high quality food, at the lowest possible prices, including in vending machines.
Create places for employees to rest and renew during the course of the working day and encourage them to take intermittent breaks.
Ideally, leaders would permit afternoon naps, which fuel higher productivity in the several hours that follow.
Offer a well equipped gym and other facilities that encourage employees to move physically and stay fit. Provide incentives for employees to use the facilities, including during the work day as a source of renewal.
Define clear and specific expectations for what success looks like in any given job. Then, treat employees as adults by giving them as much autonomy as possible to choose when they work, where they do their work, and how best to get it accomplished.
Institute two-way performance reviews, so that employees not only receive regular feedback about how they're doing, in ways that support their growth, but are also given the opportunity to provide feedback to their supervisors, anonymously if they so choose, to avoid recrimination.
Hold leaders and managers accountable for treating all employees with respect and care, all of the time, and encourage them to regularly recognize those they supervise for the positive contributions they make.
Create policies that encourage employees to set aside time to focus without interruption on their most important priorities, including long-term projects and more strategic and creative thinking.
Ideally, give them a designated amount of time to pursue projects they're especially passionate about and which have the potential to add value to the company.
Provide employees with ongoing opportunities and incentives to learn, develop and grow, both in establishing new job-specific hard skills, as well as softer skills that serve them well as individuals, and as managers and leaders.
Stand for something beyond simply increasing profits. Create products or provide services or serve causes that clearly add value in the world, making it possible for employees to derive a sense of meaning from their work, and to feel good about the companies for which they work.
This is what we are trying to do with goAugmented - a leading augmented reality design company based in Manchester. But it's hard to be all the above and a start up at the same time. As Tony Schwartz, who wrote the article and Be Excellent at Anything says:
"In more than a decade of working with Fortune 500 companies, I've yet to come across a company that meets the full range of their people's needs in all the ways I've described above. The one that comes closest is Google. I'm convinced it's a key to their success."
We want to be like Google - which is why we have bright colours ;) Seriously
But other to you how does your company measure up?
What's the impact on your performance?
Which needs would your company have to meet for you to be more fully engaged?
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