December 10, 2020

LFP169 – A Serial Entrepreneur’s Guide To Fund-Raising w/Peter Keenan CEO Apexx Global

42 minutes

Capital-raising is an absolutely core-skill for entrepreneurs and their growing businesses – and every tech business de facto needs to grow (margins low and intense competition).

Peter Keenan, CEO and co-founder of merchants-payments provider Apexx Global, has raised capital in a total of five companies and thus talks to us from a position of considerable personal experience.

Most capital raisings most of the time for most companies are challenging processes. Thus all can benefit from hearing experiences and case studies – whether one has never done it, or whether one has done it many times.

Topics discussed include:

Arsenal football club

Irish school ball games

Peter’s career journey and breadth of business experience

Peter’s experience of many differently-funded businesses

there is not one route of raising funds – it varies between different types of business

how it works from day 1 – sweat equity and dividing the company ownership between founders

the perversity of employee equity schemes in fast-growing companies

Case Study re founding Apexx and how it worked out in the early days including initial raise

early market feedback before raising from initial investors

initial investors are backing the people as well as a initially market-validated plan

the importance of key milestones in getting to the next raise and creating confidence

super-important – how on earth to approach the question of what price to sell x% of the company in such early days??

Case Study thereof

“naughty Angels” – caveat founder

the importance to experienced Angels and VCs of the founders having enough skin in the game – even in later rounds

this is vital especially in times of pain and difficulty – need founders lashed to the mast

how to avoid being fleeced in early days – how Peter solves that challenge

how to value your company when it’s super-young

the importance in NewCos and also the biggest Cos in the world of “valuation” meets “marketplace” – this process key

the importance of “leading” the market to a valuation

how many potential funders does Peter approach in an early raise?

having got the initial marker you look for at least 100% growth in the valuation p.a. every year after that

“going in cold to Angels is very hard”

the importance of using one’s network and warm introductions

the importance of finding Angels/funders who understand your sector – “get an Angel who really understands your sector and [if they are on-side] then you are off to the races”

lead Angels kicking tyres and their networks

the value of someone on your Board with capital-raising experience

the importance of employee share-schemes in retaining and incentivising key staff

how this relates to easing internal management/team decisions – “does it make the boat go faster?”

where to go as a noob if you have no idea about employee share schemes

non-tech businesses and their very different funding profiles/approaches

VC’s are only relevant to certain types of business

VC’s modus operendi and how that affects their investing strategy

strategic partners and the many complexities they bring – pros and cons

the law of unintended consequences

keeping the partner interested

getting traction can be fart harder within your mega partner – internal dynamics in MegaCo and how they generally operate

expectations/outcomes

governments as a source of funds – increasingly due to the huge increase in the State seen in 2020

pros and cons of State grants

EU grants

timescales can be very long

“Apexx Global – a payment gateway that connects large global e-commerce businesses [in 5 markets or more] into multiple payment acquirers”

independent of any acquirer, connected to over 100 acquirers around the world, route payments to the best acquirer thus reducing fees and increasing acceptance rates

“we can improve conversion rates by about 5% and lower your costs by about 20%”

how their service works in practice

founded in 2016 and have 75 staff split between London and India

And much much more

Share and enjoy!

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By Tony Clark

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