Pre-IPO Investing
An initial public offer (IPO) is a method of selling securities wherein the entire lot of securities is offered for sale to the general public. An IPO is often used by companies when they want to sell their securities to smaller investment organizations and even retail investors. In the past few years, IPOs have seen […]
Pros and Cons of Bank Guarantees
In the previous article, we have already studied what bank guarantees are and how these bank guarantees are provided by a commercial bank as a value-added service to their corporate customers. We are also aware of the various types of bank guarantees as well as their purposes. In this article, we will understand some of […]
Confirmation Bias in Behavioral Finance
The vast majority of investors fail to perform well in the stock market because of behavioral and emotional reasons. The presence of financial knowledge or the lack of it does not make a huge difference. Instead, it is the behavioral biases that turn out to be the crucial deciding factor. Hence, it is imperative for […]
Who Uses Accounting Data ?
Financial reporting is used by a wide variety of users for a wide variety of purposes. For this reason it has been difficult to set a common framework of accounting. The many stakeholders often have contrasting needs from accounting information. Let’s look at the stakeholders and their need for accounting data: Capital Markets: Accounting information […]
Proprietary Ratio – Meaning, Assumptions and its Interpretation
The proprietary ratio is not amongst the commonly used ratios. Very few analysts prescribe its usage. This is because in reality it is the inverse of debt ratio. A higher debt ratio would imply a lower proprietary ratio and vice versa. Hence this ratio does not reveal any new information. Formula Proprietary Ratio = Total […]
The valuation of early-stage startups is a controversial topic. There is no widely agreed-upon valuation methodology that can be used to correctly value all early-stage start-ups. There are some valuation models which are more widely used as compared to the other models. However, there is no consensus and almost every investor has their own yardstick by which they value any startup.
It may not be possible to know the exact criteria which are used by investors to value any company. However, it is indeed possible for entrepreneurs to understand the mindset of early-stage investors. This is useful as entrepreneurs can pre-empt some of the concerns which are likely to be raised by investors. This helps them obtain funding on better terms.
In this article, we will try to explain the mindset which of investors as well as entrepreneurs when the topic of early-stage valuation is on the table.
It is important to understand that in most cases, the discussion between the entrepreneur and the investors has an adversarial undertone. This means that both parties perceive the negotiation to be a zero-sum game and want to maximize their gains at the expense of the other party. The entrepreneurs want to maximize their valuation whereas the investors want to pay the minimum possible amount to buy an equity stake. The problem is that an adversarial mindset creates a lot more problems.
When investors find an information gap in the pitch for investment, they generally factor in the worst possible outcome. After factoring in the worst, they provide a reduced valuation to the entrepreneur which is often not acceptable to them.
Hence, entrepreneurs may hide information to increase the valuation of their startup but might end up decreasing the value of the same. The best way to solve this problem is to ensure that both parties disclose the relevant information on time. This will help create an atmosphere of trust which can be considered to be a precursor to arriving at a fair valuation.
A lot of investors believe in the adage that profit is made when you buy not you sell. This is the reason that they try to buy at the lowest possible valuation. Also, many investors take the concept of valuation divergence into account and hence lower the price further.
Valuation divergence is defined as the difference between the valuation of the entire company and the valuation of the price of the shares owned by investors. This can be best understood with the help of an example:
If an investor invests in a company valued at $10 million and sells his or her shares when the company is valued at $150 million, they are unlikely to make 15× profit. This is despite the fact that the value of the firm has grown by 15×.
The investor is likely to have made a 5× return based on historical data. This generally happens because the stake of the investor gets watered down as the company goes on for further rounds of funding. This dilution of shares creates a disparity between the rate at which the company is growing and the rate at which the investor’s share is growing. This is called valuation divergence and it plays an important role in the thought process of the investors.
Angel investors and venture capital firms have a target rate of return which they are trying to achieve. It is common for investors to target anywhere between 4× to 8× over a 5 year period. This can also be expressed as an internal rate of return between 25% and 75%! It is important for entrepreneurs to be aware of this target rate of return.
It is also important for the entrepreneur to validate whether they can realistically provide this rate of return to the investors. This is because if they fail to deliver the required rate of return, the investors might cut funding to the project in the middle of the investment even though it may be delivering a lower level of profit. The expectations of the investors need to be understood and carefully managed.
The fact of the matter is that different investors have different points of view. Some of them believe in the growth story of a certain sector whereas others believe in the growth story of a certain country. It is the entrepreneur’s job to gauge the mindset of the investor and model their investment pitch to align with their philosophy.
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