Intro Video Transcript

Valuation Analysis - Venture Capital Method By Peter Freeman Brought to you by Illumeo learning Hello, this is Peter Freeman, and I’ll be speaking to you on behalf of Illumeo learning. To discuss the Valuation Analysis Method for Venture Capital; Valuating and determining the value of an asset is a key business issue that comes up in a lot of different contacts. Now this is especially important in considering an investment in a start-up or an early stage company by a venture capitalist, angel investor or private equity investor. It’s also important for the entrepreneur seeking capital, the seller as well as the buyer and the investors. A venture capital is typically exchanged for an ownership in an enterprise, and the key to the structure, the deal, will include the valuation of the entrepreneur’s business. And this of course comes up when a successful new enterprise grows so that it does need outside capital where the firm and entrepreneur will seek funding from a venture capital in exchange for a partial ownership interest in a firm. So we’ll be examining those in quite a lot of detail throughout this course. So when negotiating the amount of ownership that’s received for the investment, a critical question is the value of the firm or the enterprise. And as you’ll see, this will drive in many ways the way that the transaction or the deal for the investment is structured, involving give and take between the two parties; the Investor and the company seeking funding, the entrepreneur. The Venture Capital Valuation Method • When a successful new enterprise grows so that it needs outside capital, the entrepreneur will often seek funding from a venture capital firm in exchange for partial ownership of the firm. • In negotiating the amount of ownership received for the investment, a critical question is the value of the firm or enterprise. So, looking at the question of value we will see: • This depends on the evaluation of the firm’s future prospects, stage of development, desired rate of return to the investor and other factors. So, we’ll be going over these step by step and in a fair amount of detail so that you can understand how the Venture Capital Valuation Method can be applied. So now I’m going to give you an overview of the topics that we’ll be covering in this course. I’m taking you through step by step: The Venture Capital Valuation Method Overview Apply valuation methods used by Venture Capital and other private investors to early stage companies – start-ups seeking funding. 1. The method requires two primary inputs – estimated future cash flows and an appropriate discount rate. So what we will see is that the future cash flows basically represent the anticipating economic benefits or the return to the investor that will be provided by the early stage company, the entrepreneur that’s seeking capital. That in turn will be combined with the appropriate discount rate or the investor’s desired rate of return and those are the two primary metrics or inputs that we’re going to be applying in this course to come up with the valuations for early stage companies. We’ll also be looking at: 2. Cash flow projection methods will be reviewed for early stage companies. Review this, as they will apply to entrepreneurial ventures or early stage companies. This is in many ways fairly similar to the same kind of methodology that’s used for valuations of other companies, both public and private. But you know, we will look at this in the particular setting for an early stage company or a start-up because it does present some differences that we want to take into consideration in the application of the valuation method that we’re going to be examining. So the next topic that we’re going to examine is: 3. The Discount rate or required rate of return will be thoroughly examined. The second of the two primary inputs that are applied in this Venture Capital Valuation Method, we will examine this very thoroughly because like the cash flow projections, it’s one of the fundamental inputs and is different in many respects from what you may be used to seeing in other kinds of valuation methods, particularly for public companies. It is in many ways similar as you’ll see it represents required or anticipated rate of return to investors but we do find again that it is somewhat different for early stage companies, and we’ll thoroughly examine this so that you can get a pretty solid understanding of how it can be applied for Venture Capital investments. 4. Using these key parameters, the valuation method can be applied in step-wise fashion Then by using these two key parameters, the cash flows and the discount rate will show how the valuation method can be applied. Taking it step by step to walk you through the process so that you can gain a very good understanding of how this can be applied. 5. The concepts of pre-money and post-money value are presented We’ll also present two other very important concepts the “pre-money and post-money” value for early stage companies. This is something you’ll see is very fundamental to Venture Capital Investments and these two concepts Pre-money and Post-money are ways in which the methodology is applied. So, we’ll present this so that you can see how this is an integral part of the Venture Capital Valuation Method. 6. An example will show the calculations in detail And because we will show an example of these calculations in detail so that you can see how it’s applied and examine it so that we so that we gain a real thorough understanding 7. Refinements to the deal structure are examined, stage financing and alternate types of securities And, after we work through the example in detail, we’re going to then turn to some refinements in the deal structure. In particular, stage financing and alternate types of securities. There are certainly opportunities to make refinements in the deal structures, not a case of one size fits all. These two examples, doing financing in stages or more than one phase, and to also look at some alternate types of securities in a preferred stock in particular. So that you can expand your understanding of the Venture Capital Method, as it’s applied in as broad a perspective as might be beneficial and represent what I consider to be very much a real-world kind of application of this methodology. 8. Some practical negotiating points, a real-world perspective, is included And finally, I will give you some practical negotiating points a real-world perspective included in the course. You know, I tell you I am both an investor and angel investor myself as well as an entrepreneur that does have considerable experience in raising funds for early stage companies and to apply the Venture Capital Valuation in negotiating and structuring the transactions that I have been involved with. So, I’ll give you some information from my perspective that I hope will be both relevant and useful in something that you’ll be able to take away and apply in your own situations that can be both, from the investor’s side or from the entrepreneur’s side, someone who is seeking to raise capital and really believe that what we’re showing here should be equally useful looking at it from the two different points of view.