Innovation Guru

Articles

Planet of Loving Creators

People move – intangible assets do not.

I recently lost a lot of money in a single private equity investment. I was backing the people – a serial entrepreneur with an outstanding track-record, a world class CFO and a group of savvy investors. I had classified it at the lower risk end of my investments.

Successful Startup

Startup Founding Team

Venturepreneurial Team

Milestone Chart

I underestimated the potential for conflict at Board level and the risk to the business if/when the entrepreneur departed. The business was established and had an exciting vision for the future. Entrepreneurs are problem-solvers and can pivot when things don’t go according to plan but the entrepreneur was no longer there.

Accountants find pivoting difficult and their natural instinct is to cut costs……. and so the downward spiral begins.

How To Market an Innovative Product

Be Creative

But established businesses should have intangible assets and even if everything turns to custard there are always the trademarks, the patents, the relationships, the customer databases, the location advantages etc., right? Not in this case. The business did not think about their intangible assets and did not understand that managing them creates options and that options have value.