Taurus Consulting
Methodology:
Taurus consulting exists to help companies and investors make the most of the products they have invested time and effort in.
Blogger mailto: info@taurus-consulting.co.uk
Methodology:
Blogger mailto: info@taurus-consulting.co.uk
Alexandra Willard Profile:
I founded a successful software business and designed the original software models which are now licensed to blue chip customers. I have assessed market potential and external and internal risks and have consulted with my team in order to determine a shared vision.
I have built winning management teams, executed a business plan and secured early game changing key accounts. I have built relationships with stakeholders at different levels from initial seed investors and later stage venture capitalists - to demanding international 'C' level customers.
I have operated in companies with very different cultures and sizes. I have worked in large corporate organisations and have also worked in small consultancies and in a start-up. I have managed large diverse teams and have led small agile organisations.
I have successfully led software development teams running Agile methodologies and have balanced rigid customer requirements with the inherent flexibility needed in bleeding edge development.
I am a trained manager and entrepreneur who has been challenged with aggressive time to market needs within tight budgets and stringent quality requirements.
Flagship customers who will say nice things about you in public.
You have to put clear blue water between yourselves and your nearest competitors.
Many young companies promise so much at the initial sales stage only to discover that their product quality does not meet the expectations of their customers. Quality problems are death to an early stage company because they soak up resource which could be used to great effect elsewhere – oh and it’s always the most senior people who have to take control of a serious quality issue.
In a early stage start-up, most things are done for expediency and for speed. Everyone likes a 'can-do' attitude. As the company grows things have to change… What are your trade offs – how do you evaluate risk. Who does what and why.
In order for a company to be successful it needs two things: scale and governance.
Can be improved by adding skilled non-executive directors to the board and by implementing good reporting processes. Financial governance is relatively straightforward in an early stage company. There will probably be insufficient transactions to make any financial audit complex. That said, an entrepreneurs' analysis of a set of accounts can be very revealing.
Scale is harder to assess and harder to improve. The ability to scale is determined by a number of factors:
Some of these elements such as size of market opportunity are critical. If the addressable market is very large compared with the projected sales in the business plan then that is reassuring. If the projected sales are large ( even 10% ) compared with the addressable market then there needs to be a great deal of evidence to suggest that sales figures can be achieved.
As investors you cannot be all things to all men, it makes sense to bring specialist expertise.
Blogger mailto: info@taurus-consulting.co.uk