ENABLING SCALE-UPS SCALE, TURBOCHARGE YOUR GROWTH, COO / CFO / CTO ON DEMAND,ENTER NEW MARKETS
ARE YOU A 'SCALE-UP'?
Have you raised Series A+ funding or have $1m revenues?
Need to grow fast in the UK, US or Emerging Markets?
Want to win larger and more complex contracts?
Need to improve your controls, IT infrastructure, operations?
Need to hire, train and incentivise top talent?
ABOUT US
EXPAND Venture is your partner to scale your business. You give us a ‘pain point’ in your business, we ‘own’ it for period of time, and step back when it is solved or when we have recruited or trained your team how to manage it going forward.
We are operators who ‘get’ your sector, ‘have been there, done that’ with scaling similar businesses. We don’t just write glossy reports – we roll up our sleeves and make things happen.
We share the risks and rewards with you. We typically take a small retainer, and success-based fee / equity when we deliver results. We also may co-invest in your business.
HOW DO WE ADD VALUE?
EXPAND OPERATORS
EXPAND Venture partners with you to act as COO/ CFO/ CTO/ CMO/ CRO/ Operator ‘ON DEMAND’. You give us a ‘pain point’ (or two or three), we ‘own’ it for period of time, and step back when it is solved or when we have recruited and / or trained your team how to manage it going forward.
WIN LARGER CONTRACTS
– Sharpen up your sales pitch, sales approach and sales cycle
– Train your salesforce in confident & professional selling to raise their game when talking to larger clients
– Identify, structure and win new large clients and partnerships
– Commercial and legal structuring & negotiations
TALENT – FIND, TRAIN & INCENTIVISE
– Implement equity stock option schemes
– Implement ‘right’ bonus structures for different teams
– Get ‘Google’ factor – so that the right people want to work for you
– Find and hire the right talent
– Train your people to give them the skillset to scale
– Nearshore or offshore parts of your operations
OPERATIONS & IT
– IT Infrastructure, security PCI compliance
– CRM and BSS selection and implementation
– Write and implement operational plan
– Write and implement processes, practices and policies
– Find and relocate to larger office & negotiate lease
– Prep for regulatory licenses (e.g. with FCA)
– Set up companies including offshore structures
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
– Business plan, P&L & cashflow projections & management
– KPIs / metrics – define and track
– Define and put financial controls
– Appoint auditors / prepare for company’s audit
– Implementing governance structures
BROADER FUNDING OPTIONS
– Prepare you for the next funding round
– Negotiating commercial terms with VC / PE firms
– Communicating with your VC / PE partners
– Tap into wider funding options
– We have also invested in our client businesses ourselves.
EXPAND CROSS-BORDER
We take international companies to the UK (or vice versa) from zero to full launch in 45 days.
We help you validate the market, localise your app / website / service, coordinate your product launch, do business and operational plan. We recruit and train your team, base them at our office, set up subsidiary, introduce you to trusted stakeholders and enterprises, get you to win the first customer, and remain as partner for your ‘scale-up’.
MARKET ASSESSMENT & VALIDATION
– For international companies – identify top European markets and vice versa
– Targeted market assessment and validation
LOCALISE YOUR PRODUCT
– Localise your product or service for the market – app, website, branding, sales proposition, translation
LAUNCH IN 45 DAYS
– Launch your product across Europe in 45 days – we take international companies to the UK (or vice versa) from zero to full launch in 45 days, then for example to Germany and Poland within weeks
– Expand further in Latin America, Eastern Europe, China and / or India through our trusted network ‘on the ground’
– Coordinated product launch, business and operational plan, marketing plan, launch plan, event and PR
FULL SUPPORT IN RECRUITMENT, TRAINING AND INFRASTRUCTURE
– Recruit and train your team
– Office space and supporting infrastructure – from local landline number and broadband from day one – to trusted accountant, tax advisor and lawyers who can support the team
GET PLUGGED IN THE ECOSYSTEM AND START WINNING CONTRACTS
– Introduce you to trusted stakeholders and enterprises, join your sales at meetings to make sure they are successful
– Plug you into the ecosystem in the country and shout from the rooftops about your business
PORTFOLIO
We focus solely on “scale-up” companies, who have typically already raised funding or are already generating significant revenues, and need to scale to the next level, increase their teams, develop the next version of their platform, win partnerships and clients, internationalise, put controls and governance in place. We get these businesses and can add huge value.
RECENT CASE STUDIES
“EXPAND has brought $20m in enterprise value to our business during their one year involvement as COO ‘on demand’. They brought new merchant contracts, improved our operations, helped us with regulators and auditors, and trained our team in areas that we had limited experience.”
“EXPAND has helped us structure, negotiate and deploy a key merchant contract which elevated the company to the next level. They also ‘tidied up’ our processes, documentation and governance and prepared us for a successful funding round.”
“As we are USA based business, the EXPAND team helped us with our successful European entry and expansion. They also assisted us evaluate successful acquisition, pushed us to do a mobile app, and also helped us prepare for our successful exit in 2015.”
“EXPAND helped us sharpen up our value proposition, and structure and execute significant partnership with a distributor. They are also helping us with our next funding round and also co-invested themselves in our business”.
BENEFITS FOR YOUR ‘SCALE-UP’
– Tap into our experienced operators who have ‘been there, done that’ and understand your sector
– We ‘own’ the projects and hand them back with the pain points solved
– We recruit and train full time members of your team to take over going forward
– We share the delivery risks and get rewarded success fee / equity when we deliver results
– Small retainer – fraction of other traditional consulting firms
– Protect your business model from ‘clones’ launched at speed
– Maintain control and ownership over your IP, whilst scaling rapidly
– Achieve in two months, what could take you two years
– We take international companies to the UK (or vice versa) from zero to full launch in 45 days, then to Germany and Poland within weeks
– Expand further in Latin America, Eastern Europe, China and / or India through our trusted network ‘on the ground’
– Join our invite-only Club for scale-ups and mentors
– Increase your company’s reputation by being known to be a member of the Expand Club
TEAM
As a CEO, scaled Telecity Plc from $6m to $3bn business. Wrote a bestseller “Forget Strategy, Get Results. NED.
Scaled 4 tech businesses as a COO/CFO ‘on demand’. 50+ exits / fundraises. Former Jefferies tech investment banker.
As a CEO, scaled up and exited Travelex Money Transfer. NED to Fintech businesses. Middle East specialist.
As Head of Partnerships, led sales team to scale SaaS software provider Messagelabs ($600m exit). Fundraiser and NED.
Helped numerous UK tech ventures successfully enter and expand into China and South East Asia.
As a COO, scaled Data Electronics datacentre ($150m exit). IT infrastructure, security & CRM expert.
Tech CFO / FD. As a CFO of YesPay (exit to WorldPay), has led the finance function and an Indian service centre.
Scaled Digitalondon, a software and app development company in London and India. UI / UX expert.
Experienced telco and tech operator – scaled three businesses. Dutch and Scandinavian expert.
We are looking for more operators with experience in scaling companies and passion for doing it again.