Q&A: M&A and Capital-raising

I am happy to answer any questions related to M&A and Capital-raising. More than happy to provide guidance to freshers who are planning to launch themselves in IB and to those who come from different backgrounds with / without Ivy league MBAs and plan to venture into IB.

I am an entrepreneur turned investment professional. Presently, working with a Toronto based Hedge Fund, we provide capital to small-cap companies and have achieved an annual return of ~22% since inception, prior to which I have progressive investment banking experience gained while working with firms such as Moody's Analytics, Valitas Capital Partners and Wodehouse Capital Advisors.

My professional trajectory began in an uncommon style, spending 6 years in my family business of manufacturing metallic wires where I inherited business acumen and gained operational experience. The other part is being supplemented by investment experiences gained by advising mid-market businesses through M&A and capital-raising on the sell-side and private capital and feasibility studies on the buy-side.


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- By doing value addition on any project you are working on. For instance, if you are working on a CIM, value addition would be doing research and identifying relevant target companies for your transaction and showcasing them to your seniors with proper reasoning as to why it could be a good fit.

- Patience, persistence and politeness. No hard-work is not an option.

- Are you asking for compensation?

Soby
 

What are the exit ops when you work in capital raising, more particularly debt & equity funding? Reading this forum, it looks like the buyside only wants people who've done M&A

 

I would not want to generalize the statement that buy-side only look for M&A professionals. The landscape is now changing and evolving. Trust me, these days people from different backgrounds (consulting, strategy, operations) end up on the PE/VC side. Reason being, these professionals might not add value on evaluating investments but they add significant value by optimizing operations of the portfolio companies which is an essential element before an exit is taken by PE/VC.

Other exit options would include joining a family office or a corporate development role.  

Soby
 

The most crucial part is to onboard the right mandate, one needs to do extensive research and should only pick the mandates which have traction in the market (sunrise industry). Strong business acumen, storytelling abilities and ability to demonstrate the quality of the management are few important skills. If one understands the business of the target well and could articulate the growth story in front of investors, I couldn't imagine any road blocks. 

Soby
 

What are the most important capital raising lessons you'd share for seed/early-stage startups?

The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be the shepherd.
 

- Demonstrating long-term commitment in the business. Always remember that an investor is not banking on the company that much as much he is banking on the founders / management who are responsible / capable of taking company to the next level.

- Strong valuation standards - Just don't lower down the value of your company too much while negotiating, don't forget your company has some integrity. Desperation would lead you no where.

Soby
 

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Soby

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