A successful exit requires a successful sale. Selling a business is more than understanding the business’s past value to its original owner (earnings / EBIT / discretionary earnings valuations). It’s about understanding the value to the buyer. The buyer’s value or strategic value of a business can often be significantly higher to the buyer than it was to the seller when he ran and owned that business. Dr Tom McKaskill, an Australian expert investor, entrepreneur, and scholar says “Strategic value is created by the buyer. It is what it is worth to the buyer who has the ability to exploit your underlying assets and capabilities.” This is the essence of what you want to sell to to a buyer is your are investor or entrepreneur trying to maximize you exit’s financial outcome.

Not all companies have strategic value because this value lies is the underlying assets and capabilities of the firm. Some businesses, are really only valuable for in a very narrow set of circumstances (example: a painting restoration business specialized in late 19th century Dutch Paintings) or have to much personal goodwill attached to their value (example: a boutique ad agency that built its reputation exclusively on its founder’s talent). This said, even in these examples, asking questions such as these can help identify where your firm’s strategic value lies – from Tom McKaskill’s great book “Invest to Exit”  -available as a free ebook here:

• “Who makes money when I make money?
• Who does not make money when I make money?
• Who can make more money than I can from my products?
• Who can remove a constraint on my business?
• Who has a problem I can fix?
• What threat can I reduce or eliminate?
• Who sells to the same customers I sell to?
• Who uses the same technology I use?
• Who needs my customer base?
• Who needs my technology or people?”

Once you have answered some of these questions and identified some potential target buyers, you need to do prepare for the discussions.  Materializing the strategic value of your firm may mean actually modeling how your buyer’s business, profits, and growth would get impacted in details by the acquisition of your firm.  This type of business modeling will have to include:

• Your firm’s classical earnings-based valuation.
• Your future market and earnings potential were the buyer decide to keep the business unchanged for a period of time.
• The merger efficiencies and economies of scale for  the acquirer were they decide to merge part of the firm’s operations into theirs.
• The market dynamics created by the acquisition of your firm (especially if you compete in the same sector or industry).
• The strategic opportunities which the acquirer may be able to take advantage of post-merger:
  • price increases,
  • international opportunities,
  • offshoring of production,
  • leveraging of your company’s intellectual property: patents, special skills and know how.

Exploring the buyer’s valuation means creating a detailed financial model to measure the relative value of some of the scenarios above.  This will help you argue why your company may be worth more than X times your earnings to a particular buyer.  It will help your buyer become convinced that you are aware of your full value and will force him to divulge more about his/her negotiating position, thus allowing you the benefit of not passing a chance to make more money on the sale than a classical valuation may have permitted.

Soon, we will be posting an example of such a valuation. Contact us if you would like to help with a strategic valuation project.

Portland economic growth promises

Investor attractiveness is more an art than a science.  In the case of Portland, it is sometimes hard to see if the current positive tends in new jobs creation, real estate appreciation, and foreign investment is a result of the city and the state’s efforts to improve the economy or if its more a stuck of luck as the economy favors of a number of trends Portland is well-known for (sustainability, technology, quality-of-life, etc.)

In the 2000s, Portland, Oregon invested in significant PR efforts to open itself to the outside world. It worked, newcomers came in droves (mostly young, hip, affluent, and often jobless – see excellent Slate article on How Portland Got Its Groove Back and a 2010 Macro Economic Report from the Portland Business Alliance arguing that the State suffered from low workforce participation).

However, there is more and more evidence that Portland is breaking its former shell as a secondary US West Coast  city and embracing its new role as an internationally renown center for investment in technology, sustainable economic activities, real-estate and lifestyle products and services.  Here are a few among the many testaments to the Portland rise in attractiveness:

• http://www.businessinsider.com/up-and-coming-cities-2012-6#portland-or-will-become-one-of-the-coolest-cities-for-young-people-4
• http://www.mnn.com/health/allergies/photos/top-10-green-us-cities/1-portland-ore
• http://www.ypulse.com/post/view/not-all-millennials-dream-of-big-city-life
• http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/eco-tourism/stories/destination-of-the-week-portland
• http://www.newgeography.com/content/001110-the-white-city
• http://web.archive.org/web/20091206183539id_/http://www.newgeography.com/content/00609-sushi-without-japanese-portlands-cultural-dilemma
• http://videos.arte.tv/en/videos/portland_bobo_bio_velo–4048152.html
• http://www.smartplanet.fr/smart-business/investissements-les-10-villes-americaines-les-plus-ecologiques-18519/
• http://portlandrealestateblog.com/

OrigoTerra helps foreign entrepreneurs establish themselves and expand in the US market.  Portland, Oregon has never been such a good target.  Its affordability and rich ecosystem of educated professionals and great local business infrastructure make it a great destination.  Contact us to discuss your project.

L’entreprise OrigoTerra se trouve à Portland, Oregon, USA (entre Seattle et San Francisco) et a été fondée par un professionnel de l’informatique français.  Notre clientèle s’adresse à OrigoTerra pour son expertise reconnue en conseil et en  gestion de projets transatlantiques, et en technologie de l’information.  Nos projets impliquent des entreprises innovantes Européennes voulant s’implanter sur le marché Nord Américain.

Description de l’Offre (en Anglais – langue de travail officielle chez OrigoTerra)

OrigoTerra is currently searching for a marketing intern in Europe.  We are launching a consulting practice focused on assisting European entrepreneurs and investors looking to expand their activities or to relocate to the USA.

Responsibilities

- Researching macro-economic and market trends, press and media coverage around such phenomenons as international entrepreneurship, foreign direct investment, tax exile, and expatriation.

- Writing simple reports on key trends and collecting supporting documentation.

- Writing blog posts in European languages (French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Greek, etc.) on this phenomenon to attract the public OrigoTerra can advise and opinion leaders to our web site.

Required Skills and Experience

We are looking for a business school graduate or student with some experience in market research and economic intelligence, good native wiring skills in a European language, and an interest in working in the USA or with the US companies.

Desired Skills and Background

This is an internship and compensation will be offered based on skill level.  The client is a startup with existing clients and the right candidate could possibly become a future key employee in his/her home country or in the US ;  if he/she is able to demonstrate skills matching this project’s ambitions.

Location: Portland, OR, USA (travel and lodging support available but your financial responsibility) or remote/telecommute from Europe.
Compensation: depends on qualifications
Dates: 1.5 to 3 months between April and September 2013

Please contact us for more details with resume and details regarding your experience with the above.

Ce plan de business plan est plutôt adapté aux projets B2C (produits de grande consommation) et particulièrement vers le commerce de détail.  Cependant on pourra facilement l’adapter a d’autres domaines (services, B2B, manufature, etc).

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I. Résumé opérationnel (‘executive summary ‘)

- Synthèse sommaire du besoin ciblé, des aspects les plus marquant et différentiant de votre offre, et du plan opérationnel (offre, équipe, financement).

II. Présentation de l’offre de produits et services
– Nature du produit
- Approvisionnement et fabrication
- Prix

III. Marché – Environnement concurrentiel
– zone de chalandise (où se trouvera votre commerce)
- données sur les client ciblés et leur comportement d’achat
- compétition directe et indirecte dans la zone
- marché potentiel et flux de consommation (évasion, attraction, parts de marché par forme de distribution)

IV. Objectifs fixés
– calendrier d’exploitation (investissements, ouverture)
- rentabilité
- croissance

V. Stratégies de l’entreprise
– différentiation et positionnement
- marketing et publicité
- partenariats, développement, franchise, etc.

VI. Equipe de Direction, Management et Ressources humaines
– Noms, rôles, formations, apports financiers, apports savoir-faire, créatifs et autres talents
- Approche ressources humaines: recrutement, rémunération, formations, rétention, calendrier recrutement

VII. Points Juridiques
– type d’entité légale
- immigration et autres implications juridiques

VIII. Besoins financiers
– Apports financiers des créateurs
- Besoins financiers globaux (optima/minima, destinations, marketing/charges externes/personnel, calendrier)
- Division du capital et types d’actions offertes aux investisseurs
- Rentabilité de l’investissement

IX. Documents financiers
A. Tableaux financement prévus (calendrier des apports, nature des augmentations de capital, dilutions du capital)
B. Comptes de résultat mensuels prévisionnels (première année – produits, charges)
C. Compte de résultat annuel prévisionnels (trois à cinq ans – rentabilité)
D. Plan de trésorerie mensuel (première année – pics trésorerie, découverts bancaires, conséquences d’une baisse imprévue du CA de 20-30%)

X. Modes de sortie des investisseurs
– Croissance et dividendes (comment, quand, pourquoi)
- Vente de l’entreprise (comment, quand, pourquoi)
- Rachat par l’entrepreneur (comment, quand, pourquoi)

Annexes (sources et détails)

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Contactez-nous pour une aide ciblée sur ce sujet ou les autres étapes d’un projet d’entreprise.

Un document important de l’OCDE pour ceux qui désirent plus d’informations sur l’émigration Française à l’étranger (voir page 182).

Combien sont-ils, ces Français qui ont décidé d’aller voir si l’herbe est plus verte ailleurs ? Mystère car, ce chiffre-là, n’est pas à la mode. Officiellement, il n’y a pas d’émigration française, juste des expatriés (cadres de grandes entreprises envoyés à l’étrager pour le compte de leurs employeurs). “On ne quitte pas le plus beau pays du monde” entend-t-on ici et là.

L’inscription sur les listes consulaires révèle cependant la tendance. Après avoir été casaniers jusqu’en 1991, les Français on commencé une grande migration. Le mouvement s’accélère avec 55 000 départs annuels en 2002. En janvier 2012, 1,6 million de Français étaient officiellement établis à l’étranger. Leur nombre total est estimé à 2,3 millions.

La situation économique en France s’est drastiquement empirée aussi bien du point de vue statistique que dans les perceptions et la confiance qu’inspire notre beau pays. Plus que jamais, des cadres, des jeunes diplômés mais aussi des entrepreneurs Français prennent le départ pour s’installer sous de meilleurs cieux. Les Etats-Unis tiennent le haut de cette liste de destinations prometteuses mais sont souvent méconnus en ce qui concerne les formalités, la géographie, et les coutumes et usages locaux (cadre juridique, localisation d’information économiques et professionnelles, etc.).

______________________________________________________________

OrigoTerra accompagne les entrepreneurs Français qui abordent le marché Américain:

• mise en relation avec des investisseurs et business angels
• aide a la préparation du “picth” (Business Plan, Présentations, etc.)
• mise en place d’une structure (support juridique et financier local)
• études de marché sur votre zone de choix
• assistance à la recherche et aux transactions immobilières

OrigoTerra mène ce genre de projets pour d’autres entreprises Francaises et Europeennes. Ces services sont modulable et vendus soit sous forme de forfait ou à l’heure (payable en Euros HT directement à notre entreprise américaine). Contactez-nous.

In other words, such software can only work in a limited number of cases.  For instance: online stores running the popular Magento ecommerce platform number between 50,000 and 100,000 depending on estimates.  There are about 7,000 plugins and add-ons for Magento sold by thousands of software companies of all sizes.  There are also many web agencies and technology or merchandising service companies catering to Magento users in particular.  Many are not viral, in-other-words not popular enough to attract a lot of incoming inquiries, downloads and phone calls to the vendors.   Thus, the vendors mostly sell through outbound sales and marketing programs, which can only be very effective and cost efficient if targeted to good quality leads.

OrigoTerra is experimenting with a new kind of sales and marketing leads source:  TotaLeads and TotalLeads EnrichM.  These leads are:

• detected automatically to guarantee they are Magento, WordPress, Drupla, etc. web sites
• Enriched with more filtering options: country, language, number of monthly unique visitors, vertical industry, and more
• enriched and validated manually with extensive contact details (names, telephones, emails)
• much cheaper than any commercially available leads

If you aare interested, take a look at this and request a Magento sample.

L’entreprise OrigoTerra fondé par un professionnel de l’informatique Lyonnais se trouve à Portland, Oregon, USA (entre Seattle et San Francisco). La clientèle s’adresse à OrigoTerra pour son expertise reconnue en Conseil et services en gestion de projets, gestion de produits informatiques et technologie énergétique. Les projets impliquent souvent des entreprises innovantes internationales.

OrigoTerra is currently searching for a software engineer with experience in web scraping, parsing, crawlers and database applications.

Responsabilities
OrigoTerra is involved in a new project to collect publicly available data for the purpose of enriching sales databases. This role will initially focus on building a fairly simple prototype of this ultimate platform. However, the right candidate can grow into a chief engineer / architect role within the client organization.

Required Skills and Experience
We are looking for an engineer with experience building such applications using pre-developed tools like crawlers, writing his/her own parsers, and managing the storage and maintenance of collected data in a database.

Desired Skills and Background
- programming language appropriate for parsing and database applications such as: Python, PHP, Java
- Experience with one or more of the following database packages: MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB, or CouchDB.
- Advanced skills writing source code and/or web content parsers.
- Experience with cloud hosting platforms like AWS and/or Heroku.
- Ability to work in autonomy without IT support and/or other programmers.
- Enjoy working with close client supervision and direction as well as sharing technical direction and tradeoffs with client.

This is a contract to hire position. The client is a startup with existing clients and the right candidate could possibly become a co-founder (think equity) if he-she is able to demonstrate experience and skills matching this project’s ambitions.
Please contact us for more details with resume and details regarding your experience with the above.

Syntec Numérique, the national syndicate of Software Publishers and technology service companies, has published its second annual Top 250 2012 survey which is probably the best source of information for the industry:
Panorama full PDF version and release: http://www.syntec-numerique.fr/Actualites/2eme-edition-du-Panorama-Top-250-des-editeurs-et-createurs-de-logiciels-francais-Le-secteur-des-editeurs-francais-de-logiciels-poursuit-sa-croissance-malgre-un-contexte-difficile

The key finding of this report include such findings as:
- 12% growth for the french software industry
- many small companies (70% below 10M €) but a few large ones (4% above 100M €) rake the largest portion of revenues (60%):

- 25% of revenues from export:

The next interesting source of information is a more limited list of European and French software vendors but which has become a reference in the industry and has the advantage of being published in English:

http://www.truffle100.com/ rankings http://www.truffle100.com/2011/ranking.php