Put simply, Bridget is passionate about helping successful companies, and especially Kiwi companies, enter the US market through creating killer strategies and applying the relevant networks.

At the Angel Summit, Bridget raised a number of important points that I thought were worth following up and sharing with the community. I caught up with her last week, and began by asking her why she thought that many US companies find it difficult to grow except through acquisition, and where the opportunities lay for New Zealand companies building themselves for strategic trade sale to a US major.

Listen to or download the podcast:

Key points:

• It’s difficult for US companies to grow except by acquisition, especially in areas where they have existing underperforming brands.
• NZ companies have a great degree of innovation and lateral thinking. We have along history of innovation in Food and Beverage, emerging capability in bioactives and related fields, and a strong presence in textile and clothing. These can be very complementary to a portfolio that a US major might already have.
• Preparation for a strategic acquisition requires years of planning, including type of product, type of packaging, distribution strategy, pricing structure, partnership relationships. Start with the end objective and work backwards, leaving nothing to chance. Plan out the people involved, advisers that you use, legal structure, domicile, who you employ etc.
• The Beachheads programme is available to help out with strategy formation, and can recommend advisers in the US across a wide range of industries.
• It’s important to take into account the voice of the marketplace before leaving New Zealand. Companies are often optimised for the New Zealand market, and that may or may not work in other markets. It’s important to undertake research before you enter the market. Using the Internet for international marketing prior to going overseas and getting information about the market you want to enter is low cost, but high value. Product, packaging, messaging, pricing all need to be considered – are they appropriate for the market? NZ companies need to be open minded and consider that what worked in Australia or New Zealand may not work in the USA or Europe.

There were a few recurring themes from many of the talks:

• It’s all about people.  When you invest in a company, you’re investing in a combination of ideas, resources, capacity to execute, and people.  Of these, by far the most important is the people.
• Failure is a great teacher. We tend to underrate previous failure as an experience. No one starts a company with the intention of failing, but we should appreciate and seize the learning opportunities presenting by failure.
• The Kiwi Diaspora is ready and willing to help. Kiwis are everywhere, and most of the overseas speakers with Kiwi connections laboured the point that the Kiwi Expat Association (KEA), NZTE and others are generous with their connections and networks.  You’re silly not to use them.

Stephen Tindall was presented with an Archangel Award, recognising his contributions to the angel space.

It was announced that Colin McKinnon has taken on the position of Executive Director of the Angel Association.  Given that he spends the rest of his time as the Executive Director of the NZ Venture Capital and Private Equity association, hopefully he’ll be able to encourage follow-on investment for successful early stage companies.

Some choice quotes from the summit:

Alan McConnon (Upstart Angels)

The rule of Five: It always takes five times longer, five times as much money, and yields one-fifth of the expected rewards.

The five P’s of due diligence: People, Punters, Portion, Profitability, and Plan.

A good idea is only 20-30% of the value of a company.

Sir Eion Edgar (Sinclair Investments Limited)

Never do anything you wouldn’t want to see on the front page of the papers.

My aim in life: To be sure that everyone owes me a favour

Jim Connor (Sand Hill Angels)

If you want a higher valuation, go get some customers

We love cheap penny-pinching entrepreneurs!

Don’t invest in R&D, only invest in execution.

Bridget Liddell (Fahrenheit Ventures)

NZ companies generally have surprisingly weak digital and internet marketing strategies

Large US companies have become incapable of growing, except by acquisition

All up, the summit was useful, although the ratio of angel investors to others was disappointingly low (my guess would be around the 50% mark); it would also be great to have more time to mingle in structured and unstructured settings.  I might respectfully suggest that (for some people, anyway) lunchtime wine tastings are not the best way to get people to focus on key issues.  That said, I’m glad I went and will be looking forward to next year’s summit.

• Successful entrepreneurs who have exited from their businesses and have an interest in staying involved in early stage companies.
• High net-worth individuals with senior business experience who now have the time and interest in investing in early stage companies.
• Angel investors who have done from one to three deals.
• Community leaders and entrepreneurial support professionals who are interested in promoting angel investing in their communities.

It’s an all day course, and the cost is between $300-$400 depending on whether or not you’re a member of an associated angel club.  It will be interesting to see whether the penny gap or time elasticity of demand (a whole day is a lot of time to be sitting in front of an instructor) effect attendance.

They’re also running free courses for entrepreneurs on Power Pitching and An Essential Guide to Capital Raising.

The entrepreneurs include:

• Matt Burgess, iPredict
• Ben Wilde, Fingertapps
• Clare Howden, Futrix
• Ed Robinson, Aptimize

Proceedings will be MC’d by Unlimited magazine’s Ben Kepes.

You can download the full PDF Blurb, and if you’re interested in going, be sure to register.

It’s particularly interesting to note that there have only been 15 deals done so far this calendar year, as compared to 27 done in the first half of calendar 2007.

This gives some validation to the assertion that there’s a capital crunch on for startups at the moment.

Young Company Finance is a joint production of NZVCA, NZVIF, and NZTE Escalator.

His core theme is that ”Like most things in life, being clear about your goals and having a plan to achieve it is pretty much the only way to maximise your chances of success.”

Greg argues that like any sales process, it’s a good idea to start developing relationships with potential partners well before you intend to bring them into play, and being able to prove your ability to deliver on commitments.

That’s excellent advice for entrepreneurs, and we look forward to reading the rest of the series!

• The Tech Market Place 14th May 2008
• Leading Sales Thinking 28th May 2008
• Getting the money – best Business Models 4th June 2008
• The art of Pitching 18th June 2008 (full day sales pitching training)
• Meet the Dragons 25th June 2008 (pitch your business to the Dragons)

In order to qualify for the course, the following criteria must be met:

• Have a NZ registered company or be a sole trader
• Are officially trading
• Have under 50 full time staff
• Complete a capability assessment

Free sounds good as a potential value-add for your investments …

For more info, email Gabby at The Business Centre on gabby@thebusinesscentre.org.nz or give her a ring on 04 494 0990.

The bottom line is that “New Zealand has a business culture that is perceived to be high in human values and low in business acumen.” While that result might give you a nice feeling that it isn’t the other way round, we lose points for our core values of “give it a go” and “she’ll be right”. While we’re experimenting in the shed with whatever works, the rest of the developed world are researching their markets, forming long-term alliances with key industry players, developing resources and doggedly executing their plan in the “survive or die” world of global business.

There’s good news though in that “there’s no need to become hard-edged or cut-throat, just come up to par [in business acumen].”

These are valuable insights for both angel investors and entrepreneurs – and there are more worthwhile learnings in the report.