Comments on: European startups prepared for the worst

By: aoifebeefah » Blog Archive » My Right Foot -and being let go!

aoifebeefah » Blog Archive » My Right Foot -and being let go! — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 20:50:24 +0000

[...] http://uk.techcrunch.com/2008/10/02/european-startups-prepared-for-the-worst/ [...]

By: As eBay preps layoffs, startup investment slows - it’s going to be a cold winter people

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 16:02:07 +0000

[...] to race ahead of the pack. So, good news for some, especially those who have money to play with over the next two or so years. There is also another plausible trends – eBay start with payoffs may start to swell the startup [...]

By: Mike Butcher

Mike Butcher — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 01:24:01 +0000

Disclosure of “how quickly” a startup is going to make money. Anyone got a piece of string?

By: Martin Montague

Martin Montague — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:02:32 +0000

Good internet companies should be profitable and sustainable. Some of these newbies remind me of the boo.com days. Business first .com company second.

No investment is a good investment IMO

By: Gründerszene und der Credit-Crunch - Erfasst die Krise auch die Start-Up Welt? | Gründerszene

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:45:29 +0000

[...] Kapitalgeberseite) dennoch eine gute Zeit. – ein second nuclear winter ist aber übertrieben (siehe Hypothese bei Techcrunch UK). Der Nucelar Winter 2001-2003 folgte auf eine hausgemachte Krise. Es ist also eher ein Nuclear [...]

By: Broadband Man

Broadband Man — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 15:59:45 +0000

What about companies that have:
a: raised angel funding less than £1
b: grown to break-even or profitability
c: companies who have raised money but not declared the actual amount

Surely these companies are also prepared to “weather the storm”?

By: Jens

Jens — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:49:28 +0000

@Mike Butcher @ Ian Hendry

as you both probably know, UK companies must report all sorts of things to Companies House. All private companies need to submit accounts at year end. Provided either revenue or balance sheets exceed a threshold amount, the accounts need to include revenue numbers, cash flow etc. Last time I looked, the threshold was £5.4m in annual revenue, can’t recall what the balance sheet had to say.

Also, any UK-based company needs to file forms with Companies House that disclose exactly how much money was raised, from whom and when. The form is called 88(2) and can be purchased for any company at Companies House. I think it costs about £1 per form. Call +44 (0)870 33 33 636, tell them the number of the company that you are interested in and ask them to email you all 88(2)s that the company has ever filed. You may want to also include 88(3)s (shares in exchange for something that is not cash). They will charge your credit card and sell you everything you want to have.

BTW: if you really want to do it right, you need to have a look at the articles of association to see what the preference structure on VC-backed company stock is.

By: Ian Hendry

Ian Hendry — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 12:03:06 +0000

By the way Mike, I am questioning them not issuing details on the meaningful stuff, not what you report on. I am absolutely sure that if any of the above shared details of how and how quickly they are going to make money then you’d be right on it and letting us have that information.

The lack of disclosure of this sort by start-ups is a worry.

Ian Hendry
WeCanDo.BIZ
http://www.wecando.biz

By: Ian Hendry

Ian Hendry — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 11:11:51 +0000

Mike, fair comment. But no one is under any obligation to disclose details of the funding they have received to the press either. So as both are voluntary for private businesses, why do they not report revenues or profit projections, figures that give a better indication of whether they’ll be around in 2 years time…?

This lists are interesting to gossipers, but I question tehri real world value. Tech startups have the same real world commercial pressures as any business. Boo.com would have been topping such a list 8 or 9 years ago and what did that count for?

Ian Hendry
WeCanDo.BIZ
http://www.wecando.biz

By: Mike Butcher

Mike Butcher — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 09:52:57 +0000

Ian Hendry – publishing actual revenue for private companies is tricky – something you ought to know if “wecando.biz” actually knows anything about business.

The rest of you – thanks for the constructive suggestions.

By: Tim Panton

Tim Panton — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 08:16:41 +0000

Truphone have raised $32M in April 08, they are based in London

By: Ian Hendry

Ian Hendry — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 08:02:19 +0000

As we know, there is not endless amounts of cash to fund businesses with no other revenue generation model and some very well funded startups went pop in 2001 when the markets went cold. So why is funding raised being used as a measure of anything?

Let’s see revenue projections or even actual revenue for these guys.

Ian Hendry
CEO, WeCanDo.BIZ
http://www.wecando.biz

By: Cem Dalgic

Cem Dalgic — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 08:01:22 +0000

Mike, the fundings are committed but normally the money isn’t transfered in total. It’s possible that some startups could have problems. Pls check this list from Lehman as investor: http://www.crunchbase.com/financial-organization/lehman-brothers

By: Peter Mann

Peter Mann — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 07:57:01 +0000

Germany-based Sevenload, announced that they 30 million euro investment from T-Venture which is a part of Deutsche Telekom. And 10 million euro from Burda. – Also 40 million euro.

By: Scott

Scott — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 06:28:32 +0000

This is a good starter for ten. But, to really work out who will still be around you’d also need to look at the company’s cashburn and their ability to conserve it relative to their funds in the bank; and, the ability of the company to find other opportunities to fund any gap before the financial tap begins to flow again.

There is a silver lining for those that make it through the next eighteen months: you’ll be extremely well placed. You’ll have less competition because several competitors will have gone to the wall and others will simply not have been able to raise funding.