How to Value an Early-Stage Business

Building a startup from the ground up is an exhilarating journey, filled with countless hurdles and triumphs. As founders navigate through the complexities of launching and growing their ventures, one critical question often looms large: How much is my company worth? Determining the value of a startup is a daunting task that poses unique challenges for founders.

The internet is awash with tips and advice on this topic. Most revolve around how to interpret positive and negative signals into a mythical number.

Positive signals could include evidence of market traction, the evolution of a product or prototype, supply, demand, distribution channels, revenues etc.

Negative signs could relate to poor performance in the target sector, incapable management team, competition and/or market saturation, unviable product or business model or low margins.

Then there are the different "models" or methods, such as the Venture Capital method, Risk Factor Summation, Scorecard Valuation, Discounted Cash Flow, and others.

So where does an already overwhelmed early-stage founder start?

Looking at the challenge from the end-point, like selling a house, the value of your company ultimately comes down to the price someone is willing to pay for it.

However, to get to the end-point we have to start somewhere, but where, and how?

Luckily (or maybe by design ?? ) at the Impact Accelerator we have a number of experts on hand, so we invited our esteemed mentors to take part in a panel discussion to try to answer this complex question.

During this session, we'll be tackling these key questions:

• What are the primary factors that influence the valuation of early-stage startups?
• What are the methods and approaches typically used to create a valuation?
• What are the main challenges and considerations founders should be aware of?
• How to factor in investor perspectives and decision-making?

How to access this panel session?

The session is scheduled for 9 am UK time on 15th June 2023.

This discussion is made available live, and in full to our existing Impact Accelerator cohort.

But if you're not currently a member, stay tuned and follow our page for a summary of the key outcomes.

Thank you to our panelists

Thank you Robert Clare ACIB MCBI , Jonathan Richards and Raja Nbigui for supporting us in this discussion.

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