Basil Peters
Basil Peters is an angel investor with a passion for exit transactions. After being an investor for a couple of decades he finally realized that successful investing requires two things: making the right investment decisions and getting your money back. The most fun Basil's had as an entrepreneur, and an investor, are when companies are successfully sold.
Dr. Peters is the principal of Strategic Exits Corp and fund manager for Fundamental Technologies II - an angel fund (seed stage venture fund). He also founded a venture capital firm and a hedge fund, and has been a CEO in Vancouver and Silicon Valley.
Basil writes a blog on best practices for entrepreneurs and angel investors at http://www.AngelBlog.net
He just published his first book: Early Exits - Exit Strategies for Entrepreneurs and Angel Investors (But Maybe Not Venture Capitalists).
Basil is an Entrepreneur in Residence at Simon Fraser University where he helps students and faculty spin-off research into promising technology companies.
He has a Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia in Electrical and Computer Engineering and has received the Entrepreneur of the Year Award, Canada Awards Silver Medal in Entrepreneurship, BC Science and Engineering Gold Medal and Business Leader of the Year Award.
For more: http://www.basilpeters.com/
“It is highly desirable to have all the due diligence documents in the electronic data room before the rest of the selling process gathers momentum.”
“In the most successful exits, the company should be delivering its peak performance for the months leading up to the final price negotiations and closing.”
“It's much easier to understand the pricing mechanisms for exit transactions if you look at it from the perspective of the professionals doing the business.”
“In the vast majority of exits where shareholders receive a good price for their company, there is an experienced business broker or M&A advisor.”
“From the time that all of the sales collateral is complete until the cash is in the bank, the exit process can take as little as 4 to 5 months and as long as 18 to 24 months.”
“Today, the optimum financial strategy for most technology entrepreneurs is to raise money from angels and plan an early exit to a large company in just a few years for under $30 million.”
“Every company needs an exit strategy and an exit plan. Ideally, the exit strategy should be agreed upon by the founders before the first dollar of investment goes into the company.”
“VC bias toward swinging for the fences means companies that could have exited easily in the $20 to 30 million range will end up being 'ridden over the top' and eventually worth much less—or possibly nothing at all.”
“Built to flip' should not be a dirty phrase or unnatural act. I believe that to succeed today, entrepreneurs must not only aspire to early exits, but design that objective into their corporate structures and corporate DNA.”
“Angels also often want to contribute more than money to a young company. Angels have the experience, and inclination, to be great mentors and valuable directors.”
“As VCs invest more and more money in each company, they have to wait longer and longer before they can exit.”
“Nobody can predict the future. We may be near the peak of the tech M&A market or the trend may last several more years. If you have been thinking about selling your business, now looks like a very good time.”
“Exits are the best part of being an entrepreneur or investor. It’s when we get financially rewarded for all of the creativity, hard work, investment and risk we put into our companies.”
“Exits are the least understood part of investing—as often by the investors themselves as by the entrepreneurs. This book is about the large number of other exits—the ones that are not driven by the VCs.”