after years, and I mean years, of thinking about it, wanting it, and imagining it… the point has come to this. As the landscape of finance is currency changing, I would like to jump in with full feet to offer small businesses (privately held) and perhaps larger ones in the future with some advisory services to help them with some M&A, exit strategies, re-negotiating their obligations, and back-door strategies to get more clients/consumers. Do you see this as a promising area of finance for the foreseeable future? My premise is that even if the recession ends (and that’s a big if), growth will be sub-par at best and businesses will need to consolidate, or at least re-structure their business, if they are going to survive (or prosper) a recovery that may not involve the consumer. My hope is that this new business will be refined and retooled during the growth of the company, and new opportunities and unimaginable services will become known… any thoughts? Income potential if done on a “success fee” basis?
hi bosy, some thoughts from left field: - go for it - chances are you’ll look back in few years and ask youself why you didn’t do it sooner - the sooner you start working for yourself the sooner you can make some real money and build something for youself - I “retired” about 10 years ago and am having a ball - every day I get up and say “what do I want to do today”- I have no idea what I’ll be doing one month to the next - you can’t buy that kind of freedom - the trick is to get business - after a while you will build a reputation for what you specialise in - but it may take a while. - eg. last week I got a deal that I am now flat out working on - helping a company raise a development round of capital. I need to get it “investment-ready” which is about 3-4 weeks work - then negotiate with potential investors - already have half a dozen parties lined up. - I take a cut of the capital raising + a stake in the company as a free carry + fees if it doesn’t come off. After a while you learn to pick what deals will come off so you only invest time in the winners. - so for a few weeks work I get a couple of hundred grand cash + free equity stake in a busineess that will probably IPO or trade sale in 3-4 years - which I will also project manage. - one important thing you will need to do is develop a team of professionals to work on the deals - which you project manage - eg. accounants, auditors, valuers, patent attorneys, brokers, underwriters, etc. - takes time to build a base of people you trust and can work with - I usually do a handful of these type of deals each year - capital raisings, J/V’s, acquisitions, business sales, that sort of thing - in between I write and talk about markets, deals, etc - recession? - what recession! go for it - you’ll never look back… cheers
BosyBillups, I work for a small firm that essentially does what you have described. It was started by 2 guys about 15 years ago, and until this recession hit, had been extremely profitable. Cash flow has been tight for the last year, but we’ve got a lot of good engagements going on right now. We typically are paid with retainers + success fees with the hope that the retainer will pay for a decent amount of our time and the success fees are icing on the cake and drive our profitability (plus bonuses). Do you have expertise in any certain industry? I think that can be key for building business and a strong base of repeat clients. Good luck! By starting now, you will hopefully catch the economy on the up-swing when deal flow starts to pick up.
how old are you null?
Bosy, if you want some free intern like help, drop me a line at q.benjamin@gmail.com. My credentials are decent and I’d be interested in at least taking a look at it.
I think null&nuller has graduated from being the Brett Favre to the Michael Jordan of AF. At least Jordan went out near the top of his game even though he unretired like 8 times.
Good luck! Be like Nuller cuz he’s the baller!
This sounds like you are running some small M&A or IB boutique. It sounds so easy how you describe it, but you need pretty extensive experience and investor contacts for that ! You worked in IB before, didn t you ?