Comments on: Out of Limbo – Post-mortem of a fundraising excercise

By: Toni Hunter

Toni Hunter — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 12:01:25 +0000

Thanks for sharing your experiences Duane. Have the guts and determination to take an SME to the next level is admirable.

From a consumers point of view, increasing the technology is crucial but hopefully not at the cost of the user friendly, non-accountant interface. Also, those who have used the demo are generally impressed but always ask about the size and status of your business. Whilst they might not like Sage, they know they are key players and will be around for a long time to come.

So overall, your news of growing the business to be a leader in your field is very welcome. You’re going to need a lot of support and ingenuity, but I wish you all the luck in the world.

By: Tim

Tim — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 14:55:21 +0000

Thanks for entertaining a nosy buggar Duane.
There is one thing that puzzles me in the story. I didn’t really get why you thought it would be a bad idea to talk to VCs in the first place, considering they do this kind of stuff all the time.

By: Darren

Darren — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 10:23:32 +0000

Duane,

Excellent post on what is *always* a painful process.

Selling Pure360.com and personally doing the whole due diligence process was a fantastic experience and it seems you’ve learnt a lot from yours.

See you down the pub (our local) for a full debrief!

Thanks,

Darren.

By: Mark Davies

Mark Davies — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 16:50:49 +0000

Interesting post Duane. KashFlow has come a long way and has loads of potential. If you can continue to foster the right attitude in the company then I’m sure you will realise that potential.

By: Aileen Hannan

Aileen Hannan — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 20:29:14 +0000

Hi Duane,

As an American citizen, my dodgy past is irrelevant. Do you need an invite to Florida for your embassy letter?

So what’s Mr 3bn’s number then, perhaps we should skip UK and go straight to US?

Seriously though, thanks for sharing. We regularly have similar pfaffing about ourselves, it’s a head wrecker.

Very glad to hear your doing well cashflow wise.

Aileen

By: Duane Jackson

Duane Jackson — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 07:15:11 +0000

Thanks, Andre. Congrats on your deal.
Knowing you and Twinfield were in a similar position to me not so long ago is inspiring.

By: Andre Kwakernaat

Andre Kwakernaat — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 21:59:13 +0000

Duane, Never give up, stay focused and great things can happen.

Andre Kwakernaat

By: George O Connor

George O Connor — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 14:43:06 +0000

Thank you for giving a peek into the mind of a tech entrepreneur – I appreciate all of the graft you have put in – but now must be way way to early to sell – why not hire an experienced COO who will be process trained and can take on some of the heavy lifting. It would be a dreadful shame to sell at this juncture.

By: Duane Jackson

Duane Jackson — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 13:35:45 +0000

Thanks for the comments.

@nik – good to hear your wife is a customer.
Someone I met through this process was strongly urging me to go the US VC route and he’s offered to help both as an investor/advisor and with intros (he built a software business and sold it for >$3bn so has their attention)

My problem at the moment is entering the US. I’m an undesirable due to my dodgy past. I’m trying to sort it with the embassy.

By: Nick Halstead

Nick Halstead — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 13:21:21 +0000

Really interesting Duane,

My wife uses your software (and has been for many years) – the decision to take on partners of any kind (VC or strategic) is always a difficult one, especially for the founder as it means giving up some form of control. But it seems like you also took away a great lesson of dealing with others who have not yet caught up with understanding your model.

The difficulty with strategic’s is they *always* want to nail you to the ground, they know the market, and they are are *scared* – why else would they invest? other than to keep an eye on you – and thus your problem with them wanting a clause to buy you out (this is standard practise) – but worse if you had got to final stages you would have found that the board seats they took would have been very divisive.

It seems you have already made the decision on VC’s – and I believe it is the right one, all I would say is ignore the european scene completely. Your sense will be that it is easier to take european funding, but you have the potential to be a global player and to get the funding + valuation you need to take it from East/West coast.

By: Rory Bernard

Rory Bernard — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 13:00:27 +0000

Interesting post!
Every funding/acquisitions/acquiring takes a massive chunk of time out of the operational availability of the company. Something you never plan for, as it looks so enticingly straight forward at the beginning especially when the company is doing well. Only when you look back you realise just what it has cost in time and risk you run on day to day operations.

Great software, good luck on the next step