EVCA Placement Agent Code Spells Trouble for Dodgy Dealers

A firm should not make or offer to make any payment or other consideration with a view to enducing [sic] a third party to enter into contractual negotiations with a client

– that’s according to the Draft EVCA Placement Agents Supplementary Code of Conduct that was released recently.

Yikes. The thought that this goes on, as it clearly has, ought to be shocking. Well, it is shocking even if I feel naive writing that.

But is banning placement agents the answer? Surely it cannot be. Just because a few fraudsters want to line their pockets dishonestly, doesn’t mean that the role of an intermediary in the private equity fundraising process is unnecessary. Ask any GP running a small fund if he/she would prefer to spend more or less time raising money and the answer is pretty clear. If LPs want their fundmanagers to spend their time investing LP cash rather than trying to raise more of it, they had better accept that the placement agent is their friend or, at least, not their enemy.

Frontier Capital – Learnin’s from the ol’ West

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Traditionally, the Venture Capital industry has taken its lead from the West. Sure there are fine firms up and down the US and beyond, but think of venture capital and it’s hard not to imagine Google’s garage or a sarcastic VC cutting through some poor entrepreneur’s far-fetched American dream (or, if it’s 1999, funding it).

Now that probes into the services that 3rd party marketing firms and placement agents offer are causing some concern, VCs need to wise-up on the marketing of their own funds. And it’s not going to be easy.

I’ve written before on certain similarities between the actions of some in the fundraising industry and of those in the Wild West. I wasn’t too complimentary, but I wonder what we can learn from the Ol’ West? Here are some quick pointers:

Firstly, if you can, it’s important to show some kind of track history. After all…

It’s better to be a has-been than a never-was.

But track history isn’t everything, of course; it might have been easy raising your last fund in ‘06: You delivered 30%+ IRR and most of the LPs were reckoning on funding their commitments with distribution in any case. But, in 2009, if you can’t show how your teams delivered those returns, you’re sure gonna hear this an awful lot:

Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance

And honesty really is the best policy; let’s hear it for bad news, told well. The amount of DD LPs are putting in these days means that it is going to be increasingly difficult to exercise that special sort of creativity that some VCs are rumoured to be indulging in with the valuations of some slightly wonky Chinese portfolio companies. Much better to open the books and tell the story of what happened and what was learned.

Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment.

Of course, one of the most important skills is getting an upfront read on who might be ready to commit and who is still waiting before making new commitments. It’s like they used to say:

Never slap a man who’s chewin’ tobacco.

So:

1. Show what you have done
2. Show how you did it
3. Don’t just tell the good news
4. Wait for the right time to tell it

If you get all that licked, you might stand half a chance!

I’ll tail off now..:

Never miss a good chance to shut up.

1,000 up!

Well, a quick look at the fundraising group tells me that there are now well over 1,000 members, all interested in discussing how best to select and present private equity and venture capital funds.

A glut of you joined and were approved at the same time, but it seems as though the 1,000th member was either Alex Edwards who works out of China for C.P.Eaton the global placement agent or Chris Genovese at gatekeeper Portfolio Advisers.

Either way, it is great to have both of you on board, along with the many others of you that have joined the group since its founding two months ago.

Will you be the 1000th member?

Private Equity and VC Funds Group on Linked In

While I was approving new members to my Linked In groups this morning, I noticed that my first LinkedIn group is almost at 1,000 members. When I think of the modest expectations I had for it when I started it two months ago, I think that is quite a result!

Just in case you have been living in a cave for the last 5 years, LinkedIn is similar to Facebook, but is for business professionals rather than high school and university students.

The group is for private equity Limited Partners (LPs) and fundraising professionals (Placement Agents, Investor Relations teams at General Partners etc.) and anyone else involved or interested in this area.

1. LPs will find one of the largest groups of Limited Partners on LinkedIn
2. GPs will find LPs and professionals that can help them with their fundraising efforts
3. Placement teams will find both of the above

Discussion topics in Haiku-form are, of course, particularly encouraged…
I look forward to welcoming you to the group!

Why should I invest in your fund?

I’ve been thinking recently how successful fundraisers stand out and I keep coming back to the importance of clarity and focus. If an LP is to invest, the following must be explicitly established:

1.This market represents a great opportunity, right now and for a considerable time;

2.This strategy is the most suited to exploiting that opportunity;

3.This manager is the most able to successfully execute that strategy.

I thought this was so central to the selection process that I even drew a diagram to illustrate it:

The three things you must demonstrate for your fund to be successful

With legally required disclaimers the only exception, I believe these are the first three ideas an LP should see when opening any fundraising materials. These three concepts should inform the content throughout. And that includes the cover.