Scale Up your Business – key takeaways from our latest online event

On the 25th of May 2021, Leaders First hosted the financial industry top experts for the Scale-Up Your Business online ed- event.

Below are key takeaways from this online ed- event. The full recording is available to Members of Leaders First on our online platform.

The event was hosted by Giovanni Amodeo who is Chief Data Officer at ION Analytics, Moderator and Speaker at M&A events.

Giovanni guided us through all the stories presented by our inspiring experts.

We first were lead by an insightful presentation “Your Blue Chip Business – Create Wealth in your Business” skilfully delivered by Matteo Turi – Finance Director and Board Director, Investor, Business Partner, Expert in ScaleUp, Exit and Acquisition

Matteo opened his presentation by giving the right perspective for Scaling up:

At first Matteo showed us the World Business facts such us the Startup Survival rates and the GDP trends, by giving real examples of a share of World GDP – the report overview of the Addressable market for Global eyewear sector.

Here is an overview of the GDP trends, presented by Matteo:

Matteo pointed out the 3 main goals of a Business:

  • Sell what you produce – capture your share of World GDP
  • Produce what you sell
  • Generate cash flow from sales and production

And such an important overview of a Leader:

Three ways to grow a Business, the importance of the royalty of the Business and to set up the business in the right manner. The supply chain is seen as a key to your own barrier of entry by giving examples of successful stories in different business fields.The enlightening presentation of Matteo concluded with the 3 pillars for high valuation as follows:

The panel of leaders was followed by an interview with Konstantin KrebsManaging Partner at Capstan Capital Partners LLP. Konstantin inspired the audience by sharing the story of his professional life by scaling up his own business and the companies he scaled up.

Taking as an example his experience, he mentioned the importance for an entrepreneur to access the right investor and therefore not be afraid of external capital. Guided by the brilliant questions of Giovanni, Konstantin shared the smart solutions available to finance growth and acquisitions.

Konstantin mentioned the importance of Time for an entrepreneur to get ready for an external capital and the benefit for a founder to be ready to share the control with the financial investor.

By highlighting the risks and the differences between the companies in Europe and USA, ending up with the fact that scale up means also making compromises with your own work-life balance.

The third speaker was Lori Vokes – COO Rest Less UK, Entrepreneur and Expert in M&A- who shared with the audience her professional experience in scaling the business across EMEA and Margin Markets, and in Startups.

Lori motivated the audience by sharing the two main strategies of scaling up:

    1. GROWTH and consistent execution.
    2. STRATEGIC FIT – strategic to the corporate and execute

Lori pointed out also two underlined strategies which are:

    • ALIGNMENT – operational alignment in order to continue to grow
    • CULTURAL FIT

The business culture trumped the geographic culture”, stated Lori and mental preparation and embracing the change is fundamental.

Lori raised an important question:

What are the decision making processes that are demonstrated? Is it hierarchical or is it entrepreneurial or collaborative?”

A top-down culture will not thrive an entrepreneurial culture, confirmed Lori taking inspiring examples from her experience.

Lori concluded by sharing with us the story and the challenge she had to face by being a COO of a RestLess Uk and the differences between a corporate approach and the fintech startups world.

Another innovative and inspiring experience was shared by ,Andrea Costantini – Executive Vice President at Agrati Group, Founder of Smart Capital.

Andrea shared his personal experience of professional growth, and his journey by helping other entrepreneurs.

Andrea gave us a perspective about the importance of networking, hearing and discussing with other entrepreneurs and sharing, building relationships of trust by approaching ambitious targets.

Andrea pointed out the importance of the team and the organization and during the process of the assessment, dedicating time to:

  1. Human values and ethics of the entrepreneurs
  2. The financial plans – simple and concise
  3. Long term vision – simple and clear

Andrea shared his way of thinking about an entrepreneur as humans with shared visions, underlining the chemistry and the soul of the business.

Our 5 TOP Key takeaways of the Ed-Event:

1. International Scale-up strategies; how to increase the company evaluation:

  • World Business Facts
  • 3 goals and 3 ways to grow your Business
  • 3 examples to follow and 3 pillars

2. Successful stories of scale-up and main mistakes:

  • Share the control
  • Not be afraid of external capital

3. M&A strategies; how to boost the revenue growth of your company:

  • Growth
  • Strategic Fit

4. The role of culture and behaviour for successful integration:

  • Cultural fit
  • Balance between Top-down culture and entrepreneurial culture

5. New Funding initiatives:

  • Building relationships of trust by approaching an ambitious target

We would like to thank our speakers for their contribution and our audience who joined the Ed- event from all over the world.

If you wish to receive full access to all online events, including educational webinars and masterclasses with industry leaders and members of our professional network, you can apply to become a member of Leaders First.