Exits Talk

Why Wait? Start a GenAI Company Now

by David Rowat | March 5, 2024

  Introduction We have a new boom in tech: Generative Artificial Intelligence, or GenAI.  It is a game-changer for entrepreneurs, exits and valuations.  GenAI is blowing away all the pessimism clouding the tech industry today. Its rate of adoption is faster than any new technology preceding it. Figure 1 shows that ChatGPT, the first and largest GenAI application, reached 1 million users in 5 days.   Read More

Valuation

How to Value a SaaS Company

by David Rowat | January 17, 2024

  Note:  there is a 16 minute video at the bottom of this post which summarizes the main points.   UPDATE Previous versions of this article described a valuation process for SaaS companies that relied on the Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) times a Revenue Multiple adjusted for the characteristics of the specific SaaS company.  This current update in January 2024 improves on previous versions in two ways:  first...

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Valuation

Methods for Valuing Technology Companies

by David Rowat | January 13, 2024

This article discusses the popular business valuation methodologies for valuing tech companies:

  • Discounted Cash Flow
  • EBITDA times Multiple
  • Revenue times Multiple

Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) approach

DCF is the time-honoured approach which you can find in every textbook on valuation. It is the most credible for matur...

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Exits Talk

Surprising Trends in Venture and Digital Health Investment

by David Rowat | October 10, 2023

There is a long-held belief that the financial markets for technology companies are highly volatile (as seen in the tech bubbles of 1999 and 2021 followed by the crashes of 2000 and 2022), whereas the healthcare financial markets are more stable. Strategic Exits Partners compared financial data from both sectors for Funding, Valuation and M&A.  The results were surprising. The sectors follow the same patterns in some respects but not in others...

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M&A BLOG

The Quantum Paradox: When is it Showtime?

by Len Zapalowski | August 29, 2023

by Yoann Jestin, of Ki3 Photonics (www.ki3photonics.com); and Len Zapalowski of Strategic Exits Partners Ltd. (www.exits.partners). A survey of current articles on Quantum computing (QC) suggests that the time when utility-scale quantum computers will be available for commercial applications is at least...

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M&A BLOG

How Generative AI is straining Government Regulation around the world

by Len Zapalowski | August 17, 2023

by Benji Christie of Formic AI Ltd. (www.formic.ai); and Len Zapalowski of Strategic Exits Partners Ltd. (www.exits.partners). Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to bring about significant benefits to both commerce and consumers in broad applications from healthcare to video games. However, if left...

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Exits Talk

Green shoots are sprouting in the tech garden

by David Rowat | July 14, 2023

Make no mistake, the tech industry is in a world of hurt right now.  But there are signs that the worst might be behind us. 2022 and 1H2023 were terrible: The numbers and sentiments look pretty grim.  Here are a few snippets:

  • CB Insights charted the decline in tech valuations by stage of development from Q1 2022 to Q1 2023. It’s heart-stopping.  See Table 1.
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M&A BLOG

Robotics Investments 2022: Global Robotics Investments: Seven Year Trends

by Len Zapalowski | June 15, 2023

Global Robotics Investments: Seven Year Trends Angel and institutional investments made in robotic companies over the past seven years are slowly shifting from startup to scaling companies, according to research conducted by Vancouver-based boutique technology M&A advisors, Strategic Exits Partners. Last year, we published our research on robotics acquisiti...

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Exits Talk

The Early-Stage Tech Inflection Point in one graphic

by David Rowat | April 10, 2023

This is the complete graphic for the Early Stage Inflection Point article directly below. ...

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Exits Talk

The Early-Stage Tech Inflection Point

by David Rowat |

Early-stage tech companies can succeed for a period of time driven by the talents of the founders and small investments from family, friends and angel investors.  At some point, however, the company grows to a size where management processes must become more formalized and many decisions will need to be delegated to avoid the chaos created by a small group of founders making all of the decisions.  What got them to this point won’t get them to the ...

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