Press about Basil Peters
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Exit planning: Reap the rewards of entrepreneurshipThe Globe and Mail, Thane Stenner "‘For most owners, selling the company is the biggest transaction of their lifetimes,’ Dr. Peters says. ‘Unfortunately, most owners get less than they could - often many millions less. The biggest reason is that they didn’t have a good exit strategy. A well-designed and executed exit transaction often adds 50 per cent to the final selling price.’ As he explains, owners are often too busy building their business to think much about leaving it. ‘Exits are the least understood part of being a business owner,’ he notes. ‘Managers will often develop and execute dozens of product strategies, financings or sales plans during their careers. But even veteran managers will only be involved with a few exits.’ The solution is to think of the end right from the beginning. ‘In many cases - possibly the majority - owners wait too long to exit,’ he says. ‘Ideally, companies should have a written exit strategy before the company structure is complete, and certainly before the first financing. A clear exit strategy will literally affect business decisions made almost every day.’" |
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March of Club Penguin: Onward and upwardBusiness in Vancouver, Curt Cherewayko "Analysts and angel investors like Basil Peters frequently cite Club Penguin, which was founded using little capital and sold in a short timeframe, as the exemplary social media company. ‘[These days] you can build a company for almost no capital,’ Vancouver-based Peters said last April." |
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Exit strategy essential for entrepreneursThe Okanagan Saturday, Steve MacNaull "Some companies should be started with the ending in mind. ‘Yes, entrepreneurs should definitely think exit as they start a company,’ said Early Exits author Basil Peters during a stop in the Okanagan this week. ‘If an entrepreneur and a company has an exit strategy right from the beginning, then they tend to be more successful and reach their goals sooner.’ The key with exits is to sell when times are good." |
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Ask an Angel: Early Exit OptionsAngel Capital Education Foundation "Exit opportunities have changed dramatically over the last few years. Basil Peters, fund manager for Fundamental Technologies II (an angel fund) and member of angel groups in Canada and the US, encourages angel investors to recognize that the opportunity for earlier exits exists and to build strategies to capitalize on it." |
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SFU's Venture AdventureSFU Research Matters "SFU faculty, graduate students and staff, keen to set up companies to commercialize their innovations, can turn to SFU Venture Connection’s new Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) program for expert help." "‘I volunteered as soon as the program was announced,’ says Dr. Basil Peters of Fundamental Technologies II. He's helped start dozens of technology companies, including the Nexus Group". |
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Cash-Strapped Entrepreneurs Turn To Angels For HelpNational Post, Paul Brent "It will take a few months to see if the new interest will translate into increased investment, but Peters predicts the angel phenomenon will grow as other sources of capital dry up, and given that more Boomers are hitting their 50s and 60s, the typical age of angels. ‘All the trends are moving towards more,’ he says." |
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International credit crisis trims the industry fatBusiness in Vancouver, Curt Cherewayko "Peters keeps a list of mergers and acquisitions in the technology sector that occur for less than $30 million. 'You can create a company worth $10 million, $20 million or $30 million in a few years without a lot of capital, and can find lots of people wanting to buy you for cash,' said Peters." |
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No longer taboo to ’build to flip’Financial Post, Tony Wanless "Built to flip is not a dirty phrase or unnatural act," [Peters] says. "To succeed today, entrepreneurs must not only aspire to early exits, but design that objective into their corporate structures. It’s just not possible any more to take decades to build a company. Entrepreneurs, employees and investors just don't have the patience. Even if they did, their competitors don't." |
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Basil Peters invests in people: Passion for mentoring began at UBCingenuity - UBC Faculty of Applied Science Engineering News "With the belief that our province's greatest resource is the intelligence of our people, I encourage today's engineering students to consider opportunities to create and build companies from the knowledge and relationships they are building at UBC - it worked for me!" |
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West sets pace as kings of venture capitalBusiness Edge, Monte Stewart "[Hellman's] UBC study also points to a ‘funding gap’ or ‘capital gap’ in venture capital markets... U.S. venture capitalists are managing much larger funds than they were a decade ago, but they only invest in firms that require $10 million or more, hampering companies that are too small for a $10-million investment but too big for angels and family and friends. ‘That funding gap should be called a funding opportunity,’ says Peters, adding smaller companies generate bigger returns on investment nine times out of 10." |
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Two local men will be honoured at BCIT awards nightThe Now "Entrepreneurial innovator and Coquitlam resident Basil Peters will be in the spotlight Sept. 18, [2003] at the BC Institute of Technology's first annual Distinguished Alumni Awards evening." |
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Nexus Named Top CompanyThe Vancouver Sun "In an interview Friday, Peters said Nexus Engineering will have sales revenues of between $11 million and $12 million this year [1986]. About two-thirds of the sales will be generated in export markets." |
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The Successors: Canada's Emerging Business LeadersCanadian Business "...when Peters and van der Gracht were classmates at the University of British Columbia's department of electrical engineering, it was all the two men could do to stop competing for grades and start working together on an electric-vehicle project that was displayed at Vancouver's 1976 UN Conference on Human Settlement. They agree the project taught them a lot. 'It was almost like a minibusiness,' says van der Gracht, 'and it was tough, because a lot of the employees were paid in beer in pizza.' |
| Up and Comers: Nexus Engineering's Dynamic Duo - Basil Peters and Peter van der GrachtBC Business |