You Don’t Have to Be a Venture Capitalist to Accelerate Deal Flow

There is a misconception in the business world that venture capitalists are the only players who have unfettered access to funding for business start-ups, growth companies, and capital funding projects.

This misconception has placed owners and service providers in a box that they must play the same old games of waiting for debt financing or tax breaks to become available to get any projects off the ground.

Meanwhile, VCs are supposedly having all the fun raising millions of dollars for early stage projects with preliminary business plans and they’re sitting on piles of cash reserves waiting to dump this cash into start-ups or projects.

Here’s an opportunity to reset your thinking. You don’t have to play the same old games and you have the same opportunity to accelerate deal flow through a smarter, more intelligent approach to connecting with strategic partners.

Stop Playing Old Games That Slow Project Creation and Delivery

Venture capitalism has been romanticized in the modern business world as the place where hot-shot personalities meet with Stanford graduates with world-changing business ideas to give the proverbial thumbs up, then make one call to airlift millions of dollars in cash– all before lunch. It’s the kind of story about accelerating deal flow that ends up on the cover of Fortune or Forbes.

Owners and service providers have been locked into the opposite thinking of operating in silos playing a slow-developing game of looking to win on price and who was able to dig their heels further into the ground.

It turns into a numbers game — traditional, short-term thinking that generates traditional, short-term results that only provides the illusion of power and control. In actuality, no one ends up with power and control because neither side is receiving value from the relationship.

I’m not advocating the perceived VC approach of flippantly making deals with every potential partner that comes along. What I’m advocating is pursuing engagement and authentic connection. And, yes, sometimes this requires your organization making the first move to reset how the game is played.

Taking this approach is the path to real power and control over your role in the working relationship for the long-term benefit of your organization. It’s also the path to accelerating deal flow.

Take a Smarter, More Intelligent Approach to Client Connection

Owners that continue to play the old games become susceptible to service providers that try to seduce. It could be claims about how fast they can deliver the project, how low they’re willing to go on price, or another compromised aspect of their response to the RFP. It’s an illusion of power for your organization.

Meanwhile, service providers have been tricked into thinking they have to win enough deals each period to meet short-term revenue targets and possibly achieve some measure of growth along the way. The result is that everything you are doing is not as effective as it appears.

What’s the solution? Wake up. Be conscious of who you are choosing to work with. Focus on authentic connection rather than playing the game.

What both sides need is mutual understanding, connection, and authentic collaboration to understand the problem, the problems behind the problem, and how to navigate these challenges to craft the right solution.

– For owners, it’s adjusting your thinking to see which service providers can provide a comprehensive solution that doesn’t just solve the immediate problem represented in the RFP, but the larger problems within the organization that can produce a positive, long-term outcome.

– For service providers, it’s adjusting your thinking to not see the RFP at face value. An intelligent approach requires taking the time to identify those problems behind the problem, aligning with business and political issues in the organization, developing multiple paths of connection within the organization, and presenting a solution that leverages your solution for value and impact.

When both sides reframe their approach to how the game is played, they can form the basis of a much stronger and much more effective working relationship. This is the foundation for accelerating deal flow.

An additional piece of the puzzle — the financial side — is understanding how to build on this collaborative approach to enhance project scope creation and delivery.

Don’t Settle for Traditional Financing Models

What’s the traditional approach to capital project financing? Typically, stakeholders wait for debt financing, bonds, or tax incentives to fuel projects.

Shift your focus. I want to take you just beneath the surface to capital investment opportunities. There are opportunities through concession financing structures as well as sovereign wealth that is looking for investment opportunities.

Fortunately, we are connected to Wall Street partners that are actively seeking deals to drop cash into capital projects. It’s a different game where you don’t need to wait for debt financing, which has traditionally slowed project delivery.

It’s time to pursue collaborative relationships and build authentic connection to accelerate deal flow and embrace creative thinking about project scope creation and delivery.

And the best part is you don’t have to be a venture capitalist or start talking to hotshot Stanford grads to accelerate deal flow. You just need to start with a shift in mindset to see how the new game is played that is focused on building stronger partnerships that lead to sustainable, long-term revenue growth.

We coach organizations on both the owner and service provider side on how to pursue strategic relationships through our proven methodology, The Connection Process. Through our business coaching, we help organizations grow in a more collaborative and intelligent way.

Talk to us today about the opportunity to accelerate deal flow and deliver scope creation for capital projects in today’s market. We’re here to help.