Well Punters - it is not often we slap a Crowdcube pitch on the back when it's live. But Awesome Merchandise gets one from us.
The company has been going since 2005, has continually made incremental profits and now has an established position from which to launch ambitious plans. Its valuation is sensible and you might even say generous, given the level of most pitches on here.
Barriers to entry are there based on the time it has taken to build up their trust quotient. This trust is founded on the IP of their staff - their creativeness - which cant be directly replicated. Competition in the US may be stiff.
Answers to queries are well thought through and robust. These guys have a plan and it makes some sense. There are risks of course but compared to most, this one looks interesting.
Please dont disappoint me by letting it fail! We had no hand in prepping them so this is a totally objective view.
Of course short sighted punters will duck out because of the lack of EIS - on the time limit. But more thoughtful ones will realise (I hope) that investing in something a little more solid than a beta app or a fad brewery, with EIS, is a better option for a return. EIS after all only limits your loss or marginally inproves your return if there is one. I think somewhere along the line, investors have forgotten this. The trade off is stability versus tax credit.
Id be very interested in your opinions.
Pretty impressed actually. Need to see BS and CF to make a true evaluation but even maintaining net margins at 5% you could derive an investment case. The thing I like about it is self funded, decent valuation and was started in the finance crisis.. bodes well for the future. Not sure it could scale quite that quick but impressive history of growth.
ReplyDeleteAgree - looks like a good pitch. Shame about the lack of EIS, although I note the question about this. Assume they are not qualified for it based on time the company has been trading.
ReplyDeleteWhat they've achieved is really impressive, it's exactly how businesses should be launched and run, best pitch I've personally seen for a very long time. I agree it's never going to be a high growth 'unicorn', but a sensible investment in my eyes.
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