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Who is Cameron St John, the principal of PTV since 2001? Cameron St. John has
a background in large corporations in both the old and new economies.
Until 2001, Cameron was an executive in the Asian office of Sterling Commerce,
a leading provider of EDI-based middleware. Prior to his experience at Sterling, Cameron completed an MBA with Distinction at the Australian Graduate School of Management, including a China Business specialty at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Prior to 1998, Cameron was an economics and business acquisitions researcher at Teck Corporation (now Teck Resources Corp), a major Canadian mining corporation.
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Will PTV invest in my
company?
PTV is more than a consultancy. PTV will consider angel-level investments based on three principles:
PTV's participation involves more funding and ongoing involvement with the company than most angel-level investments. If this is of interest, you can apply to see if you qualify as a "business development partner." To qualify, companies must have all of the following characteristics:
PTV offers agreements
that are "structured for upside." What does this mean?
PTV will charge reasonable per-hour fees for consulting services during strategy discussions. If requested upon the initial retention, PTV will offer a quotation for further services (usually implementation of the recommended strategies), based largely on commission or stock options. Because this is an investment in the client company, these services will only be performed by PTV only if the client company meets certain performance targets. However, PTV will only consider this sort of project where PTV is given the flexibility to make business decisions that will determine success or failure. In other words, we will not take undue risks where others are making the decisions. Ask whether your business qualifies as a "business development unit" that can justify this sort of agreement.
Can my unit qualify for
PTV services that are "structured for upside?"
Any business unit may qualify for a quotation; however, the PTV quotation for upside-related services may not be commercially viable for the client. Factors PTV takes into account are:
Does my organization
qualify for PTV services as a "business
development unit"?
PTV will consider services to any unit with a defined mandate and a need for strategy. Such a unit may be:
Does my organization
qualify for PTV services as "high-margin"?
PTV services can add the most value in highly competitive and complex situations where the chance of a project success is high-risk. Because competitors also worry about failure, margins for success are usually high. In such situations, the existence of a clear, well-conceived plan becomes critical. It is worth the investment to do it right. PTV will structure its service fees to accomodate this risk, possibly with an "upside" focus.
What do you mean by the
term "institutional partner"?
We use this term to describe any large organization in relation to a small enterprise: a venture capitalist, large corporation, or government. In our view, institutions are not just about giving cash or buying products, but about long-term alliances where funds, expertise, and marketing synergies might flow in both directions. When startup relationships are viewed this way, applying out-of-box thinking, long-term relationships are more likely to form and be profitable.
I have never hired a
consultant before. When should I hire a consultant instead of an
employee?
Most
startups try to do everything internally.
While that is often the right decision - it allows you to work on a
shoestring - there are times when an independent specialist will save you
huge amounts of time and money.
Normally, this is most obvious when you have a specific, technical task that you know will end. Hiring a lawyer to draft a contract, or an accountant to do your taxes are examples of this. Management consultants can be similarly useful for showing you how to do one-off tasks that are too important to mess up, and too complicated to learn from word-of-mouth and library books! Examples of when you should hire a consultant include:
You should hire an employee
instead for tasks that will be needed on an ongoing basis, or that are core
to your business. Examples include:
How can I find the best
consultant, and what should my deal look like?
You are right to ask! It is harder than you would think. Many people mistake professional consultants as simply unemployed people who can be abused. They are not. The proper "care and feeding" of a good consultant is necessary for achieving value from them. It is said that if you have to worry about what you're paying a consultant, you should not be hiring them! DOs:
DON'Ts:
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