<Venture Capital, Technical Vetting>

<Introduction>

A new generation of investor has arrived, well versed in the black arts of the Internet and high technology. Buzz-words and lingo will no longer cut any ice if an examination of your plan reveals a defficiency in your technical research. This is especially relevant when your plan has not yet been turned into a draft. More and more funders are realising that projects stand or fall on the depth of their technical research. Small differences even in scripting language can make or break an idea. Your level of knowledge on these subjects will heavily influence your costings for developement and importantly your expected market penetration as Boo found out to its cost when its launch was plagued with technical hitches which ruined its impact and spoilt all chances of success.

<Why?>

Let's illustrate this with a typical project, the old "portal" number as an example, rough around the edges, underfunded yet with enourmous potential. You have given birth to the scheme and now need to reassure the investor that his risk has been minimised. This is more important than any grand ideas or the end game. This game is 1% inspiration 99% making your investor relaxed enough to get involved. You outline the plan, and through all your polished presentation of your aims, figures and concepts he or she is wondering whether there is enough "geek" in you to do business out in cyberspace.

Technical research is extremely time consuming and can double the costing you have submitted and thats if your lucky enough to make the right choices throughout. Many of the best ideas come from those with no technical background (as do funders!) but this is scant comfort for the hardened investment professional.

• How exactly will you track sales on affiliate sites? Does that system really work compared to...?
• What's your hardware and software suppliers technical support like compared to others?
• Is your plan complex enough for today's demands? Where once a list would do, now a live relational database with intelligent agents is a minimum for most sites.
• Will a sophisticated audience really be impressed by your site or has it already been done before?
• Has the database to generate pages you were sold been properly compared to the hundreds of other options on the market. Is it fast or effecient enough long term?
• Will he or she be paying thousands to sort out errors in your scripting before the lauch only to learn that the language you have chosen won't allow some of the functionality you hoped?

<How?>

Here's the hard part as you've probably realised. Finding someone to give you professional advice impartially is near impossible. It simply isn't enough to ask " a friend who knows computers", or your local lad in his bedroom with the specs and thermos. Much like choosing a lawyer you need to know that if hauled in front of the House of Lords they and their work won't crack under pressure. High street solicitors rarely win when up against the Capital's top firms and with so much money and heartache at stake its essential to know you are well prepared.

For those on a real shoestring we have seen people who have undergone this process themselves. After all who better to know the ins and outs of a plan that the author. This will usually take around 6-8 months, and should't cost much more than £15K-£20K in hardware and software tests, phone calls and books/training courses. Many entrepreneurs, possibly due to their nature find this attractive and it is an invaluable skill set for later life. The major drawback here is that by the time you've finished you can bet (we'll give you outstanding odds) that someone else will have rolled their plan out before you and the avenue is closed.

<What does it involve?>

Essentially a deep analysis of all the elements upon which you will be relying, from your site to your in-house systems. In many cases the wise investor will reverse engineer and hack your sites and systems to look for holes...

For example an average vetting will analyise site efficiency, navigation, O/S's, Server hardware, data transfer, all scripting languages, database platforms, workflow and groupware software, contact management, stock and inventory databases, web languages and server platforms, desktop clients, mass mailing post office systems among a variety of other considerations specific to your plan. Don't believe for one minute that words are sufficient to quell an investors anxiety in this vital area. More and more funds and individuals rely on firms with veteran programming and technical teams to vet ideas in detail, especially when this involves software. Your team will also be "interrogated", as one recent member of a float complained. Make sure they're up to it.