Investor documentation

Entrepreneurs need to sell their ideas to investors. Investors need to sell viable businesses to other investors. And everyone wants sufficient control to feel comfortable, or they will take their money and time and invest it elsewhere.

Usually, particularly in the early stages, the only way to get that control it to write everything down, in one clear, simple, comprehensive document.

Whether this is a business plan, a proposal, an information memorandum or a prospectus, it has to explain and persuade in equal measures, remaining somewhat cool and maintaining the credibility of the idea and the founders.

Business plans require a significant time commitment from the founders themselves. But in the meantime, sales are not being made, agreements are not being reached and new markets are not being developed.

If you're seeking a small amount of capital (under $2 million) you have to make a big impact with a small group of people in a short space of time. If you're seeking a larger amount, the deal needs to be complete and compelling right from the start, or it risks hanging around as an also-ran.

You could hand the whole job over to someone else; but if it's not their idea, they may miss many of the subtelties that make it a unique proposition.

Big Sys can help create persuasive, clear and credible plans and reports by working collaboratively with the founders, synthesising what's already been done with new research, new, compelling copy, tight editing and smart layout.

Contact us to discuss what you need to achieve.

Clearer, shorter prospectuses

ASIC has been vocal recently about the need for fundraisers to be clear rather than lengthy in their capital-raising documents.

Acting Chairman Jeremy Cooper said in February this year, "‘Issuers need to make prospectuses more readable. That means shorter and clearer. There is no problem with the logic of the disclosure regime, it’s more that issuers and their advisers have not yet fully adopted the ‘clear, concise, and effective’ style and that has to change.

"The ‘clear, concise and effective’ requirement demands that issuers and advisers re-think the whole craft of prospectus writing. The days of the 200 plus page prospectus (and sometimes more) have really got to be over."

ASIC's releases about disclosure documents are available here. You can download PS56 here.