The Best Advice For Growing And Selling Your Business

Consumer Tech The Best Advice For Growing And Selling Your Business Quora Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. New! Follow this author to stay notified about their latest stories. Got it! Aug 27, 2022, 06:00pm EDT | New! Click on the conversation bubble to join the conversation Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Arrow symbol glowing amid black arrow symbols on black background.

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[+] space. Stock market and finance concept. getty How can business leaders grow (and sell) their companies, from scaling technology to securing funding from the right partners? originally appeared on Quora : the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world.

Answer by Rick Luebbe , Co-founder & CEO at Group14 Technologies, on Quora : Since the first time I sat in a room on Sand Hill Road 20 years ago, ready to pitch my first company to investors, I have seen numerous seismic shifts in the space – both from a technology and fundraising standpoint. Once again, we’re finding ourselves in another one of those seismic shifts right now. Throughout all the twists and turns, I’ve come out the other side several times now to find that the same learnings still apply.

For any business leader guiding a rising startup, one of the primary goals – which can also be one of the biggest challenges – is to sell the dream. Not only does your product or service have to address a key challenge in a novel way, but you must be able to genuinely demonstrate your potential to scale healthily. One critical measurement of growth will be how quickly and effectively your company can manufacture at scale and reach commercialization to meet demand.

At least in our industry, we’re seeing how, as today’s consumers and companies wean off fossil fuels, demand for electrification is surging exponentially. In the battery space, in particular, this means factories – we have to see more factories. With this in mind, my team at Group14 has developed our silicon battery technology to be scalable and drop-in-ready from the very beginning.

As your company progresses, a modular manufacturing blueprint will be foundational to balancing the near-constant unpredictability of today’s supply chains and market demands. Modular manufacturing is the only solution that guarantees success, designed to maximize manufacturing efficiency alongside the flexibility required in an ever-evolving landscape. This also means more domestic manufacturing.

That’s why Group14 has already established a domestic battery ecosystem, with our second U. S. factory in Washington state slated to break ground this year.

MORE FOR YOU Google Issues Warning For 2 Billion Chrome Users Forget The MacBook Pro, Apple Has Bigger Plans Google Discounts Pixel 6, Nest & Pixel Buds In Limited-Time Sale Event Of course, this wouldn’t be possible without fundraising. While many startups today stand in a precarious position amid market uncertainty, we are still seeing venture capital firms optimistically raise new funds and strategically invest in technologies. At this point in time, I have led Group14 in raising more than $440 million and can attest to the grind it requires to secure the right partners, whether through bear or bull markets.

Part of this includes weighing between venture capital and strategic investors. Each has an important role. For highly technical fields like the battery industry, strategics require a more sophisticated and complicated approach than purely financial investors.

However, they offer startups more tactical opportunities, help identify any significant risks and offer a more practical approach to commercialization. As you begin, it’s important to learn how to be in the right room and leverage relationships – even your “weaker” ties could lead to some of the strongest opportunities. Secondly, as I mentioned, you must be able to sell your vision, and not just your technology or service.

That said, you still need to be transparent about the potential risks you face. And remember: whatever the circumstance, all you can control is your pitch. This question originally appeared on Quora – the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world.

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