Setting up a New Business

Julien Machot, MSc, MA, Managing Partner, VERSO X

Effective Tactics for Identifying and Capitalizing on New Business Opportunities

I am always looking for new business and financial opportunities - my sense of curiosity and drive to learn pushes me forward. I am always keen to explore new opportunities and do the initial research required to understand their advantages and disadvantages.

The most difficult stage remains the initial identification. In finance, we call it origination. That is the process of identifying, searching, screening, analyzing multiple situations and coming down to a short list of pre-selected ones. To conduct such a process thoroughly, I believe one needs a hunter's mindset. You find yourself hunting, seeking new games, wandering in a vast universe of opportunities. The hunter must know what he is looking for while searching for it and not precisely know or pre-empt how this new opportunity will look. It calls up for Einstein's wisdom about problem-solving - one tends to have an idea of how the solution looks like.

Past the identification stage, I typically review the shortlisted opportunities at hand. I carefully go into due diligence. I carefully check upon the facts to help my understanding of greater details. Zooming in, as I often say. Zooming out, too - so as to keep excellent comprehension of the universe around the opportunity. There is a striking balance in that capacity to focus on the greater details and on the larger picture all at the same time.

Maintaining Relationships with Key Stakeholders and Clients to Drive Business Development Efforts

In any business venture, one has to deal with key stakeholders and clients. Inherently, a business grows with people who contribute to it some value, some activity and some participation in financial and non-financial forms. Nurturing such relations is part of the natural flow of business, and to do a good job, one must always strive to act in full transparency and openness.

Providing clarity is essential. In business, just like in one's personal life, a lack of clarity can question what one is building. Communicating clearly and decisively helps pass on key information to the diverse stakeholders, address their concerns and questions, and provide the latest updates. Business flows constantly, evolves fast, and fluctuates in major movements.

I personally produce quarterly reports to VERSO Capital's shareholders, investors and stakeholders. Discipline is required to produce short and relevant reports that allow for information to be communicated properly. In parallel to quarterly reporting works, I always do my very best to reach out directly and express in my own words what work streams are ongoing and what challenges are being tackled. There is a need to provide all stakeholders with both a photo and a film of the business and its development.

Staying Informed about Emerging Trends and Opportunities in the Investment Landscape

While focused on growing one's business, the world continues to spin on its own - and it does so very fast. Keeping an eye on emerging trends and opportunities is essential for business survival, for one's intellect and curiosity. Over the past twenty years, in both my entrepreneurial and my banking career, I have learned to discern information that is not only new but also relevant and useful to my business ventures and me as an entrepreneur. I continue to nurture my capacity to spot information of high relevance, and I push myself to read about it, question it, and research it further. Then, I trained my mind to focus on taking what is not only relevant but also executable, and I applied it to my ongoing business development.

I must admit I constantly search for new, valuable ideas. There are days I may feel entirely drained - certain business ideas require your full attention and a high degree of dedication to learning and exploring. It is an enticing, exciting process. At VERSO Capital, a part of my job is to find new intellectual property and technological innovation and deploy financing to support them. Without plugging myself into what is happening around me, I would most likely not be able to operate the way I do. I, therefore, value this process and enjoy its intricacies as they may lead to the discovery of new scientific material or engineering techniques that I feel compelled to back with capital.

 

Advice to Aspiring Entrepreneurs

I would advise aspiring entrepreneurs to spend the initial 55 minutes of the hour on the conceptual design that will be the heart of their business and keep the last five minutes of that hour to plan execution. We live in a time of rush and eagerness. Slowing down, breathing deeply, and focusing one's mind at the very start should help save tremendous pressure and help avoid mistakes at later stages. The entrepreneurial journey is a very long one, an uncertain one. To withdraw uncertainty from the get-go, take it easy and focus deeply on what the business will do and how to do it better than anyone else, better than the competition. That is the entrepreneurial challenge.

BIO

Born in France and educated across Europe and the United States, Julien MACHOT has forged a dynamic financial career. Beginning as an entrepreneur in education and test preparation in the United Kingdom, he achieved success with a profitable business exit in 2012. Following a transition into UHNW Private Banking in Switzerland, Julien formed VERSO Group, a hybrid Merchant Banking boutique based in Luxembourg in 2017 and is focused on developing three securitization platforms: VERSO Capital, Innovatech and REAL Empire. With oversight of USD 4 billion in client assets, including over USD 375 million in venture capital investments backing technological innovation, Julien is recognized as an entrepreneurial leader and trusted investor.