If you have an interest in M&A, fundraising or strategy consulting, you ought to consider joining Value Creation – Alternative (VC-A).
But why?
I am so imbued with VC-A’s value that I sometimes fail to remember that not everybody will be aware of all the advantages that the organisation brings to its members. This post is meant to mend this forgetfulness.
From the outside, most of you may have seen the following pitch:
Value Creation – Alternative is a Strategy and Investment Advisory firm. We help companies to develop their business through acquisition and organic growth. We accompany our clients throughout the entire lifecycle of their corporate development programme: strategy definition, target search, due-diligence, negotiation, transformation map and change management.
We are a worldwide network of more than 1,000 seasoned professionals with more than 45,000 contacts and have collectively advised M&A projects worth in excess of US$100B.
We support complex strategic and operational business decisions with deep analysis and robust processes. Our methodology is a combination of desk research, interviews and application of our internal know how.
But what really happens inside VC-A?
Why should someone be interested in joining VC-A?
Before answering, let’s first address the who question.
Who should be joining Value Creation – Alternative?
The good news is that nearly anybody can have a role in VC-A. Even our competitors can join to work on the “other side” of M&A and Fundraising deals.
We are organised as a Pyramid:
Brokers
In brokering M&A and Fundraising deals, it does not matter so much who you are, but who you know.
As long as you know how to use the Internet and can read and write in English, you are welcome to join as a broker to introduce potential clients.
Brokers get a commission that is typically 10% of VC-A success fees.
VC-A Subject Matter Experts (SME)
Let us know what your expertise is and we will try to staff you on Strategy Consulting missions. SME will have to submit a CV and display top-tier academic credentials.
VC-A Industrial Partners
If you work for a company whose services could be useful to help other companies develop their business, remember that this is VC-A’s mission.
VC-A Investors
Money is the nerve of war. We are always hungry for new sources of funds.
VC-A Agents
Want to take more an active role in VC-A and/or manage the relationship with the contact that you have introduced? Join as a VC-A Agent.
VC-A Agents may be required to execute a non-disclosure agreement and need to have enough industry expertise to handle the clients’ relationships.
VC-A Agents will receive privileged information on non-public operations and have access to VC-A list of blind opportunities through a personal login.
VC-A Associate Directors
One needs first to register as a VC-A Agent before one can be promoted to VC-A Associate Director. VC-A Associates need to go through our interview and compliance process. As a rule of thumb, only 1 Agent out of 20, who request the promotion, make it through the compliance process.
As a VC-A Associate Director, you are authorised to operate under the VC-A brand and have access to the list of VC-A opportunities, including the names of the contacts.
VC-A Partners
One needs first to be promoted to VC-A Associate Director before being promoted to VC-A Partners.
VC-A Partners have access to VC-A M&A Suite and have a say in VC-A Business Development Strategy.
Why should one be joining Value Creation – Alternative?
There are a plethora of reasons why one should be joining VC-A but to keep this post short, I will highlight only 7 of them:
- It is free to join VC-A
- VC-A Members are world-class professionals
- VC-A’s collaborative philosophy is antithetical to the way traditional Investment Bankers work
- VC-A leverages best in class technology tools
- VC-A’s compliance procedures allay scammers, fraudsters and time wasters
- VC-A sprawls across the five continents
- No minimum commitment required but the sky is the limit
1- It is free to join VC-A
I said the magic word: “FREE”. You can now relax and register online following the link: https://www.vc-alternative.com/blog/members/
However, remember that it is also free to leave VC-A. Although extremely rare, those who do not adopt a collaborative attitude and/or behave unethically are kindly asked to leave.
2- VC-A Members are world-class professionals
I founded VC-A back in 2002 leveraging the contacts I had made during my MBA at the IESE Business School and the London Business School. As a result, most of our VC-A Members are graduates from top-tier MBA or hold a PhD.
Most of our members are seasoned professionals with more than 10 years of work experience gained at blue-chip companies.
3- VC-A’s collaborative philosophy is antithetical to the way traditional Investment Bankers work
To my knowledge, VC-A is the only organisation willing to open up its database to its customers and to share its best practices collaboratively. Click here to see how our Value Proposition to VC-A Members blurs the distinction between clients and suppliers.
4- VC-A leverages best in class technology tools
VC-A is a fintech company. We are 100% digital. Join as a VC-A Agent and request an online demonstration of our VC-A M&A Suite:
5-VC-A’s compliance procedures allay scammers, fraudsters and time wasters
Our VC-A Members are all asked to go through a compliance process. We have developed an in-house procedure to reduce the risk of dealing with scammers, fraudsters and time wasters. For obvious reasons, we cannot explain much more but you may be interested in this related post:
Gold refining. How to avoid scammers, fraudsters, smugglers and bandits
…and have a laugh watching this video.
6- VC-A sprawls across the five continents
We focus on cross-border transactions and our objective is to identify counter-parties abroad. Our more than 1 000 VC-A Members are located all over the world:
7-No minimum commitment required, but the sky is the limit
There are no minimum objectives to meet, no commitments to perform, no obligations to work [unless you are tasked on an assignment].
On the other hand, if you don’t involve yourself proactively, you won’t get to share the profit. You will get out of VC-A what you will put in. VC-A Members must be proactive or… remain employees elsewhere (== modern slaves).
We have more opportunities that we can handle. Our minimum success fee is USD300k [to be shared collaboratively]. So basically, the sky is the limit.
See a blind list of selected VC-A opportunities here.
