Four Fast Ways to Increase the Value of Your Business

Last week, I shared details on 3,997 companies that have raised more than $57.5 billion this year.

And though the vast majority of these companies have no revenue, they have a median pre-money valuation of close to $4 million!

Three qualities these companies all have in common are dynamic leadership, exciting branding, and high market potential.

Noticeably missing is technology, as how a business rates and compares in this critical regard is implicit in the three qualities.

As in, dynamic business leaders know how to build or buy the needed technologies to best serve their customers and enhance their competitive advantage.

And modern, excitingly-branded businesses – think Airbnb, Dropbox, Slack, and Spotify, etc. – just have that “you know it when you see it” futurisitic technology aura all about them.

And of course, high market potential is almost synonymous with “hot” technologies – artificial intelligence, big data, blockchain, robotics, virtual reality, et al.

Luckily, any company can quickly bake more of buzz-building qualities into their business story.

And by so doing – without improving financial results – immediately improve how the business is perceived and valued.

Here are four ways how:

4. Embrace Optimism. Let’s start with fully digesting the statistics that show current small business financing conditions to be far better in reality than is the conventional wisdom and perspective on them.

Sadly, and most probably because of the craziness in Washington, it is almost as if optimism is out of vogue and it is “politically incorrect” to flag these strong markets.

Well, to heck with that!  Simply by embracing optimism and bullishness, the opinions that others have as to our business prospects goes immediately up.

3. Play the Leadership Part. One of the easiest and fastest ways to become a more dynamic leader is to act like one.

And, in any business situation of note, a shorthand to do so is to ask ourselves:

What would Jeff Bezos do? Or Elon Musk?

Or Richard Branson? Or Phil Knight?

Or Warren Buffett?  Or Sam Walton?

Even when our answers might at times feel contradictory, or because of resource constraints hard to relate to our particular business problem, their very asking injects future-focused perspective to otherwise uninspiring business choices.

2. Buy Your Branding. Sites like Fiverr, Hatchwise, Upwork, and 99Designs offer on demand access to inexpensive and extraordinarily good design, marketing, and branding talent.

So there is no excuse to not have a top-notch, up-to-date company brand, design, and web presence.

Just get it done.

1. Industry is not Destiny. Given the long-term GNP growth rate of around 3%, the statistical reality is that most companies compete in slow growth or declining industries.

So when these companies approach the financial markets, they are often pigeon-holed into that depressing low-potential, low-value bucket.

Breaking free of this quick prejudice is sometimes as simple as incorporating “buzzwords” into how we describe ourselves.

Words and phrases like “as a service,” “data analytics,” “disruptive” “gamify” “machine learning” are yes a bit trite, but are also powerful in communicating a business is up-to-date and in tune with current markets.

Even better, we can build a “Newco” business plan for an aspect, practice area, or division of our business that is or can be made adjacent to a high growth industry.

In both cases, dynamic business leaders communicate a “modern lexicon” vision, outlining what their companies will represent in the future…

…and by so doing get the value credit for it today.

It really isn’t that hard.

It starts with optimism, and with learning from and being inspired by the great business role models all around us.

Mix in a little cheap (but good!) branding, a few buzzwords and pronto our business stops being perceived as tired and uninteresting.

And starts being seen – and valued – as one to be reckoned with.