I have done enough with VC to see how you can work with or in-spite of them. It is a state of mind as much as anything else. VC is intended to give you a rapid leg up and go to market faster. Done well it can bring experience, skills, access to rolodex and innovation to a business. If you work together it can iron out growth and other issues. If things are going in the right direction, you are transparent, and they can see their money being used well it works. When things go wrong, you hide stuff or they disagree then it gets squeaky quickly.
Private Equity is a slightly different game. You are looking for under valued assets or landlocked (family owned, controlled market etc) businesses that are under valued. You may not be in it for a long haul, some rudely say strip'n'flip but again I would say work with them and it may be different. There are good and bad in all sectors. Aston seems to be an interesting comparison at this point, how are they doing and what part has II had in it? I don't know the answer.
We know the Morgan brand has equity. How would you go about making it more profitable as a business. I don't mean that in a bad manner, a business is there to make money. We think there are some gaps in quality and service (so bringing in skills would seem wise?) Bringing the price of a relatively custom, handbuilt(ish), highly differentiated product up to comparables? Getting it in front of more people with the net worth to make a discretionary purchase? Broadening out the markets you can sell it in (prey it does not need lots of spares etc!) Maybe further changes in the factory to optimise for growth, more personalisation or better service?
All common sense. It's not as if the factory was over-staffed or lax from the comments I see. It was run tightly to make a profit. Investment brings more opportunity, where do you spend it. First. Is that in the skills set of the current team as they have got it to this stage?
As long as the results show well it is a great opportunity. When it burps then the knives are sharp. Keep your friends close.
Everyone loves a Morgan. Even me, unless it's broken again.
