Our firm favors a flexible approach where our investments portfolios adjust to the technologies and maturity for adoption. We believe that even the more advanced technology may not find its market if the timing is wrong; even if reversely, entrepreneurs shouldn’t focus only on what customers say they want. Additionally, some markets are over-served with overpriced features they don’t really need, and are also good targets for blue ocean strategies.

The more hyped technologies are most of the time overvalued. So instead of following the crowd, our advisers work on detecting the emergent ones. Notably by scanning the academic research field, less connected to entrepreneurship yet, though from where many innovations come from. We also continuously leverage our large network by connecting the dots to cross-fertilize their innovations.

We believe that comparable company analysis or expected discounted cash flow valuation are stale-dated approaches with the new pace of technology change. There is no more “all other things being equal”. Alchemy is the art of arranging some components interacting with their environment in specific conditions.

Relative valuation comparing with trading multiples the current value of a business to other similar businesses, or comparing a target company to another having recently been sold or acquired in the same industry is only relevant for a “me-two” or “volume” business.

We only invest in startups able to disrupt -better: to transform- their existing market, either by new offerings or through new business models. Applying standard investment governance in a field where the uncertainty is so big doesn’t make sense. A profit formula is specific to each case, and the chances of success greatly depend from the leadership of the founders.