Services

Ascentage guides the growth, evolution and exit objectives of technology firms. We help companies grow, execute mergers and acquisitions and develop financing plans based on proven funding strategies.

Our team works as an extension of your executive management team. Our best relationships are long term and usually continue for three or more years. We work closely with your company and strive to achieve common goals. We may also serve on your board of directors or advisory board when appropriate.

We can engage with your company in a number of ways. Whether working for retainer, success fee or equity, we structure the engagement to fit your business needs.  Ascentage balances our fees and equity participation with a commensurate risk/reward formula, so you can maximize the amount of working capital you need to grow your business.

Business Growth and Development


Ascentage is in the business of helping companies ascend to another stage.

Technology firms often can’t find or afford the management talent that they need to dramatically improve decision making and execution. Our team has valuable experience starting and building companies and launching new products.

We are an excellent fit for companies that are led by smart entrepreneurs, yet don’t have a complete management team in place to deal with every key business issue a company encounters.  Or later stage firms whose growth has stalled.

These issues may include increasing product market traction, validating the product opportunity, signing new customers, building distribution channels, demand marketing, establishing financial controls, hiring the right people, protecting intellectual property, raising money, or handling mergers and acquisitions. It is our business to help your company evolve and realize its value.

“Our business improved because you taught us how to understand the customer instead of developing product and messaging in a vacuum.”

“The Ascentage team was involved in founding the company.
Now we are 130 employees with $30 million sales.”

“We had 32 product ideas we could have launched. You helped us decide what our next product should not be.”

Mergers, Acquisitions and Strategic Transactions

You are developing an exciting new product or service based on your technical understanding of a market, yet you don’t have strategic experience when it comes to mergers, acquisitions and partnerships. We help your executive team by providing the right guidance, negotiating terms, and coaching you on how to perform a transaction that is mission-critical to your business.

When your goal is to merge with or acquire another business, or to set up a strategic relationship, we support your executive team with proper planning and due diligence, then negotiate the terms on your behalf to get the highest value.

Successfully positioning your company for M&A requires significant experience. It requires knowing the steps to take, following proven procedures from exploring the possibilities of a partnership to negotiating a term sheet and getting the deal closed.

“As the company founder, I knew my strengths and weaknesses. When I sat with the acquirer’s CEO and CFO, it was worth every penny to have Ascentage involved in every aspect of the negotiation.”

“You figured out the best way to put a deal together and then made it happen.”

Funding Strategies

Finding qualified investors who are willing to fund your business is challenging. We help clients develop a funding strategy roadmap to align their business with the right financial partners.

Ascentage provides early stage companies with the ability to present business ideas in advance of a funding exercise. We help entrepreneurs assess and tune investor presentations. We help validate markets and products. We also work with our clients to determine the appropriate roadmap to seek various funding alternatives.

“Our valuation continually went up while you were with us.”

“We knew we needed more resources to grow faster,
and a bigger line of credit wasn’t the answer.”

Approach

Our team looks at your company from an outside-in perspective, reflecting our experiences and the mindset of potential outside investors or partners.

A typical initial engagement consists of three components:

  1. Business Review
    • Customer/Market – review proposed customer use case(s), total available market (TAM) and market penetration strategy
    • Product – assure minimum viable product (MVP) and product/market fit
    • Organization – assess the strengths/weaknesses of management team
  2. Strategic and Financial Review
    • Strategy – assess the company’s overall strategic direction, market trends and momentum
    • Partnering – identify most likely strategic partners and acquirers – best fits, synergies, etc.
    • KPIs – analysis performance against industry standard metrics
    • Financial – review historic financial performance and 3-5 year financial projections; determine current valuation range, plus major milestones and drivers that will increase company value
  3. Due Diligence (DD)
    • Conduct initial DD on technology, business/operations, legal and financial
    • Agree action plan to compile virtual data room (VDR) for potential partnership agreement or financial transaction

How clients pay for our services:

 

For business development and growth engagements

  • Monthly retainer or project-based fees
  • Vesting equity, typically on a three-year vesting schedule
  • Commission for specified transactions

For M&A and strategic partnership engagements

  • Hourly/monthly retainer or project-based fees
  • Success fee based on transaction size for the sale of a company’s securities or assets; controlling or minority interest
  • Success fee for the acquisition of a target company’s securities or assets

Appointment to board of directors or advisory board

  • Board member fees
  • Stock options

Endorsements on this page were made by current and previous Ascentage clients. Endorsements are unpaid and represent the particular experience of the client.