M21 - Business EconomicsReturn

Does an early-stage startup have future potential or not? This is a question that many investors or start-up appraisers ask themselves. A qualified answer to this question can be obtained by learning how and why experienced business angel investors, who are those who invest substantial sums in early-stage start-ups, make empirical decisions. In this article, we identify the key signals that are decisive for Mr. Jiří Hlavenka, a experienced Czech angel investor in IT sector with a history of more than 50 invested start-ups and several thousand analyzed investment opportunities. The results show that the angel investor’s decision is primarily a “bet on people” – his decision to invest in an early-stage start-up is most influenced by the specific set of skills and abilities of the founder(s), namely: (i) the ability to execute a business, (ii) being a good leader, (iii) being a good merchant, (iv) ability to build a team, (v) all-round versatility, (vi) carrying a strong vision. The findings of this article may be of interest, among other things, to appraisers, investors who estimate the future potential of new start-ups, or start-up founders who use the investments themselves in the early stages of their business.

Press brakes are among the most widely used in sheet metal manufacturing plants. There are a few additional equipment to the basic equipment of the bending press, and the valuation must be carefully considered by the expert. Valuation is one of the problems of determining the initial price, which generally depends on the price of the asset on the market, or it can be deduced from the price of the asset on the market. With regard to technical progress and development, the solution to this problem is becoming more and more difficult. The initial price includes the factors that must be considered in the valuation. This paper deals with above-standard equipment, which is part of every bending press and forms a significant part of its sales price. For this reason, it is necessary to take into account above-standard equipment even when setting the new price for valuation of assets. Getting price information is not easy and is not normally available. For valuation purposes, it would be advisable to develop at least a basic overview of the above-standard equipment of the press brakes and to perform their quantitative analysis. The contribution is also related to the above standard equipment, it deals with the issue of setting the initial price of the press brakes.