Once a week Silicon Cape will be featuring a member from the community. If you would like your company profiled please fill out the form below. For more information please contact engage@siliconcape.com
Company Name?
YueDiligence
Website?
Describe what your company does in the simplest, most engaging way you can:
YueDiligence is an alternative online due diligence platform to bridge the information gap between entrepreneurs and investors. It automates and structures the initial due diligence process to capture, analyse, summarise and communicate the commercial potential of a company in an investor-friendly format, enabling users to make informed decisions. Combining dynamic company information with an ever-growing peer database and self-learning algorithms, YueDiligence generates various gap analysis reports, an interactive dashboard, action points/ growth recommendations, indicative company valuation range and an active due diligence checklist.
Explain your role in the company
CEO. Mainly Strategic Direction and Business Development.
How does your solution improve your specific industry and why is this relevant to South Africa now?
In its recent Future of Financial Services Report, the World Economic Forum identified Alternative Capital Raising Platforms like Crowdfunding, Smart Contracts and Alternative Due Diligence as aiding collaboration between established financial institutions and disruptive innovators in the years ahead. These platforms will help startups grow more rapidly and give investors more control, ultimately making the overall ecosystem richer for new entrants and incumbents alike.
What are some of the other interesting companies you’ve worked for, jobs you’ve had before you started what you are doing now?
YueDiligence is a spin-out startup by our venture capital company: Knife Capital where I am co-founder and director. Prior to that, I structured various private equity funds in Southern Africa for a US fund-of-funds investor and worked at industry-leading companies such as Procter & Gamble, Investec Bank and Mark Shuttleworth’s ‘Here Be Dragons’ (HBD) Venture Capital. At Knife Capital, we prepared various buy-side and sell-side due diligences resulting in portfolio exits to the likes of Visa, General Electric and Garmin.
Which businesses, startups or people are you looking to connect or collaborate with?
Entrepreneurs who have some initial traction with building their businesses and Investors [of time and money] in entrepreneurial ventures. This includes incubators, accelerators and service providers.
Why have you chosen Cape Town, compared to somewhere else in the world, to launch this business?
The combination of creativity, technology skill-set, a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem and wine.
What are your views on the tech eco-system in South Africa currently?
The tech ecosystem in South Africa has exploded and there is a lot of excitement and momentum. But also a lot of ‘white noise’. The various players in the ecosystem are still quite fragmented and we need to build more touch-points for real collaboration.
What do you love about technology and why?
Its disruptive ability across industry verticals and scalability.
Name some of challenges you are facing with your company now?
Building the team out in the right way to optimise growth.
What’s your vision for your company in the next 6 months?
To have a few more corporates signed onto the platform and get real traction in the entrepreneurial target market. Product iterations are on-going, and we plan to launch a second version of YueDiligence that is tailored to pre-revenue startups focusing more on business model development than business building in the next few months. Other developments in the pipeline include allowing users to interact with indicative valuation metrics for a better understanding of their value and integrations with third party service providers to extend the offering.
How can the Silicon Cape community help you?
Supporting YueDiligence as a way to facilitate seamless information exchange and provide user feedback and ideas on what else this platform should/could provide.
For Silicon Cape Blog improvement: What information would you like to see more of?
Real entrepreneurial success story (and failure) case studies.
Would you like to contribute guidance / tips / thought leadership about specific topics on the Silicon Cape Blog?
Yes ~ All aspects of the Venture Investment cycle: Find, Make, Grow and Realise.
What’s your best advice for fellow entrepreneurs?
Be in the business of being awesome!
Quickies:
What is the one app you can’t live without?
Wunderlist To Do List App.
What is the best entrepreneurial, business or motivational book you’ve read?
Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist by Brad Feld/ Jason Mendelson and Finish Big by Bo Burlingham
What’s your best way to keep productive?
Wunderlist To Do List App I try to do the unpleasant business tasks in the first two hours of my workday to get it out of the way.
Favourite place to work from?
KnifeCap Office, Cape Town Coffee Shops or Workshop 17.
How do people get hold of you?
Website: www.yuediligence.com
Twitter: @YueDilligence
E-mail: info@yuediligence.com
Contact: Keet van Zyl – (021) 914-5566