Richard Alberg talks about Raising Investment
Raising Investment for Small Businesses
Raising Investment is one of Richard Alberg's special talents. He joined the podcast to explain how small and medium sized businesses should go about raising investment for their businesses.


Volume Recruitment
An expert in job boards and recruitment software and technology, Richard has many years of experience in volume recruitment technology. After selling his previous company, he focused his new company on looking at the challenge of recruitment from the job seeker's perspective. Not the employer who is thinking about how to attract talent, but from the individual who is saying I'm the right talent, how do I find the right job for me.
A Serial Entrepreneur
Richard suggested he might be a one-trick pony! He's a serial entrepreneur. Having found something he enjoys doing he has done more than once. He has founded an advertising agency and sold it. Then PSL, a company he founded and sold, and 9 years ago he started MWS Technology. Then 2 years ago started Corndel, an 80 staff business delivering apprenticeship programmes.


MWS Technology
This business has evolved from just helping people find the right roles for themselves. The first idea was how do you provide high volume assistance to job seekers? On the basis that when you do anything through human beings, it is inherently expensive, because people's time costs. It doesn't scale very well. That's because the moment you get increased demand you need more individuals with the skills to provide the service. And those skills are not always available. It is also hard to maintain quality.


A Nerdy Technology Perspective - a Tri-Partite Relationship
When you get it right, technology helps you to scale projects brilliantly, Richard says.

They started with the aim of helping unemployed people in 2009. Unemployment was high and growing. MWS supported organisations delivering programmes to help the unemployed find new roles.

They had a try-partite relationship. Someone delivering the service. Another party receiving the service and someone funding the service. Namely the Department of Work and Pensions, DWP. Unemployment is lower. However, vocational training is growing. It has a try-partite relationship too. That fact placed MWS in a good position to serve vocational training with their software too.
Apprenticeships
They support apprenticeships. There is a different focus between apprentices and students. The former thinks of themselves as employees. The training helps all sorts of training. Training providers use MWS technologies to manage their respective training and vocational programmes.

Training providers might be colleges, universities. Their technology changes the conventional delivery of training. Distance learning. Their customers are Government funded. Therefore they are subject to compliance and managed efficiently at scale.

It is very hard to do well. Technology helps enormously the process of vocational training. Technology doesn't forget stuff in the same way as human beings do.
Raising Funds
With all 3 of Richard's recent businesses, raising investment has been a major part of his success. All have had VC (venture capital) money.

So, what are the benefits and downsides of venture capital as a means of raising investment?
Why Venture Capital?
http://thenext100days.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Venture-Capital-Decision.mp4

You are saying I'm ambitious, but after VC money, you have responsibilities to these investors.
Other Benefits
When you are a confident entrepreneur, which you need to be to get up each morning and deal with all the potential things that come your way, sometimes it is helpful to have someone around (as a result of the investment) to ask advice from. They care about their money. They are not as emotionally invested. It is the mindset they have versus yours.
Why not loan finance?

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