Financing Follows Certainty.
That’s the reality for both project and start-ups
All projects and start-ups begin and end with financing. Visions, missions, connections, and talent are futile without it. In a world awash with private capital, access to money is not the challenge. The challenge is access to bankable, investment-grade projects.
The lifecycle of converting an idea or concept into a profit-generating asset can be laid out as a sequential process that increases certainty over time. Its also varies in nature, in tandem with the nature of the risks involved. The daunting challenge lies with the knowledge needed to understand and master them. The mantra of “fail fast and move on” DOES NOT work within a budget-constrained framework. Nor is the notion that things can be improvised on-the-fly to get the correct answers. Correct answers are one thing; correct timely answers the first time out is an entirely different one. It’s the world that KPO occupies.
Investment likelihood
Projects and start-ups are essentially subject to the same metric by would-be investors: how close they are to revenue generation.
Class A: Shovel-ready – highest priority
Class B: Procurement-ready (design & permitting completed)
Class C: Design-ready (concept & environmental completed)
Class D: Concept-ready (feasibility study completed)
Class E: Feasibility-ready (idea posited as starting point)
Advisory consulting
The work of KPO can be broadly divided into two phases: pre and post financing. Pre-financing is driven by the need to quantify the certainty of the investment returns to the investors. Post-financing is governed by the necessity to achieve certainty of execution (design then construction), with an emphasis on pro-actively castrating the myriad risks inherent to fabrication and construction.
For projects, the work leading up to the financing event quantifies the business case for the project, and the feasibility of moving forward with execution.
For start-ups, that work ultimately yields the pitch deck, whose object is establish the investment thesis for proceeding with the development of the solution.
Finally, during the execution phase, KPO is available for a variety of mandates that include 1) Owner’s Representative (managing the entire endeavour on behalf of the client; 2) Auditor of the development (by others); 3) Quality Assurance of the development (by others); and 4) Crisis management and/or recovery of derailed development (by others).