Enemy Within Read Free Page B

development that was close to stage one completion.
    With the help of a cash injection from a venture capitalist a few years ago growth had been meteoric and exciting if somewhat bumpy and stressful at times. The ForceNet product had been developed as a result of an extensive research and development programme and it was the stage one completion of this development that was currently under test. ForceNet would significantly add to our product offering and this first stage development would provide the product for our next growth phase , although it only represented a part of the long-term plan.
    A successful launch of ForceNet would accelerate sales growth, so as we waited for the outcome of testing and trials the mounting tension in the whole senior team was palpable. All of the senior team had a stake in the future success of the Company, and while at the moment we had to conserve cash and therefore did not pay dividends, that would eventually change.
    An alpha release of software had been on test for some time and those tests were close to completion; I was receiving progress reports daily. Once the tests were completed and all of the fixes and changes had been incorporated in to the core software and satisfactorily retested then we would compile a beta release for a controlled and progressive release at up to 5 sites. These had been carefully selected, and were with some suitable long term committed customers that we could rely on and where the initial application of the product was not critical to their operation. The alpha phase was close to completion and we expected to move to beta in the next week or so.
    Adding to the tension at senior management levels was the fact that Control Networks was about to go for an IPO on the London Market. The prospectus was almost finished, due diligence had been completed and was waiting for a sign off, and the brokers envisaged giving the go ahead to the board in the next 2 weeks. Once finally approved by the board then the brokers would be watching the market and arranging a float date with the market authorities.
    The Company needed a substantial injection of funds to take ForceNet to market while at the same time getting on with developing stages 2 and 3.  Although we were now earning substantial trading income, the heavy research programme meant that we were still consuming significantly more cash than we were earning. It was deemed that the best route to raise more cash was through an IPO rather than another round of Venture Capital or possibly bank finance; the latter would have been difficult to achieve at our development stage. We were looking to raise £ 250 million and it was planned that an IPO would provide those funds while at the same time allowing the venture capitalists to sell some or all of their shares in to the float, thereby realising on their investment. Other shareholders would not be able to sell their shareholdings for at least a year but potentially I was going to become a rich man, even if only on paper at first.  That did not seem so important at the moment, I just felt glad to be alive and wanted to stay that way!
    In some ways it was unfortunate that we were at such a critical stage of new product development at the same time as raising money on the market. Preparing for the float was a major distraction from the business for the whole team, and in particular for Alec, and Bill Williams our Financial Director, but one had to go to the market when the opportunity was right and the ForceNet product gave the Company the kind of  “blue-sky” appeal that gave stockbrokers and bankers wet dreams.
    To further complicate matters, a few weeks ago Alec had received a call from a boutique investment bank, Allied Grampian, who wanted to come and see him. It transpired that an unnamed group was interested to know if the Company was for sale. The price hinted at looked good but not good enough to urgently take back to the board when we were so far down the IPO