Illuminate Ventures: Raising a Venture Fund Net Present Value (NPV) / MBA Resources

Introduction to Net Present Value (NPV) - What is Net Present Value (NPV) ? How it impacts financial decisions regarding project management?

NPV solution for Illuminate Ventures: Raising a Venture Fund case study

At Oak Spring University, we provide corporate level professional Net Present Value (NPV) case study solution. Illuminate Ventures: Raising a Venture Fund case study is a Harvard Business School (HBR) case study written by Shai Bernstein, Arthur Korteweg, Sara Rosenthal. The Illuminate Ventures: Raising a Venture Fund (referred as “Illuminate Cindy” from here on) case study provides evaluation & decision scenario in field of Innovation & Entrepreneurship. It also touches upon business topics such as - Value proposition, Marketing.

The net present value (NPV) of an investment proposal is the present value of the proposal’s net cash flows less the proposal’s initial cash outflow. If a project’s NPV is greater than or equal to zero, the project should be accepted.

NPV = Present Value of Future Cash Flows LESS Project’s Initial Investment

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Case Description of Illuminate Ventures: Raising a Venture Fund Case Study

It was the spring of 2010 and Cindy Padnos had just been named to Fast Company's list of "The Most Influential Women in Technology in 2010." Cindy had worked in the venture capital (VC) space for over a decade, launching her own firm, Illuminate Ventures, in 2009 with a focus on early-stage companies in the enterprise cloud computing space. Cindy's portfolio of personal investments was performing well, and if she could perform as well for Illuminate, the future would be bright. Regardless, before she got to make any investments on behalf of Illuminate Ventures I, she would need to raise capital for her fund in one of the most challenging economic times in recent history. While acknowledgements by media outlets like Fast Company never hurt, such accolades were not enough to secure the $35 million that was her target. As she looked back over her professional experiences in the corporate world and ahead to the hundreds of investor meetings that lay before her, Cindy reflected that this was perhaps one of the most difficult, but most rewarding, challenges she had ever undertaken.

Case Authors : Shai Bernstein, Arthur Korteweg, Sara Rosenthal

Topic : Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Related Areas : Marketing

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Calculating Net Present Value (NPV) at 6% for Illuminate Ventures: Raising a Venture Fund Case Study

Years	Cash Flow	Net Cash Flow	Cumulative     Cash Flow	Discount Rate @ 6 %	Discounted Cash Flows
Year 0	(10011051)	-10011051	-	-
Year 1	3456462	-6554589	3456462	0.9434	3260813
Year 2	3956553	-2598036	7413015	0.89	3521318
Year 3	3940939	1342903	11353954	0.8396	3308888
Year 4	3223333	4566236	14577287	0.7921	2553182
TOTAL			14577287		12644201

The Net Present Value at 6% discount rate is 2633150

In isolation the NPV number doesn't mean much but put in right context then it is one of the best method to evaluate project returns. In this article we will cover -

Different methods of capital budgeting

What is NPV & Formula of NPV,
How it is calculated,
How to use NPV number for project evaluation, and
Scenario Planning given risks and management priorities.

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Capital Budgeting Approaches

Methods of Capital Budgeting

There are four types of capital budgeting techniques that are widely used in the corporate world –

1. Profitability Index
2. Payback Period
3. Internal Rate of Return
4. Net Present Value

Apart from the Payback period method which is an additive method, rest of the methods are based on Discounted Cash Flow technique. Even though cash flow can be calculated based on the nature of the project, for the simplicity of the article we are assuming that all the expected cash flows are realized at the end of the year.

Discounted Cash Flow approaches provide a more objective basis for evaluating and selecting investment projects. They take into consideration both –

1. Magnitude of both incoming and outgoing cash flows – Projects can be capital intensive, time intensive, or both. Illuminate Cindy shareholders have preference for diversified projects investment rather than prospective high income from a single capital intensive project.
2. Timing of the expected cash flows – stockholders of Illuminate Cindy have higher preference for cash returns over 4-5 years rather than 10-15 years given the nature of the volatility in the industry.

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Formula and Steps to Calculate Net Present Value (NPV) of Illuminate Ventures: Raising a Venture Fund

NPV = Net Cash In Flowt1 / (1+r)t1 + Net Cash In Flowt2 / (1+r)t2 + … Net Cash In Flowtn / (1+r)tn
Less Net Cash Out Flowt0 / (1+r)t0

Where t = time period, in this case year 1, year 2 and so on.
r = discount rate or return that could be earned using other safe proposition such as fixed deposit or treasury bond rate. Net Cash In Flow – What the firm will get each year.
Net Cash Out Flow – What the firm needs to invest initially in the project.

Step 1 – Understand the nature of the project and calculate cash flow for each year.
Step 2 – Discount those cash flow based on the discount rate.
Step 3 – Add all the discounted cash flow.
Step 4 – Selection of the project

Why Innovation & Entrepreneurship Managers need to know Financial Tools such as Net Present Value (NPV)?

In our daily workplace we often come across people and colleagues who are just focused on their core competency and targets they have to deliver. For example marketing managers at Illuminate Cindy often design programs whose objective is to drive brand awareness and customer reach. But how that 30 point increase in brand awareness or 10 point increase in customer touch points will result into shareholders’ value is not specified.

To overcome such scenarios managers at Illuminate Cindy needs to not only know the financial aspect of project management but also needs to have tools to integrate them into part of the project development and monitoring plan.

Calculating Net Present Value (NPV) at 15%

After working through various assumptions we reached a conclusion that risk is far higher than 6%. In a reasonably stable industry with weak competition - 15% discount rate can be a good benchmark.

Years	Cash Flow	Net Cash Flow	Cumulative     Cash Flow	Discount Rate @ 15 %	Discounted Cash Flows
Year 0	(10011051)	-10011051	-	-
Year 1	3456462	-6554589	3456462	0.8696	3005619
Year 2	3956553	-2598036	7413015	0.7561	2991722
Year 3	3940939	1342903	11353954	0.6575	2591231
Year 4	3223333	4566236	14577287	0.5718	1842951
TOTAL					10431524

The Net NPV after 4 years is 420473

(10431524 - 10011051 )

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Calculating Net Present Value (NPV) at 20%

If the risk component is high in the industry then we should go for a higher hurdle rate / discount rate of 20%.

Years	Cash Flow	Net Cash Flow	Cumulative     Cash Flow	Discount Rate @ 20 %	Discounted Cash Flows
Year 0	(10011051)	-10011051	-	-
Year 1	3456462	-6554589	3456462	0.8333	2880385
Year 2	3956553	-2598036	7413015	0.6944	2747606
Year 3	3940939	1342903	11353954	0.5787	2280636
Year 4	3223333	4566236	14577287	0.4823	1554462
TOTAL					9463090

The Net NPV after 4 years is -547961

At 20% discount rate the NPV is negative (9463090 - 10011051 ) so ideally we can't select the project if macro and micro factors don't allow financial managers of Illuminate Cindy to discount cash flow at lower discount rates such as 15%.

Acceptance Criteria of a Project based on NPV

Simplest Approach – If the investment project of Illuminate Cindy has a NPV value higher than Zero then finance managers at Illuminate Cindy can ACCEPT the project, otherwise they can reject the project. This means that project will deliver higher returns over the period of time than any alternate investment strategy.

In theory if the required rate of return or discount rate is chosen correctly by finance managers at Illuminate Cindy, then the stock price of the Illuminate Cindy should change by same amount of the NPV. In real world we know that share price also reflects various other factors that can be related to both macro and micro environment.

In the same vein – accepting the project with zero NPV should result in stagnant share price. Finance managers use discount rates as a measure of risk components in the project execution process.

Sensitivity Analysis

Project selection is often a far more complex decision than just choosing it based on the NPV number. Finance managers at Illuminate Cindy should conduct a sensitivity analysis to better understand not only the inherent risk of the projects but also how those risks can be either factored in or mitigated during the project execution. Sensitivity analysis helps in –

What are the key aspects of the projects that need to be monitored, refined, and retuned for continuous delivery of projected cash flows.

What can impact the cash flow of the project.

What will be a multi year spillover effect of various taxation regulations.

What are the uncertainties surrounding the project Initial Cash Outlay (ICO’s). ICO’s often have several different components such as land, machinery, building, and other equipment.

Understanding of risks involved in the project.

Some of the assumptions while using the Discounted Cash Flow Methods –

Projects are assumed to be Mutually Exclusive – This is seldom the came in modern day giant organizations where projects are often inter-related and rejecting a project solely based on NPV can result in sunk cost from a related project.

Independent projects have independent cash flows – As explained in the marketing project – though the project may look independent but in reality it is not as the brand awareness project can be closely associated with the spending on sales promotions and product specific advertising.

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Negotiation Strategy of Illuminate Ventures: Raising a Venture Fund

References & Further Readings

Shai Bernstein, Arthur Korteweg, Sara Rosenthal (2018), "Illuminate Ventures: Raising a Venture Fund Harvard Business Review Case Study. Published by HBR Publications.