Helping Cardboard Sword to become investor ready

11 August 202111 August 2021 3 minutes

The terminology relating to investment often puts businesses off exploring it further. That’s why we host a short, sharp Investor Readiness Programme each year to help ambitious business owners demystify the process and equip them with everything they need to know to become investment ready.

Olly Bennett, CEO of Cardboard Sword, took part in our most recent programme, here’s what he thought…

Could you start off by telling us a little bit of the background behind your company?

Cardboard Sword is an independent game development company, formed in 2013 by AAA experienced developers. After some time doing consultancy and contract work initially, we now focus entirely on developing our own-IP projects, with two games in development: a stealth 2D Metroidvania called The Siege and the Sandfox, and a 3D casual driving game called Transmission.

What were your reasons for joining the Investor Readiness programme?

The investment world is full of lingo and due diligence requirements that can be confusing and intimidating for those not familiar with it. Though I’ve raised plenty of grant and project funding in the past, I still felt unequipped to simply start pitching to investors without first gaining this grounding knowledge. I joined hoping to further my base understanding and to become better prepared within my business to explore investment opportunities.

What are the main things that you have taken away from the programme?

A more holistic understanding of the investment world, including the types and sizes of numbers and how they apply to different businesses and products. Additionally the help I received from the one-to-one sessions is invaluable and has been a huge help in many ways for my business.

How did you find the peer-to-peer workshops?

Having others with the same questions and uncertainties as myself made it easier to be open about shortcomings and unknowns. Also by us all having different levels of experience and company types and products, we got insights we might otherwise never experience in our respective professional lives.

Would you recommend the programme to others?

Yes. The one-to-one sessions are invaluable, and the short programme makes it less disruptive. The intensity of it all and the shared learnings of the cohort help to both put you at ease but also apply the pressure to learn and improve quickly.

Do you have any advice for those that are considering joining a programme like this?

Get a base knowledge ahead of the programme if you can, just so that things can be confirmed to you during it, rather than necessarily being totally brand new to the concepts discussed. Be prepared to pitch at the end as well, so any assets for a Powerpoint (or similar) deck you can prepare ahead of the programme will help you too.

If you’re exploring business growth opportunities and need some advice, we can help. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch.