Private equity and venture capital houses’ real strength is their investment theses. Consistency of branding should not be an issue.

It is almost 11pm and the content of the PitchBooks is almost there. Making sure charts are correctly branded and formatted, the final checking of page references and appendices is all that is needed. For many, more skilled in devising investment strategies, that is where the hard and frustrating work begins, and the early hours beckon. But 4am finishes could be a thing of the past with Create software.

Create software from Presentation Solutions automates documents produced in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel, freeing up time for investment professionals to focus on the ‘day job’ of assessing business plans, developing investment and growth strategies and devising the financial structures for deals.

Presentation Solutions’ Director Kelly Maddren, who has more than a decadeof experience at JP Morgan running its 24-hour creative services department producing pitch books, due diligence and deal memoranda, was central to the development of the software and leads all client projects.

In 2009, Catalyst Corporate Finance became one of the early adopters in the corporate finance sector. Mark Wilson, Chief Operating Partner at the advisory firm, has seen improved consistency in the documents produced across the firm’s three offices: “Create software helps us clearly articulate both our insight and experience of a situation and the advice we give to our client. We have made efficiency gains too and have found the software to be very scalable.”

Karen Jones, who leads the marketing team at the BVCA, introduced the use of Create software for the production of publications for events, brochures and research reports in August. “Our brand is extremely important to us, having undergone a significant refresh last year. So it’s important we represent that new brand clearly and consistently in everything we do. The huge advantage for us is that laymen can produce professionally laid-out documents quickly and effectively, without the need for expensive design fees.”

Create software is used by clients in 40 countries around the world, including two of the leading Nordic financial services groups SEB and Nordea. Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and data and marketing services company Virgin Insight also use Create, and portfolio companies would definitely find benefits from the software.

Dimitri Constantinou, Presentation Solutions Director, points to the wide- ranging appeal of Create software:“New regulatory requirements add complexity and place enormous demands on firms, from the first PitchBooks for new business to the timely delivery of reporting to clients, investors and stakeholders. It’s great to see our clients using Create to address these issues and win new mandates.”

Marc Mullen is the Editor of Corporate Financier, ICAEW Corporate Finance Faculty’s publication.

www.presentationsoftware.eu