Ahead of its sale to Informa, LSX shifted from sponsorships and delegate sales to focus on its one-to-one partnering proposition
We were pretty certain that we would get value for money if we went for an adviser who knew our business inside-out, knew our motivations - someone we were able to trust. The lesson? It's not whether you get an adviser, it is whether you get the right adviser.
Terry O’Dwyer, Co-Founder, LSX Ltd
An entrepreneurial itch
LSX connects senior life-sciences executives with access to the capital, intelligence and partners they need to grow. The company’s sophisticated one-to-one partnering and strategy events catalyse fundraising, investment and M&A deal flow for big pharma, biotech, healthtech and medtech investors.
Founders Terry O’Dwyer and Neil Darkes spent close to a decade at Terrapin, a large global B2B events organiser focused on technology and business innovation. “We honed our trade there,” says Terry. “Over the years, we created, launched and scaled some pretty spectacular events that were hugely successful.”
Seeing the profitability of the events they had developed at Terrapin, the pair came to believe they could use their experience and new ideas to build a valuable business themselves. “We always had that entrepreneurial itch and we wanted to scratch it,” Terry explains.
Meeting market needs
Terry says that when he launched LSX with Neil they were very focused on what they wanted to do, rather than addressing a clear market need.
“Probably the biggest mistake that we made was leading with what we wanted rather than what the market needed, what the customer wanted,” he says. “We wanted a business that would generate X millions of pounds and X amount of profit. What we should have done is spend a lot more time figuring out the problem we were going to solve.”
The breakthrough for LSX came with a launch into the RNA therapeutic space, a fast-moving market founded on new technology and new players. “It was relatively clear water,” says Terry. “We were able to generate north of a million pounds in revenue in RNA within the space of the year. If you look at what we did previously with LSX, it took us three years before we got that level of revenue.”
First business plans
The relationship between LSX and Collingwood stretches back to before the company’s formal start, with Collingwood Founder Piers Bearne getting to know Terry through a Founders lunch club that ultimately became the Media Entrepreneur Meetup. “Piers saw the very first business plan I put together, while we were still incognito,” says Terry.
LSX ultimately engaged Collingwood to help them hone their value proposition and assist with the sale. Terry and Neil were confident that they would get value for money if they engaged advisers who knew their business already; advisers they trusted and who knew their motivations.
“We knew we would need an adviser,” says Terry. “We weren't naive enough to think that we could pull it off ourselves. The lesson? It's not whether you get an adviser, it is whether you get the right adviser.”
Facilitated partnering
In 2022, Collingwood conducted a customer research project for LSX, delivering insights that provided a clear picture of the company’s value proposition - and especially how important facilitated partnering was. “We had a sense that was the most valuable part of what they did,” says Piers, “but it wasn’t necessarily clear to everyone at LSX.”
“At the time of the research, the team was looking to do what entrepreneurs do well and grow the business through new product development,” explains Collingwood’s Chief Product & Insights Officer, Jen Thoroughgood. “But the customer feedback showed that the value in the business lay in its core partnering offering, and that there were many ways in which that could be enhanced to drive real value for customers and therefore the business”.
“Kudos to Terry, Neil and the team for really responding to that customer feedback and doubling-down on their core value proposition,” says Jen.
LSX refined their business model to put dealmaking at the heart of the event offering, beyond traditional sponsorship and delegate sales. “They have ended up being quite disruptive,” says Piers. “It’s a partnering business that happens to deliver through high-quality events”.
Collingwood also advised LSX to focus on a smaller number of larger events, looking at the revenue mix to show the benefits of retaining customers and increasing sales resources on LSX’s four bigger events.
“Most buyers of events businesses like to have a smaller number of large-scale events,” explains Piers. “Larger events are widely considered to be less volatile, have higher market share, and have higher retention rates. That’s where we added value during the transaction.”
We engaged Collingwood to help us hone our value proposition and develop our business model. Collingwood’s Scaleup team conducted a customer research project which delivered insights that provided a clear picture of how our customers perceived our events, and importantly how we could better serve their needs through developing a strong 1-2-1 partnering proposition.
Terry O'Dwyer, Co-Founder, LSX Ltd
The sale of LSX underlines the value of large-scale, content-led B2B events with a customer value proposition built around one-to-one meetings. “Life sciences is an extremely attractive sector and we expect further deal-flow in this niche," says Collingwood Founder, Piers Bearne.
Following an approach by a trade buyer, Collingwood's advice was to open out the market to find the right buyer and the right price. “We highlighted the partnering platform and got buyers to come down and see the events. That starts to build buyer appetite and excitement,” Piers explains.
Our work with Collingwood’s team helped show us where the value was and how to develop our business and products as a result. We were able to win more customers, at a higher value, and over a longer lifespan - all characteristics buyers and investors look for. We then engaged Collingwood to advise on the sale of the business. The end result was a very competitive sale process, and ultimately achieving a fantastic deal with Informa as our chosen partner.
Terry O'Dwyer, Co-Founder, LSX Ltd
Working to an aggressive acquisition timeline, LSX was sold to Informa in July 2023. “To fit within Informa’s quarterly reporting cycle, our team worked incredibly hard - as did the LSX team - to get all the information required and work towards this quite aggressive target to get the deal over the line.”
Terry and Neil were an absolute delight to work with. They are highly organised in terms of KPIs and financials, they’re very sanguine about stuff, and they're thoughtful. They treated the whole exit process as a learning experience.
Piers Bearne, Founder, Collingwood