Tech Banker

Dividends for Depression Era Investing, (T, BBEP BDF, AHL)

2010-09-02T14:25:00.000-04:00

(technically I'm not writing another email on the subject, just passing along an article) PF

http://seekingalpha.com/article/222965-dividends-for-depression-era-investing-part-2

Dividends for Depression Era Investing,

Income. It is what the baby boom generation will need in order to survive. As they all know now - relying on capital gains to fund a secure retirement is a major risk. With the stock market not going anywhere over the past 11 years, and with many baby boomers either retiring or losing their jobs, they are finding themselves starting to worry about how they will pay the mortgage and the electric bill. If someone retires with $500,000 and is taking $30,000 per year from his portfolio with the stock market not going up, they will run out of money in 16 to 17 years. This seems like an absurd idea, but if you retired in Japan 20 years ago with a stock centric portfolio, you would have run out of money very fast as the Japan stock market has lost about 75% over a 20 year period of time.

That said, what can an investor do?

We are very big advocates of investing for income streams, whether it be from stocks or bonds. We don't worry about the value of the investment we own, instead mostly about how much that investment can pay our clients and most importantly, how likely they are going to continue paying, even in a depression. We like to tell our clients to stop looking at the value of their investments, and instead look at the income stream the investments are producing. You don't want to have to rely on higher stock prices to meet your retirement goals. You will sleep better at night knowing you are getting a solid stream of income no matter what the market is doing. WIth that income stream, you can pay your bills every month as the cash from the investments hits your account.

If we are building a plan based on income streams, we better be very good at making sure we have a high probability that the income stream will be there no matter what kind of market environment we are in. One way we do this is by attempting to buy only companies that sell products people have to buy, even in a depression. Make no mistake, we think historians will one day name this period in time as the 2nd Great Depression before it is all done. With that mindset in place as the foundation, what do people have to buy? Do they need a new iPad? No. Therefore, Apple (AAPL) does not make the list. Will they need a new car, or can they use the old one? There go companies like Ford (F), off the list. In a depression, people still need to drink water, or use soap, eat food, etc. Therefore we want to focus on companies that sell products people have to buy. With that as the beginning foundation, we set ourselves up for protecting against the loss of income when we may need it most.

Today I am going to give you 5 of the 95+ companies that we own. These companies are the core of our portfolio, although they are some of the lower yielding securities that we own. We still love them due to the fact they sell essential products and services and that they yield more than the 10 year bond. This is not a potshot on the bond though. As my readers are aware - I actually am one of the few humans left who doesn't despise the bond market.

Besides having to sell products and services people have to buy, even in a depression, and having to yield more than the 10 year, I want companies who have very large Free Cash Flow (FCF). With a large FCF business, we will own companies who have enough money to run and expand their business, and also have enough left over to pay the real owners, you and me. Below is my list with a quick description of the company, what their yield is, and what the potential yield could be if they paid out 100% of their free cash flow to the owners after all capital expenditures.

Waste Management (WM) - 3.8% yield and a 7.48% potential yield as all FCF was paid out. The company offers collection, transfer, recycling, disposal, and waste-to-energy services. Even in a depression, people still have to throw away refuse. Tracs is one of the last services people will cut.

Sysco (SYY) - 3.5% yield and a 6.7% potential yield. Sysco Corporation, through its subsidiaries, markets and distributes a range of food and related products primarily to the foodservice industry in the United States.

AT&T (T) - 6.3% yield and a 11.19% potential yield. AT&T Inc. provides telecommunication products and services to consumers, businesses, and other telecommunication service providers under the AT&T brand worldwide.

Atlantic Power Corp (AT) - 8% yield (before Foreign Tax of 15%) Atlantic Power Corporation, an independent electric power production company, owns interests in and manages a diversified portfolio of independent non-utility power generation projects.

Kimberly-Clark (KMB) - 4.1% yield and a 9.97% potential yield. Kimberly-Clark Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and marketing of various healthcare products worldwide.

We will give another 5 in future updates. For now, do your own due diligence on these companies and see if you too come to the conclusion that getting paid a nice income from companies that sell products that people have to buy is a great strategy for your portfolio.

In Part 1 of this article, I had mentioned that I would give 5 more investments that meet our requirement, the requirement being you can only invest in companies that sell products people have to buy, even in a depression. These companies have to have managements who then take those profits and give them to us in the form of dividends. The yields from the dividends also have to pay our clients more than they could get from buying a 10-year Treasury bond. While I still plan to give another 5 companies, today I wanted to focus on some different kinds of dividend payers that litter our portfolio as well. I will also explain why I like the investment along with the yield they give.

Before we get started with the list though, I want to spend some time talking about a mind-set change. For decades, investors have been conditioned to think almost exclusively about the growth in the value of the stocks they own. Many baby boomers have become discouraged over the last decade because they were expecting stocks to continue to return 10% per year over the next few decades. They thought they were conservative in their retirement planning by using a 7% number as the yearly growth figure they were "sure to get from their portfolio." Looking over the past 11 years, they are starting to think, "Hmm, now what? Hopefully we will get back on track with 15% gains a year for the next decade. This will bring the 20 year total back in line!" "Hope" may work for a campaign slogan, but like the reality of the current economic times, it sure does not work for an investment plan either.

While 15% a year for the next decade would certainly do a lot for the baby boomers who are retiring, we are just as likely to have the next decade look like the last. All one needs to do is look at Japan. While we just came off a great 80% rally off the lows in 2009, one has to remember that Japan saw no less than four 50% or greater rallies from certain new low points during the past 20 years. I am sure those rallies brought hope to their retirees as well that things were turning around for the better. But the truth is, 20 years later, and Japan is still 75% lower than the peak, and near the lower quartile of value currently.

Mindset change alert: DO NOT RELY ON CAPITAL GAINS TO FUND YOUR RETIREMENT

The best way I can help you visualize this new mind-set change is to give you an example of you buying a business. Imagine you were heading into retirement with $500,000 for example and you decided to buy a business that would produce $30,000 per year in income, and the income would grow by $1200 per year. The business is recession proof because you sell products people will always need, even people on welfare. You sign the documents to buy the business, and hire your manager to run the business for you. You just plan to collect the checks and keep an eye on the manager to make sure they are running the business the way you would if you were there working.

Day one of your new business comes, and the first person walks through your door and instead of buying your products, offers to buy your business from you for $480,000. Oh my word, you just lost 4% in one day! That is almost as much as you will make all year. You head into a slight case of depression and sulk in your tears over how much money you have just lost in one day and how painful your retirement will be.

Your manager walks up to you and reminds you that business the rest of the day went as planned. The projected profit was on track and the paycheck you were going to receive is on target. You become emboldened and start to realize that you no longer care what some yahoo off the street thinks your business is worth, because you are not selling. You bought that business because you needed an income stream, and you know the income stream is solid. You start to hope that the value of your business drops, because you plan to use some of your profits to fund the purchase of more income stream in the near future. If the income stream is solid at say $30,000 per year, you would rather pay $400,000 for the next business rather than $600,000 because the value went up.

You have arrived. Your thinking towards your business and investments has changed from the idea that you want to sell at a higher value to a greater fool, into one of wanting to buy a solid paycheck at ever lower prices. Welcome to a sleep filled retirement.

Now, let's get a few more solid income payers for a sleepful retirement. (Again, I will get back to the core stock list in a future article, but wanted to cover some of my favorite investments now.)

Breitburn Energy (BBEP) 9.3% yield. BreitBurn Energy Partners L.P. engages in the acquisition, exploitation, and development of oil and gas properties in the United States. It is an MLP which brings along certain tax benefits for those who want to hold in a non-retirement account. Breitburn trades at a market cap of around $900 million, but the liquidation value based on book is $1.2 billion. The company is worth more dead than alive. They could sell all their assets, pay off their debts, and have enough money left over to give us a 33% return on our cash. So we own the shares waiting for the true value of the company to be recognized, and we get paid 9.3% while we wait. Seth Klarman and the Baupost Group, one of the world's greatest value investors, owns over 15% of the company.
Rivus Bond Fund (BDF) 6.3% yield. Rivus Bond Fund is a closed end bond fund that currently trades at a 7.91% discount to the Net Asset Value of the bonds in its portfolio. That basically means they could liquidate their entire bond portfolio and return the money to the shareholders who in theory would gain 7.91% on their money. 86% of the fund is corporate bonds and another 10% is mortgage backed securities. 7.5% of the portfolio is AAA rated, 3% AA, 25% A, 40% BBB. That is over 75% investment grade. At the moment the fund does not use leverage. The fee is a bit high at 1.21%, but with a nice 7.91% discount, we are looking at 6.5 years for the fee to eat into the discount we are getting buying shares here.
Aspen Insurance Holdings (AHL) We are buying the preferred shares, but want to share about the company who is paying the dividend on the preferreds first. Aspen Insurance Holdings has a rock solid balance sheet. The book value of the company stands at $3.3 billion as of the 2nd quarter 2010. The current market cap of the company stands at $2.15 billion. This means the company is worth 50% more dead than it is alive at the moment! I sure wish I had an extra $2 billion laying around. AHL has posted between $500 million to $700 million in free cash flow the past 3 years. That is a huge return on a $2 billion market cap, and the 6.2 P/E shows the value here. The chance we get paid seems very high. Investing guru David Einhorn an Greenlight Capital is the largest institutional holder of the common stock at around 5% of the outstanding shares. While the common stock pays a decent 2.1%, it does not pay more than the 10 year bond which is one of our requirements. I might take the common if the dividend were growing, but over the past 5 years, the dividend has remained constant. If the 10 year treasury dips to 2%, I will start buying AHL shares aggressively. In the meantime, one way to take advantage of this rock solid balance sheet and still get paid a respectable and solid income is to buy the Preferred A shares (AHL-PA). The preferred shares have a par value of $25, which is currently 11.11% higher than where they trade currently. The issuer can redeem them Jan of 2017 at $25 if they so choose. The shares pay .4625 cents per quarter which gives a current yield of 8.22%. This dividend is set through 2017. That is 7 years of solid income! After 2017, the shares will pay the yield of the 3 month LIBOR plus 3.28% and will reset quarterly. Keep in mind - the LIBOR shouldn't be able to go under 0%, and currently, it is pretty close. So worst case scenario, if rates stay low forever, in 2017, we would get paid 3.28%, which is still better than the 10 year. More importantly, we will then be in a variable rate investment. If rates rocket higher, so will the income we recieve. Starting in 2017, we will have a "fixed" income investment in which we not need to actually worry about rising interest rates. In the meantime, we will get paid over 8% from a company with a rock solid balance sheet. Sign me up for that deal!

Disclosure: Author long BDF, AHL-PA, BBEP

FW: Tim Ferriss - How to Create Your Own Real-World MBA – II

2010-07-06T18:27:00.001-04:00

From: noreply+feedproxy@google.com [mailto:noreply+feedproxy@google.com] On Behalf Of The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss
Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2010 10:11 AM
To: paul.r.friday@gmail.com
Subject: Tim Ferriss - How to Create Your Own Real-World MBA – II

Tim Ferriss - How to Create Your Own Real-World MBA – II

How to Create Your Own Real-World MBA – II

Posted: 05 Jul 2010 08:08 PM PDT

Brainstorming in Boulder, CO with a class of founders from TechStars, where I've been a mentor. After this particular trip, I ended up advising Graphic.ly. (Photo: Andrew Hyde)

Disclaimer: nothing on this site is legal advice, and I am not an investing expert.

This post is continued from Part I.

Part I explained how, instead of getting an MBA, I invested the tuition dollars into angel investing. To recap, my current stats for the two-year "Tim Ferriss Fund" look like this:

15 or so total investments
0 deaths
2 successful "exits", or sales (including my own company)

If we look at the value of my remaining start-ups on paper, based on subsequent funding and valuations, the portfolio is probably up well over 4x. This means nothing (remember Webvan?), but it's fun to look at the spreadsheet.

This post will look at how I've found deals, how I filter deals, and the rules I've set for myself. The latter can teach broader business lessons, even if angel investing never enters your life…

Before we get started: you almost always need to be an "accredited investor" to angel invest. If you aren't comfortable lighting your money on fire, you shouldn't invest in start-ups–period. That doesn't mean, however, that you can't learn a few things from the sidelines.

Before we get started – part deux: angel investing can be complicated. I'll be using some fuzzy math and simple examples to get the point across. This is intended as a primer, not as a guide to the intricacies of investing.

Last but not least, I'll use a gender-neutral "he" for the sake of simplicity instead of "he or she", which is cumbersome. Both sexes can play well in this game (check out Esther Dyson), and both can screw it up equally badly.

For those who want some resources upfront, here are a few:

If you want to be an angel investor:
Read – How to Be an Angel Investor
Read – Is it Time for You to Earn or to Learn? by Mark Suster – this is a must-read reality-check that takes into account dilution and other nasties. Though written for people thinking of joining start-ups as employees, it applies to angels.

If you want to recruit/be an advisor:
Read – Everything you ever wanted to know about advisors, Part 1
Read – the above Suster piece if you think advising a few start-ups will make you rich. Run the numbers first.

If you want to find angel investors:
AngelList (go here to pitch me or anyone else in their roster)

Consider applying to a "seed accelerator" program that will cultivate you. For a complete list of such programs and upcoming application deadlines, visit Kaljundi's site. Here are few well-known examples:

Y-Combinator (Mountain View, CA)
TechStars (Boulder, CO)
LaunchBox (Washington, DC)
LaunchPad (Los Angeles)
SeedCamp (London)
Capital Factory (Austin)
i/o Ventures (San Francisco)

Investors vs. Bootstrapping – Some Warnings

As exciting as I find the start-up game in Silicon Valley, it can also be depressing.

I see capable first-time entrepreneurs, full of piss and vinegar, run into fundraising and get their asses kicked by seasoned venture capitalists (often affectionately called "vulture capitalists"). Two or three years later, their start-up baby is either dead or their ownership has dwindled to the point where their enthusiasm is gone.

Here are some questions and warnings that might help avoid this:

1) Why do you need funding?

If you can bootstrap to profitability and one of your goals is to work for yourself, I'd suggest thinking twice. If you take a few million dollars, you will–on some level–be working for investors. If you make a mistake and allow investors to have board control, which can happen if you spend funding faster than expected, you no longer run your start-up. :(

2) Avoid angel investors with few or no prior start-up investments.

The family dentist wants to put in $50,000 and will give you whatever terms you want? Sounds great! Don't do it. Ditto for the successful CEO who's never done angel investing, as seductive as it will be.

One good friend just had her start-up implode (after millions of investment) because her primary investor, a former tech CEO, didn't have the stomach for start-up investing. He panicked when things deviated from the business plan (um, welcome to start-up land), and began doling out funding in two-week increments and insisting on near-weekly board meetings. He became the micromanager from hell. No longer was the real start-up CEO able to make CEO decisions, and the company was doomed.

Only take investment from people who have invested in a few start-ups. Having run a start-up doesn't qualify one as risk-tolerant enough for start-up investing.

3) Don't take a ton of money just because the valuation is sexy, or because you give up less ownership.

This problem is more common with venture capital (VC), but it worth learning early: it's a bad idea to take money from someone simply because they offer a high valuation. Let's say two investors want to be your lead investor. Investor A thinks your start-up is worth $3 million and offers to buy 33% of the company for $1 million — to fund you with $1 million. Investor B thinks you're worth $10 million and offers to also give you $1 million, but you'll only give up 10% of the company!

Go with Investor B, right? Well, not so fast. If you come out of the gates with very little to show but a $10 million valuation, things can blow up in your face a few ways:

- Your exit options become fewer. If Investor B needs a 10x return for his portfolio and has the ability to block your sale for less, this means you have to sell for at least $100 million. If you're a first-time founder, putting $1-2 million in your pocket with an early sale for $10 million could have changed your life forever and given you "f**k you" money to do anything you wanted. Now it's home run or nothing.

- You run the real risk of a "down round". If you don't make it to profitability with that $1-million round, you'll need to raise more money later. If you haven't made a ton of progress, including a ton of new customers, the fundraising community will be skeptical and probably insist your $10-million valuation was too high, or that you've lost value since that round. Now you'll need to do what's called a "down round" (some examples here). In most cases, this spells the end for your start-up.

OK, with those warning out of my system, let's look at some definitions and how I've done things so far.

Investor vs. Advisor, and Some Definitions

When dealing with tech start-ups, the following terms are important to understand. Below are some very general definitions, keeping in mind that almost everything is negotiated and on a case-by-case basis:

"Seed" or "Series-A" = two early rounds of financing common in the start-up world. "Seed" is first, and often either family and friends or $100,000-$1,000,000 from angels. "Series-A" might be around $1,000,000-$5,000,000 and comprise primarily angels and perhaps 1-2 venture capitalists from larger firms that could later participate in larger "Series-B" or "Series-C" rounds, if needed for profitability or to compete. These "B" or "C" rounds usually involve many millions of dollars, which few angels will put up as individuals.

"Dilution" = Having your percentage ownership lowered when new investors come in. If, for example, you own 1% of a start-up at seed stage, if there are any future rounds of financing, your portion of the pie will almost always shrink–you will be diluted. This is critical to keep in mind when calculating potential outcomes as an investor or advisor.

"Investor" = someone who writes checks in exchange for equity (a certain % ownership) in the start-up.

"Advisor" = someone who advises a start-up in exchange for equity over time. "Advising" can include key introductions (to customers, partners, important hires), "syndicating" financing (getting other investors on board), developing/improving the product, helping with PR/marketing/customer-acquisition, or anything else a start-up might need.

So what percentage do advisors get? For someone who's just doing a few intro's, or whose name you're using to get investors, it might be 0.10 – 0.25%. For someone who's investing real time and helping to build the company, or someone whose involvement could make the difference between success and failure, it could be as high as 2%… or even more. There are start-ups who think giving more than 0.25% is ridiculous, and there are start-ups who find 2% a steal if they can get the right person.

Advisors generally receive their equity over a period of time, often 12-24 months.

This means that if an advisor signs an agreement for 1% that "vests" over 12 months, he would get 1/12 of one percent each month, and the start-up can cancel the deal at any time. If the start-up gets fed up with this advisor after six months, it means he gets the 0.5 percent that vested, but no more.

Different strokes for different folks, but all-star advisors generally = better investors, better investment terms, and faster outcomes. To me, that's a legitimate no-brainer.

If I were to found a tech start-up and aim for the fences (IPO or sale), I would do what several successful tech CEOs I know are doing right now: give 3-5 bad-ass advisors 1-2% each, depending on time required, and self-fund until you hit break-even or profitability. Then, go out to raise $500-750,000 from key angels who can open doors to potential acquirers and help you get to "scale". "Scale", in this context, meaning the point at which you can go big, as in millions of users or nationwide, with the simple addition of money: the costs and revenues of your customer acquisition are predictable. Money in = more money out.

Last, you go to potential acquirers (often potential competitors) to see if they'd like to discuss "partnerships" or funding you; both approaches are used to start conversations that hopefully end with "why don't we just buy you instead?" from their side.

If that doesn't work, you get more funding, grow a lean monster, and eat their lunch.

The Start-Ups and Deal Flow

Here are the start-ups I'm involved with, whether as an investor or advisor, in no particular order:

Twitter (investor) – micro-blogging platform
Digg (investor) – see what's most popular on the web
StumbleUpon (advisor) – Pandora for the coolest content on the web (this is how I find much of my most popular Twitter material)
Evernote (advisor) – capture anything in the world you want to remember
Posterous (investor, advisor) – the simplest blogging platform in the world
CrowdFlower (advisor) – crowd-source just about anything for pennies; 500,000 workers in 70+ countries.
SimpleGeo (investor) – on-demand geodata infrastructure
Graphic.ly (advisor) – the next (gorgeous) evolution of comic books
Foodzie (investor, advisor) – find and buy incredible artisinal food in the US (my favorite cookies in the world are here)
Shopify (advisor) – beautiful and easy e-commerce for selling anything
RescueTime (investor, advisor) – time and productivity tracking
ReputationDefender (investor) – monitor and repair your reputation online
TaskRabbit (advisor) – get any task done, from dry cleaning to research (use code "FERRISS10″ for $10 off your first task)
UberCab (advisor) – Fully automated car dispatch with built-in reputation system – ride like a European diplomat.
Badongo, DocumentHosting.com (investor) – file and document hosting/sharing
DailyBurn (investor, advisor) – exercise and diet tracking
iMarket Services (advisor) – creating hubs for niche markets like stand-up comedy
Samasource (not-for-profit – advisor) – outsource your tasks to those most in need (refugees, etc.)
Donorschoose.org (not-for-profit – advisor) – eBay for helping public school children in need of basic supplies.

"Deal flow" refers to how you find the start-ups you invest in, or how they find you. All of the companies except DonorsChoose.org and iMarket Services (respectively: have known the CEO for ages, chance meeting at SuperBowl party) were found through:

- Referrals from friends who are angels and tech CEOs
- Y-Combinator (Posterous, RescueTime)
- TechStars (DailyBurn, Foodzie, Graphic.ly)
- Facebook Fund (fbFund) (TaskRabbit, Samasource)
- Twitter DMs from me to the founders (Evernote, Shopify)

My Rules

What makes me interested in a start-up… or rules them out?

Let's go through the bullet-points–general rules of thumb–first, some of which are borrowed from much more experienced folk like Mike Maples, Chris Sacca, Travis Kalanick, and others.

These are the considerations I run through when looking at start-ups, but it doesn't mean that all of the companies in the portfolio passed all of the criteria.

In no particular order, and written as a stream of consciousness:

- If my readers won't shut up about them, I listen (this led me to reach out to Evernote and Shopify)

- I generally look for these questions to be answered via email, but I now much prefer to have them answered through the AngelList form. If you don't know the terms ("deck", "traction", etc.), you need to learn them before pitching Silicon Valley types.

- Does it offer the possibility of at least a 5x return? Good angel investors in Silicon Valley do not invest in lifestyle businesses or profit shares–they want to turn their $100,000 into millions. 5x return potential is just the entry point for working with decent angels at the seed or Series-A level. Many will be filtering for 20-30x potential, depending on the size of their fund.

- If it's a single founder, the founder must be technical. Two technical co-founders are ideal.

- Have the founders ever had crappy service jobs, like waitering or bussing at restaurants? If so, they tend to stay grounded for longer. Less entitlement and megalomania usually means better decisions and better drinking company.

- I must be eager to use the product myself. This rules out many great companies, but I want a verified market I understand.

- I must understand their customers and be able to recruit, in military terms, HVTs–High Value Targets.

- Do the founders actually test some of what I'm recommending? My data is based on 15+ start-ups and more than $1M in direct response advertising–there are a few things I understand very well, sign-up conversion being one example. I will usually suggest 1-2 elements for testing in an initial meeting, well before investing, and if at least one element isn't tested within a week, they're out. If the product (usually a website) isn't split tested or "iterated" fast enough, it usually foreshadows death for tech start-up. Speed is often the only competitive advantage smaller guys have.

- They need to understand the eco-system in which they play. What recent companies have sold for what amounts? Who are the most likely acquirers? Who are the most formidable competitors, and what types of funding (even investors) and resources do they anticipate needing to compete? It it a winner-takes-all market where only one company will reign supreme (e.g. businesses dependent on network effects), or can many large profitable companies co-exist?

- Founders must pass the "mall test": if you were to see them in a mall, would you walk in a different direction, would you walk over to say "hi" and move on, or would you invite them to join you for coffee or whatever you're doing next? If the founders don't fall in the last group, don't invest. This is a close cousin of the simpler "would you invite them out for beers just to catch up" test.

- Am I following my rules, but are other investors turning them down? These days, I take this as a positive sign. Mike Maples explained this to me: breaking your rules to co-invest with well-known investors is usually a bad idea, but following your rules when others reject a start-up can work out extremely well. DailyBurn, my only exit to date, was a mild example of this. They hit my checklist boxes, but the majority of the investors (but not all) I asked to participate declined. It thrills me that this start-up–from Alabama!–has so far outpaced most in Silicon Valley. Bravo.

Now the rules that require a little explanation:

1. Don't do it solely for the money, but know your minimums.

Investing in start-ups has to be, on some level, a labor love. You need to love helping entrepreneurs. That said, don't actively waste your money and life by failing to do basic math.

Set a minimum threshold for each start-up investment. The minimums could be what a success should cover, or a minimum dollar amount. For example:

A. Each start-up, if it exits at 5x its current valuation, should be able to cover 2/3 of your total fund.

Most entrepreneurs think their start-up will be the next Google, but you can't base your investment strategy on the assumption that each company has the potential to exit for a billion dollars. Look at comparables (similar companies) that have sold, and their average purchase prices. If you want to keep it simple, you might use 5x at Series A round as your assumed "success" multiple.

What this means:

Let's say a company is raising $500,000 in a Series A. Investors decide it is currently worth $1,000,000, so–after receiving the $500,000 infusion–it will have a $1,500,000 "post-money" valuation. (For sake of simplicity, we assume that Investors don't require an option pool for new employees to be set aside in the pre-money valuation. For more on that, read this) Let's also say that you put in $15,000, so you "own" 1% of the company post-money.

Remember the rule of the header: "Each start-up, if it exits at 5x its current valuation, should be able to cover 2/3 of your portfolio."

Most of your start-ups will fail, so the successes need to make up for losses.

If we're using the "2/3″ rule, and your fund (like mine from 2007-2009) is $120,000, you shouldn't invest $15,000 in this start-up, as 15K x 5 = $75,000. 2/3 of $120,000 is $80,000, so you'd either have to invest slightly more, lower the valuation, or add in advising and get more equity in return. This isn't even accounting for dilution, which is likely in most cases.

B. Each start-up, if it exits at 3x its current valuation, should allow you to walk away with $300,000.

This is one of my preferred methods for qualifying or disqualifying a start-up.

As much as I might love them, I'm not going to take another part-time job for 1-3 years for a $50,000 pay-off. This is where first-time entrepreneurs who refuse to give advisors more than 0.25% often lose the forest for the trees.

Let's say a start-up ends up with a 3-million (3M) post-money valuation. If I help them more than triple the value of their company to 10M, how much do I walk away with if there are no more rounds of funding? If they offer me 0.5%, I walk away with $50,000. If, considering the time invested, I could earn 5x that doing other things, it makes no sense to do the deal if this is my rule.

Woe is the angel who bases his or her decisions on all start-ups having the potential for a billion-dollar exit. Rule #1 in angel investing is, as far as I'm concerned, the same as Warren Buffett's first two rules of investing:

Rule #1: Don't lose money.
Rule #2: Don't forget Rule #1.

2. Move from investor –> investor/advisor –> advisor

Let's assume you have committed to spending $60,000 per year on angel investments, just as I did. This means two things:

- You aren't going to be able to satisfy the above rule of "2/3″ or the $200,000 minimum for many companies. At best, you'll have 1-3 investments.

- 1-3 investments doesn't work in angel investing, where most pros would agree that 9 out of 10 (on a good day) will fail.

- It's therefore impossible for you to get a good statistical spread with $60,000 per year. The math just doesn't work.

The math especially doesn't work if you f*ck it up like I did (see Part I) by getting over-excited and dropping $50,000 on your first investment. Oops!

Here's how I dealt with this problem:

First, I invested very small amounts in a few select start-ups, ideally those in close-knit "seed accelerator" (formerly called "incubator") networks like Y-Combinator and TechStars. Then I did my best to deliver above and beyond the value of my investment. In other words, I wanted the founders to ask themselves "Why the hell is this guy helping us so much for a ridiculously small number of options?" This was critical for establishing a reputation as a major value-add, someone who helped a lot for very little.

Second, leaning on this burgeoning reputation, I began negotiating blended agreements with start-ups involving some investment, but additional advisory equity as a requirement.

Third and last, I made the jump to pure advising. Since the end of the first year of the "Tim Ferriss Fund," more than 70% of my start-up "investments" have been with time rather than cash. In the last 6 months, I have written only one check for a start-up. The goal is still the same as in the first phase: deliver above and beyond the current value of my potential equity (if fully vested) as quickly as possible. The next post this week will give an example of this.

Comment from a proofreader and experienced angel, Naval Ravikant, who was also a co-founder at Genoa Corp (acquired by Finisar), Epinions.com (IPO via Shopping.com), and Vast.com (largest white-label classifieds marketplace):

One thought – if someone really wants to invest $200K as an angel investor, you're right in that they can't spread it across enough companies to diversify it or have it be worth their time. In that case, they could do advisory work as you suggest – or they could fork it over to a super-angel fund. They'd end up paying a 15% in management fees and 20%+ of the profits in carry, but most of the super-angels have pretty good returns and they would get startup exposure for basically a $30K + 20% of the profits cost, and their time is surely worth more than that…

Moving gradually from pure investing to pure advising allowed me to reduce the total amount of capital invested, increase equity percentages, and make the $120,000 work, despite my early slip-ups. This also, I believe, produced better results for the start-ups.

The reason for the better results is related to a common objection.

Some counsel against pure advisors, the belief being that pure advisors have no "skin in the game." To address this, start-ups might insist on an investment before advising can be discussed. The logic isn't bad–that an advisor will do more if they have something to lose–but this argument has never compelled me, and I don't know many good advisors who are compelled by it.

Why?

I feel more compelled to help companies that I have pure advising relationships with for two reasons.

First, if I've given a start-up capital, I've already given some value. If it's pure advising, I need to prove my value within the small world of start-up investing or my reputation goes downhill. Second, because my reputation is at stake, I do more due diligence than with pure investments to ensure an excellent fit (their needs + my capabilities) before signing up. Just as important: before offering real equity for advising, a start-up will do likewise, and our marriage–if we get to that point–ends up better as a result.

The start-ups that aren't great fits, those who haven't mapped my strengths and weaknesses to their own, look at me, laugh, and ask themselves: "Tim Ferriss wants what?!?"

They're right, I'm not a good fit. If their desire for me as an advisor is contingent upon an investment, they probably haven't thought enough about how I'd be able to help (or not help). Either I really can't help much, in which case I shouldn't be offered advisor equity at all, or I can really help, in which case they should get me on board with a compelling arrangement for everyone. Start-ups often forgot that the advisor equity vests monthly–advisors still have to earn it or they can be fired.

It's a hell of a lot of fun advising start-ups with good product and personality fit, even if the companies don't become the next Google.

But, I do miss a lot of great opportunities by focusing on advising and tight fit. This doesn't bother me. I haven't yet lost any money. Rule #1.

Let's be clear on one point: if you don't deliver real results for your start-ups, you do not deserve to be an advisor. If you can't point to a track record of some sort, you haven't earned the right to ask for advising equity. Pull out the checkbook and pay your dues.

Home prices won't regain peak this decade: Moody's - MarketWatch

2010-03-15T09:58:00.000-04:00

Home prices won't regain peak this decade: Moody's - MarketWatch

An article from Seeking Alpha has been sent to you

2010-02-22T09:12:00.001-05:00

I thought you might find this article on Seeking Alpha interesting:
Income ETFs: Safer Than Stocks, Better Returns Than Bonds

Income ETF's - safer than stocks.

J.K. on the Fringe Benefits of Failure

2010-02-04T16:11:00.001-05:00

J.K. on the Fringe Benefits of Failure

Posted using ShareThis

What are ISOs?

2010-01-28T14:53:00.002-05:00

What are ISOs?

from The Startup Lawyer by Ryan Roberts

1 person liked this

A stock option grants you the right to purchase a certain number of shares of stock at a pre-established price. An incentive stock option (ISO) is a type of stock option that allows favorable tax treatment to the stock option holder.
The main tax benefits of incentive stock options are that the option holder can:
(1) delay his or her personal taxable event until the stock is actually sold by the holder (instead of at the exercise of the option), and
(2) receive long-term capital gains treatment for taxable gain at the stock sale (instead of ordinary income tax rates).
In order to receive the tax benefits of ISOs, the startup and stock option holder must comply with various rules. The main requirements are:
ISO Recipient
Only employees of the startup can receive ISOs.
Continuous Employment
The employee must remain continuously employed with the startup for the period from the date of the ISO grant until 3 months before the date of an ISO stock option exercise.
Stock Option Plan
The ISO must be granted pursuant to a written stock option plan. Additionally, the grant must take place within 10 years from the date the stock plan is either adopted or approved by the startup’s shareholders.
ISO Option Length
An ISO cannot be exercised more than 10 years after its grant. (See “Special Rules” below)
ISO Exercise Price
The exercise price for an ISO must be set at FMV (or higher) of the startup’s stock subject to the ISO grant. (See “Special Rules” below)
Nontransferable ISO
ISOs must be nontransferable and can only be exercised by the employee. However, if the employee dies, the employee’s heirs or beneficiaries can exercise the ISOs.
ISO Holding Period
The ISO holder can not dispose the startup’s shares within (i) 1 year from the ISO exercise, or (ii) 2 years from the ISO grant. Thus, the earliest the ISO shares can be sold (and receive favorable tax treatment) is 2 years from the ISO grant (not 3 years).
Special Rules for Founder ISO Grants (i.e. to large shareholders)
A ISO grant to a shareholder with more than 10% of the startup’s voting stock must (i) be set at an exercise price at least equal to 110% of the FMV of the stock subject to the option, and (ii) the ISO option may not be exercised more than 5 years after its grant.
Please note that the above list is not exhaustive regarding ISO requirements.

NYC SEEDSTART Summer 2010 Program

2010-01-28T14:43:00.002-05:00

NYC SEEDSTART Summer 2010 Program

http://www.nycseed.com/seedstart.html

Applications are due by February 28, 2010. We will notify finalists by March 15, 2010. We are accepting applications here.
What Is It?
NYC SeedStart is an 8-week summer program designed to provide seed funding for technology teams to build a product and launch their company. We will give up to 10 teams a small amount of funding, space, and mentorship in exchange for a small piece of equity in whatever they build. We do not expect companies, we expect entrepreneurs and hackers who are passionate about their product. If selected, you can spend a summer building your product, freed from thinking about office space or living expenses and with access to our network for help. At the end of the summer, groups will present their work to investors with the hope of finding additional funding.
SeedStart is a joint effort among:

The Specifics
We offer $20,000 to up to 10 teams (minimum 2 people, maximum 4 people). In exchange for this, we will receive 5% equity stake in your company. At the end of every summer we will convene a panel of NYC-based investors and provide the opportunity for SeedStart companies to present their projects.
Why SeedStart?
Extremely early-stage money and guidance for young entrepreneurs and hackers is hard to find. NYC is an expensive place to live and we want to help smart entrepreneurs who live in NYC get going.
No Better Time
We believe there is no better time to start a company in NYC.

Apply Here

Canopy Financial Accused Of Serious Financial Fraud, Investors Burned

2009-11-30T12:42:00.001-05:00

Canopy Financial Accused Of Serious Financial Fraud, Investors Burned

Posted using ShareThis

I'm doing 'God's work'. Meet Mr Goldman Sachs - Times Online

2009-11-16T14:46:00.001-05:00

I'm doing 'God's work'. Meet Mr Goldman Sachs - Times Online

So far, so lucrative. But isn’t it simply unfair? Isn’t Goldman acting as the modern equivalent of war-time profiteer, taking advantage of global crisis and emergency government action to mint millions? Even the veteran financier George Soros says the big profits made by Wall Street banks are "hidden gifts" from the state.

Fw: [A VC] There is 1 new post in "A VC"

2009-11-14T07:48:00.001-05:00

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

From: Fred Wilson <fred@flatironpartners.com>

Date: Sat, 14 Nov 2009 01:37:54 -0500

To: paul r friday<paul.r.friday@gmail.com>

Subject: [A VC] There is 1 new post in "A VC"

Here are the FeedBlitz blog updates for paul.r.friday@gmail.com

Social Recruiting
More Recent Articles

There is 1 new post in "A VC"

Social Recruiting

I'm giving the keynote talk at the Social Recruiting Summit in NYC on Monday. I've been working on my presentation over the past few days and some themes are worth talking about.

1) Since we started Union Square Ventures in 2003/2004, we have only been involved with one retained search. Our portfolio companies have certainly used search firms, but our use of them has been extremely rare. We prefer to source candidates ourselves using our networks, and increasingly our social networks.

2) We sourced both of our junior investment professionals, Andrew Parker and Eric Friedman, with blog posts at USV.com.

3) We have sourced countless senior hires for our portfolio companies off of this blog and USV.com. I would bet that we've done a couple dozen successful hires that way in the past couple years.

4) Many of our companies have internal recruiters and we work hand in hand with them, sourcing talent, vetting talent, and closing the sale.

5) LinkedIn is a terrific place to find talent and to find references. When I want to check someone out, I invite them to connect to me on LinkedIn, I find who we know in common, and that is my reference list. Charlie O'Donnell taught me these LinkedIn tricks about five years ago and I use them all the time.

6) Tracked.com is also a terrific place to find talent and figure out who they know. Let's say you wanted to find the top execs at LinkedIn. You can find them all in one place here.

7) Hunting for talent is necessary but not always sufficient. You need to get the word out. Like all things on the internet, there are free ways and paid ways to do that.

8) The best free way is get your jobs indexed by Indeed so they can be found by the over 10 million people a month who go there looking for jobs. We feature all the jobs in our portfolio on the front page of USV.com by running an Indeed stored query of all the jobs in our portfolio companies.

9) Social networks like Twitter and Facebook are also great free ways to get the word out. Post the job on your website and tweet it out, get it retweeted, searched, and discovered and the resumes will start coming in.

10) You can also pay to get your jobs "sponsored" in Indeed. You can post job ads via Facebook's self serve ad system and target them at very specific locations and job types. And we'll see more social media/networks offer paid systems like this in the next year.

11) There are all sorts of niche communities on the web you should be hanging out in if you want to find talent. For tech/engineering talent, we like to look at Meetup groups on certain tech topics (there are eight Ruby On Rails meetups within 25 miles of NYC), open source projects, and niche communities like Hacker News and Stack Overflow. You can play the same game with communities for other kinds of job types. The key is you have to hang out there a bit, get to know the community and the people in it, and build trust and add value.

That last point is the big point. Social media is about showing up, hanging out, and earning trust. If you want to use social media to source talent, you can't fake it. You have to really participate in these systems. But if and when you do, they are incredibly powerful and are changing the face of recruiting.

I look forward to talking to the recruiting community about this topic more on Monday. And if you have ideas for other things I should be talking about, please leave them in the comments.

• Email to a friend • Related • •

Kadavu has shared: Sequoia Capital on startups and the economic downturn

2009-11-12T10:36:00.001-05:00

Kadavu shared a presentation 'Sequoia Capital on startups and the economic downturn' on SlideShare with this message:

"I think you will find this presentation useful."

Check out the presentation here:
http://www.slideshare.net/eldon/sequoia-capital-on-startups-and-the-economic-downturn-presentation.

Forward this to a Friend If this was useful to you, it'll be useful to someone you know too.

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kadavu has shared a presentation on Slideshare

2009-11-11T07:51:00.001-05:00

Hi,

Check out this cool presentation on SlideShare:

Title: "Startup Cfo Bdo Term Sheet Event 051109"
Link: http://www.slideshare.net/startupcfo/startup-cfo-bdo-term-sheet-event-051109

kadavu

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Fw: Ask The VC

2009-11-11T07:24:00.000-05:00

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

From: Ask The VC <brad@feld.com>

Date: Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:08:21 +0000

To: <paul.r.friday@gmail.com>

Subject: Ask The VC

Ask The VC

Preparing to Wind Down a Business: What information do you need?

Posted: 10 Nov 2009 05:50 AM PST

We continue to work our way through wind downs in the third part of the series from Roger Glovsky. Roger, you have the floor…

The primary responsibility for shutting down operations and liquidating assets falls on the managers and/or owners of the business, at least until or unless the creditors or court system takes over. This could come as a nasty shock to some investors. Many angel investors or even venture capitalists enter a transaction with the intent of just contributing money. They may be surprised to learn some day that the management team for the company they invested in have all resigned and that no one is remaining to wind down the business, sell off the assets, or pay down the liabilities. Suddenly, one day the investor or owner receives a call (most likely from a creditor) asking what they plan to do with their company and how they plan to address the outstanding liabilities. Not a happy call for the investor or owner.

Whether you are a manager or an owner faced with winding down a business, the goal of the person winding down the company is to fulfill his or her fiduciary obligations and preserve the management's or owner's business reputation. The first step is to assess the financial situation of the business. The second step is to take note that time is of the essence and the longer it takes to do the first step, the more time, money and reputation it will cost the management or owners.

When you buy an existing business, you typically do what is referred to as "due diligence" to make sure you know what you are buying. Similarly, when you are winding down a business, you must do your due diligence to make sure you know what assets and liabilities the company still has and how best to handle them. This is what I call "reverse due diligence". Reverse due diligence involves all of the same information that a buyer or investor might request for a growing business, but for a different purpose: the purpose is for marshaling assets and managing liabilities to maximize value on the downside. In normal due diligence, a buyer will scrutinize financial information and disclosure schedules looking for hidden liabilities that may detract from the value of the acquired company. In reverse due diligence, the person winding down a business is looking for hidden assets that can maximize value and facilitate the settlement of the company's obligations.

So, what information do you need?

1. Financial Information. Most importantly, you need to get a good handle on the financial situation. Are there current financial statements (e.g., P&L, balance sheet, cash flow) prepared by an outside accounting firm? If not, start with the most recent tax return and review all information relating to income, balance sheet, assets, liabilities, and capital structure. Are there internal financial statements prepared by the company? Is there a Quickbooks file (or other accounting software) that can print a transaction report for the current or prior years? What might be the "off-balance-sheet" assets? Seek help from the company's accountant and financial advisors to make sure that the financial information is accurate and up to date.

2. Taxes. Make a list of all states in which the company is obligated to pay taxes. What is the process in each state for submitting final tax returns? What tax good standing certificates are required for dissolution? What are the outstanding tax obligations (e.g., payroll taxes, estimated taxes, annual taxes, sales taxes)? What obligations are coming up in the near future? What tax obligations or tax filings will be required after the company ceases operations? What money will you need to reserve for payment of taxes after dissolution?

3. Hard Assets. List all assets, including both "hard" assets and intangible assets. Hard assets include computers, equipment, furniture, products, and inventory. Are the assets leased or owned? Are the assets worth more sold separately or combined with other assets (such as a product line or customer contract)? You may want to start with the most recent balance sheet to identify major assets that have been capitalized. Which assets are most valuable? Which assets can be sold easily (e.g., using brokers, auctioneers, eBay, or Craigslist)? Are there any strategic assets that may be desired by vendors, partners or competitors?

4. Soft Assets. Soft assets are intangibles that include securities, accounts receivable, contract rights, bank accounts and cash. Intangibles also include intellectual property such as patents, copyrights, trademarks, websites, blogs, and domain registrations. Is there technical information or process know-how that employees (or former employees) could document and make available for sale? What is the value of the brand and how can it be transferred? Is there software or technology (or other IP) that could be licensed? Can customer lists be sold?

5. Potential Buyers. Can you identify a specific list of potential buyers? Who might have a strategic or competitive business interest in some or all of the assets? Consider vendors, contractors, customers, strategic partners and affiliated entities. Would business brokers or investment bankers be able to find potential buyers? If not, are there auctioneers or liquidators who would help fire sale the assets?

6. Lenders. What loans or financings has the company entered into? Are there other credit arrangements? Make sure that you review executed (i.e., final) drafts of all documents. What do the documents require? Which creditors or obligations take precedence? What happens in the event of default? Are there any personal guarantees? Can the loan or financing arrangements be renegotiated?

7. Employees. What are the current payroll obligations? How should they be managed during the wind down process? What bonuses, vacation pay [Ed. Note: and sales commissions] and accrued expenses are owed? What payroll taxes will be due? What employee benefit plans need to be cancelled or terminated? How will this affect employees on COBRA? Can you save money by switching to a Professional Employer Organization (PEO)? Are there any other forms of compensation (stock, deferred compensation or other incentives) that have not been documented or paid? What employment contracts exist and what restrictions will remain enforce? Can you or a potential buyer solicit employees? Are you treating all employees fairly and equally? How will your actions affect employees that you might want to hire again for a future venture?

8. Customers. Make a list of all current customers, past customers, and prospective customers. Which customers have outstanding receivables? Are there open orders? Should open orders be cancelled or delivered? Which customers have you collected money from but won't be able to deliver products or services? What prepayments from customers should be refunded? How much of the receivables can be collected after the company ceases operation? Which receivables should be written off as uncollectable? At what point should you notify customers that you intend to cease operations? How long can you hold out for a buyer to take over a product line or business? Are there any long term agreements for services? What goodwill can be salvaged or business reputation maintained by transferring unfinished projects to another service provider?

9. Vendors. Make a list of all suppliers and contractors. Be sure to review current versions of all agreements, including any addendums or renewals. Which vendors do you owe money? What leases are there for real estate or equipment? Are there any long term contracts? Can you negotiate an earlier termination or buy-out of the contracts? Can you get the contract modifications in writing? What are the notice requirements and other obligations upon termination? How many days in advance must notice be given? Are some notice requirements sooner than others? Are there any security deposits or prepayments (e.g., insurance) that will be repaid to the company?

10. Records; Compliance. Review all corporate records, paying particular attention to obligations upon dissolution or liquidation of the company's assets. Make sure that you have current copies of all corporate (or LLC) records including charter, bylaws, stockholder agreements (or in the case of an LLC, the Operating Agreement). Are there any security, investment or other financing documents that affect the owners' rights or the distribution of assets? Are there any documents that assign responsibility or indemnification upon default of obligations? Are there regulatory filings or other compliance obligations? What licenses or registrations does the company have and how should they be withdrawn or terminated? Are there any environmental issues or other compliance obligations that will continue after operations cease?

Review all of the assets and liabilities carefully. Are the assets worth more or less than the company paid for them? Are there any assets with hidden value (such as websites with significant traffic or popular domain names)? We have had some clients sell domain names alone for more than $500K. Some of these assets may have more value to competitors than they do to the failed business.

After you have gathered the information above, you should be able to make a preliminary assessment as to whether the company's net worth is positive or negative. Be sure to review the assessment with the company's accountant, attorney and other professional advisors in order to determine when to cease operations and to plan for the orderly liquidation of assets. The professionals can help to structure and guide the wind down strategy. There are many financial and legal pitfalls for the unwary. It does not have to be time consuming or expensive, but the assessment does require a trained eye to avoid potential issues that might arise later after the assets have been liquidated and the proceeds disbursed.

The above list is just a sample of the most common items to consider before winding down a business. There are many more items that would be included on a typical due diligence checklist. The financial information and due diligence should be performed with the utmost care and accuracy to make sure valuable assets or significant liabilities are not overlooked. Are there may major items that we have failed to mention? What information did you find the most useful in winding down a business?

Roger Glovsky is a founding partner of Indigo Venture Law Offices, a business law firm based in Massachusetts, which provides legal counsel to entrepreneurs and high-tech businesses. Mr. Glovsky is also founder of LEXpertise.com, a collaboration and networking site for lawyers, and writes blogs for iLaw2.com and The Virtual Lawyer.

Part 1: How to Wind Down Your Company

Part 2: When to Shut Down Your Company

The above content is intended to serve as a general discussion of the subject matter and is provided for informational purposes only. It is not legal advice and should not be construed as such. Do not act upon this information without seeking professional advice or rely on this website or use the content as a substitute for consultation with professional advisors.

Bessemer 10 Laws Of Being SaaSy Fall 2008

2009-11-10T13:59:00.004-05:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Bessemer 10 Laws Of Being SaaSy Fall 2008

View more presentations from Philippe Botteri.

Seven Ways to Survive an Unforgiving Economy -- Seeking Alpha

2009-11-10T13:59:00.002-05:00

Seven Ways to Survive an Unforgiving Economy -- Seeking Alpha

Source: seekingalpha.com

Maybe the pessimists are wrong. Maybe the so-called economic recovery will gather steam and turn out to be robust. Maybe prosperity is about to leap from its hiding place and shout, "Hey! I'm back!"

http://seekingalpha.com/article/166754-seven-ways-to-survive-an-unforgiving-economy?source=feed

Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005

2009-11-10T13:58:00.002-05:00

Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005

Source: www.youtube.com

Here we see Steve Jobs delivering his commencement speech to the graduates of Stanford University in 2005. In it he talks about getting fired from Apple in 1985, life & death.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1R-jKKp3NA

10 Free or Cheap Tools for Start-ups | Inc.com

2009-11-10T13:57:00.002-05:00

10 Free or Cheap Tools for Start-ups | Inc.com

Source: www2.inc.com

Chadd Bennett, founder of RetroRazor, a Seattle-based company that sells old-fashioned safety razors, lists 10 free or inexpensive web-based tools that he used to get his start-up off the ground. They include: MailChimp, Zoho, Dropbox, Skype, Mozy, the N ..

http://www2.inc.com/ss/10-free-or-cheap-tools-start-ups#1

Success & Motivation – 2009 « blog maverick

2009-11-10T13:56:00.002-05:00

Success & Motivation – 2009 « blog maverick

Source: blogmaverick.com

It doesn’t matter what got you to the point of saying it. Maybe you got fired/layed off. Maybe your company went out of business. Maybe you quit because you couldn’t take it any longer. Maybe ...

http://blogmaverick.com/2009/06/09/success-motivation-2009/

Annals of Innovation: How David Beats Goliath: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker

2009-11-10T13:55:00.000-05:00

Annals of Innovation: How David Beats Goliath: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker

Source: www.newyorker.com

ANNALS OF INNOVATION about how Vivek Ranadivé led his daughter’s underdog basketball team to the national championships. When Vivek Ranadivé decided to coach his daugher Anjali’s basketball team, he settled on two principles. ...

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/05/11/090511fa_fact_gladwell

2009-08-24T17:05:00.000-04:00

"develops exploration and reservoir management software for the upstream E and P industry. The company offers seismic and geological interpretation, reservoir modeling, and reservoir simulation software. It provides various IT and data management consulting services, such as project upgrades, data loading, database conversions, network performance analysis"

1st test blog

2007-08-27T10:42:00.000-04:00

First Test Blog.

Tech Banker

Dividends for Depression Era Investing, (T, BBEP BDF, AHL)

FW: Tim Ferriss - How to Create Your Own Real-World MBA – II

Tim Ferriss - How to Create Your Own Real-World MBA – II

Investors vs. Bootstrapping – Some Warnings

Investor vs. Advisor, and Some Definitions

The Start-Ups and Deal Flow

My Rules

Related Reading

Home prices won't regain peak this decade: Moody's - MarketWatch

An article from Seeking Alpha has been sent to you

J.K. on the Fringe Benefits of Failure

What are ISOs?

What are ISOs?

NYC SEEDSTART Summer 2010 Program

Apply Here

Canopy Financial Accused Of Serious Financial Fraud, Investors Burned

I'm doing 'God's work'. Meet Mr Goldman Sachs - Times Online

Fw: [A VC] There is 1 new post in "A VC"

A VC

Musings of a VC in NYC

There is 1 new post in "A VC"

Social Recruiting

More Recent Articles

Kadavu has shared: Sequoia Capital on startups and the economic downturn

kadavu has shared a presentation on Slideshare

Fw: Ask The VC

Ask The VC

Bessemer 10 Laws Of Being SaaSy Fall 2008

Seven Ways to Survive an Unforgiving Economy -- Seeking Alpha

Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005

10 Free or Cheap Tools for Start-ups | Inc.com

Success & Motivation – 2009 « blog maverick

Annals of Innovation: How David Beats Goliath: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker

1st test blog