Loyola University Alumni – On Friday, Sept. 20, meet Meet Rick Kohr, ’81, MBA ’86, the founding member and CEO of Evergreen Advisors LLC. Rick will provide a look at the cyber landscape here in Maryland and the ecosystem including education, incubators, commercial, and government. Rick has more than 25 years experience in advising early stage growth and middle market companies, growth financing, business evaluations, executing exit strategies, and CFO advisory services. The Company works with cyber companies on financing alternatives and exit strategies including raising capital, recapitalization, merger, sale and ESOP’s.

Rick is also managing member of the Chesapeake Emerging Opportunities Club, an early stage venture capital fund. He holds his License in Series 65 and 7, the 63 Uniform Securities License and 79 General Securities Agent License.

Rick serves on the Board of Directors for Meta Source, Healthcare Interactive, Pathsensors Inc., Emerging Technology Council, Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore, Howard County Economic Development authority, and ICAT Logistics, Inc. He has held past board of directors positions and has also served on the Howard County Cyber Commission.

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You are working hard to build your company – but now what? Rick Kohr, CEO of Evergreen Advisors, will cover a variety of topics, including capital raise, how one prepares to exit a business, what one should be preparing, and deciding which moves to make.

Evergreen Advisors is a leading middle market investment bank and advisory firm focused on assisting companies in the areas of corporate finance, growth and exit strategies, business valuations and CFO advisory services. They serve clients throughout the Mid-Atlantic with offices in Columbia, Maryland and Vienna, Virginia.

 

Few individuals have had an impact on higher education and on the lives of thousands of students, faculty, and staff as Dr. Freeman Hrabowski.

And what an incredible run Dr. Hrabowski has had.  Founder of the nationally recognized Meyerhoff Scholars Program, named President of UMBC in 1992, named #1 up and coming university in America, whose graduates are pursued by Harvard, Princeton and Yale…

In 2008, US News and World Report named him one of America’s Best Leaders.  In 2009, Time Magazine named him one of the Top Ten College Presidents and in 2012 Time Magazine named Dr. Hrabowski one of the top 100 Most Influential People in the World.  

We sat down recently- actually we spoke on the phone, as he was in his car, out and about “telling and selling” one of the greatest stories in higher education- UMBC. This is the conversation that followed.

Thank you, Freeman!

Mike Gill

President & Chairman, Evergreen Advisors

Print a Copy of the Interview here –  EA Interview Dr Freeman Hrabowski

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We are starting a new feature  that provides a short spotlight on entrepreneurs and companies in our area.  For this interview we reached out to Social Toaster to hear how it all started and what advice they would give entrepreneurs starting out today.

 

Who are your customers?

Good examples of our customers are Media, Entertainment, Music, Publishing, Non-profit and Education.  When determining if an organization could be a customer of ours, we ask 2 questions.  

1. Do they have an existing fan base, following or database of people they’re connected to who would be willing to share content on behalf of that company to their personal social networks?

2. Is that organization creating content regularly that’s meaningful enough that people will want to share it?

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Each day, our Business Valuation practice fields inquiries from business owners seeking a valuation of their company. Almost as often, they want to know exactly how we go about determining value.

We typically respond with an explanation of the three traditional approaches to completing a business valuation – Cost, Market, and Income.

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On March 8, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a newly revised Employment Eligibility Verification form, Form I-9, which employers are required to use to verify the identity and employment authorization of newly hired employees. Employers should start to use the new Form I-9 immediately. Use of prior versions of the Form I-9 will no longer be permitted beginning May 7, 2013.

 What Does This Mean for My Company?

Employers should begin to use the new version of the Form I-9, “(Rev.03/08/13)N,” immediately.  USCIS is providing employers with a period of 60 days to make necessary changes to their current Form I-9 protocols.

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Starting with the Consumer Electronics Show which just occurred in early January, several major trade shows relevant to emerging growth companies including ITEXPO, NAB (National Association of Broadcasters), Data Center World, Networld + Interop, and CTIA Wireless to name a few, are being held through the Spring.  These events are great opportunities for entrepreneurial companies to:

• Identify, meet, and acquire customers;
• Meet with potential business development partners;
• Scope out competition;
• Recognize developing trends;
• Assess your place within your particular industry ecosystem; and
• Pitch investors.

The ability to do all this at one venue within a few days is a fantastic opportunity. That being said, whether you are an exhibitor or an attendee, you want to maximize your investment.

Here are a few things to consider to help you get a return on that investment.

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A recent article in the New York Times, “Do You Know What Your Business is Worth? You Should,” reviewed the use of “online  valuation calculators” as an inexpensive alternative to providing owners of small companies with a value for their business. These calculators provide formula-based approach to valuation cannot possibly address the subjective nature and “art” of valuations. There are multiple factors to be considered in an “opinion” of value, not the least of which is the purpose of the valuation and numerous subjective factors for which the judgment of an experienced business appraiser is necessary.

However, a more important take-away from this article is the importance of business valuations as a planning tool for the owners of closely-held businesses. As the article observes, most business owners don’t become concerned with a “business valuation” until a transfer of equity is involved, either through the acquisition of the interest of another shareholder — or the business itself. Here are some useful lessons regarding business owners and valuation:

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The Department of Business and Economic Development of Maryland announced that Plasmonix Inc., a life sciences company based at bwtech@UMBC Research & Technology Park, received $100,000 from the startup funding initiative. 

Plasmonix, based at the UMBC Bio Park, is a nano-materials company focusing on Assay Enhancement Products for the Life Science Industry. “Plasmonix is grateful for the continued support from the Maryland Venture Fund and the Department of Business and Economic Development,” said William Gust, president and CEO of Plasmonix. “These funds are critically important to the ongoing development and commercialization of Plasmonix’s technology and we would not be where we are today without this support. We hope to repay the confidence demonstrated in Plasmonix by adding jobs and growing the company here in Maryland.”

Plasmonix was also recently awardee with a $100,000 MIPS Award (Maryland Industrial Partnership Award).  The award is to support ongoing collaboration between CFS (The Center for Fluorescence Spectroscopy at the University of Maryland, Baltimore and Plasmonix to develop and commercialize products utilizing approaches developed by CFS in the area of Metal-Enhanced Fluorescence, Plasmonix’s platform technology.  More information regarding the MIPS program can be found at HTTP://WWW.MIPS.UMD.EDU/.

As the year winds down to a close, have you scheduled time to work on your business and not in it. As the CEO, your daily goal should be figuring out how to run your business and move it forward – not be focused on the minutia of running it daily. The best future exit strategy is a growth strategy today. Yet, the fact is that it’s easier said than done. Here is a very simplistic way of making it a reality starting right now:

Ideas for setting time aside right now:

1. Right now, schedule a half-day offsite for you and your key management team within the next 30 days or;

2. Right now, set up a series of after-the New Year Breakfast meetings on the calendar now with each of your key business area team leads.

Once you have assembled your team you can begin by focusing on the following areas and strategic conversations. They key here is to drive conversation, derive key goals for next year, and commit to key performance indicators that can measure your progress. This is a process and not a one-time event and each idea garnered from these meetings will lead to better ideas and a stronger business overall.

1. Marketing Plan
a. How many new prospects do you want to touch?
b. What market or segment will have the most focus next year?
c. What are a few Key Performance Indicators you can set to measure against?

2. Systemization
a. What systems are in place today? Are they working?
b. More importantly, if they are working is everyone using them?
c. If they are working, look for small improvements and document them.

3. Talent
a. How do you hire more A players
b. How do you plan to retrain or eliminate C players?
c. How are you communicating your expectations and realigning your expectations?

Your business is an asset that you have invested your time and money in developing. By focusing on working on your business and not in it, you can take control of your destiny and drive the value of your asset even higher.

Evergreen Advisors is a leading middle market investment bank and corporate advisory firm focused on assisting companies in the areas of corporate finance, growth and exit strategies, business valuations and CFO advisory services. As entrepreneurs and founders, we have real-world experience of the challenges our clients face and the market experience to assist them in driving value.  Give us a call today, we welcome confidential consultations with you regarding your exit strategy.

Clemson University featured Evergreen Advisors’ Mike Gill in this month’s “The Will to Lead for Clemson,” article. Here is an excerpt and link to the article:

Mike Gill came to Clemson from Baltimore in the fall of 1968 on a baseball scholarship, playing under Coach Bill Wilhelm. Today, he and his wife, Mary, support the Brooks Center for the Performing Arts with a generous endowment. Perhaps the connection between baseball and the Brooks Center is not readily apparent, but then Clemson has a way of bringing people and ideas together in unexpected ways.

While playing for the Tigers, Mike got to know Byron Harder, a young doctor working at the Redfern Health Center. Byron was a fan of the baseball team and treated many of its players. Byron was also a fan of Lillian “Mickey” Harder, whom he married and who is now director of the Brooks Center. The friendship that was struck between the Harders and Gill remains today.

Recently, Joseph DeMattos, Jr., MA president of the Health Facilities Association of Maryland (HFAM), interviewed Mike Gill, President and Chairman of Evergreen Advisors on leadership and how Mike stays sharp on a daily basis.  

Here is an excerpt from the interview and some self-reflective thoughts as we all start to reflect on 2012 and look forward to 2013.

What are the three things or actions a person could take to launch their own individual “American Recovery” in 2013?

MG:  Let me use three of the six of The Big Six, to answer this.  Jack Welch introduced us to The Big Six over twenty-five years ago.  They are ageless and timeless.  I want you to look at them through the eyes of the individual and not an enterprise.

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The Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development invested announced today that they have invested $200K in Pathsensors, an Evergreen CFO Advisory Client. Pathsensors manufactures biological pathogen identification systems focused on environmental testing and is located at the UMB Biopark.

“We are honored to be a recipient of capital funding through InvestMaryland. PathSensors CANARY technology is providing rapid pathogen testing  that ensures a safe and reliable supply of food products for the world’s growing population. These funds will support the development of new products for the food processing industry. We thank the State of Maryland, in particular the Maryland Venture Fund, the Department of Business and Economic Development and the Governor, for their support as we work to develop these important products.” stated Ted Olsen.

InvestMaryland is a funding source for early, mid and late stage growth companies. Through a premium insurance tax credit auction sale, the State of Maryland raised $84M to invest in early stage technologies in the areas of software, communications, cyber-security and life sciences.

Evergreen Advisors, a leading Investment Bank and Corporate Advisory Firm, announced the addition of Fred Shaw as Vice President in the CFO Advisory Practice.

Fred has diversified experience in both public and private accounting serving a variety of industries including Manufacturing, Health Care, Service and Government Contracting industries.  Prior to joining Evergreen Advisors, he worked with middle market companies at JPB Accounting Service and at KJC Financial Services, Inc., a firm he founded in 2002 to provide CFO services to small and mid-sized companies in the Central Maryland region. 

“I’m very excited to welcome Fred Shaw to our team as Vice President in our CFO Advisory Services practice. Fred has an outstanding background in the accounting and financial services industry, having been a partner at KPMG, a CFO at some major companies, and most recently a financial advisory consultant to a number of companies in the mid-Atlantic.” remarked Mike Gill, Chairman.

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The University of Maryland MIPS Program announced that our client, Plasmonix, has been awarded a MIPs project, which teams companies with universities across the state to focus on advancing commercially promising technologies into the marketplace. 

“The MIPS award is a critical component of Plasmonix’s product development and introduction plans.  The award is hugely important to the Company’s ability to hit the ground running as we enter 2013.” Says William Gust, President and Chief Executive who has raised $1.5 million for Baltimore-based Plasmonix.

Plasmonix was also selected to present at the upcoming Mid Atlantic Bio Conference on September 27^th and 28^th.

Sitting for More Than Three Hours a Day Cuts Life Expectancy – WSJ.com

In the mid 80’s I read an article in Fortune magazine about Lou Gerstner, Jr. Who at the time was president of American Express.  Gerstner eventually went on to become Chairman and CEO of IBM, where he retired in 2002.

In the Fortune magazine article, Gerstner said that his favorite quote was, “From behind the desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world”. I “borrowed” it from Gerstner and have shared with the world ever since.

The article that appeared this week in the WSJ by Andrew Seidman should be the companion piece to the Gerstner quote.    I’ve always said that you can’t find out what your competition is doing, how your customers feel about your products and your company, and how your people in the field are doing, when you’re inside the four walls of your company………if that isn’t enough to get you off your derrière, Seidman now tells us we’re “gonna die” the longer we sit.

I guess the “bottom” line, no pun intended is if you get out of your chair you’ll do a better job running your company and live longer!  Do It!

 

 

 

Business owners typically focus on creating sustainable value that would endure even in their absence. After all, a buyer will only pay for the value of an enterprise which can actually be transferred in an acquisition. “Goodwill” is a concept that is often raised when positioning a business for sale, but what does is mean and what are its implications for the sale of your business?

In this context, goodwill is an accounting concept that is generally defined as the value of an acquired business over and above its identifiable tangible and intangible assets. If a business is purchased for $10 million but has identifiable (net) assets of only $7 million, the difference of $3 million would be recorded by the acquirer as goodwill. In an economic sense, goodwill is the value created over and above the identifiable net assets residing in a business enterprise.

In a corporate acquisition, goodwill can be identified as either “personal” or “business” goodwill. The value of goodwill may be attributable to the owners personally, to the company, or to a combination of both. Whereas a cardiology practice is likely to have more personal goodwill, a branded consumer products company would be likely to have more goodwill attributable to the business.

So what’s the difference and why does it matter?

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Congratulations to finalists of the 12 Annual “Maryland Incubator Company of The Year” awards.

The finalists are selected by the Maryland’s most prominent industry leaders and early-stage investors including Evergreen’s Rick Kohr and Advisory Board Member Paul Silber. Entering in the competition provides emerging companies with a rare opportunity to present their business plan and vision to the most influential panel of early-stage investors and industry leaders in the region.

 

 

 

Recently  Mike Gill connected with a long-time friend Bob Paff. Bob is a nationally known Motivational Speaker and former host of the popular CBS Radio show, Communicating To Win and current co-host of Fox News Baltimore’s Morning Show segment the Competitive Edge, seen every Thursday morning at 9:20.

We have posted an excerpt from Bob’s blog on this encounter.

While catching up with an old friend last week, he shared a lesson with me that he learned from the master himself, legendary CEO Jack Welch. Mike Gill is chairman of Evergreen Advisors and has been known to many in Baltimore and the surrounding communities for years. When I first met Mike, he was founder, president and CEO of Americom Telecommunications, a company he and his partner later sold.

Never one to be idle, Mike has reinvented himself multiple times, finally into his current position with Evergreen. We reconnected when Mike sent me a handwritten note congratulating me for being nominated for Corridor’s 2011 Person of the Year. While we go back some 20 years or so, our paths rarely cross, with the possible exception of seeing each other across a crowded restaurant or business event. Such is Baltimore, the village trying so hard to be a city! When we met last week, Mike seemed as full of life as ever, just the executive I remembered meeting many years ago. Honored that he remembered me, I told him that neither time nor the responsibilities of life had dulled his charm. We met briefly, but before he departed, Mike shared a little something with me – something he lives by every day and that I too will now incorporate into my daily life. “The Big Six,” from Jack Welch. I think I’ve read it 100 times since Mike pulled it out his pocket and gave it to me with such pride that you would have thought it was a great stock tip! Or maybe better!

A couple of weeks ago I was watching the CBS final round telecast of the Waste Management Open from Scottsdale, Arizona. At the beginning of the days round, Kyle Stanley, a second year player from the state of Washington who went to Clemson, was eight strokes back. All Kyle did was shoot a final round 64 and at the end the day was raising the crystal and the check for over a million dollars that went with it.

 As Kyle was playing the final hole, analyst and hall-of-famer, Sir Nick Faldo, made this comment, he said, “Real happiness is great health and a short memory.”  It had only been seven days since Kyle Stanley experienced a “golf meltdown”, witnessed by millions.  He entered the final round play of the Farmer’s Insurance Open with a six stroke lead. On the final hole, still leading by three and just 90 yards from the flagstick, he could take five more shots to get it in the hole and win the tournament. He took six……and lost in a playoff.  He was devastated, overnight he became the most talked about golfer in America for all the wrong reasons.

 Life is amazing and how we react to the hand that is dealt us determines EVERYTHING.  Not too many weeks ago we had our Annual Kick-Off Meeting at Evergreen. I had a number of posters made up that decorated the walls of our conference room. I “borrowed” one of them from the famous American essayist and author, Ralph Waldo Emerson.

“A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer”

 There is no time-frame or time-limit on achieving success. Jim Valvano, the late basketball coach of the national championship N.C. State Wolfpack and one of the most dynamic and characteristic coaches ever in the game said this on the ESPY awards just weeks before he died of cancer, “Never Never Ever Quit, he went on to say, “Don’t give up, Don’t even give up.” He went on to say that each of us needs to do three things, we need to laugh, we need to think, we need to cry because of the joy we feel.”

 Life is not a dress rehearsal….make everyday count!

About Evergreen Advisors

Evergreen Advisors is a leading middle market investment bank and corporate advisory firm focused on assisting companies in the areas of corporate finance, growth and exit strategies, business valuations and CFO advisory services.

 

Recently, Rick Kohr, CEO of Evergreen Advisors and Mike Gill, Chairman met with Kevin Plank, Founder and CEO of Under Armour. They covered a wide range of topics from leadership, a 1,000 hits, innovation, to what Kevin looks for in people that join the Under Armour team.

Frustrated by the “soaking wet” T-shirts he wore under his University of Maryland football uniform, the special teams captain created a fabric that wicked away sweat while providing muscle support. Sixteen years later and over $1 billion in revenues, Kevin has built one of the most recognizable brands in America.

What follows is an excerpt of the conversation that Mike, Rick, and Kevin had at Tark’s in Greenspring Station.

{Mike Gill} Some people talk about vision and some people talk about growth. You have said that you don’t think people talk enough about growth. Can you make a couple of comments in that regard?

{Kevin Plank} I am a huge believer that every business we get into has to make money and every business needs to go beyond just a vision. They have to have a practicality of how are we going to make the rubber hit the road and create the returns because: A) we are not that big and B) anyone these days can go out of business as fast as the world moves today. I have a great saying from a guy who told me one time: It’s ok to take one dollar to make ten, but it’s not ok to take ten dollars to make one. Therefore, I live by that rule at Under Armour and frankly, personally too. It is one of my investment philosophies.

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Often times when you get advice on making an investor pitch the focus is all on the presentation. What slides should be included and how you should talk to your audience. Often overlooked is the importance of first impressions and the fact that you have only one opportunity to make the right impression. In the case of a pitch, you have to provide the investors with enough information to interest them and make them want more. So when you only have 7-15 minutes how do maximize your impact?

What is overlooked is that the little details can make or break the deal. The benefit of preparation is that you can prepare for your first impression. While small details, these items do make a significant impact.

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You’ve worked tirelessly to take an idea, commercialize it, acquire customers, hire employees and create a growing company.  You may or may not have raised outside capital to get to where you are, but you would somehow like to get “a little something for the effort.”  How do you convert your ownership into cash?

You could sell your company, which could very well eliminate your future participation in that industry for a period of time due to a covenant not to compete which the buyer will surely make you commit to as a condition of sale.

You could merge with another company, stay involved in managing the combined entity, but you might not get any cash consideration as a result of the deal.

If you have achieved sufficient scale, you could take a shot at bringing the company to the public markets via an IPO, but your underwriters probably won’t let you sell any shares for six months after closing the offering and you will be operating in the fish bowl environment as a reporting company filing quarterly financials with the Securities and Exchange Commission for all to see – including your competitors.

OR

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Under new guidelines released last month, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) will permit an entity to determine whether it is “more likely than not” (greater than 50% likelihood) that the Fair Value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount by considering industry and company specific factors.

Based on its assessment of “qualitative factors,” the entity can determine whether it is necessary to perform the two-step goodwill impairment test under Accounting Standards Codification 350 (“Goodwill and Intangible Assets”).

Corporate financial officers have been vocal in their criticism of the cost and complexity of the two-step goodwill impairment testing process, prompting the FASB to act.  However, introducing highly judgmental factors into the goodwill impairment determination, in our opinion, invites abuse and the distortion of earnings and financial condition which the two-step impairment test was designed to prevent. Consider the factors the FASB suggests for management’s evaluation in the recent Accounting Standards Update 2011-08:

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Evergeen Advisors helped celebrate its tenth anniversary with a food drive for the Howard County Food Bank located around the corner from their Maryland Office.

Shelley Lombardo, Vice President of Marketing noted that “It has truly been a rewarding experience as the families of Evergreen employees have come together to collect food and provide a monetary donation. The 249 pounds of food are equivalent to 208 number of meals supplied to disadvantaged families. Food pantries have been struggling to keep up with the increased demand and we are grateful to help one in our own backyard. “

Evergreen Advisors has a long history of community involvement assisting local charitable organizations. Among the many groups supported are Ed Block Foundation, University of Maryland Medical System, Catholic Charities, National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI), The Krista Rita Strouse Foundation, American Heart Association, and the Columbia Foundation.

 

About Evergreen Advisors

Evergreen Advisors is a leading investment banking and corporate advisory firm focused on assisting emerging growth and middle-market companies in the areas of corporate finance, growth and exit strategies,  business valuations and advisory services.  For more information, visit https://evergreenadvisorsllc.com/

Southwest Airlines celebrated their 40th anniversary this year, young by most standards for larger corporations. The origin of Southwest is as remarkable as the great  airline that they have come to be. Their first chairman, Herb Kelleher, led the legal fight to provide service within the state of Texas. It was a long and costly fight but finally on June 18, 1971 Southwest Airlines began offering service to Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio. (If you would like to know more about the Southwest story and their colorful former chairman, Herb Kelleher, a book you would thoroughly enjoy is called “Nuts.”)

Culture is neither negotiable nor optional. Almost 20 years ago, two former Price Waterhouse partners wrote a book called, “The 100 Greatest companies in America”. They reviewed thousands and thousands of pages of data on over 5,000 companies to determine the best of the best. They discovered two unique traits about the companies they eventually chose as “the best 100”. First, except for one company the other 99 had stuck to their knitting during their entire history. The other discovery was that the original “Value statement” and Culture of the organizations had remained intact.

I can remember as a kid in the 60’s and in love with baseball and the Oriole’s, you would often hear people talk about “The Oriole Way” (their culture). What was it that made the hometown team dominant in baseball through the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s? Sure, it was great pitching and defense and as Hall of Fame Manager Earl Weaver would say, “and a nice three run homer from time to time”. However, it was also the professionalism, team spirit, “hustle” preparation and a determination to be the best that was expected from every player. An organization that has had the highest winning percentage in baseball the last twenty years is the Atlanta Braves, and it is not a coincidence that their leader as GM and now team president for that entire period has been Baltimorean John Schuerholz, whose first job in baseball was in 1966 with…. You guessed it, the Oriole’s.

Is your Culture a competitive differentiator?

Go For It!

http://www.southwest.com/assets/pdfs/about-southwest/garys-greeting.pd

Evergreen Advisors is pleased to announce that Rick Kohr will be a panelist at the, “Maryland’s Cyber Battleground APG to Ft. Meade: The Regional Impact and Global Reach of the New Cyber Technology,” Corridor Inc. conference on September 22, featuring keynote speaker Dutch Ruppersberger, Ranking Member, House Select Committee on Intelligence. Along with working many cyber related businesses in the area, Rick also serves on the Howard County Cyber Commission. The commission advises Howard County Executive Ken Ulman to help maximize opportunities generated by the growth of cyber activity in the Baltimore-Washington region.

Other panelists include high-level Security, Intelligence Business and Military officials including Mark Barnett, Director of Small Business Programs, NSA, Neal Ziring, Technical Director of Information Assurance Directorate, NSA, Bob Hannon, President & CEO, Anne Arundel EDC, Hart Rossman, VP & CTO Cyber Security Services & Solutions, SAIC, Bill Varner, President & COO Mission, Cyber and Technology Solutions, Mantech, Chris Foster, Business Development Executive, Raytheon, and Christian Johansson, Secretary, DBED.

Panelists will outline the state of cybersecurity in Maryland, what lies ahead, and – most importantly – financial opportunities that exist for companies of all sizes.
Special commentary will be provided by Aris Melissaratos, Special Advisor for Enterprise Development to the President of Johns Hopkins University.

For more information visit: http://corridorinc.com/corridorevents/event/3/Maryland%E2%80%99s-Cyber-Battleground
_____________________________________________________
About Evergreen Advisors
Evergreen Advisors is a leading investment banking and corporate advisory firm focused on assisting emerging growth and middle-market companies in the areas of Mergers and Acqusitions, Business Valuations, Advisory including corporate finance, growth and exit strategies, and CFO advisory services.

I was talking to a friend the other day and she was telling me how tough the marketplace has been for her for too long. I shared with her my philosophy about the “pie” and what you need to do to get your fair slice. You see when times are tough the pie is smaller or to put it another way, your opportunities are fewer than when the tide is rising and there is plenty for everyone. But you still need to get your fair slice of the pie, a daunting task but one that you have to win-no excuses!

Here are some ideas for you to consider and implement NOW.

Say out loud, “THE ECONOMY STINKS”, OK do you feel better, now do something about it…….get the slice you want and leave the crumbs for your competitor.

1. Spend more time each evening and morning reviewing your game plan for the day.

2. Ask for referrals more often. If you did a great job taking care of the customer you’ve earned the right.

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With the advent of accounting (FASB 123R) and income tax (IRC 409A) guidelines regarding the valuation of equity-based compensation, it has become increasingly important for entrepreneurs to become familiar with complex equity securities and the valuation of equity-based compensation such as stock or option grants.

This typically arises in the context of venture capital funding. Providers of early stage institutional funding provide growth capital for emerging companies and therefore, are interested in the return of the their capital (often called liquidation preference)  but also participating in the “upside” or increase in equity value of the business, hence achieving a return commensurate with the risk involved.

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