Tag Archives: Equity Investor

Ideal business financing for growing, profitable companies in 100 posts or less?

“Teach what you want to learn” is the theme with which I started this blog in April 2012.  Since then, I have written 100 posts — which means I’ve learned for myself and shared what I’ve learned under several themes: Business financing and venture capital… Continue reading

Venture Capital Myths — Not the Answer for Many Companies

Venture capital has been tremendously successful in the United States.  In some ways, it has almost been too successful in that many entrepreneurs think traditional venture capital is the only path to success.  That is not true.  This article in the Harvard Business Review by… Continue reading

Path of Equity Value Creation Not Easy to Plan or Pace (see Disney)

Equity value creation, in my experience, does not follow a smooth, straight path or a predictable timeline. It zigs and zags, stalls and spurts. Therefore, forcing a company into a certain path of possibilities or tight timetable is often counter-productive. I have found it to… Continue reading

Raising Capital: About Fit and Timing

I was in New York last week speaking with existing and prospective investors in my investment fund, Greybull Stewardship.  The match-making activity between capital seeking returns and opportunities seeking capital is truly amazing in the United States.  Nothing brings this home like New York City… Continue reading

Old School Myths About the Ideal Time for Raising Capital (of the Right Type)

Old school myths from last century have stuck around to this century — especially about when to raise capital.  Modern companies often have the freedom to make a decision about when to seek capital because they do not need capital at a certain point in… Continue reading

“VC Bargain”: Capital in Exchange for the ‘Duty to Sell Company’

A post this summer from Jason Mendelson of the Foundry Group really caught my eye.  It is about the explicit “VC Bargain” that an entrepreneur makes when taking an investment from a venture capital firm.  Basically, the VC fund will need the founders to commit… Continue reading

New Twist on Venture Capital with Better Risk-Adjusted Investment Returns

A higher return investment can have a broad distribution of potential outcomes, as conveyed by this graph from Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital Management (the graph is from his book The Most Important Things Illuminated). This graph is a more helpful way to understand risk… Continue reading

Investment Wisdom Convergence from Clayton Christensen and Charlie Munger

When two great thinkers come to a similar idea from different starting points and careers, I pay attention.  For business and investment wisdom, Clayton Christensen of the Harvard Business School teaches his students a collection of “theories and frameworks” to help them understand and deal… Continue reading

Kissing a Lot of Frogs: Smaller Companies Must Work to Find Investment Financing

Competitive advantages can both increase and decrease as a business gets larger.  One thing that gets easier for larger companies is attracting business investment and financing.  The chart below from John Paglia at the Pepperdine Business School demonstrates the shortage in capital and investment sources… Continue reading

“Strategy Follows Structure” — John Bogle on Investment Funds

Investment Fund Structures “You are what you eat” is the common phrase about nutrition.  With investing, I think a corollary should be “you are where & how you get your capital”.  This is particularly true with any type of investment fund as John Bogle, the… Continue reading