Tag Archives: Financing
Just Do It: Shoe Dog Shares Deep Stories of Business
Attending the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting this past weekend reminded me of Buffett’s book recommendation of “Shoe Dog” by Nike’s Phil Knight a couple of years ago. “Phil is a very wise, intelligent, and competitive fellow who is also a gifted storyteller,” said Buffett. That… Continue reading
Investment Asset Class Taking Shape: Smaller, Fast-Growing, Backed by Not-Traditional-VCs
Harvard Business School now catches up to a business trend my investment fund, Greybull Stewardship, has been focusing on for years — the increasing frequency of great businesses that have gotten to nice levels of profitability ($1-3 million) by bootstrapping (i.e., no traditional institutional venture capital).… Continue reading
Evergreen Investment Capital Gains More Traction
This idea should be obvious: Most companies will not do their best work if forced to grow artificially fast (think growth hormones). If you aim everything toward fattening up for an exit time; if you force-feed unnatural energy like corn or capital, binge on antibiotics, and then… Continue reading
Diverse Fundraising Market Requires More Filtering than Ever
Private company fundraising is becoming more diverse, robust, and complicated by the day. This is good news for private companies, but not without some downsides. When unique (and often better) doesn’t fit traditional fundraising A core hypothesis of my investment fund, Greybull Stewardship, is that there… Continue reading
Angel Investing Not As Prevalent nor Effective As You May Think
Angel investing has reached a new level of interest by the general public because start-ups are doing well and there are new ways to be an angel (AngelList, crowdfunding, etc.). The New York Times recently published an article about the pros and cons of angel… Continue reading
Greybull Stewardship Makes Growth Investment in Onsource
My investment fund, Greybull Stewardship, has announced a growth investment in a unique platform that connects insurance companies with third-party vehicle and property photo inspections via smart phone apps. The company, Onsource (www.onsourceonline.com), has a network of over 14,000 independent photo inspectors. I am very excited to… Continue reading
Disparate Data Points: Entrepreneurship Exploding or Dying?
An explosion of young companies that are bootstrapped, or financed outside of traditional venture capital (i.e., Silicon Valley) or traditional bank financing, is what I see every day. I see many companies finding their way to a point of lift-off, stability, and medium-sized revenue and profit… Continue reading
Companies and Founders Deserve Better Financing Options
Business financing and capital raising are full of contradictions. The world is awash in capital, but the availability of capital to businesses is often binary. For some, too much capital is stalking them. For others, the switch to turn on capital flow remains hidden. Size… Continue reading
Resilient Companies Balance Continuity with Shock Absorption
Time can be an overlooked element in business. Time can be an enemy, and time can be a friend. Understanding the impact of time on your business separates the best business minds from the rest. Time affects the pace of change for components of your business, your… Continue reading