Marketing Services Companies Fly Off The Shelf
2014 is shaping up to be another banner year for M&A in the marketing services sector, on track for nearly 300 transactions to be completed. So what gets a company a premium value in this sector? Strong brand and market reputation Your brand and market reputation could be for a specific service offering, or with […]

Virtual Organizations and their Impact on M&A
Virtual organizations are on the rise, especially among start-ups. The cloud has replaced the “garage” as the 21st century laboratory for collaboration and innovation. What’s most exciting about this trend is the fact that the barriers to entry for an intellectual property-driven business (whether it be a software firm, professional services, or an online business) […]

So you say you are a market leader?
Really? Oh, come now… in every press release I ever saw the company says they are the market leader, but in what? Market-share? Revenue or installed base? Technology perhaps? And in who’s eyes; besides your own? And why is this really important anyway? Well it IS important, and it is important because often success begets […]

Is Corporate Venture Capital a part of your Financing Strategy?
Corporate venture capital is hot…really hot. U.S. funding levels spiked in Q2 2014 to nearly $1.2 billion and public tech companies are sitting on massive cash balances. These companies are looking to parley their huge cash positions into new growth opportunities through their own venture groups in order to try and keep up with the accelerating […]

Partnering with an eye toward exit strategy
Ok, so you have “partners” for your business and of course like most partners they are more interested in what you can do for them than how to jointly grow your businesses. You may even wonder if it is worth the effort, and in fact many non-revenue generating relationships may not be. But as in […]

Top Three Deal Killers to Avoid
Few experiences in business are more harrowing than having a deal to sell your company fall apart. While the ups and downs of a deal are inevitable, having your transaction get permanently derailed is not. When a deal crashes and burns, the repercussions on your business can be significant and long lasting. Company performance may […]

Three Key Barriers to Resurrecting a Struggling Ski Resort
There is a movement going on in the cold weather recreation/resort world. The movement is to save cold weather, outdoor recreation venues – specifically ski areas. From closing…for good. In the Northeast alone, Tenney Mountain in New Hampshire, Hickory Ski Center and West Mountain in New York, and Saddleback, Mount Abram, and Lost Valley in […]

Valuing the intangibles: What’s Your Company Really Worth?
A trusted advisor has suggested you meet with an investment banker. You respond, “I’m focused on growing my business…not selling it. Besides, investment bankers are in interested closing fees and not much else. The last banker I met summed up my company’s value at 3-5x EBITDA based on a quick 5-minute glance at my financial […]
