M&A Moment December 2016 – Golden Gate Capital and Neustar Merger

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In this, the final M&A Moment for 2016 Rick Climan of www.weil.com joins me to talk about the recent Golden Gate Capital acquisition of Neustar Inc. (NYSE: NSR) signaling a continued resurgence of private equity firms making financial acquisitions in 2016. This deal is interesting because of some of the foreign capital involved in the deal, as well, which will mandate careful review by US’ Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). CFIUS also comes into play as Rick discusses President Obama’s veto of a proposed merger of the German semiconductor company Aixtron by a Chinese company Fujian Grand Chip based on national security concerns. It an unusual reach for a US president to get involved in a CFIUS matter.

We also take a brief look at 2016 as a whole but will be doing a full review of M&A Activity for 2016 and will be taking a look ahead at trends and prospects for 2017 on our next episode which will be an extend addition.

Here is a direct link to Rick Climan

Why entrepreneurs must understand the sales function

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My latest podcast of Bay Area Ventures is an interview with Jim Fowler, Founder and CEO of Owler.com. Jim is a serial entrepreneur who launched Jigsaw.com in 2003 and sold it to Salesforce.com in 2010 for $175M.

Jim Fowler - Founder and CEO of Owler

Jim’s leadership skills have evolved over time and build on his experience as a Naval officer, Co-Owner of a ski resort, a VP of Sales and two-time tech entrepreneur.

The Owler team includes several of Jim’s friends and colleagues who have worked with him before which is a testament to his ability to foster and congeal teams. In this interview he shares his experiences in building and running companies, discusses some mistakes he’s made along the way and explains why he thinks the most important skill for an entrepreneur is to fully understand the sales process including how and why customers are going to pay for your company’s products or services.

Jim’s motivation for working and speaking is to help others. He is not drawing a salary from Owler and plans to donate his profits to charity. He is most concerned with setting a good example as a father rather than to sit back and live off of his prior gains.

I guarantee this podcast will be a great use of your time.

San Francisco Bay Area mergers and acquisitions update for October 2016

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Donald and Rick Climan of Weil, Gotshall and Manges, LLP discuss M&A activity for the first three quarters of 2016 and drill down on one specific deal, Micro Focus International PLC’a (MCRO.L) purchase of the software business of Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) for $8.8Billion.

2016 is a strong year but also one where some of the big deals of 2015 have fallen through. Rick talks about how revisions to the overall deal volume and value for 2015 no longer make it the strongest year on record. M&A deal flow from Asia is on the rise in 2016 and the tech sector remains one of the strongest areas of all.

Finally, Rick makes his pick for Major League Baseball’s 2016 World Series and discusses his “Futility Index” which he devised in 1998 for ranking the worst performing sports teams.

This M&A Moment was recorded on Bay Area Ventures on SiriusXM’s channel 111, Business Radio Powered by the Wharton School on October 24, 2016.

Bay Area Ventures replays now available here and on Spreaker

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I’m pleased to announce that replays of my Bay Area Ventures show will now be available on this site both on this blog page or on our Bay Area Ventures Guests page (available from the Show link above). The replays are hosted on Spreaker for streaming and downloading here as well as on the Spreaker mobile app, iTunes, Facebook, and elsewhere.

My first replay is an interview with Dr. Kirk Heath, Co-Founder and CEO along with Dr. Tom Clifford, Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer of Modio Health recorded on July 25, 2016.

Modio Health is a startup with offices in San Francisco, California and Virginia Beach, Virginia focused on solving the inefficiencies of credentialing and career management for healthcare providers and the healthcare systems they work for.

Hear Kirk and Tom discuss how their backgrounds as surgeons and the hindrance to doing the work they love caused by burdensome paperwork, led them to create a high-tech solution to managing physician credentials. Learn how they teamed up experts in healthcare provider management from Virginia Beach with technology and marketing wizards from the San Francisco Bay Area to design and build their system and services.

Modio Health is a venture funded company experiencing rapid growth. Kirk and Tom share their story of transition from the Operating Room to the Board Room and how to develop a high performance entrepreneurial team.

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Bay Area Ventures on SiriusXM’s channel 111 Business Radio Powered by the Wharton School is a show about the San Francisco Bay Area way of doing Business covering all aspects of what makes working and living in the Bay Area unique and special. From startups to Fortune 500 companies, from politics to public policy, from venture financing to mergers & acquisitions, and even to the lifestyles of those living and working in the Bay Area, I try to cover it all in order to help you apply the great practices of the Bay Area to your ventures. The show airs live on Monday’s from 4:00pm to 6:00pm Pacific Time and is broadcast via satellite radio from our studio at the campus of Wharton|San Francisco (The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania’s San Francisco Campus on the Embarcadero in downtown San Francisco)

Every live show includes two feature guests for up to one hour each. Each of the Bay Area Venture podcasts on Spreaker covers one feature guest interview from the show. In addition to the feature guest, each month I host an “M&A Moment”, with Rick Climan, of the Weil law firm and every quarter I host a Bay Area Council Quarterly Update with Jim Wunderman of the Bay Area Council.

The M&A Moment is a look at top merger and acquisition deals involving at least one Bay Area company, as well as an exploration of strategy, tactics and financing inherent to this exciting multi-billion dollar business practice. The M&A Moment is available as a separate podcast here and on Spreaker at The M&A Moment.

The M&A Moment podcast premiers today

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I’m pleased to announce the premier of my new podcast The M&A Moment. The M&A moment is about the latest business mergers and acquisitions news involving San Francisco Bay Area companies as well as the art and legal aspects of negotiating a multi-billion dollar deal.

The show is hosted on Spreaker and is available here, on Spreaker on my Facebook page “The Free COO” and soon on my new website, MandAMoment.com. Here is the first episode:

Be sure to check here often for new episodes.

How to increase online sales with 4-Tell

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Ken Levy, Co-Founder and CEO of 4-Tell, a Portland, Oregon based start-ups reveals secrets on how to increase online sales and boost all metrics of your ecommerce site. With 4-Tell’s Boost recommendation engine and services for online shopping carts, email and newsletters, merchants can realize up to 67% increase in online sales.

For more information on 4-Tell or to reach Ken Levy go to: www.4-tell.com

Rebecca Costa on The Free COO on Jan 27

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Join me and my special guest Rebecca Costa on Thursday January 27, 2013 at 4:00pm Pacific Time. We’ll be talking about her book, “The Watchman’s Rattle: A New Theory on Collapse” which was one of my favorite reads of 2012. This should be a great interview and helpful to any entrepreneur or concerned citizen. Listen in live here or on Spreaker or our Facebook Fanpage

Rebecca Costa Picture

Tax planning for startup companies

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Alan Gassman and Erica Pless are tax attorneys in the the Clearwater, Florida area. Both are experts in helping founders figure out the right corporate structure for their business and personal situations as well as many other tax strategies for your business.

In this interview we talk about the how to select a corporate attorney, the tax implications of options, tax planning for your exit strategy, paying minimal salaries and dividends in your S corporation, protecting your company in probate and many other critical issues.

We’ll also discuss Alan’s book “The Annihilation of Wealth 2013”

Alan Gassman  Erica Pless

To contact Alan Gassman visit Gassman Law Associates
Erica Pless can be found at The Pless Law Firm

PPCIan shares the latest advice on SEM

Posted on admin-donl2 CommentsPosted in Advertising, business advice, Marketing

Ian Lopuch, VP, Search Marketing of eHealthInsurance and author of PPCIan returns to The Free COO to offer incredible advice for entrepreneurs.

Learn about online marketing technologies, search engine trends for 2012 and 2013, careers in online marketing and top 3 tips for online marketers.

Ian is The Free COO’s first repeat guest and for good reason. He is always an exciting speaker and in this 90 minute interview you’ll get so many great actionable takeaways for your company that it will more than compensate you for your time spent listening. This is a must hear interview.

Be sure to follow Ian’s frequent posts on www.PPCIan.com

And be sure to catch The Free COO Thursdays at 4:00pm Pacific Time live on Spreaker, Facebook and right here.