 | | October 22, 2008
The May Report: 10/22/2008: 2.5 years from start to exit: LiquidTalk is sold to OnPointDigital; FreightZone.com; SmartBet poker tourney draws good crowd albeit a bit more low key than years past
Editor and publisher: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com, www.themayreport.com 773-525-3944.
If you missed an article, go here: http://www.tmronline.com/A55951/tmrarticles.nsf/vwFullNewsletter
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Scoop section:
-- Briefly noted: David Peak's LiquidTalk sold and much else from poker tourney, by Ron May
-- OnPoint Digital Acquires LiquidTalk-Creates Market Leader in Mobile Workforce Enablement
-- Urban Initiatives
-- Blogger gets off ground with 787
Political junkie broke news about Dreamliner delays
-- Politics and the Olympics, by Ron May
[Editor's note: This is a re-write of the article from Monday based on input from Professor MacAloon.]
-- The deal that never happened between Advanced Equities and Dekania, by Ron May
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The Scoop section:
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Briefly noted: David Peak's LiquidTalk sold and much else from poker tourney, by Ron May
1. David Peak told me Tuesday night at the SmartBet Charity Poker Tourney that a week and a half ago, he sold LiquidTalk (www.liquidtalk.com) to a firm called OnPoint Digital, www.onpointdigital.com which is headquartered in Savannah, Georgia.
I have printed the press release on the sale below in the "Scoop" section of this report. Dave said that LiquidTalk will stay here and he will remain with the firm, but the platforms will be merged. OnPointDigital is privately held and of course Dave did not tell me how much the sale was for. Dave said that the discussions began about two months ago.
LiquidTalk will remain in Chicago, as I understood it. But Terry Howerton told me that he will lose them as a client.
I found a TMR archive document where Dave Peak is talking about having started his firm and that was on 5/23/2006:
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David Peak started a firm called LiquidTalk. He uses an iPod. it is a closed wall iPod for the business world. Abbott Labs sales force, time is money, they take content and convert it for a podcast format. Salespeople can listen while they are doing lots of things. LiquidTalk converts, stores, approves, and distributes the content. LiquidTalk translator and a LiquidTalk library. Before doing this, David sold multi-million dollar sales training programs for Carlson Marketing to Fortune 500 cos. and he noticed that they did not have a mobile solution. He has ten years in business, and is forty years old.
Has an advisor who may be able to help them with Abbott. The average enterprise client is at least a hundred users, but they would prefer 500 to 1,000.
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May again. That was just 2.5 years ago, start to exit and don't forget that he got VC money in between.
2. Tim Krauskopf tells me that he has started a new firm called Freight Zone, www.freightzone.com and I see from the site that he is funded by Merrick Ventures which is run by Michael Ferro, who incidentally, was not there last night. www.merrickventures.com. Tim says that he has eight employees. His firm deals strictly with trucking and logistics.
3. David Weinstein will be married to his fiancee Julie in Preston Bradley Hall on the third floor of the Cultural Center, the same place that the poker tourney was held.
Right away, when I got there, David very excitedly told me about the Chicago Tribune article which I print below in this report by Julie Johnsson about the blogger who broke real news about the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. David said that what he is doing reminds him of what TMR does, except it's focused on Boeing. His point was that the blogger, Jon Ostrower, has been able to get employees to help out with info. I print the entire article below but here is the link to it.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-sun-flight-blogger-boeing-oct19,0,1113312.story?track=rss
4. Cleversafe has moved from IIT to DesPlaines St. in downtown Chicago and David Gelfand helped them make that move.
5. Dave Gelfand moved from Julian Studley to ColliersBK about five months ago and ColliersBK was a SmartBet sponsor. ( www.colliersbk.com)
6. According to James Tucker who has been at Cleversafe (www.cleversafe.com ) just ninety days now, they have 45 people and have not lost staff since he came on board but he does not know about what happened before that.
7. Wes Shepherd and I had an animated discussion about Al Wasserberger. Bottom line. Al is on Wes' board and I misread the website of www.channelvelocity.com which listed people like Art Roldan and Carl Turza who are listed as being on Wes' advisory board, are just that, advisors, not voting board members. http://www.channelvelocity.com/company_advisory_board.asp
Wes said that he has four actual board members, but they are not listed on the site and he refused to confirm or deny whether Al is one of the four on his actual board. He did tell me that Al has given him good advice to which I quipped, "I guess we have a case of those who can, do, and those who can't give advice."
But seriously, I am not trying to be Joseph McCarthy here. I don't believe that one should be guilty by association, but if there is a legitimate issue involved and board memberships do involve fiduciary responsibility, then one should consider the company one keeps. My argument has fallen on deaf ears for the last time. I think it is time for me to fold on this point, to use a poker expression.
Fred Hoch told me flat out that Al Wasserberger has not done anything to him, so there is no reason for Al not to remain on the ITA board.
Jim Dugan told me in a very good conversation we had when I arrived, and you bet he was on the outlook for me, that he knows that MR was "a train wreck" but Al was one of the four founders of the SmartBet event and he has dedicated himself to it, so Jim said that he really would be conflicted about kicking Al out. And I told him that I lost a lot of sleep on what happened at MediaRiver too. Al was at my birthday party, after all. Jim has agonized about it too, I could tell.
So, here is what I have concluded after giving it some thought. This is Chicago. This is the city of Al Capone. Al Capone was a gangster who killed people and did many bad things, but in the neighborhoods he was a popular hero. He helped out this guy's daughter and that guy's son and he did things to help people that the police and the government would not or could not do. Hence, people overlooked his flaws, his foibles and they respected him.
That is what we have with Al Wasserberger. People know he did wrong and fouled things up at Media River but Al is a good guy to them and thus it is. Personal relationships are the key to our culture and Ron May ain't gonna change that basic reality.
In many ways the same applies to me. I have hurt many people and have done them no good but the good I have done in other situations seems to compensate for it.
Just to put this in plain English. If Al Wasserberger stole from and screwed over Bob Geras, that is essentially irrelevant to the relationship that Weinstein, Hoch, Howerton, Dugan, Shepherd and others have with Al. I gather that all those guys figure they can continue to remain neutral and work with both Bob and Al. And at this point I will drop it, until something new happens or is revealed.
8. JB Pritzker is a very serious poker player and he stays focused when he plays. I believe he won a webcam and came in 15th. When he was finished playing I tried to get some real info., but he was surrounded by people coming up to shake his hand and say hello. He did the LeftHand deal with Matt McCall and JB has forgotten that he and Matt should have dinner.
9. Kevin Knepp was the winner of the tourney and his take away was about $16K in value, including a $10,000 check for a national poker tourney. He also gets 40 boxes of Titleist golf balls which Jim Dugan told me was worth $2K.
10. The second place winner was Adam Caplan, a founder of Model Metrics. Here's his bio from the website:
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http://www.modelmetrics.com/about-us/leadership-team/
Adam Caplan - Founder & CEO
Adam founded Model Metrics in an effort to accelerate the adoption of Software as a Service technologies within enterprise organizations, with the goal of bringing these companies all the value of SAAS, from rapid implementation to ease of use, enhanced analytics, and tremendous ROI. Adam earned his MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management and his undergraduate degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a board member of the Illinois Technology Association and a member of the Kellogg School Entrepreneurship Advisory Board.
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11. Off the top of my head, some of the people at the tourney were: Lawyers: Michael Rosenthal, Bruce Zivian, Michael Gray, Craig Bradley, Scott Glickson; Investors Jim Dugan, Mark Achler, Steve Miller (Origin had its own table), J.B. Pritzker; CEC people: David Weinstein, Kapil Chaudhary, Scott Issen, Jasmine Moore, Kyle Welborn who is the new guy at the CEC and whom David Weinstein told me will be running the CEC in ten years; Entrepreneurs and some SmartBet organizers: Al Wasserberger, Joe Jablonski, Brian Crummy, Chris Gladwin, Stel Valavanis; Other well known folks (and some not so well known): Kristi Lafleur, Sandee Kastrul, David Baker, Nik Rokop, Gary Conkright, Fred Hoch, Terry Howerton, David Peak, Julie Bellanca, Greg Rudin who is now back to Media Bank after being on loan for a few months with ThePoint.com, and Greg's brother Doug Rudin whom I know from our old hang out and now defunct restaurant Gyros on the Spit; Tom Caprel, Vince Dugan who must be related to Jim Dugan, Eric Lannert, Henry Lee, Dave Gelfand; yet another Dugan, this one Scott, Sarah Habansky, Alex Jarett, Tom Leavens, and many more.
11. You know who was not there? Well, Chris Rollyson for one. I did not see Mark Glennon who was there last year, Michael Ferro, Bill Merchantz, Lon Chow, John Prinz, Steve Denari, Brad Spirrison, Jason Felger (not sure if he was there last year), Dennis Serio, possibly Ron Kirschner, and that list goes on. Where was Pat Stanakas who came in second two years ago?
I found a list of some people who attended the CEC Christmas party in 2006 and I have gone through it for names of people we might expect to have seen there:
This is from TMR on 12/29/2006:
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My quickie list of entrepreneurs in attendance includes: Steve Pazol who just sold his firm nPhase to Qualcomm; Lou Pasqually of InXpo, an online firm that produces virtual trade shows (and this firm would not have caught my attention had it not been for the fact that they were featured in an article in the Sun-Times on Saturday, I believe); Scott Sheridan, one of the founders of Think or Swim which was sold this year for untold millions. His wife, Tommy Sheridan was there too, and she is hot, hot, hot. But hey, if you are worth that kind of money, you can get a woman like that. Scott would not say anything because he is under Reg FD.
More entrepreneurs: Chris Gladwin of Cleversafe; Irv Shapiro, formerly head of Metamor, then a firm that was sold to Edison Schools and now CEO of IfbyPhone.com, a two year old, Skokie based voice and website integration which has six employees now; Dave Peak of Liquid Talk and along with Gladwin a tenant at the IIT tech incubator; David Naylor of Starthis; John Muntean of Bias Power; Julia Stamberger of GoPicnic; and her sister, Elizabeth Stamberger, also there, works for Experiencia as COO which is invested in by Bob Geras and Howard Tullman, among others. Howard is also helping Julia with GoPicnic.
More entrepreneurs: Wes Shepherd from Channel Velocity who tells me that he has 22 people and will do between $5MM and $10MM next year, he says. Arsen Avakian of Argo Tea which is doing quite well in my hood and they even had a Borat look-alike hanging out about a month and a half ago; Pat Stanakas of Claim Force and his CEO, I believe; Sam Mele and his partner from Firm58; Troy Henikoff of Amacai and formerly of SurePayroll; Kathleen Burkhart, the CFO of Akoya tells me that they have 15 people and that they have a new CEO and COO. They raided the top executive team of Profit Logic which was sold to Oracle last year. While we were talking, Bruce Zivian came over and he told Kathleen how he and Frank Ballantine used to smoke on the quad at the University of Michigan (presumably not cigarettes); Neil Kane of Advanced Diamond Technology was there. Terry Howerton of FastRoot and Adarsh Arora of Lisle Technology Partners were also there. I classify them as organization heads as well as entrepreneurs.
That is a pretty good turnout of true entrepreneurs. I do note the absence of folks like Jason Fried and the Feedburner crowd. The so-called Web 2.0 group does not seem to be represented so heavily here as it is in the Tech Cocktail crowd. There is cross-over of course, but not as much as you might think.
Some of the government folks there included: Jeff Coney, Bret Johnson, Matt Summy, Jaime V. from DCEO, and Kristi Lafleur (but she left early for another event), to name a few.
Of course, the CEC was out in full force: Scott Issen, Jason Felger, Jason Jacobsohn, David Weinstein and his girlfriend, Halle, whom David has been with now for at least six months; Melissa Talarico and her husband; and Jasmine Moore. Kapil Chadhaury [sic: Chaudhary ]and a friend of his were also there. Kapil is getting his MBA at Kellogg now.
Investors at the party included: Dennis Serio, Ron Kirschner, Adam Koopersmith from New World Ventures, Michael Gruber, Larry Hayward and I probably missed a few.
Lawyers I know included: Matt Brown of KMZR, Michael Gray of Neal Gerber Eisenberg, Bruce Zivian of Bell Boyd.
Organization heads included: Michael Bredahl from LES, Fred Hoch from the ITA, Jerry Mitchell of the MEF; Maura O'Hara of the IVCA; Raman Chadha from DePaul who drove me to the hospital at 8pm; Monica Metzler, Adarsh Arora of TiE and Terry Howerton of the ITA.
And for the rest of us: Brad Spirrison, Lou Calamaras, Michael Carruth, Bob Lepkowski who tells me he's traveling a lot these days; Greg Rudin; David Baker, David Smith, David Dalka, Nik Rokop, Tom Figel, Adam Boris, Russ Zitny, Lauren Dimmet, formerly of Anet; Bruce Montgomery, Linda Darragh and her husband, Dan Shomon who was an early supporter of Barack Obama and who is now doing work on his campaign doing fund raising and getting volunteers lined up and on top of that, Dan is doing something with the CEC having to do with table tennis; Len Bland; Ed Zaretsky of The Oliver Group; Maria Barud of Zanon Group; Greg McDermott of the MCA; Clancy Ryan, Samantha Jones, Jay Moore, Tom Caprel, Arturo Venescia, Phil Rosen, Mark DeSousa, Rich Gallagher, Nick Nefrano, Bob Fasken, Holly Maloney, Tom Lemanski, James Ferrando, Kris Hammond and his lovely wife, Robin Hammond (Kris is really an entrepreneur as is Michael Carruth, but since they technically are founders and not CEOs, I did not include them in the entrepreneur list). Hammond tells me that the actual story of what he jumped up and said in the middle of the meeting in which Everyday Learning was being sold to the Trib. was not that he was the smartest person ever born, as Darcy had told me, but rather that "I'm better at what I do than anyone else in the world." Either way, a small ego (NOT). Speaking of small egos, where in creation has Al Wasserberger been? At the ITA, I was told that he had a bad back, but how long does that last? Al, you do still work there, right? I should have interrogated Hammond on it.
Some people who have been regulars but who were not there include: Scott Glickson, Phil McGuigan, Chris Rollyson, Rich Kooy, Steve Meade who has moved to L.A., and where the heck is Matt McCall? I did not see him at one of the eight parties I went to since November 28th. And speaking of people who are MIA, where has Penny Edecker been? I have not seen her in months. Some of the old guard seems to be disappearing. Where has Michael Krauss been? Other regulars I have not seen much include Rachel Patterson, Lanny Feder who was not at the CEC party, Christine Mason, a whole bunch of people. I did not see Tom Churchwell anywhere but he is not a big networker. Nonetheless, one might expect to see him.
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May again. You know who goes to the poker tourney and was not there? Gina Sandon who is with Initiate Systems and her hubby, Rob Reynolds.
Others you might expect to be there include Monica Metzler, Julia Stamberger, Matt Moog, Michael Krauss, Michael Gruber, Larry Hayward, Arsen Avakian -- these are people who should have been there guys. And you know who was not there from the CEC? Both Jason Felger and Melissa Talarico, but she was pregnant at the MVS in March. On the other hand, she is not listed on the site anymore.
http://www.chicagolandec.org/content/about-us/
I should note that someone mentioned in that 2006 article is now a national celebrity. Dan Shomon was featured in one of those biographical programs, probably the CNN one, about Barack Obama. He did a very good job interviewing and it was quite funny when he said words to this effect, "Obama, no I don't have time to do Obama -- and besides who's Obama?"
If you want to look over who was there at the poker tourney in May 2006 and who won in 2006, here's my report on that:
http://www.tmronline.com/A55951/tmrarticles.nsf/39918186ac76b68a8625692400787eb1/fc164416480ab2a386257177007559cd!OpenDocument&Highlight=0,sandon
Here's a note from Rollyson on why he was not there:
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Subject: Re: Chris, I thought for sure that you would have been at the poker tourney??
Date: 10/22/2008 7:41:54 A.M. Central Daylight Time
From: chris@rollyson.net
To: RONALDMAY@aol.com
Hi Ron,
Thanks for thinking of me. No, you didn't miss me ,-) I wasn't there since it was my daughter's 16th birthday! I was involved but just couldn't make it.
How was it? I look forward to reading your impressions.
I've searched your archives and can't find any coverage on MITEF, which I can't believe. What's going on with them (or not ,-) ?
Thanks- Chris
On Oct 22, 2008, at 6:32 AM, RONALDMAY@aol.com wrote:
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May again. I do know of one case of a person who did not go because of a schedule conflict, but that same guy told me that the $100 spectator fee would have been too much for him.
Jeff Willinger, who has never attended SmartBet, told me that for $50 he would have watched and for $100, he would have played. So, raising the buy-in from $150 to $250 may have resulted in some drop-off but by the same token, as Stel Valavanas told me, they want serious players.
But the problem may be that at those lower price points where the Willingers will show up, they would have too many people -- I really don't know. BTW, Willinger has a networking event coming up on the 28th from 5:30pm to 8pm at the 200 West Madison 11th floor conference center.
Incidentally, they did have some side play with a buy-in of $35 for a prize of $200 and they got three tables for that. The tables were populated by folks who went out in the first round before the break and one of the winners of that was Joe Jablonski.
BTW, I meant to mention that Willinger was also at Flip's party last Wednesday at McCormick Place in association with the HR Technology conference. I was surprised to learn that Willinger knows Flip and I asked him how he would know Flip. He told me that his old firm, Graphic Packaging, used to do a lot of work for Platinum, preparing manuals for shipment. I realized that Jeff is like the valet who tells you he knows Warren Buffett because he parked his car. Jeff was probably doing business with some lower level manager, but he had to work his way in to get to know the top guy.
In the interest of full disclosure, Jim Dugan did cut me some slack and gave me a spectator ticket for $50, but there were strings attached. I was not supposed to bug people for cards -- which is why I collected so few of them; I was not supposed to hover at the tables and they were serious about that, so I left the players alone; and I was supposed to be on good behavior, as in not assaulting people or interrupting them. I think my behavior passed muster except for some playing around with Brian Crummy who tells me he's not a wussy tech guy and he will cut me open. Another guy looking to take a swing at me, aside from Scott Glickson, is Kapil Chadhaury who is still miffed that I whacked him with my cane once.
Maura O'Hara, take note. Dugan cut me a break and you not only charged the full boat but tacked on a late registration fee. And his event was a charity. And speaking of Maura O'Hara, where was she last night? But Maura, I did get a lot out of your conference nonetheless.
According to Jim Dugan last year (I checked the archives) they had 290 players last year, and I will shoot off an email to find out how many they had this year.
12. There were many lawyers, and people from financial services firms and a few commercial real estate firms. I saw quite a number of folks from Cleversafe and Model Metrics. One guy I talked to was from Ifbyphone, and another from LeapfrogOnline but he used to work years ago at Neoglyphics. Many of these lower level folks who are not C-Level were there as a part of a table, so someone else paid their entry fee. I think tables could be bought for $2,500 or $3,000 and the $250 buy-in was covered by the table sponsor. Many people were part of a table which was paid for by the table sponsors. I do think they may have had fewer spectators this year than last year and by the way, they had appetizers and deserts this year, and no dinner. So they cut back on food costs and increased the prizes. As far as hot women are concerned, this is one event that gets a fair number of them and Dugan even admitted to me what was manifestly obvious: they pick very attractive women to sell the raffle tickets which they did sell a lot of.
12. Stel Valavanis told me that his firm still has 52 people and he is expecting to end up this year at $6.5MM in revenue. But he does expect to see a slow down and maybe even some layoffs.
13. Six charities were slated to receive the benefits of the tourney. Last year they raised about $83K, I believe someone said, and this year they were shooting for raising $125K. I know that they gave $20K to i.c. stars last year. The charities they are helping are:
i.c. stars
Chicago Communities in Schools
Chicago Professionals for Youth (the woman running this group who was there last night is a hottie).
Urban Initiatives run by Jim Dower who just sent me a note about his organization (see below in the Scoop section).
Future Founders
U. S. Empowered
I had a long talk with Sandee Kastrul about i.c. stars. In eight years of operation, they have graduated 137 people, I think she said and they have their usual ten enrolled for this semester. I believe they have three semesters a year for 30 grads a year and if the 30 times 8 does not add up to 137, it is because they slowed down for a while a few years ago. I wonder whether that will happen in the current recession.
The screening process must be something because Sandee told me that they look at 400 people to select 10 for each semester! That is harder to get into than MIT or Harvard.
I have to get this off the tape but she also mentioned that 20 or so of their graduates now own their own homes and we are not talking sub-prime here.
Again, I need to go to the tape, but the #1 employer of their grads is BlueCross and I think she said that #2 is Insight. I know they also work with United Stationers but that may be for the people in the classes and not the grads. I think Sandee may have also mentioned Geneca as an employer of their grads.
Looking at their site, I see BMC Software and SAP listed.
Check out their patrons page: http://drupal.icstars.org/patrons/
They now occupy two floors in the building that Dave Ormesher runs Closerlook in. www.closerlook.com and www.icstars.org.
What a lot of people don't realize is that i.c. stars is very involved in the community and their graduates take community responsibility quite seriously.
14. I had an on-going and interesting discussion with Stel Valavanis on three topics:
a. Why he did not join the ITA and what he wants them to do to get his membership and Terry Howerton's response to that. Howerton was standing there and I made sure he heard what Stel had to say. BTW, Stel can be pretty opinionated himself so there is no good guy or bad guy here. Stel and Terry both tell you clearly what they think though which is a good thing. Stel said that Fred had visited his firm and that Fred had not closed the deal from his standpoint. He was a member years ago of the CSA. Short version: Stel wants connections to local firms and he would like to see the organization function to do business development. Howerton's response is that when a member says he has not gotten enough business from the ITA membership, they tell that member not to renew.
Terry said that anytime you tell people you are going to get them business by virtue of being members, you live and die event to event.
He said that the goal of biz dev for the members was put as #1 three years ago and they moved it to #11 because they made a conscious decision to steer clear of that. They decided to focus on the eco-system and professional development. Terry says that of course everyone wants to get customers but that cannot be the primary focus for long term survival and viability. I know that years ago when I was actually going to Alex Jarett's meetings of the Technology Executive's Club, he surveyed people in the room about what they wanted and almost all of them said they wanted customers. That is not a formula for success, according to Howerton.
b. Stel and I talked about the logic behind the tournament. Short version of that conversation is that they did a poor job of marketing this year and got a late start, plus the event was held this year in October and last year it was in July. But they jacked up the buy-in from $150.00 last year to $250.00 this year and next year they will push the envelope even further. Also, this year, they really made the prizes much nicer, especially with that $10K to play in a national poker tourney. Stel stressed to me that this was a big jump for them to give away such prizes. This is just a guess, but the prizes probably cost them about $30K or more if the #1 guy got $16K worth just for him. They also streamlined the play so that they were not moving people around all the time from table to table. They took the top two players at each table and those two advanced to the second round. One person told me that the effect of this on the players is that they tend to be more aggressive. Stel said that the Texas Hold'em is not a card game so much as it is a betting game.
Well, that point of view seems to be confirmed by JB Pritzker who just sent me this in response to my question.
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Subject: Re: Question about the poker you guys were playing.
Date: 10/22/2008 11:01:23 A.M. Central Daylight Time
From: JBPritzker@pritzkergroup.com
To: ronaldmay@aol.com
When you're running behind at the table and the clock is ticking to the end of the tournament, going "all in" is sometimes the only hope of catching up to the chip leader.
----- Original Message -----
From: RONALDMAY@aol.com <ronaldmay@aol.com>
To: J.B. Pritzker
Sent: Wed Oct 22 09:04:50 2008
Subject: Question about the poker you guys were playing.
October 23, 2008
JB,
Good seeing you last night.
I was watching you play a bit and I have a question. In the second round I saw you put all your chips in. Is that because you had a good hand or because this type of game requires that you do that? In other words, since it is a winner take all deal, does it encourage more aggressive and risky play?
Ron
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May again. That answers my poker curiosity but I noticed something interesting. Look at this: www.pritzkergroup.com and http://www.pritzkergroup.com/investment_professionals.html . Pritzker Group is separate from New World Ventures and is a Pritzker family fund, but I notice that this is where Michael Sands landed after Orbitz. I saw him at a Tech Cocktail or two.
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Michael D. Sands
Prior to working with The Pritzker Group, Mike was part of the original Orbitz management team and held positions including Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Operating Officer. He helped take the Orbitz business from start-up to IPO, then through two acquisitions (Cendant and Blackstone). As COO, Sands grew Orbitz to the #2 overall domestic travel site. Prior to joining Orbitz, Mike worked for General Motors Corporation as one of a select group of external marketers designated with improving the auto company's North American marketing operations. His efforts at General Motors led Sands to being named a "Marketer of the Next Generation" by Brandweek magazine. Mike also held positions at Leo Burnett, including work with client United Airlines to launch UAL.com.
Mike holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications from Northwestern University and a Masters in Management degree from the J.L. Kellogg School of Management.
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May again. Back to the strategy behind the tourney. My impression from Stel was that these guys are pulling out their calculators and trying to figure out a demand curve at various price points. Social event, yes, but this was all business for the organizers who want to maximize the net take. At $150 for buy-in as they had last year, two people bring in $300 gross, and by making the buy-in $250, two people bring in $500, so they can afford to lose a third person at the $150 level and they still have money left over.
Also, my comparison of a CEC X-Mas party with the poker tourney is not apt because it is apples and oranges. One is free and the other appeals to the poker personality.
c. Stel and I had a prolonged discussion of what Cleversafe (www.cleversafe.com) is all about and the business theory or strategy behind it. Now Stel is a channel partner of Cleversafe through his firm OnShore, www.onshore.com. Hostway with Lucas Roh and FastRoot with Terry Howerton are also channel partners for Cleversafe. I will give you the details on what Stel said when I go over the tape, but the short version is that Chris Gladwin has the idea of developing an eco-system centered on storage and grid computing, but this may be ahead of its time by just a bit. Gladwin told me that technically this is not accurate, but at some level, they are competing or will be competing with Amazon! What was that? Stel explained that Amazon has a product called Amazon s3 which is a storage product. http://aws.amazon.com/s3/ or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_S3
Now, don't get me wrong. The reason Stel brought up Amazon was not to say that Cleversafe is going head to head against Amazon in selling storage. Cleversafe is using channels to get to the market and there are significant pricing issues. Cleversafe does not have the volume, etc., etc., and is cheaper in one area and more costly in another. All that is on my tape in detail and then maybe Chris Gladwin can correct my interpretation of what Stel said and we'll have a better understanding.
Stel told me that the Jon Zakin v. Chris Gladwin issues at some level came down to Silicon Valley vs. Chicago. Alan Holmes, who is the director of customer solutions at Cleversafe was about to tell me why he felt that characterization was wrong when Julie Bellanca came over and whisked him away. I have his card and his email and I will call him to continue the conversation. Apparently Chris Gladwin wanted to talk to Alan. I am not buying that at all. I think Gladwin saw Alan talking to me and decided that it was better to keep us apart. I was under the impression that Zakin did not live in Chicago and that he wanted to move the firm to the Valley but please don't hold me to that.
One very broad way of describing the difference between Zakin and Gladwin is that Gladwin wants an eco-system built around SaaS for storage and Zakin was focused on equipment and hardware, but I am almost certain I have that wrong. Let me get what Stel said off the tape, but not right now.
* Let me get this out. I attended The Big Idea Forum on Monday night held at the offices of the ITA. For now on, the meeting held every other month at the Knapp Center down at IIT which is run by Nik Rokop will highlight an IIT company. Monday night, Paul Sand presented Salare Security. I told Paul that I would clear anything I write with him since the TBIF meetings are really not public discussions. I will have something on it soon, but I can say that some of the issues Sand faces parallel aspects of my discussion with Stel on Cleversafe. There were seventeen people at the TBIF meeting.
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OnPoint Digital Acquires LiquidTalk-Creates Market Leader in Mobile Workforce Enablement
Recent News
10.16.08 | OnPoint Digital Acquires LiquidTalk-Creates Market Leader in Mobile Workforce Enablement
OnPoint Digital today announced the acquisition of LiquidTalk, Inc.,-creating an exciting new leader in the mobile content delivery and communications arena and one of North America's largest teams of mobile learning and content management professionals. "LiquidTalk's desktop and device-based applications fully complement our flagship CellCast Solution architecture and mobile content management system platform," stated Robert Gadd, President and Cofounder of OnPoint Digital. The combined organization will offer customers and partners a more complete suite of powerful mobile delivery and tracking technologies. Read press release. More about OnPoint Digital.
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OnPoint Digital Acquires LiquidTalk -- Creates Market Leader in Mobile Workforce Enablement
OnPoint Digital | Savannah, GA and Chicago, IL
16-Oct-2008 » Training Press Releases » OnPoint Digital is pleased to announce the acquisition of Chicago-based LiquidTalk, Inc., a leading provider of mobile workforce engagement solutions for the enterprise. The combined organization creates an exciting new leader in the mobile content delivery and communications arena, focused on better connecting and engaging remote workers, partners and customers via their ever-present cell phones.
The transaction includes the assets, contracts, key sales, and technical and operational resources of LiquidTalk, and consolidates LiquidTalk's current installations into OnPoint's customer portfolio. Full integration of LiquidTalk and OnPoint technologies is anticipated within sixty days of the transaction. Economies of scale provided by the merged technologies will also result in lower licensing and services costs for customers moving forward.
The expanded organization will offer customers and partners a more complete suite of powerful mobile delivery and tracking technologies, and creates one of North America's largest teams of mobile learning and content management professionals. The expanded company will operate from offices in Savannah, Chicago, and a company-owned development center in Nelson, New Zealand, along with a growing network of worldwide resellers/partners. The expanded ecosystem now manages more than 100 enterprise installations and 850,000 licensed users worldwide, including over 100,000 mobile participants.
Benefits of the combined mobile solution platform include:
Diverse Content Formats. With five different media formats currently supported, it will be easier than ever for an enterprise to deliver a variety of proprietary and third party business content to cellphone and smartphone users. Supported formats include mobile web pages, PDF-style documents, audio and video clips, and even mobile friendly, animated PowerPoint presentations. A growing library of third party enterprise content is also being incorporated into the platform, available for purchase in a choice of bundles by content type and format.
Broad Device Support. The combined solution supports content delivery in some format to virtually every mobile device deployed today for anytime, anywhere communications and education. For standard cellphones, text and voice-based delivery options allow remote staff to access audio content and SMS messages via the global voice network. For smartphone users, the platform can wirelessly sync assigned content onto users' devices -- including BlackBerry® wireless handhelds, Apple® iPhones and iPod Touch media players, and Microsoft Windows Mobile-based smartphones (coming soon). Once synced, content resides on the device.
Superior Delivery Management. Content delivery is streamlined, with both "push" and "pull" delivery methods available. Delivery methods include SMS and voice for standard phones, and Wi-Fi, wireless internet, and tethered for smartphones. For BlackBerry wireless handhelds, the BlackBerry Enterprise Server ® (BES) is also supported. The platform tracks content access and progress for each user, and supports interactive tests and surveys used for compliance, knowledge retention or data collection. Smartphone users can also search for, access and sync content they need for just-in-time learning as desired.
Flexible Web 2.0 Interface. The platform includes an intuitive, branded Web 2.0 application and flexible portal interface that centralizes access to media for managers and employees alike. Users can search for content and organize it into unique playlists as desired. They can also receive media to their devices, organized into assignments and playlists by their managers, even if they never access the web application.
Comprehensive Management Tools. The portal platform, whether hosted or installed behind an enterprise firewall, allows managers and administrators to assign different content to users based on varying criteria such as group membership, job function, or location. Mobile authoring, scheduling/notifications, and detailed reporting and analytics are standard. E-commerce and localization options are available.
"Acquiring LiquidTalk's core team and mobile content delivery platform is a key step in our long-range mission to become the premier provider of mobile content and communications solutions for the enterprise," stated Robert Gadd, President and Cofounder of OnPoint Digital. "LiquidTalk's desktop and device-based applications fully complement our flagship CellCast Solution architecture and mobile content management system platform."
"LiquidTalk and OnPoint Digital solutions have both been well received by customers and partners in North America and abroad who seek to leverage and maximize the value of their digital content," said David Peak, CEO and Cofounder of LiquidTalk. "By joining forces to form a new market leader in mobile workforce engagement, our customers and partners benefit from enhanced and cost effective technologies to better connect and engage their mobile teams to facilitate productivity and drive sales."
About OnPoint Digital
OnPoint Digital, Inc. is a workplace and mobile solutions provider dedicated to the development of powerful training, performance management and communications tools for enterprise customers. OnPoint's innovative CellCast Solution allows companies to easily create, deliver and track mobile content, communications and assessments directly to users' cellphones and smartphones, minimizing the device-specific constraints and deployment costs associated with other mobile solutions. The CellCast Solution is ideal for mobile knowledge, product updates, data collection and field communications. For more information, please visit www.mlearning.com or www.onpointdigital.com.
OnPoint also offers a full-featured Learning Management System and Learning Content Management System (LMS/LCMS) software suite, enabling the creation and management of rich-media courseware, online assessments, appraisals, skills tracking and detailed reporting, plus numerous optional modules such as integrated analytics, e-commerce, portal/intranet architecture, document management and advanced mobile learning offerings.
About LiquidTalk, Inc.
LiquidTalk helps companies connect and engage mobile employees to spark productivity. The firm's secure, on-demand application empowers sales, service and other remote workers to find, organize, create and distribute proprietary enterprise audio and video content to mobile devices including BlackBerry® smartphones as well as Apple® iPhones and Apple® iPods. Companies use the LiquidTalk solution to share knowledge, training, corporate and customer communication and more - virtually wherever and whenever. Visit www.liquidtalk.com for more information.
© 2008 OnPoint Digital, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Urban Initiatives
Subject: Urban Initiatives
Date: 10/22/2008 11:23:32 A.M. Central Daylight Time
From: jdower@urbaninitiatives.org
To: ronaldmay@aol.com
Mr. May,
Thank you for taking the time to learn about Urban Initiatives. The funds raised from the SmartBet event will enable our program to expand into a 10th school this spring. We are grateful for their support and are excited about our future.
The mission of Urban Initiatives is to actively engage children from under served communities in extracurricular activities within a safe and structured environment. Urban Initiatives promotes education and wellness and instills in each child the importance of these factors to lifelong development and self-sufficiency.
Urban Initiatives' (UI) innovative Work to Play program simultaneously promotes academic achievement and combats obesity by tying classroom performance to participation in before- and after-school sessions of soccer coupled with health tutorials, character trait discussions and nutritious snacks. To fully participate in the program, children must receive good marks from teachers on Work to Play forms used to assess weekly classroom performance. In current schools, the program boosts attendance, improves achievement, develops fitness and promotes character-building values such as cooperation, commitment and a can-do attitude. The long-term goal is to help at-risk children become healthy, productive members of society.
History and Background
Urban Initiatives' co-founders, James Dower and Daniel Isherwood, are Chicago natives who began their careers as substitute teachers for the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) in 2002 and witnessed firsthand the hurdles inner-city children must overcome to succeed in life. After a year of teaching, they believed a program that connected classroom performance with participation in organized team sports would help students develop a respect for learning, a sense of belonging, and important life skills. It would also provide much needed support and structure for children in underserved school communities. Collecting donated soccer equipment and paying for nutritious snacks with their own money, Dower and Isherwood launched the Work to Play program in May 2003 with 16 students at Byrd Academy in the Cabrini Green neighborhood. The program received strong response from both students and faculty. From that, Urban Initiatives and its Work to Play program were formed.
Urban Initiatives currently offers its programming to nine schools in seven Chicago communities. Current partner schools include: Attucks School (Bronzeville), Jahn School (West Lakeview), L.E.A.R.N. Community Academy (North and South Lawndale), Sherman School and Libby Elementary (Englewood), Jenner Academy for the Arts and Schiller School (Cabrini-Green), Goethe Elementary (Logan Square) and Walsh School (Pilsen).
At our partner schools, Urban initiatives presently serves 270 low income students, boys and girls, from the 1st - 4th grades. We run our programs for 24 weeks over the course of the academic year. We offer three 8 week sessions from September - November, January - March and April - June.
Jim Dower
Founder
Executive Director
Urban Initiatives
650 W. Lake
Chicago IL 60661
312-715-1763
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Blogger gets off ground with 787
Political junkie broke news about Dreamliner delays
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-sun-flight-blogger-boeing-oct19,0,1113312.story?track=rss
Blogger gets off ground with 787
Political junkie broke news about Dreamliner delays
By Julie Johnsson | Chicago Tribune reporter
October 19, 2008
Blogger Jon Ostrower started out with little more than a battered Dell laptop and a goal of detailing the creation of a groundbreaking airplane, Boeing's 787 Dreamliner.
Ostrower had neither aerospace nor journalism training. But in little more than 18 months, the 24-year-old has significantly altered how aerospace is covered, a world in which work is cloaked in secrecy.
Writing late at night from his Boston living room, he emerged as the go-to source of information about the world's first jetliner made from superhardened plastics, breaking stories of its production woes at a Seattle-area factory.
"This guy's track record is almost in a class by itself," said Richard Aboulafia, who is among the many aviation analysts who read Ostrower closely.
Using media such as Twitter, he broadcast photos and commentary in real time from the plane's assembly lines, to Boeing's consternation. He also scored some of his biggest scoops by enlisting Boeing's workers to correct misinformation in his blog, known as FlightBlogger. They did so at the risk of losing their jobs.
Among Netizens, this is a version of open sourcing, where a blogger calls on a community of readers to contribute facts and correct errors, to the greater good of all readers.
"Even mistakes are OK if you correct them quickly," said media guru Jeff Jarvis of BuzzMachine .com, a blog devoted to the media industry.
Initially, Chicago-based Boeing Co. was reluctant to answer questions from Ostrower. The aerospace giant has a policy of not responding to leaked proprietary information, and it didn't want to give legitimacy to reports that weren't always fully accurate, said Boeing spokesman John Dern.
Ironically, Ostrower in mid-2007 was building a following among 787 assembly-line workers by imploring readers to help make his reports as accurate as possible.
So when Ostrower wrote that the first Dreamliner's electrical systems would be turned on within a matter of days in August 2007, as scheduled, Boeing workers quickly set him straight.
"Not going to happen that soon, and I'm on the factory floor," wrote the first person to reply. Another tipster reported that 500 of 600 tasks remained to be completed before power-on, the first sign of glitches that eventually would put the plane 18 months behind schedule.
With more digging, Ostrower broke the news that Boeing's efforts to coordinate assembly of the plane with parts shipped into Washington from over the globe had gone awry. Among the snafus were parts shortages and software glitches. In fact, the first plane's power wouldn't be turned on until June.
With each revelation, Ostrower's audience grew. Starting with a readership of only 315 its first full month, FlightBlogger since has attracted more than 1.7 million readers. His standing with Boeing grew as well. He is now afforded the same access as other journalists.
"It is all about relationships and trust and accuracy and fairness," said Dern. "In the beginning with Jon, it was tough that way. But we have gotten through that."
Journalistic tools of the 21st Century like Twitter and blogging, a mainstay of political campaigns, are reshaping how news is made at companies renowned for secrecy.
"Companies have to get used to that," said Jarvis. "There's a new generation that will have an expectation of transparency that's greater than anything I've known."
Ostrower, a political junkie who graduated from George Washington University in 2006, saw the evolution of the 787 as similar to a political campaign. Both were long grinds whose outcomes hinged on small, sometimes irrelevant-seeming details.
He decided to mimic a political campaign's non-stop coverage when he first started blogging about Boeing. As a scheduler for Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, Ostrower spent his days diplomatically saying "no" to the thousands of invitations the governor receives in a year, said former co-worker Jacqueline Barton.
To relax, Ostrower spent evenings scouring the Internet for details of the 787, which was about to move off the drawing boards and onto assembly lines. Airplanes under development are as rare as comet sightings; they come along once every decade, and their every detail is pored over, imagined and discussed as they come into sharper focus.
Ostrower, who majored in political communications, had been captivated by the 787 since stepping off a plane at the start of a post-graduation tour of Africa. He spotted the futuristic jet in an ad for Ethiopian Airways.
"They were using this airplane to bring themselves into the 21st Century," Ostrower said.
Ostrower wrote his first posting on March 21, 2007. During his first full month online, he attracted 315 visitors. The next month, there were nearly 66,000 readers.
Two things were making his name: He had uncovered details about the first sections of the Dreamliner, built by suppliers, that were winding their way to Everett, Wash., where they would be snapped together to form the first plane. And he was starting to talk with 787 production workers.
Ostrower connected with people who might otherwise have shunned reporters because of his sincerity and his eagerness to learn, said Aboulafia, aerospace analyst with Teal Group, a Virginia-based market research and consulting firm. "He is also an extremely nice guy. That makes it easy for people to talk to him."
Still, Boeing wouldn't respond to his queries. When the new plane made its official debut during an extravaganza hosted by Tom Brokaw on July 8, 2007, Ostrower was in attendance, traveling to Everett with money he raised by appealing to his readers.
Boeing declined to give him press credentials. But a reader gave him a ticket intended for Boeing workers and their families, which gave him an important leg up in reporting on the craft.
While the mainstream media raced off to meet deadlines, Ostrower spent nearly two hours closely examining the striking blue-and-white jet and came away feeling the plane wasn't complete.
Shortly after returning to Boston, he received an e-mail confirming his suspicion: The plane was little more than an empty shell, good enough to fool attendees at the rollout.
Ostrower eventually pieced together how Boeing had pulled off the event: To have a plane to show, Boeing had allowed suppliers to ship sections without wiring and other innards installed.
Following up on his erroneous "power on" report, Ostrower began to realize that Boeing's engineers faced a bewildering challenge: finding and installing missing components while sorting out a welter of paperwork required to meet federal documentation standards.
For the first time, Ostrower began to approach the unfolding story like a journalist. He checked and rechecked snippets of information, eventually drawing from people he trusted a picture of how production had broken down.
He posted a lengthy narrative of his findings on Sept. 4, 2007. A day later, Boeing officials, in a conference call with reporters, verified much of his report. Ostrower's first full-length article would be nominated for a journalism award.
However, at a point when he should have been basking in his success, Ostrower decided to shut down his Internet venture. Blogging until 3 a.m. had taken a toll on his day job. He took a two-month hiatus, determined to get serious about a career in politics, Instead, he wound up talking about a job with trade publisher Flight International.
For his interview, he showed up with a Power Point presentation peppered with never-before-seen photos of the 787, then strictly off limits to reporters.
"It looked like he had crawled inside the production line," recalled Stephen Trimble, Americas managing editor for Flight International.
Although Ostrower had no formal journalism training, Trimble quickly hired him to become the magazine's first blogger. His initial assignment: the Dubai Air Show.
He was bewildered at first.
"What do I do? The people I talk to are on the plane line. Those people aren't here," Ostrower remembers thinking.
But Ostrower quickly settled in. Gradually, his relations with Boeing also began to thaw. By May, Boeing invited him to media-only events, including a tour of the 787 assembly line as well as supply-partner factories.
But when Ostrower used Twitter to send live dispatches from the floor of a Dreamliner supplier in Charleston, S.C., his new status with Boeing was nearly undermined.
"Boeing perceived that as a live broadcast," he said. "They don't allow that."
Within a day, Boeing and Ostrower's magazine established ground rules covering his Twitter dispatches, called "tweets."
Of Boeing, Trimble said, "They've come a long way. So have we."
Ostrower remains an unabashed fan of the Dreamliner, which analysts think won't take to the air before early 2009.
"I don't know where this goes from here," Ostrower said. "I hope to see it fly. I'll be standing by the runway and sobbing like a baby."
jjohnsson@tribune.com
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Politics and the Olympics, by Ron May
I am reprinting the article I wrote a few days ago about the Olympics and politics with some minor corrections based on input from professor John MacAloon of the University of Chicago. What follows is the original article modified based on professor MacAloon's input.
* I have been sitting on a few stories that have significance to
Chicago but not to the tech scene per se.
John MacAloon is not only a professor at the University of Chicago, he
knows many of the players in the Olympic game.
I saw professor MacAloon speak on Saturday, October 11th down in Hyde
Park in Ida Noyes Hall on the third floor. That talk was a part of the
Chicago Humanities Festival and its attempt to extend its venues to
include Hyde Park.
MacAloon studies the Olympics and other festivals from the standpoint
of an ethnographer and anthropologist. He looks at them as festivals,
celebrations, reflections of the broader social, cultural and
political issues that the Olympics both mirror and influence. MacAloon
has been involved in Olympic politics for years and he has attended
the Olympics for many years.
I won't try to give you the whole megillah today, but I want to focus
on the remarks that MacAloon made with respect to our chances, here in
Chicago, for getting the Olympics.
Incidentally, since MacAloon did such a great job covering the history
of the Olympics in the modern era, I did learn about the 1904 Olympics
which Chicago wanted but did not get.
Professor MacAloon says that this statement is "Not precisely true. Chicago was awarded the 1904 Games by the IOC and held those rights and had an organizing committee for two years until, under massive pressure, the Games were transferred to St. Louis."
Professor MacAloon told a very interesting story about how St. Louis conspired against Chicago. MacAloon clarifies that this should also say "hosting the Games in 1904."
St. Louis was delayed one year in its World's Fair (it was supposed to be in 1903 because that would have been the centennial celebration of the Louisiana Purchase) and they
were concerned that the Olympics would undermine their fair in St. Louis.
MacAloon also points out that 1904 was the year that the Olympics were
taken out of the hands of educators like William Raney [sic: Rainey] Harper, the
first president of the University of Chicago who was also the first
chairman of the Olympic organizing committee and "putting it into the
hands of my people," referring humorously to his Irish heritage. It
went from educators to politicians at that time. MacAloon writes me that it was actually sports officials, not politicians.
As I am listening to my tape, I am hearing things I really did not
need to know, like "softball is boring to people who don't play
softball." MacAloon talked in some detail about the sports that are
selected and how that process works. One issue in sports selection is
gender parity.
Another interesting tidbit from the tape includes the fact that the
Chinese are not pleased with how the U.S. media reported the medal
race here since clearly we lead in all medals but China had a big lead
in Gold medals.
When professor MacAloon was asked what the biggest obstacles to
Chicago getting the Olympics are, he spoke his mind frankly and
directly.
He made it very clear that he was speaking as a professor, not as a
representative in any way of the USOC or the Chicago2016 bid.
IOC members told MacAloon in private several years ago with respect to
the New York bid that was lost in 2005, that New York could not expect
to get a "world peace" festival when "we have a pre-emptive strike ideology." MacAloon corrects thhis quote and it should read "when we have a policy of pre-emptive strikes."
That was when the Iraq war was front and center, but you can connect the dots.
"The outcome of the presidential election is critical in terms of our
getting the Olympics," he said.
MacAloon referenced the goal of reestablishing friendships around the
world as being a part of our bid. The Chicago answers to the IOC bid
questions can be found on the site: http://www.chicago2016.org/
In his talk, Professor MacAloon mentioned that the USOC has had
a strong conflict with the IOC over distribution of TV revenues. MacAloon adds that this should include not just TV revenues but sponsorship as well. "
The U.S. has no federal presence or cabinet minister dedicated to the
Olympics. That is very unusual because all other countries make their
financial commitments to the Olympics at the national level. And they
conduct their Olympic diplomacy at the national level as well.
MacAloon noted that Denver gave the games back in 1976 because the
taxpayers were not willing to commit. This is a city-by-city affair in
the United States which is very unusual in relation to the way the
rest of the world works.
Mayor Daley's political longevity works to our advantage, MacAloon
said, because it helps give a sense of long term stability to the IOC,
especially since there is no federal backing for the Olympics.
MacAloon added that you have to be careful about giving the impression
that federal money may be forthcoming because Congressmen and women
will become skittish if they think that federal money will be
required.
You can pretty much find out anything you want to know about federal
funding and the Olympics by googling 'gao olympic funding' and a
number of reports pop up.
http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa092400a.htm
http://74.125.95.104/search?q=cache:Xb9k_2Q3mlwJ:www.gao.gov/new.items/gg00183.pdf+gao+olympic+funding&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us
All the Olympic games since Montreal had to make money on the operating side, MacAloon said. Professor MacAloon corrects this: It should say that all the games since Montreal have broken even or made money on the operating side.
There is a $2.5B to $3B revenue stream. But he added that we are not
building "big white elephants" since most of the structures are
already here and the new ones will be temporary facilities. You're
allowed to count the temporary facilities in your operating budget, he
said.
I believe he said that $2.5B in transit funds are already committed to Chicago area projects between now and 2016. I called professor MacAloon Monday afternoon to clarify this. He explained that transportation during the games is one thing and
infrastructure is another. But $2.5B has been committed to the
transportation issue between now and 2016, he said. Federal money is
involved in that, of course, but if I understood right, federal money
is limited to transportation. Public safety is also included in this
figure, I believe he said.
The Atlanta experience makes transportation a big issue, he explained.
IOC members are sensitive to this.
I asked professor MacAloon three questions during the Q&A period very
quickly and at one point he made reference to reporters not being
there, so I disclosed to him that I am a self-proclaimed reporter.
1. Is our ethnic diversity an advantage in getting the bid?
His answer was intriguing. "We can go overboard on diversity," he
said. The line "We are the world" which was used in 1984 can be
misinterpreted. The people who are here from other countries are here
because they left their old countries to seek a better life here in
America, he explained. So, he said, we have to be careful about making
the argument that Olympians should come here so that any given country
can have a cheering section that is already built in.
2. What is the basis of the conflict between Peter Ueberroth who heads
the USOC and the IOC?
MacAloon explained that the IOC made a deal with the US that as the
revenue was coming in, the USOC got 20% off the top of the
international marketing revenue and 13% off the top of the American
television revenue. The USOC has come to live off these revenues and
fundraising is minimal now, MacAloon said.
"Over the years, the argument that this was a fair deal, since most of
the top sponsors are American-based multi-nationals and NBC of course
mostly has an interest in American athletes, that argument is weaker
and weaker with the IOC," he said.
"The USOC is getting more than all the other Olympic committees
combined," MacAloon said.
I am gathering from what he is saying that the IOC wants to lower the
take given to the USOC.
"It looks and feels ugly and wrong," he said. The USOC says "we're
willing to talk."
3. I also asked about professor Macaloon about his comment that the
IOC had issues with John McCain dating back to the Salt Lake Olympics.
McCain got himself into some hot water, MacAloon said, with respect to
the scandals surrounding the Salt Lake City winter Olympics. I sensed
that the IOC thought McCain behaved disrespectfully and even
ignorantly.
I googled 'McCain commerce committee salt lake city olympics
investigation' and got a few interesting things.
It seems that McCain was annoyed with both USOC and IOC members for
dilly-dallying on an investigation into corruption. I probably
misunderstood professor MacAloon, but if I understood him
correctly, it appears that John McCain made a back room deal of sorts
to investigate the IOC and leave the USOC pretty much alone -- yet
another reason that the IOC may not look favorably on a McCain victory
on November 4th.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?
res=9406E0D81339F93BA15752C0A9659C8B63&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-594243.html
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9902E7D6143BF936A25757C0A96F958260
I am sure that John MacAloon knows much more about the inner workings
of the IOC and the USOC than he said publicly in his talk. He knows
the IOC members individually and there is an enormity of politics
here. There was a whole section of his talk that discussed
restrictions on IOC members which include that they can't visit cities
that are in contention. So MacAloon cannot have some of these folks
come and visit him at the University of Chicago even if that visit has
no direct link to getting the Olympics here.
One very intriguing comment that still lingers with me is when
MacAloon said that years ago Mayor Daley was not interested in getting
the Olympics but this changed when Daley decided to wage a war on
gangs and when he wanted to get guns off the streets. What could the
connection possibly be?
I don't know enough about the history of the Olympic movement, but it
appears that the movement has some connection to the idea of world
peace.
Professor MacAloon writes that I misunderstood him. "No, you misunderstood here. I said that Mayor Daley changed his mind over the value of having Chicago apply for the Olympics. (I did not say and am not completely sure why.) I then said that he has since then come to get the Olympic Movement as among other things a pro-youth and anti-violence movement."
There are many pros and cons for each of the cities that is being
considered. I overheard someone chatting after the talk that Madrid
would argue that they are a completely different culture from London,
even though they are both in Europe and London has 2012.
As I was standing there at the end, I talked to one guy whose name I don't know (I had the feeling he might have been a grad student) who told me that "they don't say it too loudly, but one of the themes in the bid to the IOC is 'Please help us get our country back' and 'Please help us reunite to
the world,' but they don't say it too loudly." Now I wish I had gotten his name or his card.
If you want to contact professor MacAloon, here is his contact info.
John J. MacAloon
Professor and Academic Associate Dean
Graduate Division of the Social Sciences
Director, MAPSS Program
Professor in The College
The University of Chicago
Pick Hall 301
5828 S. University Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637 USA
Tel: 773-702-8317
Sec: 773-702-8316
Fax: 773-702-5140
Res: 847-475-4142
j-macaloon@uchicago.edu
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The deal that never happened between Advanced Equities and Dekania, by Ron May
* There's a great story here about Advanced Equities and Dekania Corp. How did a $100MM deal, announced on September 15, 2008, fall apart in just three weeks? The deal was pronounced dead on October 7, 2008, as you can see from the press releases that follow. I will give you that story in more detail next week.
I have also dug up some SEC documents at the following link:
http://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?company=Dekania&CIK=&filenum=&State=&SIC=&owner=include&action=getcompany
I will have more on this in the next few days.
This deal really goes back to July of this year. It comes under the general header SPAC which stands for Special Purpose Acquisition Company.
I also found this blog entry in www.techdirt.com about Advanced Equities, largely based on the story that appeared in Forbes Magazine:
http://www.techdirt.com/blog.php?company=advanced+equities
Techdirt based their report on what Valleywag said and Valleywag actually read the Forbes report which is an interesting comment on how people get their info. on the net these days, going back to July 21st when Tom Sherman and Andy Angelos pointed that out in our discussion at TBIF.
Here's what Vallleywag wrote:
http://valleywag.com/5038990/the-worst-vc-firm-youve-never-heard-of
And if you missed the Forbes article, here again is the link:
http://www.forbes.com/business/forbes/2008/0901/048b.html
And Dwight and Keith did respond to the Forbes article:
http://www.forbes.com/home/2008/08/26/aei-readers-response-cx_rr_0826badger.html
If you google Advanced Equities, Inc. you find that on page 12 there is this entry from local firm EveryBlock which is possibly in play as we reported on Tuesday of this week.:
http://chicago.everyblock.com/business-licenses/by-date/2008/9/16/1150900/
Venture Beat also picked up on the Forbes story:
http://venturebeat.com/2008/08/21/advances-equities-takes-its-investors-on-a-bad-trip/
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"A possibly worse indictment against AE's financial acumen is the money it poured into the early biofuels market, including Altra Biofuels, which raised $120 million in 2006, and Cilion, which got $200 million in what was at one point the biggest cleantech investment ever. Both were first generation ethanol companies at a time when that fuel was highly hyped, but most public companies in the same category have since lost half their value or more; one can only wonder if heavily funded private companies are doing much better.
But what Forbes is suggesting is not that Advanced Equities is simply a badly run firm. The tacit accusation is that AE is run by con-men who scam little old ladies and other clueless investors - in one example, a story is related of how 83 year old Constance Kamberos was toted out of AE's building by security after trying to complain about her investment in the firm, while multiple other dissatisfied clients have filed suit.
Could it be that some of the most famous firms on Sand Hill, seeking to prop up previous investments, have made themselves complicit in Advanced Equities' sketchy investing style to pump cash into risky firms like Agami? Perish the thought."
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May again. The VentureBeat story ran under the header CleanTech. As I was reading it online, a pop-up appeared on the screen for www.thefunded.com and it had info. on Khosla Ventures which was specifically mentioned in the article. Now, how did that happen? No, I am asking seriously.
I also found that on Page 18 of a google search, we find that Lon Chow who is highly regarded amongst local VCs, sits on the board of Advanced Equities Financial Corp.
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http://www.apexvc.com/apexteam2.html
Lon H. H. Chow
Lon Chow is a general partner with investment focus in software applications and technology-enabled services. Prior to joining Apex, Lon was a partner with Mercer Management Consulting (formerly Strategic Planning Associates), where he developed and implemented growth strategies for clients in computing, media, and telecommunications industries. He also held various operating management positions with Pacific Telesis. Lon received an MBA from the Wharton School and a BA from the University of California, Davis.
Lon currently serves on the boards of Advanced Equities Financial Corp., Austin Logistics, Bellamax, Current Analysis, and LifeSnapz. He is a board observer of MEI Corporation. Lon's outside board membership includes Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center and Viewpoints Network
Lon's previous investments included ICON Solutions (acquired by AnswerThink), KnowledgeStorm (acquired by TechTarget), PlaceWare (acquired by Microsoft), Shoebuy.com (acquired by IAC/InterActiveCorp), Thinque Systems (acquired by MEI), Tradex Technologies (acquired by Ariba) and WorldPrints (acquired by At Home).
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Well, well, well. On page 22 of my Google search, I find this from Highbeam Research:
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Lost an arbitration case? You can always sue the client; Use of courts to overthrow awards is growing.(News)
Article from: Investment News Article date: December 20, 2004 More results for: advanced equities inc. | Copyright information
COPYRIGHT 2004 Crain Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
Byline: Bruce Kelly
NEW YORK - A Chicago retail broker-dealer/midmarket investment bank has taken the unusual step of suing a client in federal court after losing an arbitration case. The firm, Advanced Equities Inc., said three NASD arbitrators "exceeded their powers'' and were "unfair'' in making a hefty $327,000 award to the client.
After losing the case in October, Advanced Equities and its chief executive, Keith G. Daubenspeck, late last month sued the client, Constance Kamberos, in U.S. district court in Chicago, seeking to eliminate the damages.
Ms. Kamberos' lawyer, Andrew Stoltmann, meanwhile, said Advanced Equities and Mr. Daubenspeck filed the suit to ...
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May again. To read the rest of the article, I would have to sign up for a free seven day trial. There is one catch! Patrick Spain, shame on you. To get the free trial you have to provide your credit card info. and you have the responsibility to cancel before the seven days are up or they will charge you!!
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Yes, start with a 7-day FREE trial membership.
Pay nothing at all for your first 7 days of unlimited access to HighBeam. To avoid a charge on your credit card, cancel your account before your trial ends. Or, continue and pay just $29.95 per month or $199.95 per year. One free trial is allowed per customer.
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No way, Patrick. I am not taking a chance on that.
I checked with Dalka and he told me that as much as I don't trust the practice, this approach is used by between 10% and 40% of firms on the net and he added that Patrick Spain may not even know that they do this. Dalka says that I may not like the method, but it is not rare.
Lookie what I found. Remember Stephen Meade and KnockNOW? Well, look at his list of investors and members. http://www.knocknow.com/members.htm
I had almost given up. But on Page 29, one finds the first reference to The May Report. Now, if I am buried so well in the rubble, how come so many have found me? They must be searching for something other than just Advanced Equities, like Alien Technology.
The end of the Dekania deal is also reported on Page 30:
http://spac.dealflowmedia.com/
Here's another local firm linked very marginally to Advanced Equities: Naymz.
http://www.naymz.com/directory/equities
Here are a variety of documents relating to the Dekenia Corp. case.
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http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/09-15-2008/0004885582&EDATE=
Dekania Corp. and Advanced Equities Financial Corp. Agree to Merge
PHILADELPHIA and CHICAGO, Sept. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Advanced
Equities Financial Corp. ("Advanced Equities"), and Dekania Corp. (Amex:
DEK, DEK.U, DEK.WS) ("Dekania") announced today that they have entered into
a definitive agreement under which the companies will merge. Upon
completion of the merger the combined entity will be known as Advanced
Equities Financial Corp., and will be lead by the current Advanced Equities
senior management team.
Advanced Equities Financial Corp. is a leading provider of annuities,
investment management, pension administration, securities brokerage and
venture capital investment banking services through its wholly owned
subsidiaries: Advanced Equities, Inc.; First Allied Securities, Inc.;
Advanced Equities Asset Management, Inc.; and Advanced Equities Wealth
Management, Inc. Combined, Advanced Equities companies represent an
independent brokerage force with approximately 900 financial advisors in
450 locations throughout the United States Additional information is
available at http://www.advancedequities.com.
The initial merger consideration, some of which is payable to the
current stockholders of Advanced Equities, and some of which will be
reserved for the current warrant and option holders of Advanced Equities,
consists of 20,000,000 shares of Dekania common stock. Advanced Equities'
stock, option and warrant holders will also be eligible to receive up to an
additional 12,500,000 Dekania shares. Up to 7,500,000 of these additional
shares may be received based on Advanced Equities' achieving a certain
Adjusted GAAP Net Income threshold in 2008. If fewer than 7,500,000
additional shares are issued based on 2008 Adjusted GAAP Income, the
balance of those shares will be forfeited unless the targeted Adjusted GAAP
Income levels below are achieved by the post-merger company in any one of
the years 2009, 2010 or 2011 in which case such remaining shares will also
be issued. The remaining 5,000,000 may be earned if the post-merger company
achieves an Adjusted GAAP Net Income of $29.1 million in 2009, or $34
million in 2010 or $37.3 million in 2011.
Cohen Bros. Acquisitions, LLC, Dekania's sponsor, has agreed to defer
425,000 of its shares subject to the same 2009, 2010 and 2011 earnings
targets.
At closing, Dekania expects that it will have approximately $94,500,000
in cash net of the payment of the expenses of the transaction. Such cash
will be available for redemption of "no" votes or exercise of dissenters'
rights, reduction or elimination of existing debt at Advanced Equities and
for future acquisitions as management continues to grow the company.
The merger is subject to the approval by both companies' stockholders,
regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of customary closing conditions
"This transaction is an important step in the continued development of
Advanced Equities Financial Corp.," said Dwight O. Badger, Co-founder and
Chief Executive Officer of Advanced Equities. Mr. Badger added, "The
capital, public currency and brand enhancement of this transaction will
help fuel our future growth and provide additional flexibility to take
advantage of strategic opportunities as they arise."
Tom Friedberg, Chairman, President and CEO of Dekania commented, "With
the changing dynamics in the Property and Casualty insurance marketplace
and insurance underwriting in general, we refocused our efforts on
insurance distribution. With Advanced Equities, we not only found an
extensive distribution network that sells large amounts of annuities,
insurance and other financial services products, but also a unique business
model that features venture capital banking and pension administration
services in addition to the rapidly growing network of independent
financial advisors which results in what we believe is an excellent
investment opportunity for Dekania's stockholders."
Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc. served as exclusive financial advisor to
Advanced Equities Financial Corp. in conjunction with the transaction.
About Dekania Corp.
Dekania was formed for the purpose of acquiring, through merger,
capital stock exchange, asset acquisition or other similar business
combination, one or more unidentified businesses, with a focus on the
insurance industry. Dekania's initial public offering ("IPO") registration
statement was declared effective on February 1, 2007. On January 30, 2007,
it completed a private placement and received net proceeds of $2,500,000.
Dekania consummated the IPO of 9.7 million units at $10.00 per unit on
February 7, 2007, and the underwriters exercised the over-allotment option
for an additional 262,400 units on March 21, 2008. Each unit was comprised
of one share of common stock and one warrant exercisable at $8.00 per
share. On May 2, 2007, the warrants began separately trading. As of June
30, 2008, Dekania held approximately $94.5 million in a trust account, net
of deferred underwriting compensation.
Risks and Uncertainties; Forward-Looking Statements
The transaction described herein is subject to a number of risks and
uncertainties, including the satisfaction of certain conditions to the
closing of the proposed merger, including the risk that stockholder
approval might not be obtained in a timely manner or at all.
This document contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of
the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking
statements include statements related to the benefits of the transaction
and financial performance of the surviving entity.
Maxim Group LLC ("Maxim"), the managing underwriter of Dekania's IPO,
is assisting Dekania in its efforts and will receive approximately
$1,022,480, the deferred portion of its underwriting discount from the IPO,
upon consummation of the merger. Dekania and its directors and executive
officers and Maxim may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of
proxies for the special meeting of Dekania's stockholders to be held to
approve this transaction. Dekania's officers and some of its directors are
also stockholders of Dekania and have waived their rights to any
liquidation distribution Dekania makes with respect to shares they acquired
before the IPO. Therefore, their securities will be worthless if Dekania
does not acquire a target business within two years of the IPO date, as
required by its Certificate of Incorporation. Interested persons can read
Dekania's current report on Form 8-K with respect to the merger agreement
and, when available, its preliminary proxy statement and definitive proxy
statement, as well as its final IPO prospectus, dated February 1, 2007, and
periodic reports for more information about Dekania, its officers and
directors, and their individual and group security ownership in Dekania and
interests in the successful consummation of the merger with Advanced
Equities.
Dekania stockholders are advised to read, when available, each
preliminary proxy statement of Dekania and the definitive proxy statement
in connection with Dekania's solicitation of proxies for a special meeting
of stockholders because they will contain important information. The
definitive proxy statement will be mailed to stockholders as of a record
date to be established for voting on the merger with Advanced Equities.
Stockholders will also be able to obtain a copy of the definitive proxy
statement, without charge, by directing a request to: Dekania Corp., 2929
Arch Street, Suite 1703, Philadelphia, PA 19104. Each preliminary proxy
statement and definitive proxy statement, once available, can also be
obtained, without charge, at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's
internet site http://www.sec.gov. No person other than Dekania has been authorized
to give any information or to make any representations on behalf of Dekania
or Advanced Equities in connection with the merger, and if given or made,
such other information or representations must not be relied upon as having
been made or authorized by Dekania or Advanced Equities.
Contacts:
Dekania Corp.
Thomas Friedberg, Chairman, President & CEO
Tel: (609-518-2093) or tfriedberg@dekaniacorp.com
Advanced Equities Financial Corp.
Dwight O. Badger, Co-Founder and CEO
(312) 377-5272 or dwight.badger@advancedequities.com
SOURCE Dekania Corp.
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http://www.investmentnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080917/REG/809179985/1086
'Blank check' firm buys Advanced Equities
By Bruce Kelly
September 17, 2008, 12:49 PM EST Post a Comment Recommend (1)
Dekania Corp., a special-purpose acquisition company looking to invest in an insurance business, announced Monday that it was merging with Chicago-based Advanced Equities.
Advanced Equities has 900 reps and advisers across four broker-dealers, the most prominent of which is First Allied Securities Inc. of San Diego.
The broker-dealer's advisers sell insurance, among other products.
The deal's value is not fixed right now, but could be worth between $180 million to $200 million in Dekania stock, if Dekania's shareholders approve the deal, according to Thomas Friedberg, the chairman, president and CEO of Dekania.
Dekania is publicly traded on the American Stock Exchange of New York. It was trading at $9.64 at 12:30 p.m. today.
It will assume the Advanced Equities name if the deal goes through, said Mr. Friedberg.
Advanced Equities, which is keeping its management team, will then become a publicly traded company.
A key ingredient to the deal is $94.5 million that Dekania currently has on reserve.
Advanced Equities potentially could use that money to pay down debt or make acquisitions, Mr. Friedberg said.
The independent-contractor market has recently seen a flurry of activity from outside investors.
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http://www.huliq.com/13/68830/dekania-advanced-equities-financial-agree-merge
Dekania, Advanced Equities Financial Agree To Merge
Advanced Equities Financial Corp., and Dekania Corp. (Amex: DEK, DEK.U, DEK.WS) announced today that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which the companies will merge. Upon completion of the merger the combined entity will be known as Advanced Equities Financial Corp., and will be led by the current Advanced Equities senior management team.
Advanced Equities Financial Corp. is a leading provider of annuities, investment management, pension administration, securities brokerage and venture capital investment banking services through its wholly owned subsidiaries: Advanced Equities, Inc.; First Allied Securities, Inc.; Advanced Equities Asset Management, Inc.; and Advanced Equities Wealth Management, Inc. Combined, Advanced Equities companies represent an independent brokerage force with approximately 900 financial advisors in 450 locations throughout the United States.
The initial merger consideration, some of which is payable to the current stockholders of Advanced Equities, and some of which will be reserved for the current warrant and option holders of Advanced Equities, consists of 20,000,000 shares of Dekania common stock. Advanced Equities' stock, option and warrant holders will also be eligible to receive up to an additional 12,500,000 Dekania shares. Up to 7,500,000 of these additional shares may be received based on Advanced Equities' achieving a certain Adjusted GAAP Net Income threshold in 2008.
If fewer than 7,500,000 additional shares are issued based on 2008 Adjusted GAAP Income, the balance of those shares will be forfeited unless the targeted Adjusted GAAP Income levels below are achieved by the post-merger company in any one of the years 2009, 2010 or 2011 in which case such remaining shares will also be issued. The remaining 5,000,000 may be earned if the post-merger company achieves an Adjusted GAAP Net Income of $29.1 million in 2009, or $34 million in 2010 or $37.3 million in 2011.
Cohen Bros. Acquisitions, LLC, Dekania's sponsor, has agreed to defer 425,000 of its shares subject to the same 2009, 2010 and 2011 earnings targets.
At closing, Dekania expects that it will have approximately $94,500,000 in cash net of the payment of the expenses of the transaction. Such cash will be available for redemption of "no" votes or exercise of dissenters' rights, reduction or elimination of existing debt at Advanced Equities and for future acquisitions as management continues to grow the company.
The merger is subject to the approval by both companies' stockholders, regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of customary closing conditions
"This transaction is an important step in the continued development of Advanced Equities Financial Corp.," said Dwight O. Badger, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Advanced Equities. Mr. Badger added, "The capital, public currency and brand enhancement of this transaction will help fuel our future growth and provide additional flexibility to take advantage of strategic opportunities as they arise."
Tom Friedberg, Chairman, President and CEO of Dekania commented, "With the changing dynamics in the Property and Casualty insurance marketplace and insurance underwriting in general, we refocused our efforts on insurance distribution. With Advanced Equities, we not only found an extensive distribution network that sells large amounts of annuities, insurance and other financial services products, but also a unique business model that features venture capital banking and pension administration services in addition to the rapidly growing network of independent financial advisors which results in what we believe is an excellent investment opportunity for Dekania's stockholders." -- Dekania Corp.
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PRESS RELEASE: Dekania Corp announces actions by Advanced Equities Financial Corp. shareholders regarding the Merger Agreement between the two companies
PHILADELPHIA, October 7, 2008
Dekania Corp announced today that on October 6, 2008, it was advised by Advanced Equities Financial Corp. that a majority of its shareholders had taken action by consent "disapproving and rejecting" the merger between Dekania and Advanced Equities Financial Corp. Dekania is currently evaluating the effectiveness of the alleged shareholder action, as well as the alternatives available to it with respect to the merger and Advanced Equities Financial Corp.
Contact:
Dekania Corp.
David Nathaniel, Chief Investment Officer
646-673-8020, dnathaniel@dekaniacorp.com
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