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| | 04/30/2012
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| | Scoop
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| | [Actually 4/3/2012]: The May Report: 4/3/2012: I'm going to stop making silly promises like I'll have 5 reports out in a day -- if there were no fatigue factor and if I didn't have to sleep, that might be possible; Uber has been getting national attention lately and they were mentioned and shown in a recent report on mobile payment systems on CBS Morning News by Whit Johnson and they're providing services at Rockit tonight for Built in Chicago; On Saturday, at a party thrown at Tadros' old office, I talked to Nate Kontny who has left Inkling Markets to start a new venture called CityPosh, http://www.cityposh.com/, while Adam Siegel continues to run Inkling; my info. is that one difference between Jon Pasky and Arabella is that Arabella has decided to nix the media part of Techweek; Kevin Willer may have to backtrack on some things he told me -- he stands firm on the no pool tables, no fussball, no ping pong tables policy; and he is adamant that there will be no freebies when it comes to rent, but the $400 or the $250 is "all-in," so aside from rent, you just have to buy your own coffee at Intelligentsia; they're looking to host plenty of events, but only evenings and weekends, none during the day, except for tenant run events of course; Jennifer Thomas, alum of Lean Start-up Circle, tells me she's at TechNexus and the other 3 finalists are spread out between several places including VentureSHOT, Bernard Kappe's place and maybe 1871; Jason Jacobsohn is organizing the next class of the Founders' Institute; Chicago ranks #17 in social media activity by government, down from #8, but these stats are pre-Rahm; it's against my core princeples, but in some ways I wish Matt Moog, Troy Henikoff, Fred Hoch, Seth Kravitz, and many others had even one-tenth the personality, charisma, or likeability of Kevin Willer, and if you quote that back to me, I'll deny having written it. :-)
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| | April 3, 2012
The May Report: 4/3/2012: I'm going to stop making silly promises like I'll have 5 reports out in a day -- if there were no fatigue factor and if I didn't have to sleep, that might be possible; Uber has been getting national attention lately and they were mentioned and shown in a recent report on mobile payment systems on CBS Morning News by Whit Johnson and they're providing services at Rockit tonight for Built in Chicago; On Saturday, at a party thrown at Tadros' old office, I talked to Nate Kontny who has left Inkling Markets to start a new venture called CityPosh, http://www.cityposh.com/, while Adam Siegel continues to run Inkling; my info. is that one difference between Jon Pasky and Arabella is that Arabella has decided to nix the media part of Techweek; Kevin Willer may have to backtrack on some things he told me -- he stands firm on the no pool tables, no fussball, no ping pong tables policy; and he is adamant that there will be no freebies when it comes to rent, but the $400 or the $250 is "all-in," so aside from rent, you just have to buy your own coffee at Intelligentsia; they're looking to host plenty of events, but only evenings and weekends, none during the day, except for tenant run events of course; Jennifer Thomas, alum of Lean Start-up Circle, tells me she's at TechNexus and the other 3 finalists are spread out between several places including VentureSHOT, Bernard Kappe's place and maybe 1871; Jason Jacobsohn is organizing the next class of the Founders' Institute; Chicago ranks #17 in social media activity by government, down from #8, but these stats are pre-Rahm; it's against my core princeples, but in some ways I wish Matt Moog, Troy Henikoff, Fred Hoch, Seth Kravitz, and many others had even one-tenth the personality, charisma, or likeability of Kevin Willer, and if you quote that back to me, I'll deny having written it. :-)
Editor and publisher: Ron May, ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com,www.themayreport.com, 773-525-3944.
If you missed an article, go here:
www.tmronline.com/A55951/tmrarticles.nsf/vwFullNewsletter
(ALL REPORTS HAVE NOW BEEN POSTED ON THE TMRONLINE.COM SITE AND THANKS TO PROMINIC FOR FIXING THE PROBLEM)
Otherwise, just go to www.themayreport.com where all the articles are archived and the search function on the new site is now working
Louis Brandeis: "Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants."
frequently attributed to Edmund Burke: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." but the quote and its many variations have been the subject of dispute. See http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edmund_Burke for more.
"Larsen E. Whipsnade": You Can't Cheat an Honest Man (1939), a comedy film starring and scripted by W. C. Fields
Andre' Gide (1869 - 1951) in his "Les Nourritures Terrestres. Envoi:":
"What another would have done as well as you, do not do it. What another would have said as well as you, do not say it; written as well, do not write it. Be faithful to that which exists nowhere but in yourself --- and thus make yourself indispensable."
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Cyber Forensics & Security Conference & Expo
April 19 & 20, 2012
Illinois Institute of Technology - Wheaton, IL (Chicago Area)
Join us for this outstanding Cyber Security & Forensics multi-track, technical conference that attracts 200+ professionals, 50+ speakers, 20+ sponsors, for an intensive one- and a half-days. Sample presentations include:
Keynote - Dan Kaminsky - Securing The Future: Complexity and Simplicity
FBI and Cyber Crime - FBI Regional Computer Forensics Lab and Special Agent FBI Chicago Cyber Squad
Cyber Security: A New Frontier for Cross-Jurisdiction Alliances - Rafael Diaz - Illinois Terrorism Task Force: Chief Cyber Security Advisor, Central Management Services: Chief Information Security Officer
iOS Forensics with Open Source Tools - Katie Strzempka - Senior Forensic Engineer at viaForensics
An IT Professionals' Guide to Using Data Analytics to Prevent and Detect Fraud - Sandra J.H. Rolnicki - Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
Non-Traditional Intrusion Detection For Non-Traditional Intrusions - Tom Liston - Senior Analyst for InGuardians, Inc.
And, more!
Attend - $200 (Ron May reader rate - $100) Use discount code: MAY
Sponsor/exhibit ($500-1,500)
Participants have included Cisco, Microsoft, IBM, KPMG, Computer Associates, the FBI, Fermilab, Argonne National Lab, Chicago Police Department, CompTIA, Motorola, Sungard and many others.
For more information, please visit www.cpd.iit.edu/forensecure, or contact Scott Pfeiffer at pfeiffer@iit.edu or 630-682-6001.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Scoop section:
-- Crain's: SEC conducting preliminary Groupon probe
-- Tuesday, April 3: Built In Chicago April Meetup
-- Saturday, April 14: Entrepreneurs Unpluggd: Startup Law Summit
-- MIT-EF Taking White Board Challenge Applications Now!
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The Scoop section:
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Crain's: SEC conducting preliminary Groupon probe
SEC conducting preliminary Groupon probe
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By John Pletz April 02, 2012
Today's Headlines 4/3/2012
EU launches 2 antitrust probes against Motorola Mobility
Google adds Art Institute works to its online museum
Blacks tap retirement savings more than other groups: study
Chicago isn't a good place to be sick: report
La Rabida to expand, renovate outpatient clinic space
News briefs: SXC's Thierer sees pay soar to $6.5 million
View All of Today's News Headlines
(Updated 9:25 a.m.)
(Crain's) — The Securities and Exchange Commission has launched an informal inquiry into Groupon Inc.'s accounting issues that caused it to restate fourth-quarter results.
The SEC's probe is preliminary, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Groupon said the revision, which reduced fourth-quarter earnings and revenue, was caused by the need for higher reserves for refunds on deals that have higher price tags, such as Lasik eye surgery and laser hair removal.
The company didn't provide additional details on how much the total refunds were compared with its reserves at the time.
The Wall Street Journal reported that a high number of refunds began showing up in January and were disclosed to top management by the company's chief accounting officer in February.
The company 's auditors, Ernst & Young LLP, said it found Groupon had a material weakness in its internal accounting and financial controls.
The revelations are causing big problems for Groupon, which earned a reputation for aggressive accounting after a lengthy battle with the SEC during its IPO preparation that caused it to revise financial results before going public. It also brought criticism of Chief Financial Officer Jason Child.
Its stock has fallen 16 percent since Friday and is trading near its lowest point.
Related Content
Groupon's Wall Street debut: Here's what to look for
Groupon worth $25 billion? Nope: source
Groupon restates Q4 earnings
Groupon comes up short in first public financial report
Groupon to vacate East Loop tower, move workers to HQ
Groupon stumbles
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What do you think?
John C. wrote:
You got that right Jill.
First of all they cater to the bottom-of-the-barrel type of customers, the misers and cheapskates who are nothing but trouble for businesses to begin with; rude, mean, demanding and relenentless penny pitchers and mouchers. This is apparently the biggest complaint the Groupon businesses have; the poor clientele. I have heard that barely 1% of them will ever turn into regular PROFITABLE customers. Stop the giveaways and there go the "customers"!
Second of all, the businesses themselves are probably marginal at best and desperate. Why else would they give away their products like this and hurt their reputation by being known as a "discounter" that attracts lower level customers?
Ok, there are exceptions like the museums and larger companies. But like with the museums, which are loaded with cash and do Groupnn as a pr vehicle, the larger companies look at this as a pr vehicle too and not as a primary advertising strategy.
I bet the folks at Google that wanted to buy Groupon are thanking the lucky stars that they dodged "the bullet" on this one!
4/3/2012 12:44 PM CDT
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Jill K. wrote:
I'm afraid Groupon is fatally flawed not because of their accounting but because of their business concept. It's like Communism - it sounds good in theory - but it's a disaster when put in place.
http://mankabros.com/blogs/onmedea/2011/01/13/the-trouble-with-groupon/
4/3/2012 11:35 AM CDT
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John C. wrote:
Tyler, not taking Google's offer just proves my point that they are goofs and don't know what they are doing. What normal business person would turn down a billion plus for a business that is losing money and just started up?
Now the bigger question is why would Google have made these mopes such an offer to begin with? Didn't they do due diligence? Or maybe they just got lucky and have so much money that they don't care? You don't see Apple throughing a billion here, a billion there, on some unproven ventures. Heck, they don't even invest in solid proven ones!
This leads me to believe, like the dotcom bubble of 2001, that this whole industry is infested with ameuters who sometimes get lucky, in a good environment, but can't sustain themselves long time through tough times and the challenges of building a solid on-ongoing business. Thus I wouldn't invest in any of these! I don't even trust Apple!
4/3/2012 11:19 AM CDT
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Tyler R. wrote:
John C:
I feel like if they wanted to get "theirs NOW!", they would've taken Google's offer. Of course, they probably saw the Social Network and assumed that they, like every other CS major, will be the next Zuckerbergs.
Short it.
4/3/2012 9:59 AM CDT
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John C. wrote:
Ryan W., you got that right!
Groupon, like all these recent startups, like that BATS exchange, are run by young "know-it-alls" who don't "sweat the details" and can't be bothered with all that "back office stuff".
Unlike entrepreneurs of a generation ago, like Ray Kroc, who built SOLID SYSTEMS FIRST and got the kinks out of it all before expanding; these kids want theirs ... NOW! They don't realize the damage done and how permanent it is to their "brands". Thus I agree with a lot of the posters here; Groupon is a house-of-cards and will collapse once its investors have had enough of these antics; or run out of cash first!
James B. wrote:
Ofcourse Groupon compunded the problem of material internal countrol weaknesses leading to a downward revision of renue - and a greater loss - by saying it had no impact on cash flow. Of course they failed to mention that it only had no impact on teh current quarter's cash flow, not the future, which will be less.
4/2/2012 9:10 PM CDT on Chicago Business
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Read more: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20120402/NEWS07/120409961/sec-conducting-preliminary-groupon-probe#ixzz1r0DrEDLO
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4/3/2012 9:13 AM CDT
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Michael G. wrote:
They should've taken the Google money when they were offered 6 billion dollars. I couldn't believe they turned that down. That's when I knew they were a stupid company.
4/3/2012 8:49 AM CDT
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Robert S. wrote:
Way to do Chicago proud, Groupon. You really represent the city well.
4/3/2012 8:15 AM CDT
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Ryan W. wrote:
Don't worry guys, the only people that invested in Groupon were the managers and investors at Groupon. Now that they've got a payout from the IPO they can let it crash and move on to the next "entrepreneurial" scheme.
4/3/2012 8:12 AM CDT
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Albert Y. wrote:
How does the SEC allow the IPO in the first place after Groupon's bloated and deceptive way of reporting their revenues. Someone has to protect the idiots out there if not the SEC then who? this is my fifth time of writing how much of a sham Groupon because it's model does not work, never has, never will.
4/2/2012 9:24 PM CDT
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Michael M. wrote:
Groupon has been a Ponzi scheme since it's inception. Anybody who invested in Groupon is an idiot.
4/2/2012 9:15 PM CDT
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Read more: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20120402/NEWS07/120409961/sec-conducting-preliminary-groupon-probe#ixzz1r0Di9eTW
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Tuesday, April 3: Built In Chicago April Meetup
http://www.builtinchicago.org/events/built-chicago-april-meetup
Built In Chicago April Meetup
event details
April 3, 2012
from 6:00pm to 9:00pm
address Rockit Bar & Grill
street 22 West Hubbard
city/town Chicago
website or map http://www.eventbrit…
organized by Adam Calica
event description
The Built In Chicago Monthly Meetup in partnership with the CEC
sponsored by Rockit Ranch Productions & Silicon Valley Bank
Date: April 3rd
Time: 6-9 p.m. (Beer, Wine and Apps)
Location: Rockit, of course
Parking: Prepurchase parking here.
All Uber rides beginning/ending at Rockit on 4/3 will automatically be 50% off!
REGISTER TODAY!
Why?
Why not! With a startup launching every third day in Chicago we decided it was time to promote the startups by offering them an opportunity to present their companies in front of 350 investors and fellow entrepreneurs.
This is quickly becoming a "must" attend for local investors (I2A Fund, New World Ventures, FireStarter Fund, HPA and more attend!) and entrepreneurs alike. Are you looking to fund a startup? Receive funding for your startup? Hire talent? Meet a co-founder or other entrepreneurs? This is the event in Chicago you must attend.
This month, we'll introduce you to 6 awesome startups that launched in March:
PlanFast
Mole Detective
LiveByTransit
Zipfit
RocketLease
Itstheremedy
*We promise--no more than 30 min total in speaking-the remaining time is for you to network with the best and brightest entrepreneurs in Chicago.
Is there a catch?
Yes-there are only 350 tickets and they go very quickly. If you really want to attend, buy your ticket now. If you miss the April meetup, don't worry..we will have these every month. Follow us on Twitter so you are the first to know when we announce the new dates.
REGISTER TODAY!
______________________________
Saturday, April 14: Entrepreneurs Unpluggd: Startup Law Summit
http://www.builtinchicago.org/events/entrepreneurs-unpluggd-startup-law-summit
Entrepreneurs Unpluggd: Startup Law Summit
event details
April 14, 2012
from 9:00am to 2:00pm
address 1871
street 222 W. Merchandise Mart Plaza
city/town Chicago
website or map http://entrepreneurs…
organized by Tim Jahn
event description
Use discount code "builtinchicago" for 25% off tickets! Buy your ticket here!
The top startup attorneys in Chicago will gather to share must know information for today's entrepreneurs. This will be an opportunity for entrepreneurs to get candid, comprehensive legal information on the issues they face every day.
The summit will conclude with an intimate, informal legal clinic where entrepreneurs can get answers to their burning questions. We'll cover:
• Do you own the code you write?
• What should you keep in mind form a legal perspective when fundraising?
• How should founder equity be split?
• What are legal implications of open source software?
Use discount code "builtinchicago" for 25% off tickets! Buy your ticket here!
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MIT-EF Taking White Board Challenge Applications Now!
Taking White Board Challenge Applications Now!
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Are you an entrepreneur with a product concept that just needs
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Are you a scientist or researcher at a university or corporation
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Have you been inspired by a novel way to solve a big problem?
If you have a brilliant idea that is missing much-needed public recognition, plan
to join us at the MIT EF Chicago 2012 Whiteboard Challenge on Tuesday May 22nd 2011. Each finalist will have five minutes, a whiteboard, a captive audience, and a chance to win $5,000 in cash prizes. This event is the highlight of the MIT Enterprise Forum Chicago Chapter spring event season—don’t miss your opportunity to be in the spotlight!
Everyone is eligible to submit their own innovative concept for consideration, and presenting finalists will be selected by a distinguished panel of judges.
Presenter applications are NOW OPEN!
To submit and entry, click here to open the entrant submission window.
Also don't forget about our upcoming Fair Pair Event April 17th
Current Food/Beverage Vendors Attending:
Finch Beer
Foiled Cupcakes
Scott and Lisa's Gourmet Pretzels
Argo Tea
MJ Catering
Spark of the Heart
Current Business Vendors Attending
US Voice & Data
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Productive Scheduling Solutions
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Tandem HR
Racom Comomuniations
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Heartland Group
BTE Consulting
When: April 17th
Time: 5:30-8:00 pm
Where: IBM Innovation Center 71 S. Wacker 6th Fl
Fee: $10 for members $20 at the door
$35 for non-members $40 at the door
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