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| | The May Report: 6/23/2010: After several yrs of regrouping mode, the PR offensive for venture capital -- and Eric Lefkofsky -- seems to be in full swing with The Trib and Crain's stories touting the "surge" of VC investing in Chicago when we all know the tiny percentage of firms that are even considered for it; Firefly Energy filed Chapter 7 and the IP will be auctioned off this summer
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| | June 23, 2010
The May Report: 6/23/2010: After several yrs of regrouping mode, the PR offensive for venture capital -- and Eric Lefkofsky -- seems to be in full swing with The Trib and Crain's stories touting the "surge" of VC investing in Chicago when we all know the tiny percentage of firms that are even considered for it; Firefly Energy filed Chapter 7 and the IP will be auctioned off this summer
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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GP Ventures provides mergers and acquisitions advisory services for technology companies in sectors such as Electronics, Equipment, IT services, EMS, Software, PCBs, Defense, and Distribution.
Some current programs include an acquisition search for Chicago-area IT services companies and the sale of a 40 million euro fiber-optic components company.
Please contact Tom Kastner at GP Ventures (www.gp-ventures.com) for more information:
mail@gp-ventures.com, 847-431-3993
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Scoop section:
-- Apptera Inc., a San Bruno, Calif.-based voice and visual mobile advertising
network, has raised $10 million in Series B funding. New World Ventures led
the round, and was joined by return backers Alloy Ventures, Lightspeed
Venture Partners and Walden International
-- DuPage incubator dead!
-- Thursday, June 24: Social Media Club Chicago. TN2020, an international summit hosted by The British Council; NASA, Ireland, Epic Fu, New York State Senate, American Red Cross, Twestival, HartoDel.com, BBC
-- Lightbank chief Lefkofsky on the value of 'strategic' money
Groupon co-founder Erik Lefkofsky
-- It was only 3.5 years ago that Barron's wrote this about Eric Lefkofsky
-- Ex-Naperville councilman is the king of nothing
Ex-Naperville councilman makes $151,857 a year overseeing failed tech park
-- Lucid Realty Launches CHUMP Pricing Plan in Chicago Area - Same Great Real Estate Service at a Higher Price
-- Tom Malkin: GeeYee Publication
-- Bob Ingersoll: Thursday, June 24: Jonathan Alter, The Promise
-- Charles Stack: Trib. article with graphics
-- Anonymous: Ron, have you learned nothing?
-- Questions to ask when venture capitalists knock on your door
-- The hired gun: Jason Liu describes life as a stand-in CEO for VC-backed firms
-- One entrepreneur's tale: The highs and lows of outside investment
Scott Rediger turned to venture capital to fund all three of his startups
-- Google, Twitter Go to Bat For Theflyonthewall
-- Elon Musk, PayPal Pioneer, Is Paper-Rich, Cash-Poor
-- IPO Coattails After CBOE? Not in Style for 2010
-- Announcement of MobileAppEx 2011 - The first dedicated Mobile Application and Business Solutions Trade Show
___________________________________
[Editor's note: Ron May here. If all goes according to plan, today will be a big day. First, there is a big article in the national magazine Venture Capital Journal which was handed out in hard copy at the ACG meeting I attended a few weeks ago, but I have not been able to get an email copy of it from Larry Aragon, the editor. That article touts the "surge" of venture capital investing in Chicago. I prefer to keep in mind Jim Dugan's cautionary statistic that of 600,000 new businesses, 1,000 got VC which is one-tenth of one percent. One tenth of one percent!!
Jim Dugan also cited the statistic that 60% of the value created in the stock market in companies that had IPOs came from venture backed firms.
If you read Crain's or the Trib. it seems like 1999 all over again and we all know it is not.
But one thing is true about today that was true during the heyday of Flip and Bob Bernard in 1999-2002. The access to venture resources is very limited and the average entrepreneur is not invited to participate. You have to be in the club first and we all know how that works.
Do you know what a tautology is? A tautology is when I ask Dan Malven as I did last night (OK, it was 11:30pm) some questions about his business Analyte Media and his "consumer face" to that business called www.stdexpress.com and his response was that the VCs go over everything in minute detail when they do their legal due diligence. Dan got $3MM from DFJ Portage and Apex.
That is like saying that I got the funding, therefore I must be good. We all understand the logical flaw there. Come to think of it, Dan Malven was the poster child in the this report for another comment he made years ago to me. I am just starting my look into Analyte and stdexpress.
Here is what I wrote on 10/19/2004:
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
This character is best illustrated by a comment that Dan Malven made several years ago when he returned to Chicago from New York where he worked for Flatiron Partners. After a discussion of what he was doing, he told me: "I do everything a venture capitalist does except write the check." At the moment he said that, I thought, "That pretty much sums up the problem with Chicago."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Things are getting better than they were for a few years, say from 2003 to 2008, but let's not get carried away just yet. This surge in publicity is very much like 1999 since it comes before the success stories. Success in getting funding does not mean success in business, a point that most of us agree upon, even Neal Kane.
So what is behind the publicity surge? I don't know, but it may have something to do with the lifecycle of VC and PE funds.
It also may have to do with the "rehabilitation" of Brad Keywell and Eric Lefkofsky after the fiascos of Starbelly and HA-LO. Now I do believe in redemption even though I'm not Catholic, but the first step in any redemption process has to be acknowledging past wrongs and the cessation of the bad acts that got one there. So, I dug up the Barron's article -- it was not hard to do -- about Eric Lefkofsky and printed it right next to the Crain's piece in this report for those of you who do not remember ten years ago --and most of the Tech Cocktail crowd and the Social Media Chicago crowd were not around back then. One function of this report is to keep history in mind.
Thursday night, I plan to go to both Social Media Chicago and the Mobile TC event at John Barleycorn's. That may be hard to pull off but we'll see if we can do it. Can't Jeff Willinger and Frank Gruber do a better job of coordinating?
Now, the meeting on Monday night of TBIF which featured eight or nine presenters in the mobile space was great. It was just about everything I would want, except it did not include audience participation. But they did have a panel of four experts who questioned each presenter who had five minutes to present.
There were 40 to 45 people, including the presenters and the panel. The meeting was run by Peter Tapling of Authentify as MC and Jed Abernethy of AthenaSecurity, and Jed is the president of TBIF.
TBIF should do this more often and it is in a good position to replace TiE should it desire to do so. Even more than that, Tapling and Abernethy could be good replacements for Howerton and Hoch should they happen to be defenestrated. :-)
On the theory that it is not news until I know about it, there is one piece of real news I picked up along with some fascinating conversations with Mil Ovan, formerly of Firefly Energy. Yes, formerly!
This is the firm that LeAnne Tourtellotte was touting to me outside the Cultural Center back in September 2009 when she told me there are great stories I am missing.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.pjstar.com/business/x99748000/Firefly-files-for-bankruptcy
Firefly Energy gives up battery business
By LAUREN REES (lrees@pjstar.com)
Journal Star
Posted Mar 12, 2010 @ 07:50 PM
Last update Mar 13, 2010 @ 05:18 PM
PEORIA -
Firefly Energy Inc. filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy Friday, and both the city of Peoria and Peoria County will likely pursue legal action to regain the $6 million the governments loaned the start-up in 2007.
County Board Chairman Tom O'Neill confirmed the company's bankruptcy filing. Ed Williams, Firefly CEO, could not be reached for comment.
The city and county guaranteed a $6 million loan to the company in May 2007. In a news release issued jointly by County Administrator Patrick Urich and City Manager Scott Moore, both said the city and county could lose their loan "in the worst case."
However, "in the likely case, the governments will pursue by legal means the pledged collateral, the physical and intellectual assets of Firefly Energy Inc., to reduce any investment losses that may be realized by the city and county," the news release said.
"The city and county intend to exercise their full rights to protect the interest of the tax payers of the city and county of Peoria," the release said.
Firefly also received a $7 million development contract from the U.S. government in 2007, followed by a $2 million grant from the U.S. military in 2008.
The high-tech start-up company was founded in 2003 by Williams and Mil Ovan, who was senior vice president. The company developed and manufactured a lighter, powerful lead-acid battery, replacing lead plates with graphite foam.
The company laid off 15 people in June amid the struggling economy, and Ovan left in February.
The two governments partnered to provide support to Firefly so the company would expand - and stay - in Peoria.
State Rep. David Leitch, R-Peoria, told the Journal Star before the loan was finalized that officials wanted Firefly to stay in the area. He said Friday he knew the company had been "close to some financial situation for some time," but didn't know what that situation was.
State Sen. David Koehler, D-Peoria, sponsored legislation in November expanding the Illinois Finance Authority's bonding authority for renewable energy projects. At the time, he told the Journal Star that Firefly could benefit from the law.
"It's a shame (Firefly filed for bankruptcy)," he said. "Last I heard, I talked to the CEO last year and they were very optimistic on some of their new technology," he said.
Nine CityLink buses installed Firefly's Oasis batteries in March 2009. Prototype Oasis batteries were also installed in four Freightliner trucks operated by G&D Integrated in Morton in late December 2008.
The batteries cost about $450 each, compared with CityLink's average battery cost of $146.
"Unfortunately, after three years of extensive efforts to make a commercially-viable alternative to the traditional lead-acid battery, Firefly has not been successful," the news release from the city and county said.
Lauren Rees can be reached at 686-3251 or lrees@pjstar.com.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
May again. The back story here is fascinating. First, Firefly was running against the Obama administration's penchant for picking winners and losers. Firefly is not lithium ion, but rather lead acid. Second, the DOE committed $2B to developing lithium ion battery technology and four months later they issued a report with the problems associated with it! Third, I will tell yo what Mil had to say about the state of Michigan and their approach to getting funding for battery technology firms. Fourth, the IP will be sold in an auction later this summer and Mil is not interested in playing a role, but he says the Chinese and the Indians are very interested. Fifth, Mil is a strange mix -- half Serbian and half Swedish. Sixth, in August of 2008, they were going to market for $20MM in funding to add onto the $34MM they had already raised. More on TBIF and the people there next time.]
___________________________________________
The Scoop section:
Apptera Inc., a San Bruno, Calif.-based voice and visual mobile advertising
network, has raised $10 million in Series B funding. New World Ventures led
the round, and was joined by return backers Alloy Ventures, Lightspeed
Venture Partners and Walden International
Apptera Inc., a San Bruno, Calif.-based voice and visual mobile advertising
network, has raised $10 million in Series B funding. New World Ventures led
the round, and was joined by return backers Alloy Ventures, Lightspeed
Venture Partners and Walden International. The company had previously raised
around $35 million over five rounds, including a 2008 recap.
PRESS RELEASE
Apptera (www.apptera.com), the leading voice and visual mobile advertising
network, today announced that it closed a $10 million Series B financing.
The investment was led by New World Ventures. Also participating in the
round were existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Alloy Ventures,
and Walden International. Matt McCall, Partner at New World, will join
Apptera's Board of Directors.
Apptera-The Voice In Mobile Advertising"Apptera's team and innovative
approach to mobile advertising clearly stood out," said Matt McCall.
"Apptera has created a highly effective and innovative mobile advertising
solution for a large, untapped market. New World invests in companies with
strong management, differentiated technology and the ability to capitalize
on large, fast growing markets. Apptera fits the bill in every respect."
Apptera joins other New World investments which include Playdom, Zinch,
TopSchool, TicketsNow and LeftHand Networks.
Apptera's proprietary ad-serving technology enables marketers to effectively
reach and engage a large and valuable mobile audience while enabling
publishers to monetize their phone channel and enhance their customer's
experience with relevant messages. Apptera's voice and visual mobile
advertising technology dynamically inserts relevant and interactive audio
messages into calls and allows advertisers to target their messages based on
a variety of targeting parameters such as a caller's location, mobile
carrier, interests and behavior. Apptera's audio ads are also the starting
point for a wide range of visual engagements and mobile interactions.
Consumers who opt-in to Apptera voice and visual ads can receive
instantaneous or scheduled SMS text messages; mobile coupons or links to
mobile web sites and smart phone application downloads; MMS messages with
embedded videos formatted for their devices; enhanced call services such as
immediate transfers to, or callbacks from, sales agents; or offers to
various products or services billed directly by their mobile carriers.
According to Henry Vogel, Apptera's CEO, "this latest financing and our new
partners will help fuel our continued expansion. We chose New World Ventures
because of Matt's deep domain expertise and collaborative approach.
Moreover, leveraging New World's broad network will help us achieve our
long-term vision of re-inventing mobile advertising. I'm excited to work
with New World and our existing partners at Lightspeed, Alloy and Walden on
our next phase of growth."
About Apptera
Apptera powers the world's leading voice and visual mobile ad network,
generating revenue for leading players in the entertainment, communications,
social media, financial services, retail and other industries. Apptera's
award winning MobileAd XchangeT delivers relevant voice advertisements
in-call as well as follow-on visual mobile engagements, such as SMS and MMS
messages, mobile video, smartphone app downloads, click-to-call and more.
Members of the Mobile Ad Xchange and customers of Apptera's technology
include AT&T's 1-800-YellowPages, AOL Moviefone, MovieTickets.com, Fandango,
iCall, Arsenal Interactive, Bank of America's ATM locator, SaveMart
Supermarkets, GSI Commerce, and many others. Privately funded by leading
venture capital firms including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Alloy Ventures,
Walden International and New World Ventures, Apptera has offices in
Sunnyvale, Los Angeles, and New York City. For additional information, visit
www.apptera.com.
About New World Ventures
New World Ventures, closely affiliated with The Pritzker Group, is a venture
capital firm investing in technology companies with exceptional potential
and helping these companies become market leaders in their space. New
World's sector focus includes enterprise-focused solutions (e.g. SaaS,
telecommunications, IT infrastructure, technology-enabled services) and
Internet-driven businesses (e.g. interactive marketing, e-commerce, social
networking). New World's dedication to active investing and its commitment
to long-term business building have helped its companies achieve outstanding
success. For additional information visit www.newworldvc.com.
_________________________________
DuPage incubator dead!
From: "Charles Stack, MPH" cstack@2ci.com
Sender: "Charles Stack, MPH" cstack@2ci.com
Subject: DuPage incubator dead!
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:14:35 -0500
To: "ron@themayreport.com" ron@themayreport.com
All I can say is "Wow!!" What a wasted resource.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/2420060,dupage-national-technology-park-d
ispute-062210.article
Best, Chuck
Charles R. Stack, MPH
Vice President
Constant Compliance Inc.
140 South Dearborn Street
Suite 411
Chicago, Illinois 60603 USA
Cell phone (630) 841-8706
Fax (312) 782-0936
Website: http://www.2Ci.com/
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Watchdogs: DuPage tech park to be turned over to airport
Schillerstrom's action follows report detailing problems at the privately run operation near West Chicago
Comments
June 22, 2010
By KIM JANSSEN Staff Reporter / kjanssen@suntimes.com
The privately run DuPage National Technology Park - a near-empty west suburban non-profit project that Illinois taxpayers sunk $34 million into - is dead, DuPage County Board chairman Robert Schillerstrom declared today.
Schillerstrom said the tech park will be taken over by the DuPage Airport Authority, which owns the land in West Chicago that backers once hoped the park would turn into a flourishing home for dozens of technology businesses bringing thousands of new, high-tech jobs.
Opponents, though, said the technology park served little purpose other than to provide a Schillerstrom ally, former Naperville City Councilman Jack Tenison, with a $151,857 taxpayer-funded job and benefits. Only two buildings were built there since it opened in 2005; just one is occupied.
Airport bosses had been locked in a battle with Schillerstrom for control of the 800-acre park, which sits on public airport land and is underwritten by the airport budget.
Speaking at a DuPage County Board meeting, Schillerstrom angrily laid blame for the technology park's failure on the airport authority and what he termed "an unrelenting, privately financed public relations attack whose only objective was to wage a scorched-earth campaign against my character, the park and those committed to its development.
"The DuPage Airport Authority can claim victory," Schillerstrom said.
He said there was nothing else he could do after seven of the 10 members of the private, not-for-profit technology park's board wrote to him following a report Monday in the Chicago Sun-Times' "The Watchdogs" column that detailed how Tenison, whom Schillerstrom helped install as executive director in 2002, held onto that post, with Schillerstrom's backing, despite the park's lack of development and even as the airport authority investigated Tenison's unexplained failure to show up at work for several weeks over a three-month span.
Reading a speech that lasted several minutes and made no direct reference to Tenison, Schillerstrom said the unelected airport board had seized control of the county's economic policy by failing to support the tech park. He urged the county board to remove the airport's taxing powers and bring it under direct county control.
The airport authority's fice chairman, Gerald Gorski, a former member of the tech park board, said in the Sun-Times report Monday that he had tried to get rid of Tenison but that Schillerstrom told him Tenison was "my guy." Schillerstrom denied ever saying that and insisted the tech board could have fired Tenison.
Schillerstrom vetoed a budget proposed by the airport authority that would have eliminated its funding of Tenison's job - another move airport officials said was aimed at protecting Tenison.
Schillerstrom, though, said he vetoed the budget because members of the airport authority wouldn't discuss the measure with him and weren't supportive of the technology park's development goals.
He said the airport authority was involved in a "power grab."
The park will now be opened up to businesses outside the tech sector, Gorski said, adding that the site was probably never suited to tech businesses because it isn't on a highway or near a major university.
Schillerstrom said there was plenty of space available in parts of the park not reserved for tech companies and that the problem was that the airport was charging too much for the land.
The handover of the tech park to the airport should be completed within weeks, sources said.
__________________________________
Thursday, June 24: Social Media Club Chicago. TN2020, an international summit hosted by The British Council; NASA, Ireland, Epic Fu, New York State Senate, American Red Cross, Twestival, HartoDel.com, BBC
Social Media Club Chicago. This SMC Chicago mixes it up with attendees in town for TN2020, an international summit hosted by The British Council. You'll hear perspectives from NASA, Ireland, Epic Fu, New York State Senate, American Red Cross, Twestival, HartoDel.com, BBC, and more. 6:00p - 8:30p, Thursday June 24, Holiday Inn Mart Plaza, 350 N. Orleans, Chicago.
SMC Chicago and The British Council Present: Social Media for Global Social Good
Thursday, June 24, 2010 at 6:00 PM (CT)
Chicago, IL
Ticket Information
Ticket Type Sales End Price Fee Quantity
Advance Ticket more info
Ticket admits one. Please note that this is a final purchase. There are no refunds. 1d 32m $10.00 $1.24 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Last Minute more info
Tickets also available at the door for $20 in cash. Thanks! Not Started $20.00 $1.49 N/A
Platinum Sponsor more info
For details, please contact Barbara Rozgonyi at 630.207.7530. Thanks! 1d 5h 32m $1,000.00 $9.95 0 1
Silver Sponsor more info
For details, please contact Barbara Rozgonyi at 630.207.7530. Thanks! 1d 5h 32m $500.00 $9.95 0 1
Enter Discount Code
If you have a discount code, enter it here:
Event Details
This month, we're mixing it up with attendees in town for TN2020, an international summit hosted by The British Council. Take a look at our speaker list! You'll hear perspectives from NASA, Ireland, Epic Fu, New York State Senate, American Red Cross, Twestival, HartoDel.com, BBC, and more!
Emcee: Oli Barrett, @olibarrett, the most networked man in Britain who brought the concept of 'Speednetworking' to the UK, and has hosted literally hundreds of events in over a dozen countries and for numerous organisations.
Make global connections. Learn about how social media is motivating social action. Enjoy the best views in Chicago. Advance your knowledge - your social reach - and your network.
Tickets, $10 before and $20 day of, include program, pizza and salad. Cash bar with drink specials.
Location
Holiday Inn Mart Plaza
350 N. Orleans
Wolf Point Ballroom - event
CityScape Bar - after party
Program
6:00-6:30 Networking
6:30-7:30 Presentations from around the world of social media for social good
7:30-8:30 Q & A, socializing
Social Media for Social Good Speakers
Zadi Diaz
@zadi
New Media Producer, Smashface Productions | Host of Epic Fu, web culture series
TN2020 Member, USA
Title: "How ARG's (alternate reality gaming) &web; shows/entertainment are providing clues to mobilizing the public into social action"
Michelle Gallen
@michellegallen - also tweeting a daily helping of the Irish language through @talkirish
Social entrepreneur
TN2020 Member, Ireland
Title: "Using geolocation for social good"
Noel Hidalgo
@noneck / @NYSenateCIO
Director of Technology Innovation, New York State Senate
TN2020 Member, USA
Title: "In Code We Trust - How social media is transforming one of the most corrupt state legislatures."
Chris Johnston
@ChrisJMCE
Account Director, MCE Public Relations
TN2020 Member, Northern Ireland - UK
Title: "Doing well, by doing good through integrated communication"
Raul Ramirez Riba
@raulramirezriba
Independent Film Director and Chief Editor of Mexican emagazine HartoDel.com
TN2020 Member, Mexico
Title: "Internet Necesario (or how to stop the mexican congress by using twitter in twelve easy steps)
Stephanie Schierholz
@schierholz (and tweet for @NASA and @NASATweetup)
Social Media Manager at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
TN2020 Member, USA
Title: TBD
Anjula Singh
Operations Manager, Eurasia - BBC World Service
TN2020 Member, England - UK
Title: "UGC and Iran 2009
Mark Carter
@mjcarter
Twestival
Jenn Sutherland
@jennsutherland
American Cancer Society
British Council
The British Council [ @BritishCouncil ] is the United Kingdom's international organisation for cultural relations. Operating in over 100 countries around the world, we build engagement and trust for the UK through the exchange of knowledge and ideas between people worldwide.
About TN2020
The British Council's Transatlantic Network 2020 [ @TN2020 ] is a network for action which brings together incredibly talented, young influencers (roughly 25-35 years of age) from business, civil society, the arts, science and media to revitalise transatlantic and global links for the future. Importantly, TN2020 reflects the changing demographics and dynamics of Europe and North America. Our members, who come from more than twenty countries, focus on three areas of international importance - sustainable living; building resilience in communities; and creativity & innovation.
The TN2020 summit is the annual flagship event of TN2020. This year's Chicago summit - running from June 20 -25 2010 - explores the theme "the use of technology for positive change" through Chicago's inventive approaches to issues falling under the three TN2020 focus areas. You can join the TN2020 community and follow the summit at http://blog.tn2020.org, on Facebook at http://facebook.com/TN2020 and via #TN2020 on Twitter.
Social Media Club Chicago
Social Media Club [SMC] is a worldwide organization, with local chapters, that serves as connecting organization for anyone interested in social media. Membership is free and open to all levels, including beginners. Chicago's SMC chapter, launched in October 2008, presents events that mix socializing, networking and learning. Barbara Rozgonyi [@wiredprworks], founder and Jeff Willinger [@jwillie], president, lead the Chicago SMC chapter. Amy Korin [@interactiveamy] coordinates volunteers; Tim McDonald [@tamcdonald] manages communications; and Chris Geier [@chrisgeier] oversees technology. Event attendees include entrepreneurs, corporate communicators, journalists, business professionals, publishers, marketers, media creators, citizen journalists and technology types. For more information, visit http://smcchicago.org, email smcchicagonews@gmail.com, follow @smcchicago on twitter.com or call 630.207.7530.
_______________________________________
Lightbank chief Lefkofsky on the value of 'strategic' money
Groupon co-founder Erik Lefkofsky
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/mag/article.pl?articleId=33596
Lightbank chief Lefkofsky on the value of 'strategic' money
Groupon co-founder Erik Lefkofsky
By: Steve Hendershot June 21, 2010
Technology entrepreneurs Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell, co-founders of Groupon Inc., in March launched Lightbank, an investment firm that funds start-up technology companies. That means they can speak to the wisdom of accepting venture capital from a business owner's perspective and from an investor's. Mr. Lefkofsky tells Crain's how he thinks startups should approach funding, and also why he thinks Chicago is poised for a tech business renaissance.
CRAIN'S: How would you counsel entrepreneurs to deal with the fear that they will lose control of their business if they take a capital investment?
ERIC LEFKOFSKY: I concur with the idea that you don't want to be in a situation where you give up so much control that people who don't know your business nearly as well as you do are steering the ship. But if you start out with a young business, the alternative to just taking capital is to take capital that comes with something else - some other attribute, skill set or advantage. Strategic money is always better in my opinion than just plain money. So even if you have to compromise on valuation a bit in order to get capital that's more strategic, I would always take it. And that's basically what Lightbank is - strategic capital.
We're putting money into these businesses, and then we don't tell them what to do. We don't have the authority to do that. But we're making introductions for them, helping them steer the ship and putting real resources into the business. We don't make any investment without deploying somebody on our team to the business in a near-full-time way, so the companies get real help, not just somebody who comes to a board meeting once a quarter; this is somebody in the trenches with you, digging. I think that's better. It produces an outcome more often than not that's significantly better than if you let (entrepreneurs), who often are doing this for the first time, make a series of mistakes and then have to learn from those mistakes. We hedge a lot of that, and I think that's why they take our money.
Let's say an entrepreneur is ready to accept investment. What kind of deal should be sought?
You should bring in money in a couple of different stages. First, typically you need some right from the get-go - there's some amount of money that's needed to get the business off the ground. At this first stage, whether you're talking about $50,000 or $500,000, there's only one objective with that money: to prove that the business you are building actually works, that it delivers real value to the market, that people actually want the thing you've created, and that you've developed a credible hypothesis on how to make money off of it. You don't have to be making money in those first months, but you do need validation. If you brought in cold, heartless accountants, you want them to agree that based on these assumptions you have made, that seem credible, this business will scale and make money. And if you haven't proved that, you can't graduate to step two.
During the next step, you should be bringing in significant capital to really drive the business. Now you've got a model that works, you've proven your economic hypothesis, and now it's just a matter of scale and speed. So the question is not a matter of how much should you bring in - the answer in this stage is to bring in as much as you possibly can, because the faster you can go the bigger your business will ultimately be. Instead, the issue is really how much should you bring in during that stage without completely diluting your (share of the company), because if you're right about the business, then every six months or year, the company will be worth a lot more. So it's a balancing act. You want to bring in enough money in that second phase that you don't lose your advantages of speed and scale, but you don't bring in so much that you sell half the company for half the price that you could get if you waited a year.
Chicago's business community has a reputation for being conservative and revenue-focused, compared to Silicon Valley, where, the theory goes, a startup isn't under as much pressure to make money right away. What's the right approach?
I don't think it's right to say, "If I go to the coast, then I can be creative and swing for the fences." I think of it as, no matter what you do, or how risky you want to be in launching a business, if you're not truthful with yourself, if you're not self-aware of what's really going on, then you're just wasting your own time and other people's money. So the real issue in my opinion isn't revenue - it's value. We look at tons of businesses that got seed funding from (Silicon) Valley. Angel investors or early-stage venture-capital firms put money on some tech guys who are super-smart, and then two years later the startups are out of money and in total collapse. There are hundreds of these businesses; it's mind-boggling how many there are in the Valley that had promise but turned into nothing. Over and over, the basic missing thing is value. Why start this business in the first place? What problem does it solve? What's its reason to exist? So often, there's no reason - what they do is being done well in 10,000 other places, so why do we need 10,001? So you can take risks and be crazy, you can try to push the fold, but there's some moment in time, three or six months down the road, when you need to look in the mirror and ask, "Does this thing really work? Does it add value?" If the value isn't there, then either stop and do something else or change the business.
Groupon is a case in point. The same guys from Groupon did ThePoint (a previous venture of Messrs. Lefkofsky and Keywell). It's not that we were idiots when we did ThePoint and we were geniuses when we did Groupon. We're no smarter or dumber than we were at any of those moments in time. It's just that we tried one model, and it wasn't gaining adoption, so we tweaked it to become another model that did gain adoption. If we weren't self-aware, then we would be riding ThePoint all the way into the ground.
What do you think the future holds for tech businesses in Chicago?
This is why I think Chicago is about to have its moment in the sun. What's happened is, if you go back 10 or 20 years, there was such a significant technology barrier to building these Internet businesses because the Internet was new and the technology was very clunky and mathematical. All the tools were new tools, and they were very algorithmically arduous. So what happened was that, where there was great tech talent, you built the great tech businesses. As a result, the Valley became the Valley.
But now, in 2010, all the tools you need to build an Internet have been kind of dumb-ified. If we were building an e-commerce shopping cart in 1998, it was very tricky and took expertise. Now you can download an open-source shopping cart in two seconds and plug it into a Web site. My 11-year-old could do it.
By bringing the technology barrier down, the tech skill becomes less relevant and business skills become more relevant - entrepreneurial skills, sales skills, accounting skills and all the other attributes that lead people to be successful. Places like Chicago have always been long on those attributes, just short on tech talent. But now that those tech skills are less relevant, we will have our moment.
©2010 by Crain Communications Inc.
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wrote:
Question:
It is my understanding that Lightbank takes a percentage of the new company's common stock in exchange for the capital, access, networking, and mentoring to develop it. This makes sense so that they have a piece of the action to make it succeed.
What is the percentage of common stock required to make things happen if the proposal is acceptable for development?
John K
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It was only 3.5 years ago that Barron's wrote this about Eric Lefkofsky
From TMR: 1/23/2007
A must read: Barron's, Jan. 15, 2007: InnerWorkings and Eric P. Lefkowsky who also used to run Starbelly
Barron's. New York, N.Y.: Jan 15, 2007.Vol.87, Iss. 3; pg. 47, 1 pgs
InnerWorkings claim that its proprietary software is radically changing how American companies procure print jobs. In just the five months since their initial offering, InnerWorkings shares have risen a radical 80%, with a recent print of 16.20. But, InnerWorkings goes to great lengths to obscure its ownership and control by a chap named Eric P. Lefkofsky who has a history of busting investors after promising to radically transform bricks-and-mortar industries. The last-reported 12 months' profits amounted to a paltry $5.7 million. So the current stock market valuation of $700 million is 125-times those trailing profits. Unwilling to wait even until the Feb 11 expiration of InnerWorkings's IPO lockup agreement, Lefkofsky and other insiders would unload 6.2 million shares in the follow-on offering that Morgan Stanley reportedly wants to price this week. That would net insiders $100 million.
The key figure in a software company selling stock has left a trail of unhappy investors.
IN A ROAD SHOW CONTINUING THIS week, Morgan Stanley hopes to persuade investors to part with $150 million for the follow-on stock offering of a company called InnerWorkings. This Chicago-based company claims that its proprietary software is radically changing how American companies procure print jobs. In just the five months since their initial offering, InnerWorkings shares (ticker: INWK) have risen a radical 80%, with a recent print of 16.20.
But those reading the prospectus should also re-read the Dr. Seuss story about the Sneetches, who paid a huckster to change their plain bellies into star bellies, and vice versa. The chap ends up leaving town with all their money, while laughing: "They never will learn...You can't teach a Sneeteh!"
You see, InnerWorkings goes to great lengths to obscure its ownership and control by a chap named Eric P. Lefkofsky who has a history of busting investors after promising to radically transform bricks-and-mortar industries. He seems to identify with Dr. Seuss's huckster: he called his last business Starbelly.com, a venture that rapidly went into bankruptcy and provoked fraud suits by investors alleging that Starbelly's software was never what Lefkofsky promised. The current InnerWorkings road show and stock-offering is, in part, aimed at cashing out much of Lefkofsky's stock while InnerWorkings shares teeter at stilted levels.
Eerily like Starbelly, there's less than meets the eye to the company's touted "PPM4" software, say some InnerWorkings ex-employees. In the weeks before Morgan Stanley's eagle-eyed due diligence team toured InnerWorkings for its August 2006 initial underwriting, workers stayed late padding the company's off-the-shelf FileMaker Pro database with an impressive-looking list of suppliers. Then they dummied up some screen-shots of the software for the inside cover of the prospectus. Citing the quiet period prior to its stock offering, the company declined to answer my questions.
Despite its Potemkin technology trappings, InnerWorkings is a glorified broker of print jobs. Like others of its ilk, it beats up on printers on behalf of corporate clients and splits any savings it extracts. Much of its sales growth has come through roll-up acquisitions of other print brokers. And a related-party transaction in the months before the IPO seems to have produced a big part of InnerWorkings' profits. Even so, the last-reported 12 months' profits amounted to a paltry $5.7 million. So the current stock market valuation of $700 million is 125-times those trailing profits.
That's a ridiculous valuation for a company in the mundane print brokerage business. And I suspect that fact isn't lost on the 37-year-old Lefkofsky who, with his wife and others, controls 35% of InnerWorkings shares via some holding companies. Unwilling to wait even until the Feb. 11 expiration of InnerWorkings's IPO lockup agreement, Lefkofsky and other insiders would unload 62 million shares in the follow-on offering that Morgan Stanley reportedly wants to price this week. That would net insiders $100 million.
InnerWorkings' prospectus makes only passing mention of Lefkofsky, with a sentence buried on page 54 describing him as someone "instrumental in the formation and development of our company" who served as a director until May 2006 and also as a consultant. When I asked InnerWorkings about him last week, a company spokesman said Lefkofsky consulting had stopped back in June 2006.
So I thought it generous of Lefkofsky to be still laboring at InnerWorkings on Friday, while the firm's title-bearing leaders junketed on Morgan Stanley's road show. The InnerWorkings phone directory doesn't list Lefkofsky, but the company operator quickly put me through to his office, where a friendly-sounding lady told me he was running a meeting. He did not return repeated voice-mails and e-mails.
Ex-employees tell me that the company's disclosures hardly do justice to Lefkofsky's daily role at the company, where he has remained a foul-mouthed, coffee-chugging boss who micro-manages InnerWorkings by force of his strong personality and his group's 35% control position. On the other hand, it's easy to see why the company and its underwriters would want him to remain behind the curtain. He's left a trail of burned investors and fraud allegations. Just out of law school in 1994, Lefkofsky got the city of Columbus, Wisc., to back his takeover of a local clothing maker where he promised to create jobs making apparel branded by major-league sports teams. After laying off the workers, the firm sought bankruptcy protection, with its bankers alleging in a state suit that Lefkofsky applied the business's resources to starting his next venture, Starbelly.
Business-to-business procurement Websites were hot in 1999, and Starbelly.com held itself out as a marketplace where companies could arrange to put their logos on promotional items of clothing and hard goods like coffee mugs. Through some family connections, Lefkofsky and his partners attracted the "eye of a Chicago-based promotional items vendor named Ha-Lo Industries. A due diligence investigation by Ernst & Young warned Ha-Lo that Starbelly's software was not as proprietary-or even as functional-as Starbelly claimed, according to Ha-Lo documents discovered in subsequent shareholder suits. The publicly-held Ha-Lo nevertheless bought Starbelly for $240 million in cash and stock in May 2000, saying that Starbelly's website would bring in $1 billion in revenues.
Lefkofsky and his Starbelly pals quickly assumed control of Ha-Lo, according to lawsuit records. But the software fizzled and the website was a flop. In scarcely a year, Ha-Lo wrote off Starbelly completely. It entered bankruptcy court in July 2001. Class action fraud suits against Lefkofsky and others were ultimately settled, but not before turning up vulgar, reckless Lefkofsky e-mails (one of which is reproduced verbatim below) that might bring shudders to any public investor entrusting her savings to his latest venture.
"Lets get funky. Lets announce everything. Lets be WILDLY positive in our forecasts," he told his Ha-Lo colleagues, even as that business was falling apart. "if we get wacked on the ride down- who gives a sh*t. Is it going to worse than today? is our market cap going to fall to 200N, 100M who the f**k cares."
No wonder he's taken a low public profile since starting Inner Workings with Richard A. Heise, Jr.-another promoter hounded himself by the fraud suits of investors who said he never delivered his promised Internet software for managing executive benefit plans.
Numerous ex-employees of InnerWorkings told me that its vaunted software also doesn't work as claimed. A century ago, there was an investor named Mark Twain who lost a bundle investing in ersatz printing technologies. He said that history doesn't repeat itself, but sometimes it rhymes.
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Ex-Naperville councilman is the king of nothing
Ex-Naperville councilman makes $151,857 a year overseeing failed tech park
http://www.suntimes.com/news/watchdogs/2413464,CST-NWS-watchdogs21.article
Ex-Naperville councilman is the king of nothing
Ex-Naperville councilman makes $151,857 a year overseeing failed tech park
Comments
June 21, 2010
BY DAVE McKINNEY The Watchdogs
Over the years, Illinois taxpayers have sunk $34 million -- for roads, lighting and landscaping -- into a chunk of wasteland in West Chicago known as the DuPage National Technology Park.
Spread over 800 acres, the government-funded, privately run, nonprofit technology park was envisioned as the home for dozens of high-tech companies that would provide thousands of new technology jobs. Created thanks to the efforts of former U.S. House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), former Illinois Senate President James "Pate" Philip (R-Wood Dale) and DuPage County Board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom, it was dedicated in 2005 and is billed as "North America's most advanced business park."
» Click to enlarge image
Jack Tenison (inset) is executive director of the DuPage National Technology Park, which has only two buildings, one of them vacant.
It's also one of the loneliest. To date, just two buildings have been built there -- and one of them isn't occupied.
This is Jack Tenison's realm.
Since 2002, when Schillerstrom helped install Tenison in the post, the former two-term Naperville city councilman has been executive director of the tech park, in charge of its development.
And he has held on to the job thanks to Schillerstrom, even as questions have arisen over just what it is that Tenison does to earn his $151,857 yearly salary, $6,000 annual car allowance, six weeks of paid vacation and eight paid holidays.
Tenison came under investigation earlier this year by the DuPage Airport Authority, the government agency that underwrites the tech park and owns the land on which it sits. That was after people complained that he rarely showed up for work at the tech park's administrative suite in the airport office complex.
"A number of airport employees reported ... that they had not seen Jack around, hadn't seen him in the office, hadn't seen him in the flight center," says Gerald Gorski, a Wheaton lawyer who is vice chairman of the airport authority board and a former chairman of the tech park board to which Tenison is supposed to report. "So we decided to monitor this and see if Jack was really doing his job."
They documented that Tenison had parked his car in the underground garage beneath his office just 10 times between November 2009 and late January of this year.
That proves nothing, says Tenison, who turned in his parking pass but remains on the job.
"I was never directed by anyone that I had to work out of the airport office every day," says Tenison, 60, a past Schillerstrom campaign worker and contributor who also draws an annual government pension of $118,420 for his 29 years of combined service as a Naperville municipal employee and a top administrator under Schillerstrom. "The question should be the quality and quantity of my work output, not where I physically sit."
Of the finding that he showed up at his office just 10 times over three months, Tenison says, "That is not an accurate reflection, in my opinion, of how many times I'd gone in during that period of time."
In fact, he says he recalls actually being at his office 14 days during the three-month span that was monitored.
He says he took a "significant" period off during that time to visit a dying aunt in California, taking 19 days in all for vacation -- but didn't tell anyone on the tech park board or airport authority board he'd be gone.
Other times, he says, he parked elsewhere at the airport complex because he was either driving his wife's car or forgot to bring his parking pass.
Also, he says that, for four of those monitored days, he was at an "off-site training seminar" and that he worked from his home office for another 13 days, though, again, without informing anyone on the board that he reports to.
"I think a lot of people telecommute and do their jobs," Tenison says. "I can work any place I have a phone, computer and Internet connection."
He says he has done plenty for the tech park.
"I don't want to sound arrogant or anything, but I built the tech park," says Tenison. "I built that infrastructure out there. I put in the fiber optics. I worked on the design. It's not a job to me. It's a passion. I'm always doing work."
Yet Peter Huizenga, the influential chairman of the nonprofit board to whom Tenison reports, and who is also a member of the DuPage Airport Authority, wants him fired and the board's functions absorbed by the airport authority.
The only thing that Tenison really does, according to Huizenga, is make sure the tech park's lawns get mowed.
"We don't need Jack," says Huizenga. "But Jack is trying to justify his position. He's making nice money and trying to keep that going for himself. If I were Jack, would I do the same thing? Possibly. But someone's got to make a decision to stop all this nonsense."
Gorski agrees: "He's drawing a pension, then he picks up $150,000 or $160,000 in salary from us, plus his benefits -- he's near $300,000. For what?"
Schillerstrom -- who has backed Tenison in the past -- stops short of doing so now. He acknowledges that he doesn't allow county employees to work from home at will, as Tenison says he does. And he says he hadn't been told of the findings regarding Tenison's comings and goings from his airport office, saying ''this is the first I am hearing about this issue.''
"If Chairman Huizenga and Gerry Gorski, who previously served as tech park chairman, have a problem with their employee's performance, then it is their responsibility to handle the situation appropriately," says Schillerstrom, a lawyer who is retiring from his longtime county post. "When I appoint individuals like Mr. Huizenga and Mr. Gorski to these appointed bodies, I do so because I believe they are competent individuals who are able to handle the daily operations of their post."
Gorski says he began pushing for Tenison's ouster in 2006.
"I determined it was time for him to go," says Gorski. "Then, I get a telephone call from Bob Schillerstrom, who tells me, 'Gerry, don't forget, Jack's my guy'."
And he, Huizenga and the rest of the airport authority again tried to get rid of Tenison after their investigation earlier this year, moving to end the yearly $315,000 subsidy it pays to the tech park board -- an amount that covers the salary and benefits of Tenison and his assistant.
But in February, Schillerstrom used his veto power for the first time, vetoing the airport authority's entire budget and, according to Gorski, insisting that the tech park funding be restored.
"That represented restoring the money that was used to pay Jack," says Gorski, whose term on the airport board is up. "We were forced to do that."
With Tenison appearing to be entrenched, state Sen. Kirk Dillard (R-Hinsdale) says he'll ask the Illinois auditor general's office "to look at how the state's money has been utilized" by the tech park.
"In this -- or any -- economic climate, a $9,000 [monthly] governmental pension and a gigantic salary with no accountability and nothing to show for the success or building of a technological hub is just outrageous," says Dillard, "and taxpayers should be furious."
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Lucid Realty Launches CHUMP Pricing Plan in Chicago Area - Same Great Real Estate Service at a Higher Price
From: "Gary Lucido" glucido@lucidrealty.com
Subject: Thought you might find this interesting - or at least amusing
Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2010 10:57:55 -0500
To: "Gary Lucido" glucido@lucidrealty.com
Press release issued this morning
Lucid Realty Launches CHUMP Pricing Plan in Chicago Area - Same Great Real Estate Service at a Higher Price
Optional pricing plan allows Chicago home buyers and sellers to forgo savings on personalized real estate services. ...consumers are skeptical that today's technology enables a discount broker to match and even exceed the service provided by traditional brokers so we need to offer these folks a more costly alternative.
Chicago, IL (PRWEB) June 21, 2010 -- Lucid Realty, Inc. today introduced CHUMP, a full price real estate service targeted to Chicago area home buyers and sellers who erroneously believe that you get what you pay for. CHUMP (Catering to Highly Unsophisticated and Misguided People) allows real estate clients to receive the same legendary service provided to Lucid Realty's regular home buyers and sellers but forgo the savings that are normally offered in the form of rebates to buyers and discounted commissions to sellers. Clients who choose this more traditional pricing plan will still be entitled to Lucid Realty's in-depth real estate market knowledge, personal attention, relentless follow up, strong negotiation skills, and high degree of responsiveness but can now feel better that it is costing them more money.
Chicago's Full Service, Discount Real Estate Broker"CHUMP is an optional plan that we introduced to appeal to those Chicago area consumers that still believe, despite all evidence to the contrary, that traditional, full-priced real estate brokers offer some vague advantage," said Gary Lucido, Lucid Realty's President. "These consumers are skeptical that today's technology enables a discount broker to match and even exceed the service provided by traditional brokers so we need to offer these folks a more costly alternative. And, of course, we like the idea of earning the same profit margins as our competition without expending any additional effort."
CHUMP buyers will still receive the full complement of services currently provided to buyers that receive a commission rebate at closing, such as an ongoing discussion of needs, access to custom searches in the MLS, scheduling and conducting property tours, analysis of real estate values, preparing formal offers and negotiating terms, and a large variety of real estate transaction related tasks.
CHUMP sellers will receive the complete suite of home marketing services currently provided to sellers receiving a discounted real estate commission, such as ongoing analysis of real estate values, professional photographs/ virtual tour, broad distribution of the listing on the Internet, numerous marketing materials, custom Web site, schedule and conduct all showings, weekly feedback, evaluate offers and negotiate terms, and perform a large variety of real estate transaction related tasks. In addition, whether you are a CHUMP seller or not, Lucid Realty will even coordinate the FHA approval of your condominium building in an effort to improve the marketability of the entire building.
"The idea for CHUMP was actually born from reviewing research on wine tasting," said Sari Levy, Lucid Realty's Managing Broker. "Even wine experts, presented with two identical bottles of wine with different price tags, will believe that the 'more expensive' wine tastes better. This is an easy and very profitable way for us to raise people's perceptions."
About Lucid Realty, Inc.
Lucid Realty, Inc. is the Chicago area's full service, discount, real estate brokerage. Lucid Realty distances itself from traditional brokerages and provides a better value to the consumer:
· It is a full service broker,
· Offering substantial savings to both buyers and sellers,
· Providing services by employees not independent contractors,
· Working as a team instead of competing against one another,
· With professionalism and high standards of customer service.
More information is available at http://LucidRealty.com
Gary Lucido
President
Lucid Realty, Inc.
LucidRealty.com
Our Real Estate Blog
312-738-0232
___________________________________________
Tom Malkin: GeeYee Publication
From: "Thomas Malkin" tmalkin@geeyee.com
Subject: GeeYee Publication
Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2010 06:47:09 -0500
To: ron@themayreport.com
Hi Ron,
Click here to read a co-written article published in May's Alert! (the trade journal for the Marketing Research Association) describing how a marketing research firm is using GeeYee's Social Media Analysis Service to grow its bottom line.
Would love your feedback!
Talk soon,
Tom
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Social Media as a Catalyst for Growing a Marketing Research Firm's Business
By Kathy Doyle & Thomas Malkin (published in the Marketing Research Association's Alert! Magazine, May 2010)
I met Tom Malkin, President of GeeYee, in the fall of 2008 at a conference I was speaking at. He was my first real introduction to the idea of social media as a business tool. Yes, I was on Facebook, but that's not what Tom was talking about. He was talking about tapping into the vast quantities of data available for the taking, and using them to inform business decisions.
I was intrigued by GeeYee's process, and social media analysis in general, but it didn't take long before I also saw the threat to my industry. After all, social media is truly qualitative data on a quantitative scale. And I had to ask myself: If data is that easy to obtain, why should clients continue to hire qualitative research firms such as mine? Where is our value?
Being an optimist, I chose to embrace this new tool, explore how it worked, and look for that opportunity. And I soon found it. Yes, there are now mass quantities of qualitative data available for the taking, but now moreso than ever, there is still a place for traditional qualitative research, and for qualitative researchers to embrace social media and use it as an opportunity to add value for our clients. Here's why: because the data raises as many questions as it answers, and those questions need to be explored further; because the data can be overwhelming and our busy clients need an interpreter; and because we can help them frame the data, analyze it, and tell the story behind it. And with our "outsider" perspective, that very quality our clients have always valued, we can often see stories in the data that they cannot see for themselves.
So how are we using GeeYee's tool? Doyle Research uses GeeYee's social media analysis service to search millions of blogs, forums, review sites, and other social media for "chatter" around specific brands and/or topics. Information is then organized into reports that we access online, and use as a discovery tool prior to qualitative research. We use this tool to 1) Discover issues to explore further with qualitative research; 2) Clarify research parameters, or identify and define target markets; and 3) Supplement more traditional secondary research as "background" prior to a major qualitative initiative.
In other words, we are currently using social media analysis as a complement to the qualitative methods we already employ, not as a replacement for them.
"We are currently using social media analysis as a complement to the qualitative methods we already employ, not as a replacement for them."
Two examples of how GeeYee's service has been used by our firm:
Brand X is in a declining category. We were asked to help them understand the reasons behind the decline, and help them identify areas of future opportunity and growth. We began with GeeYee's social media analysis service, Opinion Observer, and used the tool to discover issues and consumer segments to focus on in the next phase. The resulting learning helped define study parameters and identify a target segment on which to focus in phase two qualitative research.
Another client was asked to reposition its brand to deliver against a new corporate mandate. To begin with, they wanted to understand the mandate from a consumer's perspective. GeeYee's social media analysis service was proposed as a complement to Doyle Research's MineSights® service (qualitative meta-analysis) to help focus new product development efforts.
While we are still experimenting with social media analysis as a tool, learning the strengths and limitations of social media, and the best ways in which to utilize it, we have come to view it not as a threat, but rather as another tool in our toolbox, not to mention an additional source of revenue.
In addition to how Doyle Research is using social media to complement and grow its business, GeeYee has seen marketing research firms generate new revenue streams by using social media to 1) Benchmark prior quantitative and qualitative research and customer recommendations; 2) Support hypotheses (or "hunches") with the purpose of pitching and winning new business to prospects or existing clients; and 3) Get the full story on the voice of the customer to maximize client recommendations.
Furthermore, GeeYee's ACTION formula has served as a guide for firms in using social media to complement their core value proposition: Traditional Marketing Research + Social Media Insights + Monitoring = ACTION.
This formula emphasizes that marketing research firms want insights over listening, for you can listen all day long and never come up with insights. Additionally, the combination of "classic" quantitative and qualitative marketing research with social media insights is a constant reminder that social media is directional and traditional marketing research is representative (hence the need to have both in order to obtain the full story of the voice of the customer).
You'll notice that the formula also includes "monitoring" as a necessary component to ensure actionable results are obtained for your customers. This is because the large volume of constantly changing voices of customers can have sudden impacts on a brand that need to be detected in the form of an emerging trend rather than an after-the fact. For this reason, the need for a firm's customers to have monitoring has created a recurring-revenue opportunity for marketing research firms whereby they can anticipate insights rather than service their clients solely in historical snapshots.
"The combination of 'classic' quantitative and qualitative marketing research with social media insights is a constant reminder that social media is directional and traditional marketing research is representative."
In monitoring, it is important to pay heed to the following: 1) Insights into product development, brand perception, emerging trends and crisis management are optimized when entire product categories and their respective issues are visualized (and not just brands or products); 2) Alerts are more meaningful if they are beyond the subject and at the issue-based level; 3) Monitoring on the basis of relevant social media data is critical (i.e. you don't want Tropicana Suntan lotion in the Tropicana Orange Juice study); 4) You want to ensure your automated solution can account for context-dependent opinions, implicit subjects, and implicit product features/issues since people communicate in a more familiar manner in social media; and, lastly, 5) A machine learning capability will provide consistency and refined accuracy over time that will come through your domain expertise.
In conclusion, social media has created a data point that can optimize decision making. Just make sure that the social media solution you ultimately choose complements your core competency and doesn't take you away from it.
Kathy Doyle is the CEO of Doyle Research, & Thomas Malkin is the President of GeeYee.
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Bob Ingersoll: Thursday, June 24: Jonathan Alter, The Promise
From: Bob Ingersoll bobingersoll@gmail.com
Subject: Jonathan Alter, The Promise
Date: Sat, 19 Jun 2010 17:23:45 -0500
To: ron@themayreport.com
Ron, I am thinking about attending. Are you interested? Bob
Jonathan Alter, The Promise
Where:
Francis W Parker School
null 2233 N Clark Street
Chicago, IL 60614
Tickets:
General: $10.00
CHF Members: $5.00
When:
#100: Thu, Jun. 24 7:00 - 8:00 PM
__________________________________
Charles Stack: Trib. article with graphics
From: "Charles Stack, MPH" cstack@2ci.com
Sender: "Charles Stack, MPH" cstack@2ci.com
Subject: Hey Ron, cool Tribune graphic re: Chicago tech
Date: Sat, 19 Jun 2010 23:17:01 -0500
To: "ron@themayreport.com" ron@themayreport.com
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-0620-computer-tech-gfc.eps-201
00620,0,2606456.graphic
Thought you might like this! Later, Chuck
Charles R. Stack, MPH
Vice President
Constant Compliance Inc.
140 South Dearborn Street
Suite 411
Chicago, Illinois 60603 USA
Cell phone (630) 841-8706
Fax (312) 782-0936
Website: http://www.2Ci.com/
______________________________________
Anonymous: Ron, have you learned nothing?
From: Name withheld although not requested
Subject: Re: The May Report: 6/18/2010: Flashpoint and Tribeca, Robert De Niro's firm; What is up with Analyte Media?; Several mobile app events next week (TBIF, TC Mobile and a beer party); For Weinstein, it is follow the white powder road -- and maybe rehab, plus
Date: Sat, 19 Jun 2010 00:15:17 -0400
To: ron@themayreport.com, RONALDMAY@aol.com
dude, are you fu**ing insane with this white powder s**t?
have you learned NOTHING from being sued so damn often?
are you getting stupider?
_____________________________________
Questions to ask when venture capitalists knock on your door
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/mag/article.pl?articleId=33594
Questions to ask when venture capitalists knock on your door
By: Kevin McKeough June 21, 2010
Venture capital is not for everyone. "For as long as venture capital has been in the mainstream of entrepreneurial finance, there's been a discussion of for what types of firms it's appropriate," says Raman Chadha, executive director of DePaul University's Coleman Center for Entrepreneurship. He and other experts suggest that entrepreneurs ask themselves these questions when deciding whether to seek venture capital:
How much money do you really need? "Most venture capitalists aren't going to be interested in investing less than $1 million or $2 million," says Ellen Rudnick, executive director of the University of Chicago's Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship.
Outside of manufacturing and research-intensive fields like biotech, many businesses can keep their expenses low enough that entrepreneurs can fund their beginnings from personal and professional networks. On the other hand, a capital-intensive company may need additional funding later, and entrepreneurs who have cut one venture-capital deal need to know when they can raise more money under its terms.
Do you need to move quickly? "Venture capital is great when you need to capture marketshare and by using capital you can get customers faster, or when you know a competitor is doing something and you want to beat them to the punch," DePaul's Mr. Chadha says.
Bret Maxwell
Bret Maxwell | Photo: Stephen J. Serio
Or can you wait a while longer? U of C's Ms. Rudnick points out that the longer a company can fund its own growth before seeking outside money, the more it will be worth and the less equity the founders will have to relinquish. "If you can bootstrap this thing for a year-and-a-half, instead of giving up half the company, you may only have to give up 10%," she says.
Are you prepared to give up control? VC investors get seats on the company's board, and deal terms often give them the right to remove founders from leadership. "The entrepreneurs need to decide: Is control more important or is a successful business more important?" says Bret Maxwell, managing general partner at MK Capital in Chicago, who estimates that less than a third of founders remain in charge until the exit point.
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The hired gun: Jason Liu describes life as a stand-in CEO for VC-backed firms
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/mag/article.pl?articleId=33592
The hired gun: Jason Liu describes life as a stand-in CEO for VC-backed firms
By: Kevin McKeough June 21, 2010
When a venture-capital-funded company isn't meeting the performance targets called for in the funding agreement, the investment team typically brings in new management. Jason Liu has made something of a career as a go-to replacement CEO in these situations. He's taken the reins at four high-tech companies in the past 11 years, once at the founder's request, the other three times at investors' initiative. Currently he's president and CEO of Univa UD in Lisle, which makes cloud computing management software. Mr. Liu talked to Crain's about how he moves companies and their founders in new directions.
CRAIN'S: Given that most founders of venture-capital-backed companies wind up being replaced as CEO, does it make sense for them to be taking the funding in the first place?
MR. LIU: It depends on the individual entrepreneur. Is it more important that the business succeeds or that you're running the business? What's your ability and willingness to share in the decision-making process with an outside party like a venture fund? If your goal is to run the company and make all the decisions, you're probably not a good candidate for venture financing. If you're willing to share in the decision-making process whether you're running it or not, venture may be appropriate.
What sort of issues do you face when you take over from a founder?
The founder usually has a hard time understanding why the company is not successful. They tend to have justifications that are everything but the fact that the company has not been well-run. I help them understand how prior decisions that they made contributed to the organization not performing well. My preference is to keep them engaged because they typically are very talented people with things to add to the business, and it's a loss if they can't stay with the company.
Under what circumstances do investors usually bring in a new CEO?
If you're not growing between 75% and 100% a year, you won't be meeting the expectations of your venture fund. I'm inheriting fairly challenging situations where you're not growing at that rate and there is some foundation-setting you have to do.
What creates those situations?
Companies that have not been successful that have been venture-backed follow the same pattern. The market they're going after is too narrow and they don't have a set of product requirements that allow for a repeatable sales process. Unknowingly, they're building custom products that aren't generalizable to allow a company to grow fast. A lot of times companies add sales people and start selling prematurely when they don't have a product that is ready. That is a constant mistake that's made.
Does venture funding contribute to that problem?
It's fair to say venture-capital money pushes people to make the mistake. When your expectations are to grow from 75% to 100% a year, you tend to be more aggressive in pursing the marketing and sales investment than you probably would be if you bootstrap it.
What steps do you take when you assume leadership of a company?
Typically you have to start with defining the market properly and then identifying a set of product requirements that can allow you to build a product that can be sold in large quantity. Once you do that, you can start adding sales people.
What's made you so in demand as a turnaround CEO?
After doing this now for north of a decade, you develop some skill sets and expertise in how to do this right. There is a methodology and process that I go through that's pretty honed to try to build up the company. There's also general characteristics you need to do these types of things. You've got to have leadership skills, but you've also got to have an even-keeled personality in difficult situations and the energy to get these companies turned around.
©2010 by Crain Communications Inc.
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One entrepreneur's tale: The highs and lows of outside investment
Scott Rediger turned to venture capital to fund all three of his startups
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/mag/article.pl?articleId=33591
One entrepreneur's tale: The highs and lows of outside investment
Scott Rediger turned to venture capital to fund all three of his startups. Photo: Erik Unger
By: Kevin McKeough June 21, 2010
Venture capital helped Scott Rediger make and lose a lot of money over the past 13 years. Now he's giving it another try.
The CEO of Access Media 3 Inc. in Oak Brook, Mr. Rediger, 41, secured $10 million in funding for the company from Denver-based Meritage Funds and WP Global Partners Inc. of Chicago in November. Access Media 3 provides Internet, cable TV and telecommunications services to condominium and apartment complexes and retirement centers. Mr. Rediger started the company with three partners by buying half the ownership of a small Internet operator in January 2007.
It's his third startup. After beginning his career with MFS Communications Co., an Oak Brook fiber-optic long-distance and Internet network company later sold to WorldCom, Mr. Rediger and a partner co-founded Ovation Communications Inc. in 1997. He raised $12 million in funding from Boston-based M/C Venture Partners before Ovation, which built data and fiber-optic networks, had its first customer.
"It was a business plan, a strategy, a missing presence in a marketplace that created a good investment opportunity," Mr. Rediger says. He later secured an additional $4 million in equity and $12 million in debt to fund the company's growth. Ovation launched in Minneapolis and expanded to four markets in two years, when Mr. Rediger sold it for $402 million, reaping a windfall.
In February 2000, he started a data center managed services company, Dantis Inc., with his own money and secured investor commitments of $75 million in equity and another $75 million in debt, again before Dantis had any customers. This time, though, he got caught in the dot-com bust, and his investors slowed the funding.
"It made it very difficult to grow the business," Mr. Rediger says. Dantis received about $45 million of the expected financing before its board decided to shut it down.
Mr. Rediger says his own financial loss on the venture was significant, but "not one part of that scared me away from the private-equity world." Still, he moved cautiously when looking for venture capital for Access Media 3, passing on a $12-million investment in November 2008, when the credit crisis made money of any kind hard to come by.
"The investor's liquidity plans were very different than what the company would have needed to grow. We had term sheets on the table, and we walked away," he says.
Instead, Mr. Rediger and a partner led a $1-million round of funding from friends and family in January 2009. The money allowed Access Media 3 to serve clients and make small acquisitions that accelerated growth.
Mr. Rediger says the company has grown from serving 15 buildings when he bought the enterprise to more than 300 in Chicago and the Twin Cities today. He plans to expand to other markets, using the $10-million investment to grow his salesforce and make acquisitions - including three completed since the venture funding.
"We waited on the right partner," says Mr. Rediger, who talked to more than 30 venture-capital and private-equity firms in Chicago, New York, Boston and Los Angeles. "They don't just come with money - they come with operational experience and contacts." He also says the investors' five- to seven-year time frame for cashing in on the investment gives him enough time to grow Access Media 3 the way he wants.
"Private equity has its place in growing a business, as long as everybody's aligned and you share common goals," he says.
©2010 by Crain Communications Inc.
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Google, Twitter Go to Bat For Theflyonthewall
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/06/22/technology/tech-us-flyonthewall.html?_r=2&dbk
Google, Twitter Go to Bat For Theflyonthewall
By REUTERS
Published: June 22, 2010
Filed at 1:15 a.m. ET
(Reuters) - Google Inc and Twitter Inc have asked an appeals court to overturn a lower court's decision to bar Theflyonthewall.com from issuing immediate news on analyst research from several Wall Street banks, court documents showed.
Theflyonthewall.com posted headlines from research reports and press releases on its website, often before banks could share their recommendations with their clients.
In March, U.S. District Judge Denise Cote said Theflyonthewall.com engaged in "systematic misappropriation," essentially getting a "free ride" from its quick publication of upgrades and downgrades that can move stocks higher and lower.
The ruling was made in favor of Bank of America Corp's Merrill Lynch unit, Barclays Plc and Morgan Stanley, which had earlier sought court intervention to ban Theflyonthewall from using their research reports.
However, in a filing with an appeals court late on Monday, Google and Twitter argued that in the age of Internet and instantaneous communication, banning of Theflyonthewall.com's immediate news dissemination was "obsolete."
"News reporting always has been a complex ecosystem, where what is 'news' is often driven by certain influential news organizations, with others republishing or broadcasting those facts -- all to the benefit of the public," the companies said in the filing.
Google and Twitter argued that upholding the district court's decision would give those who obtained the news first strong incentives to block others from obtaining the same information.
The companies also said it was tough to implement "any period of exclusivity" for news.
It would be impossible to craft and enforce a rule restricting the dissemination of readily accessible factual information, the companies said. They requested the court to recognize that "hot news" misappropriation could no longer be practically or fairly applied.
"How, for example, would a court pick a time period during which facts about the recent Times Square bombing attempt would be non-reportable by others?" the companies said in the filing.
The case is IN re: Barclays Capital et al v Theflyonthewall.com, Case No. 10-1372, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
(Reporting by Sakthi Prasad in Bangalore; Editing by Valerie Lee)
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Elon Musk, PayPal Pioneer, Is Paper-Rich, Cash-Poor
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/22/business/22sorkin.html?dbk
Elon Musk, PayPal Pioneer, Is Paper-Rich, Cash-Poor
By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN
Published: June 21, 2010
The funny thing about Elon Musk is that he does sort of remind you of Tony Stark. Minus the Iron Man suit.
Like the fictional Mr. Stark, Mr. Musk seems like the kind of guy every Silicon Valley hopeful wants to be. For starters, he's a rocket scientist. No, really: he helped design the Falcon 9 booster used by NASA. He also helped create Solar City, a leader in solar power. And he helped dream up the Tesla, the electric car that made electric cars sexy. No wonder the film director Jon Favreau modeled his über-capitalist superhero on Mr. Musk.
There is just one small problem: Mr. Musk says he is broke.
Come again? Mr. Musk is a member of the PayPal Mafia - those serial entrepreneurs who, for a time, looked like the Brat Pack of the Valley. He made a fortune as a co-founder of PayPal, the e-commerce payments system. Not so long ago, he had more than $200 million in cash. Not bad for 38.
Now Mr. Musk, who is in the middle of a divorce, says his account is empty. Actually, less than empty. He says he invested his last cent in his businesses and is living off loans from his wealthy friends. He subsists, according to court filings, on $200,000 a month and still flies his private jet.
"About four months ago, I ran out of cash," Mr. Musk acknowledged in a divorce court filing that was widely circulated among the West Coast digital elite.
It was quite a revelation, one that laid bare an uncomfortable truth in the world of venture capital: high-tech entrepreneurs who look rich are often relatively cash-poor, at least next to their glittering images. Mark Zuckerberg may be a billionaire when, or if, Facebook goes public. Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle, lives like a king. But most of his wealth is tied up in Oracle stock. Mr. Ellison lives in part off loans.
People like Mr. Musk may have redefined what it means to be rich, particularly young and rich. But somehow, many of these seemingly successful people live on the financial edge, waiting, hoping for the next deal to unlock their next fortune.
Mr. Musk's financial situation is coming to light because he is in the middle of a messy divorce. He ran off with an actress, Talulah Riley - paging Mr. Stark - and his wife, the fantasy novelist Justine Musk, wants the house, alimony, child support and $6 million cash. She also wants a cut of Tesla Motors and a piece of Mr. Musk's stock in his rocket company, SpaceX.
"Is that what I deserve?" Mrs. Musk wrote on her blog in a post titled "Golddigging." "I don't know. Who exactly deserves that kind of wealth? But based on our life and history together, is that reasonable? I think so."
Mr. Musk told me in an interview that he put his last $35 million into Tesla, which only two years ago was on the edge of bankruptcy. That depleted virtually all his "cash reserves."
"That was my choice," he insisted.
Faced with what he characterized as "liquidity issues," he said: "I could have either done a rushed private stock sale or borrowed money from friends." He chose to hang onto his stake - a decision that is likely to make him a very wealthy man. In two weeks, Tesla is scheduled to hold an initial public offering of stock that is expected to value the company at about $1.4 billion. Mr. Musk may be broke, but, as he said to me with a laugh, "My assets are huge."
The revelations about Mr. Musk's personal financial problems stunned many in the industry. Wall Street spent years courting him. The Energy Department had given Tesla - which has sold its $100,000 electric sports cars to the likes of Larry Page, the Google co-founder, and George Clooney - $465 million in low-interest loans.
The whispering among Mr. Musk's detractors began almost immediately. If Mr. Musk cannot keep himself solvent, how can he be trusted to run a billion-dollar enterprise? And what about Tesla's financing, which had long been based on his largess?
In case you are wondering, neither Mr. Musk nor his wife says he is claiming poverty because of the divorce. She characterizes him as a billionaire, "albeit with cash/liquidity issues," which, she says, " I would work with him to work around."
Mr. Musk's personal fortune is not just a matter of pride. A business is hanging in the balance. Tesla's loan from the Energy Department requires Mr. Musk to hold at least 65 percent of Tesla. If he cashed out early, that loan would technically go into default.
Tesla, for its part, has tried to quiet the talk of Mr. Musk's troubles. In an amendment to its I.P.O. filing, the company said: "We do not believe that Mr. Musk's personal financial situation has any impact on us."
Tesla went on to say that his divorce - and his postnuptial agreement (he and his wife agreed to a divorce arrangement after they were married that she is contesting) should have no impact on the company. "We also do not believe that Mr. Musk would have to liquidate a significant percentage of his holdings in order to satisfy any settlement reached in connection with such proceedings," the company said.
An earlier filing might have been a telltale sign about the financial problems to come: Tesla disclosed that it had begun reimbursing Mr. Musk for his use of his private plane, justifying the cost by saying, "By paying only the variable expenses of Mr. Musk's private airplane, consistent with the reimbursement policy in place, we will recognize a cost saving as compared to the customary practice for an initial public offering road show." Before this, Mr. Musk paid for the plane himself.
It is quite a comedown - probably only temporary - for Mr. Musk, a South African native who made his first fortune in 1999, when he sold Zip2, a dot-com publishing business he had started with his brother, for more than $300 million. (The New York Times Company was a licensee of Zip2.) From there he went on to X.com, an online payment service that grew into PayPal. PayPal soon got scooped up by eBay for $1.5 billion. Mr. Musk walked away with about $200 million after selling his stock.
In 2002, he started Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, with the none-too-grand visions of making a business out of flying people into outer space. The company also has a contract with NASA worth at least $1.6 billion to take over many of the duties of the space shuttle program, which is being phased out. Just two weeks ago, SpaceX completed a successful launch of its Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral. The company had its third year of profitability in 2009.
Mr. Musk declined to comment on the public offering for Tesla - the company is in a quiet period - but if it goes as planned, he will cash out about $21 million and still own more than 65 percent of Tesla. He can use the money, if only to pay the bill for his divorce and reimburse his friends.
"It is pretty aggravating," he told me, referring to the rumors floating around about him. Hey, even Tony Stark has bad days.
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IPO Coattails After CBOE? Not in Style for 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/06/21/business/AP-US-IPO-Preview.html?_r=1&dbk
IPO Coattails After CBOE? Not in Style for 2010
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: June 21, 2010
Filed at 9:01 a.m. ET
NEW YORK (AP) -- A smattering of companies will try to make initial public offerings this week following the breakout debut of CBOE Holdings, though few are expected to do as well in what has become a decidedly dicey year for the market.
Shares in the Chicago options exchange sold at the high end of what both the company and its underwriters had expected, which is remarkable given this year's IPO wrecking yard.
And the coattails for companies that would typically get a boost from IPOs like that are very much out of style in 2010.
''It has no influence whatsoever in any future offering, and the IPO market is still very much in an unhealthy mood,'' said Scott Sweet, who owns research firm IPO Boutique.
Yet there's no lack a variety this week.
Attempting to make a debut are real estate investment trust Hudson Pacific Properties and also Fabrinet Co., a maker of components for optical communications systems.
Oil and gas company Resaca Exploitation Inc., which already trades on an international exchange for small companies, is seeking a listing on a U.S. exchange. Video ringtone service Vringo Inc. may also begin trading.
Could any of them post a double-digit gain on the first day of trading, like shares of CBOE Holdings Inc.?
''There isn't anything that jumps out about these stand-alone deals, and right now investors are looking at these case-by-case for a spark,'' said John Fitzgibbon, who tracks market at IPOScoop.com.
Sweet said investors need to forget about CBOE because it's not an indicator of better things to come this year for IPOs.
''CBOE would've done well in any market,'' Sweet said.
For others, there is this: half the companies that have made it to the IPO market this year have priced below expectations, the highest proportion in more than a decade. Many companies, sensing a washout, have just pulled up stakes and canceled IPOs or postponed them.
That didn't let up in the immediate shadow of the CBOE offering. Several companies priced their IPOs far below expectations.
This week, Hudson Pacific, which buys, owns and operates office properties in Northern and Southern California, hopes to raise as much as $243.2 million.
REITs have not done very well this year. And the 2 percent dividend that Hudson Pacific has offered is unlikely to create a stampede in a sector that typically pays out dividends of 7 percent to 8 percent, Sweet said.
''REITs really don't come rushing out of the gate, and I don't expect this one will,'' added Fitzgibbon.
In a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Hudson said it planned to sell about 12.8 million shares for between $17 and $19 each. It will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol ''HPP.''
Fabrinet, which is based in the Cayman Islands, faces stiff competition and has relatively few clients, Sweet said. The company also said it will stop paying dividends after it goes public, which could make investors cringe.
Fabrinet plans to raise $31.8 million by selling 2.83 million ordinary shares, while some existing shareholders will sell another 5.67 million shares. The IPO is expected to be priced between $12 and $14, and the company will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol ''FN.''
Resaca, which currently trades on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market, is expected to start trading on the NYSE Amex under the ticker symbol ''RSOX.'' The company plans to raise about $68 million selling 20 million common shares for an expected price of $3.20 to $3.60.
Institutional investors pay little attention to stocks under $5, while companies making a secondary offering in the U.S. ''never really make a big splash,'' Sweet said.
The next company with any star power arrives next week.
Though even for the revved up electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc., a celebratory champagne shower is no guarantee.
Tesla, which makes the $109,000 Roadster sports car, wants to raise $185 million next week, according to IPO research firm Renaissance Capital.
It's only one week removed from the attempted IPO from solar energy company Solyndra Inc., which had generated a lot of buzz.
Solyndra canceled its IPO Friday.
''Price sensitivity has become the norm, so even popular companies are coming in the low range,'' Sweet said. ''There is practically no interest in IPOs right now.''
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Announcement of MobileAppEx 2011 - The first dedicated Mobile Application and Business Solutions Trade Show
From: "Franz Balve" f.balve@koelnmessenafta.com
Subject: Announcement of MobileAppEx 2011 - The first dedicated Mobile Application and Business Solutions Trade Show
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2010 16:12:59 -0400
To: ron@themayreport.com
Dear Ron,
Just wanted to give you "heads up" on this event.
Best
Franz
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MobileAppEx 2011 - The Only Mobile App and Business Solutions Event addressing companies of all sizes
June 22, 2010 - Chicago, IL
Koelnmesse, Inc. today announced the launch of MobileAppEx, the first dedicated mobile application and business solutions trade show and conference for companies of all sizes. The event will showcase services and products of Mobile App developers, Ad networks, Agencies, Content providers, System integrators, Manufacturers, Networks and more. MobileAppEx is designed for businesses to market B to B and B to C technology solutions to a broad range of vertical industries. This event will take place in June 2011 at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois.
Audience
MobileAppEx is designed for a wide range of vertical markets such as E-Commerce, Manufacturing, Hospitality, Government, Legal, Retail, Health, Finance, Marketing, Work Force Productivity, Agencies, Developers, Service Integrators and others looking for new ways of reaching customers via mobile marketing.
Education, Networking, New Business Development
MobileAppEx will feature two main conference tracks: @Dev and @Biz. The two forums will offer unique and interactive opportunities to share ideas, discover best practices and network with industry associates. The 2-day vendor agnostic event will be open to companies across all industries.
The Mobile Market
The global market for mobile applications is expected to triple from $10 billion in 2009 to $32 billion in 2015, according to a recently published white paper from Juniper Research. Based on page views, the mobile web grew 110 % in the U.S. last year and 148 % worldwide. According to estimates there are some 19 million mobile developers worldwide.
"The mobile app and business solutions marketplace is experiencing tremendous growth now and for the immediate future while changing how companies connect with their customer base," said Mette Petersen, President of Koelnmesse, Inc, an international full-service trade show and conference organizer based in Chicago, IL. "MobileAppEx is the first event of its kind to create opportunities for exhibitors and attendees to capitalize on the ongoing mobile revolution. Our objective is to showcase technology that will forever transform the way business communities are able to connect with existing and prospective customers going forward."
Industry Wide Support
"Mobile computing is exploding on a global basis and will revolutionize how we conduct business." said Fred Hoch, President of the Illinois Technology Association (ITA). "ITA is proud to be a founding supporter of MobileAppEx.
We are confident that Koelnmesse is the right organization to build broad industry support and feature working technologies usable today in order to grow their business of tomorrow."
"The timing is right, we see MobileAppEx as a great opportunity to bring together the developer, system integrator, network and hardware provider and many others to meet face-to-face with vertical business segments that are hungry to learn and source the right partner." Caroline Lewko, CEO, Wireless Industry Partnership (WIP).
For additional information about MobileAppEx 2010, visit ww.mobileappex.com and join us on Twitter @mobileappex (http://mobileappex.com/twitter).
About Koelnmesse, Inc.
Koelnmesse Inc. is the North American subsidiary of the Koelnmesse Group headquartered in Cologne, Germany. Koelnmesse is one of the world's leading organizers of industry trade shows organizing more than 68 events in 7 countries regularly connecting over 2.3 million attendees with 31,817 industry suppliers.
Through their extensive international sales network Koelnmesse supports the growth and development of industry events of all sizes in 87 countries with an additional 8 full subsidiaries worldwide.
Current IT related events produced by Koelnmesse:
www.gamescom-cologne.com ~ www.dmsexpo.com ~ www.conlife-cologne.com www.photokina-cologne.com ~ www.dmexco.de ~ www.siggraph.org/asia2010
www.koelnmesse.com - Corporate Website of Koelnmesse GmbH
www.koelnmessenafta.com - North American Website
Contact: Mr. Darrin Stern, Show Manager
Koelnmesse, Inc.
8700 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., Suite 640 N.
Chicago, IL 60631
Office +1 (773) 326-9925 office / Cell +1 (773) 737-0337
d.stern@koelnmessenafta.com
AIM/Skype: darrinstern
http://www.mobileappex.com
Franz Balve
KoelnMesse Inc
Cologne International Trade Fairs
Phone: (732) 933-1117
Fax: (732) 741-6437
Email: f.balve@koelnmessenafta.com
please visit our website!
www.koelnmessenafta.com
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