|
|
 | |
| | Back to List
|
| | 08/17/2010 |
| |
|
| | |
| | |
| | The May Report: 8/17/2010: Overflow crowd of 300 attend Groupon's Andrew Mason's interview at SocDevCamp Chicago 2010 -- the entire event was sold out -- and yours truly was not allowed in along with about 40 others; Could Groupon be Chicago's Google?; eBay? Adding one person a day with 500 now --but remember fast hockey stick growth does not portend long term success: Kozmo, HomeGrocer, Pets.com, etc.? anyone
|
| | August 17, 2010
The May Report: 8/17/2010: Overflow crowd of 300 attend Groupon's Andrew Mason's interview at SocDevCamp Chicago 2010 -- the entire event was sold out -- and yours truly was not allowed in along with about 40 others; Could Groupon be Chicago's Google?; eBay? Adding one person a day with 500 now --but remember fast hockey stick growth does not portend long term success: Kozmo, HomeGrocer, Pets.com, etc.? anyone
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
________________________
**************************************************
New interactivity at HR Technology 2010
This year's HR Technology® Conference will bethe most interactive ever! We're giving you more chances to state your opinion and ask your questions of our expert presenters in debates, Q&A sessions as well as panel discussions. And the conference is at nearby McCormick Place, September 29 - October 1, so you don't have to travel far.
Best of all, we've arranged a special $500.00 discount for May Report subscribers -- just register at www.HRTechnologyConference.com and use Promo Code MAY to receive your savings.
Take a look at the 6 panel discussions you can take part in:
* How Talent Management Failed and How to Fix It
* Getting the Most out of Workforce Planning
* Being Global -- Lessons From Executives Already There
* Job Boards -- Valued 21st Century Partners or RIP?
* Social Learning: What Is It? Why the Buzz? Are There Results?
* Blogger Insights on Social Media
Then download the conference brochure at http://www.hrtechnologyconference.com/WEB-BROCH.pdf?submit22=Download to get all the details on our most interactive event yet! And don't forget to use Promo Code MAY to save $500.00 when registering online at www.HRTechnologyConference.com.
If you can't make the entire conference, you can still stop by the Expo whenever it's convenient for you. Simply pre-register online to get into the Expo for FREE -- a $35.00 savings!
Sincerely,
Bill Kutik
Co-Chair, HR Technology® Conference & Expo
Technology Columnist, Human Resource Executive® Magazine
LRP Publications
360 Hiatt Drive
Palm Beach Gardens, FL33418
1-800-727-1227
*************************************************
__________________________________
****************************************************
GP Ventures specializes in M&A advisory services for technology companies in a wide range of sectors.
NEW PROJECT: Business Development for Japanese electronics distribution company seeking new products in semiconductors, electronics, new energy, materials, sensors, etc. Please contact GP Ventures if you know of an electronics company seeking to establish or expand their sales network in Japan/Asia.
Other current projects include:
*Acquisition Program for publicly-traded IT Consulting firm, seeking firms in the Data Center, Managed Services, and IT Consulting (SAP, Oracle, etc.) sectors ($10 million to $100 million revenues)
*Acquisition Program for US PC Board Manufacturer seeking US PCB shops ($1 million to $30 million revenues)
*Sell Side Program for 40 million Euro Fiber Optics Company (based in Europe, now preparing materials)
Please contact GP Ventures to discuss sell-side projects, acquisition programs, and "grooming" consulting projects.
Tom Kastner
GP Ventures
847-431-3993
M&A Advisory Services for technology companies in EMS, PCB, Software, Defense, IT Services, Electronics, Distribution
*************************************************
_____________________________________
*********************************************
How are all "those" successful companies achieving top 1st page rankings on search engines like google, yahoo!, Bing, and ask?
The Search Engine Store knows how some of them got there, because they're the ones that put 'em there. From small online shops to large corporations, they've proven themselves time after time and their clients couldn't be happier.
Read what a few said:
"We were targeting highly competitive single keywords for our B2B site. Though the traffic on those keywords were astounding, if we were to achieve 1st page rankings for them on google, yahoo!, Bing, or even just one of them, it would increase our business dramatically. The Search Engine Store got us there within 6 months of signing on and our traffic has jumped from 12k unique visits per month to over 40k. This goes without saying, we will continue using them for years to come."
Rob M.
B2B Corporation
"We needed a solution for our online presence so we could stay ahead of our competition and get more business leads from our website. Being a small local company looking for local business, The Search Engine Store recommended we hit up geo-targeted city keywords within our industry. Within 4 months we have been top 5 ranking in over 50 surrounding cities on google and at least 10-15 hot leads coming in per week. Needless to say, they rock!"
Jan C.
Warehouse Facility
"A print marketing company built our online shop with over 300 products. The company did not have much experience in Internet Marketing and very little in SEO. There wasn't much success because they sold us on the age-old saying, if you build it, they will come.
They didn't come until The Search Engine Store brought in their team of experts and revamped our site so the search engines could actually find us. Thanks solely to them, we now sell in the hundreds of thousands online every month. A mere fraction of what it cost us. My partner said it was the best investment we'd ever made! I couldn't agree more."
Rich M.
Specialty Products Company
For information on how The Search Engine Store can bring your website more ROI contact The Search Engine Store at 312.455.1511 and ask for one of our Search Engine Specialists. Also, The Search Engine Store will also do a complimentary SEO website evaluation via their website at www.thesearchenginestore.com
******************************************
___________________________________
**************************************************
Announcing Early Registration for 3rd Annual Business Innovation Conference October 4-6, 2010
Top-tier Innovation Conference Features Thought Leaders from Business, Government and Academe
WHAT: 3-day business innovation event with 6 high-impact workshops, 18 outstanding speaker presentations, and 5 compelling keynote addresses from a diverse range of industries and domains
WHEN: October 4-6, 2010
WHERE: IIT Rice Campus, 201 East Loop Road, Wheaton, IL 60189
The 3rd annual Business Innovation Conference is a premier educational and networking event bringing together leading innovation experts and practitioners from business, academia and government to exchange experiences and knowledge about the science of innovation. The conference focuses on the tools we now have to master innovation so that we can become continual thinkers, capable of innovating on demand, and managing innovation teams to predictable outcomes.
Attendees will also make invaluable professional connections and have opportunities to share ideas and experiences with other accomplished innovators from around the US and the world.
For more information, including registration instructions and sponsorship opportunities, please visit http://www.businessinnovationconference.com
*******************************************
_____________________________
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Scoop section:
-- Editor's note, by Ron May
-- GeeYee Article in the Leading Marketing Research Magazine
-- Groupon's Andrew Mason Brings Down The House In Chicago
By Alex Wilhelm
-- -- Melanie Adcock's great notes from the event including Ben Huh, CEO and founder of Cheezburger Network
-- Miscellaneous notes (2 messages)
-- TechAmerica Human Services IT Advisory Group (HSITAG) Meeting: Chicago, IL - August 31, 2010 & upcoming Public Sector Events
--IPO activity remained strong with three of five companies posting strong first
day gains and the SEC receiving the highest number of initial S-1 filings in
five months
___________________________________
The Scoop section:
_____________________
Editor's note, by Ron May
http://briangorbett.com/index.php/2010/08/why-groupon-is-still-one-of-my-fav-startups/
I will have much more on both SocDevCamp 2010 and on the Fiji Water Hunt which I attended after Andy Angelos politely told me that they were completely sold out at the SDC. I believe him when he said that they turned 25 to 35 people away, but by email, and those 35 guys did not make it down there in a wheel chair. It is my fault for assuming, having been at this event in the past a couple of years, that the scenario had changed so dramatically this year. Registration closed down on Thursday night. IIT had restrictions and the Mason talk was overflow, but Sunday had about 150 -people from what I have heard. There is no substitute in reporting for the reporter's keen eye. I can talk to twenty people and get information about who was there, etc., but it is not the same. I will give you links to pics and more talks and to the Fiji event tomorrow morning.
Fiji had 40 teams and 22 locations. No teams made it to all 22 locations and they had to perform very specific tasks at each location, including Four Square, Facebook, Twitter, etc. I sat with the judges for over an hour and then went to the after party on the "rooftop" of Sushi Samba. I could not afford to eat there and I could not afford to date some of those waitresses and hostesses either. It's hot in here
With the Blago verdict just in, I am sure everyone is watching. In the Rosty case, he stole $750K and it took $23MM to prosecute. The prosecution was awfully quick to say they would re-try. Any bets on that?
_____________________________________
GeeYee Article in the Leading Marketing Research Magazine
From: "Thomas Malkin" <tmalkin@geeyee.com>
Subject: GeeYee Article in the Leading Marketing Research Magazine
Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2010 07:18:05 -0500
To: <ron@themayreport.com>
Hi Ron,
Thought you'd appreciate reading, "Making Sense of the Chatter: Cracking the Code of Social Media Data Analysis," in the leading marketing research magazine, Quirk's (August 2010). Also includes an interview segment entitled, "Using Social Media to Track the Tiger Woods Saga." Email me at tom@geeyee.com to learn more.
https://www.geeyee.com/blog/2010/08/august-quirks-publication/
Best,
Tom
__________________________________
Groupon's Andrew Mason Brings Down The House In Chicago
By Alex Wilhelm
http://thenextweb.com/us/2010/08/14/groupons-andrew-mason-brings-down-the-house-in-chicago/
Groupon's Andrew Mason Brings Down The House In Chicago
By Alex Wilhelm Follow Alex Wilhelm on twitter on August 14th, 2010
At today's SocialDevCamp in Chicago, Groupon founder and CEO Andrew Mason took part in a very interesting question and answer discussion about the Chicago based company he runs. I've broken down the talk, to which I can not do justice due to its constant humor, into blocks for you all to enjoy.
For every non-Chicagoan, Groupon is our darling. We love that Groupon is doing as well as it is. It's our home team, so don't mock them and expect a warm welcome here!
Groupon Is Hiring Everyone
If you recall, many of the largest companies that we now depend on, Google, Facebook, etc, went through periods of massive, and massively rapid hiring. Groupon is doing that now. According to my hastily typed notes, Groupon is around 500 people strong, and is hiring some 30+ people a month. Mason said it emphatically: we are "hiring like crazy."
At a later point, an audience member asked a question about the growing, but still adolescent startup and technology scene in Chicago. Mason said that if you want to help Chicago, put your startup on ice for a few years and come work for Groupon. The audience chuckled. At the very beginning of the talk, he asked the room (by far the most packed event of the day), if anyone was an engineer. He blinked at the hands and said "come work for Groupon."
Flooring Statistics
Like any good question and answer session, a great deal of numbers, figures, and claims were bandied around, some from Mason, and some from the media. Some highlights:
* Groupon is supposedly on track to pass $500 million in revenue this year.
* No technology company, not even Google, has grown their revenue that quickly, ever.
* Groupon is valued at around 1.3 billion dollars, at least according to their last round of funding.
* The company does not turn 2 until this November.
* YouTube did manage to hit a one billion dollar valuation more quickly than Groupon, but to this day is not profitable.
The Product In Numbers
Groupon, and its hundreds of spawned clones, have hit a market nerve. Their product, a "hybrid of local advertising, and local commerce," according to Mason, is riveting corporations in the 88 US cities and 26 countries that Groupon operates in.
For every 7 businesses that approach Groupon, 6 are turned away. This has created something of a capacity bottleneck for the company, and provides some ammunition to their competitors. Some 700 businesses approach Groupon every day.
To combat the leak of 6 out of 7 approaches, Groupon is working on greater personalization to allow it to target certain users with specific deals, thus allowing them to handle more total deals per day. More, better targeted business, and less food for the competition is the Groupon plan going forward.
Local is the big deal for Groupon: 90% of the Groupon deals in Chicago are withing 5 miles of the Loop (our downtown area). Even more, 80% of people's money using Groupon is spent within 10 miles of their home.
Top Quotes
Aside from the interesting business dialogue, Mason is rather quotable, bringing the audience to both applause and laughter several times during his hour on stage. Some of my scribbled favorites:
* "It's funny when you sell Lasik eye surgery at a discount."
* "We like it to be easy for people [our customers] to punish us."
* "Groupon is transforming how companies sell."
* "Groupon, is a real business."
* Groupon grew out of The Point, a company whose goal was "solving all the world's unsolvable ideas."
* "Well we're immature, both emotionally and in the product."
* "I don't want to be the company that has a refrigerator of old food."
* "Remember Friendster and MySpace who celebrated before the end."
* In regards to personalization, "we've only done the tip of the iceberg."
* "We're not interested in doing things that other people do really well."
That in a nutshell wraps up what Mason said, with a few things that I could not write down quickly enough. Who will catch Groupon?
Image credit, @JeffHuber. A big thanks to the #SSDChi for inviting TNW to attend.
About the Author
Alex Wilhelm is a Chicago-based technology blogger and entrepreneur. He has worked for a number of technology companies in recent years, and has a particular interest in watching the social web monetize. Follow Alex on Twitter, or on Facebook. You can reach Alex via email at alex@thenextweb.com
Sources and Links
* Thumbnail Credit
Discussion - 8 Comments/Pingbacks RSS feed for comments on this post
1.
John Saunders says August 15, 2010
Reply
Oh wow, that must have been a real blast dude. Wow.
http://www.web-privacy.es.tc
2.
Nicole Yeary says August 16, 2010
Reply
great accumulation of quotes from that interview - certainly both insightful and entertaining
*
Alex Wilhelm says August 16, 2010
Reply
Thanks, I was typing as fast as I could!
3.
Justyn says August 16, 2010
Reply
My favorite was "we don't plan on sucking for another 3 years".
4.
Jason Goodrich says August 16, 2010
Reply
Thanks, Alex. The most fascinating-yet odd-interview I've seen. Showed me how a CEO's style sets the tone for a company. Session and whole conference were top-notch.
5.
John R Dallas Jr says August 16, 2010
Reply
Alex, it was great to have you at SocialDevCamp. Thanks for the coverage. As the interviewer it was a rather challenging set of circumstances to navigate the serious and silly insights the audience wanted/needed in order to get the full spectrum of Andrew's Amazing Groupon Adventure. Having heard Andrew interviewed, my iPad was loaded with a mind map prepared for detours. We got to our destination. Andrew and the overall conference were solid.
6.
Jeff Huber says August 16, 2010
Reply
Alex, thanks for using my photo! Perhaps I have a budding career in photo journalism. #SDCChi
7.
Jason Goodrich says August 16, 2010
Reply
Can't wait to watch the whole thing again on video. John did a masterful job guiding the interview. He brought the experience and empathy of a successful CEO to what could have been just another chat with Groupon's CEO. Despite clothing contrasts, I think John probably saw a lot of himself across from him onstage. (What say you, John?) A real highlight of the weekend. Bravo!
____________________________________________
-- Melanie Adcock's great notes from the event including Ben Huh, CEO and founder of Cheezburger Network
Subject: Melanie's notes from Social Dev Camp
Date: 8/17/2010 4:09:16 P.M. Central Daylight Time
From: melanie_adcock@msn.com
To: ronaldmay@aol.com, ron@themayreport.com
Social Dev Camp 2010
Ron, I was not able to attend Saturday, only Sunday but here is a link to video footage from Andrew Mason's talk:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27s42dca7eY
Some people I know who attended:
Dave Boost from Microsoft, Darrin Stern, Raymond Reinhart, and of course Tim Courtney. It was great to see so many people especially on a Sunday. I conservatively estimate about 150 in attendance on Sunday. I was not able to attend Saturday and hopefully some more people who attended will write something for you about their experiences in this of this event.
I spoke with Tim Courtney for a second and I was very happy for him in all of his success in coordinating Social Dev Camp. He worked hard and it showed. To me, a sign of smart event planning is when you have done such a good job that you get to attend part of the event and actually enjoy it. Tim was able to do that on Sunday and he seemed in very good spirits. It takes a special kind of detail oriented person to pull off something this big in scale and he and his team did a great job.
Some links to photos from Social Dev Camp:
Todor Krecu's Photos
http://chicago-social-marketing.ning.com/photo
Trends in Social Commerce:
You Tube Video of the presentation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gll4GSI26k
Sudha Jamthe from PayPal presented Trends in Social Commerce. She spoke with a great level of knowledge about this field, and I was impressed with her passion for the subject. Here is a run-down of the the top ten list she presented and a few examples she gave under each topic that I wrote down from my notes.
@sujamthe @paypalx
Social Commerce is social shopping or spending money as a result of other people's influence.
Top 10 Trends in Social Commerce
10) Friends Make Friends buy
Examples: Buying prom dresses- no one wants the same dress on prom night.
9) Ecommerce sites going social
Examples: uxsears, Buy.com, and E-bay are using the like button
8) Transient location based mobile coupons
7) Buy on Social Networks
Examples: Delta Book a trip
6) Real time price comparison using mobile
Examples: The Red laser app used for comparison shopping
5) Crowd sourcing for Deals
Examples: GoSqueesh, Groupon
4) Virtual currency bought by real money
Examples: Zynga
3) Combining online and offline shopping
Examples: @kogibbq @treatbot, flirty cupcake
2) NFC (Near Field Communication)
Examples: Bling Nation a start- up company using PayPal
1)Gaming and location tied to loyalty programs.
Examples: Foursquare, Scvngr, Ben & Jerry's, Gowalla, Starbucks
Some quick notes from the Groupon presentation that took place Sunday:
Gaming the system: Building products the Groupon way
Presented by Suneel Gupta
It's difficult to be the smartest
It's easier to be the stupidest- and more interesting.
One Groupon employee was applauded for moving from the west coast to Chicago.
They discussed maintaining culture and branding Groupon as a noun.
They are hiring a lot of people for sales and want them to fit into the fun hard working culture.
They measure team happiness as a metric of how well they are doing and believe many small victories lead up to one big victory. They have a lot of small teams working together to solve problems and they believe that there is more to YOU than meets the I when it comes to their team ethics.
Keynote: LOLcats, FAILS, and Other Blunders from the Cheezburger Network.
Presented by: Ben Huh (@benhuh), Cheezburger Network
YouTube videos of his presentation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzsDWtscH5Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8PO8XKZdB0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI0sJhEiAOQ
Description:
How does one build an empire on pictures of cats with silly, misspelled captions? As most fans of the Internet now know, the Cheezburger Network which consists of over 50 popular humor sites such as I Can Has Cheezburger, FAIL Blog, There I Fixed It, and Failbook has become an Internet phenomenon. Its daily collection of LOLCats, FAILS, and other blunders are the source of endless humor, and you can be pretty sure that someone in the office is reading one of the sites and chuckling to themselves right now. But how did it happen?
Join Ben Huh, CEO and founder of Cheezburger Network, as he shares his insight on how he started with one LOLCat site and grew it into one of the largest blog networks in the world. He'll also discuss the future of Internet culture and how he thinks it will play into the overall entertainment industry.
My notes from his presentation:
Firstly, Ben Huh wore these nifty glasses with white frames and a bright colored shirt that made a very cool fashion statement. I was impressed before he even started speaking, and found everything he said to be such a refreshing delight.
Their company runs LOLCats and Failbook as well as several other sites and brands.
It took them 23 months to get to their first billion page views and they are focused on scaling to reach more people.
Their goal is to make everyone happy for 5 minutes a day.
He asked himself if he wanted to work 4 hours a week what would I do? It helped him figure out his methods for keeping it simple.
Keeping it simple involves having one folder to store 1million plus images and one YouTube channel that has over a billion views.
One way that has worked for them to solve issues is to do nothing. It has worked for them in a few situations and saved them time and money.
They work to remove barriers to create beautiful alignment so that the user experience is most important
They have the largest blog on the internet that is responsible for 12% of all wordpress traffic. It is called Failblog.
They are like Google, Facebook and Twitter in that they don't create content, they publish other people's content. People would rather listen to each other these days instead of watching the news or reading the paper.
The MPH Philsophy: MPH stands for Mister Potato Head. If a significant component is lost, no one dies.
Their vendors which include WordPress, JSkit, Viddler, GoogleApps, and Skype. Ben likes the fact that their vendors don't require a commitment from them. He likes vendors that enable you to fire up and forget about it, and know when something goes wrong. For example, you can't call anyone when gmail goes down. They just automatically know and fix it.
When to MPH? Can you plug in or out a faster better solution?
If they spend time building anything it should be a competitive advantage and make them better than the competition. They don't really worry about competitors, though.
Human nature has a tendency to admire complexity but reward simplicity.
If you lower the cost of failure, you up your chances for success, so make failure cost nothing.
Ben made a funny joke during the q&a: Loved it!
In the Midwest a successful company is when you make a profit.
On the West Coast a successful company is when you sell something to Google.
Melanie Adcock
iPHONE: 312-259-0610
DROID: 312-833-1825
E-Mail: melanie_adcock@msn.com
Facebook Fan Page: http://bit.ly/MelanieAdcockFacebookFanPage
Bio: http://bit.ly/MelanieAdcockARC
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/melanieadcock
Twitter: http://twitter.com/melanie_adcock
Facebook Profile: http://www.facebook.com/melanie.a.adcock
________________________________________
Miscellaneous notes (2 messages)
______________________
#1: From: "MICHAEL W BARTNICKI" <MIKEWBART@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: HEY
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 15:04:31 -0500
To: <ron@themayreport.com>
I ran into your report...thought I'd say HEY. Read about your health issues, I'll keep you in my prayers.
GOD BLESS
MIKE
MICHAEL BARTNICKI
__________________________________
#2: From: "Sydney LeBlanc" <sydney@ffpublish.com>
Subject: Kudos on Friday nite
Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2010 22:29:29 -0700
To: <ron@themayreport.com>
Hello Ron,
I just had to take a moment to let you know that I was reading your May Report (July) and I wanted to compliment you on your writing style and skill. I am not interested in technology (not too much, anyway) or tech stocks, or VC or PE. But, I caught your website because I am doing research on [name of firm redacted. TMR has written a great deal about it.] It's a long story (goes back a few years), but I have good friends who are involved in the lawsuits.
Anyway, am up burning the midnite oil (as usual) and it was refreshing to read your musings. You liven up what could be a very dry subject (at least to someone like me). :-)
I was the cofounder of Registered Rep magazine and have had a career in the financial services industry that has been more than an adventure! Now, I publish a virtual magazine (page flipping and all that) and I'm not making diddly with it. Labor of Love?
Have a good evening. Thanks for the good read.
Best,
syd
Sydney LeBlanc
Co-publisher
Transitions Magazine
www.transitions-mag.com
Editorial Offices, San Diego
760 929 1301
For a free subscription visit:
www.transitions-mag.com/subscribe/104/
"Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly."
__________________________________________
TechAmerica Human Services IT Advisory Group (HSITAG) Meeting: Chicago, IL - August 31, 2010 & upcoming Public Sector Events
Subject: TechAmerica Human Services IT Advisory Group (HSITAG) Meeting: Chicago, IL - August 31, 2010 & upcoming Public Sector Events
Date: 8/12/2010 12:59:38 P.M. Central Daylight Time
From: ed.longanecker@techamerica.org
To: ronaldmay@aol.com
TechAmerica's Human Services IT Advisory Group will meet on August 31, 2010 in Chicago at the 43rd Annual APHSA-ISM Conference.
Our guest speaker will be Anne Sapp, Director of Special Projects with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. We will also be joined by APHSA and ISM leadership.
TechAmerica's Human Services IT Advisory Group (HSITAG): (Chair: Bob Stauffer, Deloitte Consulting; Vice-Chair: John Petraborg, HP Enterprise Services) - Formed in 1993, HSITAG seeks to improve the delivery of human services programs through IT and modern management practices. Ongoing concerns have been the facilitation of services integration, welfare reform, and IT procurement reform. The task group meets monthly, often with guest speakers representing federal and state human services agencies and other associations in the human services field.
We will provide updates as additional guest speakers are confirmed.
Meeting Details:
Date: Tuesday, August 31
Time: 12:30 - 2:00 pm CT
Place: Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile
540 North Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611
Phone: 312.836.0100
A full agenda and meeting room location will be provided in the meeting reminder.
HSITAG Registration - This meeting is exclusive to TechAmerica members. For registration details or questions, please reply to this email. Thank you.
Upcoming TechAmerica Public Sector events:
2010 State CIO Survey Webinar - Review of Results with NASCIO, TechAmerica and Grant Thornton (Free Registration Required) - August 19, 2010
6th Annual State of California Technology Executive Briefing (Registration Required), Sacramento, CA - September 9, 2010
TechAmerica & INPUT State & Local Government Event (CIO of Chicago & CIO of Illinois), Chicago, IL - October 13, 2010
SLG Executive Breakfast featuring Washington State's Top Technology Leaders (Registration Required), Bellevue, WA October 05, 2010
Best regards,
Ed Longanecker
Executive Director, Regional Vice President
TechAmerica
630-282-4332
ed.longanecker@techamerica.org
www.techamerica.org
AeA & ITAA have merged to form TechAmerica
Where the future begins
__________________________________________
IPO activity remained strong with three of five companies posting strong first
day gains and the SEC receiving the highest number of initial S-1 filings in
five months
Even as global markets faltered this week on macroeconomic fears, IPO
activity remained strong with three of five companies posting strong first
day gains and the SEC receiving the highest number of initial S-1 filings in
five months.
MakeMyTrip (MMYT), the largest online travel company in India, was the
week's clear winner. After raising $70 million by offering 5 million shares
at the top of its $12-$14 range, the company saw its stock soar 89% in its
debut, posting the largest first-day pop since athenahealth (ATHN) went
public in September 2007 (97% first-day pop). MakeMyTrip attracted IPO
investor interest thanks to its leading share in India's quickly growing
online travel market and its scalable platform.
On-demand property software firm RealPage (RP) held its own, rising 32% in
its first day of trading and ranking fifth on our list of largest first-day
pops year-to-date, despite pricing its $135 million IPO below the range.
RealPage, whose comprehensive suite of software solutions allows property
managers to boost sales and minimize costs, boasts a track record of
profitable growth and a business model marked by visible revenue streams.
China Kanghui Holdings (KH), the #2 provider of orthopedic implants in
China, raised $68 million by selling 6.7 million ADSs at $10.25, the
midpoint of its proposed range. The stock rose 19% in its debut. The medical
device company enjoys a leading position in China's fragmented and
underpenetrated orthopedic implant market, which will continue to be driven
by the country's growing middle class.
MediaMind Technologies (MDMD) and Park Sterling Bank (PTSB) were the
laggards of the crop with both stocks ending the week in negative territory.
MediaMind provides digital advertising campaign management solutions to
advertising agencies; the company raised $58 million by offering 5 million
shares at $11.50, 23% below its $14-$16 range. The stock was down 5% by the
end of the week. Park Sterling Bank, a recently formed commercial bank with
three offices located in North Carolina, saw its stock drop 4% in its debut.
The bank raised $150 million by offering 23.1 million shares at $6.50, below
the $9-$11 range.
DLC Realty Trust (DLC), a REIT that was also slated on the IPO calendar for
this week, shelved its deal, citing adverse market conditions.
Though the IPO market is expected to see a pause in activity for the next
few weeks, a steady stream of IPO filings bodes well for post-Labor Day
activity. Ten companies filed initial S-1s with the SEC this week, making it
the most active week in filings since mid-May, including well-known online
communications company Skype (SKP).
_______________________________________
END OF REPORT |
|
|