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Nov16	Unintended Impacts of Over-regulation Devin Thorpe November 16, 2006 Know More: Data, regulation, regulation Throughout my life and career, I have been an advocate of well-regulated markets. Unlike some who advocate no limits beyond disclosure requirements and anti-fraud statutes, I wholeheartedly believe that rules create orderly markets; order creates market confidence and confidence creates market value. With that introduction, I want to add a new verse to my thinking about the impact of excess regulation. First, as evidence of the excess regulation, I note the increased number of companies going private--in part, I believe, to avoid such regulation. There are announcements of this sort each day--more than at any time in my memory (I'll grant you that is not a scientific analysis). Granting me my conclusion based on that simplistic evidence, among the long run impacts will be an increase in the divide between rich and poor. Continue Reading Posted at 10:14 PM \| Permalink \| Comments (3)
Aug10	Dealflow Interview with Steve Grizzell and Joe Strain Devin Thorpe August 10, 2006 Know More: Data, Joe Strain, MountainWest Capital Network, Omniture, Organizations, Steve Grizzell, vlog, Joe Strain Yesterday I had the privilege of interviewing Steve Grizzell, Managing Director of UTFC Financing Solutions, and Joe Strain, Manager, PricewaterhouseCoopers. Steve also serves as the Co-chair of the MountainWest Capital Network Deal Flow Committee, which is charged with tracking all of the M&A, private equity and venture capital transactoins, plus public offerings. Joe is the Manager at PWC responsible for tracking Utah venture deals for the MoneyTree Report. This was a fun interview--Steve and Joe offer a lot of insight regarding the Utah deal flow market, including comments about the impact of the Omniture, Inc. (Nasdaq: OMTR) IPO. Posted at 11:00 PM \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
Jul25	PricewaterhouseCoopers MoneyTree Report for Q2 Devin Thorpe July 25, 2006 Know More: Data, MountainWest Capital Network, Data PricewaterhouseCoopers issued its Second Quarter MoneyTree Report today. The report shows a very modest increase, just 3%, in venture fundings nationally over both last quarter and last year's second quarter. In the second quarter of 2006, the report indicates that venture fundings increased to $6.4 billion from $6.2 billion (coincidentally) both last quarter and during last year's second quarter, reflecting an increase of just 3%. This puts us on a pace to do about $25 billion in venture funding, which would be the best year since 2001's $40.8 million, but meaningfully above the last four years, confirming my sense that this is the best venture funding market in years--though not yet rising to the level of the hey day. The Utah data, however, shows a remarkable drop in fundings. Utah's relatively small venture market does not lend itself well to quarterly data flows; there are simply too few deals to spot meaningful trends. That said, we are not on pace to come close to 2005 levels of funding without some big deals in the last half of the year. Click on the graphic above to see the list of deals reported for Utah in the MoneyTree Report. Futhermore, we need to see what the MountainWest Capital Network publishes about quarterly data before we draw any final conclusions about deal flow in Utah. Posted at 12:00 AM \| Permalink \| Comments (1)
May19	Joe Strain Video Interview on PWC MoneyTree Report Devin Thorpe May 19, 2006 Know More: Companies, Data, Deal Makers, Joe Strain, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Raising Money, Venture Capital, vlog, Joe Strain Below is a video interview I conducted with Joe Strain from the Salt Lake Office of PricewaterhouseCoopers, who manages the office's local efforts with respect to the MoneyTree Report. The report tracks venture deals nationwide. Click on the video below! Posted at 10:54 PM \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
Mar15	Deal Flow in Utah Devin Thorpe March 15, 2006 Know More: Acquisition, Buying a Business, Data, Deal Flow, M&A, MountainWest Capital Network, Organizations, Deal Flow Tomorrow, the MountainWest Capital Network will publish its 2006 deal flow book at a luncheon where some of the year's biggest deal makers will be honored. I was honored to be quoted in the Deseret Morning News article about the report. The data, which is already available at www.mwcn.org, shows not only a marked increase in the number of deals, but a dramatic increase in average size. Among the most interest factoids is that a number of the largest deals reflected the acquisition of large companies BY Utah-based companies, reversing a trend where out-of-state companies bought Utah businesses. Posted at 2:41 PM \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
Mar14	How to value a business like a professional! Devin Thorpe March 14, 2006 Know More: Acquisition, Business Valuation, Buying a Business, Data, FAQs, MergerStat, Raising Money, VentureOne, MergerStat One of the most frequently asked questions I receive from people buying or selling a business or raising money is: how do I value the business? Building a thoughtful valuation for a business requires access to data that is not public. And it isn't cheap or free. Professionals use data sources, like Venture One and Mergerstat, but don't stop there. We typically add public data, carefully culled from SEC filings, to gauge values for public companies. We don't just grab the data, but analyze its relevance for each use, taking into account differences in company size, the age of the data and other variables that can impact significantly the data we're reviewing. Professionals also like to use a discounted cash flow analysis, which incorporates forecasts of future cash flows, discounted to their present value. That said, I find the exercise more valuable as a means of confirming other data than of actually valuing a business. Market data is much more meaningful. Continue Reading Posted at 5:51 AM \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
Jan27	Get while the gettin's good! Devin Thorpe January 27, 2006 Know More: Data, Raising Money, Selling a Business, Data Today the Commerce Department announced that the economy grew at an annual rate of just 1.1% during the fourth quarter of 2005, the lowest rate since the fourth quarter of 2002. And the stock market rose. A fair bit. The market may have ignored the data, but let's consider some key things. This data point isn't the first hint of a decelerating economy. The yield curve which is still rather flat, inverted briefly with two year rates topping the 30 year rates. While much has been written about that, it is a traditional sign that the economy is headed into recession. Now we have at least two signs. I don't want to sound alarmist. To the contrary, I think the economy will do well and will rebound from this short term deceleration. Continue Reading Posted at 7:01 PM \| Permalink \| Comments (0)