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Sep12	Jazz's Kevin O'Connor Speaks to ACG Devin Thorpe September 12, 2006 Know More: ACG, Companies, Executives, Kevin O'Connor, Organizations, Utah Jazz, Executives Kevin O'Connor, Senior Vice President of basketball operations for the Utah Jazz spoke to the Association for Corporate Growth this morning. He shared great stories about recruiting and negotiating today, drawing parallels between picking up players in trades, the free agent market and the draft to buying business. He emphasized preparation or due diligence as the key to both competing successfully for good players and for not overpaying. He shared a story of JJ Redick who was drafted by the Orlando Magic in last year's NBA draft. In the weeks before the draft, Redick was anticipated to go in the top 8, but in the final days JJ ruptured a disk in his back and then, out commiserating with his buddies, got a DUI. While the Jazz were reportedly interested before the incident, the Magic did their diligence picked him up at number 11. Kevin explained the luxury tax in the league. The luxury tax requires teams to pay a tax to the league of $1 per every dollar in aggregate salary above $62 million per team. The Knicks are presently paying $63 million in tax. The tax is split among all the teams in the league. Overall, it was a great opportunity to hear some great sports stories, applied to business concepts and principles. (Thanks to Matt Marsh who helped me pull together my notes.) Posted at 11:18 AM \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
Aug 1	A Great CEO Knows the Numbers - Cold Devin Thorpe August 1, 2006 Know More: Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Executives, Executives I met this afternoon with the CEO of a startup that is still operating under the radar, so out of respect, I won't identify him. It was an interesting meeting to me. When I suggested a number for the 6/30 cash balance of the company (having reviewed the financial statements) he immediately corrected me. From memory he gave me the correct number, then grabbed a report from his desk and added a few more significant digits. As we talked about the valuation of his business, he was in tune with every nuance that would influence the value and every thing that the value would influence. He knew numbers cold. He knew revenue and profit projections, the economic structure and the full financial model. In sum, he had the numbers down cold. Continue Reading Posted at 11:03 PM \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
Jun28	UTC Announces Ballmer to Speak Devin Thorpe June 28, 2006 Know More: Executives, Microsoft, Organizations, Steve Ballmer, Utah Technology Council, Utah Technology Council According to Utah Business, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer will speak to the Utah Technology Council in October. UTC President Richard Nelson was quoted as saying: “Utah has such a spectacular industry of IT and life sciences companies that we feel they deserve a celebration event keynoted by the top CEO in the world,” said Richard Nelson, president and CEO of UTC. During the Hall of Fame event, UTC will induct Jim Kajiya of Microsoft and Dinesh Patel of vSpring Capital into its Hall of Fame. Now in its eighth year, the event will honor Kajiya as a representative of the information technology industry and Patel from the life sciences industry. As the Hall of Fame keynote speaker, Ballmer will address a crowd of 800 at the Little America Hotel. “This will sell out,” Nelson said. “We’ve been given a rare opportunity in hosting Steve Ballmer.” This is a real coup for the Utah Technology Council and for the State of Utah. Posted at 7:57 PM \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
May25	Lay-Skilling Verdict Proves a Point Devin Thorpe May 25, 2006 Know More: Executives, Jeffrey Skilling, Ken Lay, Executives Ken Lay's and Jeff Skilling's guilty verdicts today prove something that few people are talking about: we didn't need Sarbanes Oxley. Lay and Skilling, the crooks who ran Enron into the ground, may be sentenced to terms in excess of 100 years each--and they were not prosecuted for any violations of the Sarbanes Oxley provisions they inspired. The law was an overreaction that is taxing America unnecessarily. It reduces innovation and entrepreneurship at the same time that, in my opinion, it does little or nothing to reduce crime in the board room. Don't get me wrong, I think that corporate wrongdoers like Lay and Skilling, among many others (I lost money in WorldCom) should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, but I don't think making the same actions criminal in more ways reduces the crime. Continue Reading Posted at 11:35 PM \| Permalink \| Comments (2)