Investment management

Times change and markets transform themselves overnight. The half-life of common wisdom is shorter than ever. But top private equity firms have distilled a set of institutional habits that boost the likelihood of their success. What’s critical to this success? Attitude. PE leaders take pains to foster a “results-oriented mind-set”. In short, that means creating […]

Six years ago, Google's IPO was the most hotly anticipated public offering of the year. But in classic Google style, the offering was neither typical...

Yelp's IPO filing comes hot on the heels of successful IPOs and high valuations for Angie's List and Groupon. Yelp's timing reflects both a tech-friendly...

Realizing the full potential of this evolving sector requires three things.

Three lessons, based on a study of more than 200 senior-level executives.

Take a cue from venture capital and increase the appetite for taking chances.

They don’t use the financial tools they learned in B-school.

Higher interest rates and competition have changed the nature of the business. Now the industry must find a new approach to developing leaders.

More data isn’t always helpful.

It could reduce friction and costs.

Most entrepreneurs understand that if the fundamentals of a business idea—the management team, the market opportunities, the operating systems and controls—are sound, chances are there’s money out there. The challenge of landing that capital to grow a company can be exhilarating. But as exciting as the money search may be, it is equally threatening. Built […]

My job is to fund companies with high growth prospects. When we evaluate prospective investments, one of the things we hear from time to time is, “My company could be profitable if we wanted it to be, but we’re just investing for growth.” Really? To test this assertion, do this simple litmus test. Take out […]

In Silicon Valley, exciting new business ideas rapidly attract capital and talent away from less worthy ventures. But in big companies, ideas, capital, and talent are stagnant—prisoners of traditional bureaucratic ways of allocating resources. To capture the Valley’s entrepreneurial magic, your company needs to move from resource allocation to resource attraction.

Corporate CFO’s and venture capitalists have a common problem. They give teams large amounts of money and other resources in the hopes of creating a new disruptive innovation. For the first few quarters, everything’s on track: milestones are hit, schedules are met, and new features are developed. Since everything’s also private, hopes are high. Then, […]

When companies stay private longer, stock options are less appealing.

Reports of the “eclipse of the public corporation” underestimate its institutional staying power and unique capacity for renewal. In his recent HBR article, Michael C. Jensen, a distinguished scholar of corporate finance and governance, argues for a revolution in the structure of ownership and control in the U.S. economy.1 I share many of his criticisms […]

With a venture buyout, an established company partners with a VC firm to spin out an internal startup.

A few weeks ago, electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Motors issued stock to the public. Its charismatic CEO Elon Musk was once touted by Wired as a "triple...

Rapid growth is more dangerous for entrepreneurs than starting from scratch.

Here’s how.