Shezi & S. http://shezisardar.posterous.com Most recent posts at Shezi & S. posterous.com Sun, 22 May 2011 17:40:00 -0700 LinkedIn IPO and the Stock Surge http://shezisardar.posterous.com/linkedin-ipo-and-the-stock-surge http://shezisardar.posterous.com/linkedin-ipo-and-the-stock-surge

Stan Honda/Agence France-Presse -- Getty Images

Reid Garrett Hoffman, left, and Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn.

In a sizzling debut last week on the New York Stock Exchange, investors sent stock in LinkedIn, the social-networking site for business professionals, soaring 109 percent on its first day of trading. While the enthusiasm subsided a tad the next day, LinkedIn’s shares still closed the week at around $93, more than twice the company’s initial offering price. This put the value of the company, which made $15 million in profit last year, at more than $8 billion.

From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, the debate was whether this stunning performance echoed the late 1990s, when the bubble around dot-com companies began to inflate. On its first day of trading in 1995, Netscape stock doubled in price. Yahoo shares rose 154 percent on its 1996 offering. TheGlobe.com shot up to $97 from $9 in its first day of trading in 1998, giving it a valuation of about $850 million.

 

Read the rest of the article here: http://nyti.ms/iLaaPW

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Sat, 26 Feb 2011 18:53:00 -0800 Pre-IPO or Bust http://shezisardar.posterous.com/pre-ipo-or-bust-0 http://shezisardar.posterous.com/pre-ipo-or-bust-0

A growing secondary market for shares trading has accelerated in the past year, with online private shares exchanges such as SharesPost Inc., SecondMarket Inc., and Xpert Financial Inc. emerging from the tumultuous wake of the financial crisis. While the advent of private trading has enabled companies, including the hottest tech companies such as Facebook Inc., LinkedIn and Zynga Game Network Inc., to raise funds without filing for an early initial public offering, the majority of investors, those with less than $1 million in net worth, are prohibited from trading on these exchanges. This has not dissuaded investor firms from cashing in on what some observers believe is an inflating bubble.  Nor has the prospect of fresh regulatory scrutiny deterred companies from circumventing the public markets.

Investors are looking for multiple higher returns on their investment after a dry recessionary period where initial public offerings were sluggish at best and the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Standard & Poor’s 500 Index witnessed tepid growth.  In the U.S. IPO market, 2010 saw over 100 deals priced, compared with 64 for 2009 and only 48 in 2008.  The venture capital market has shrunk, with 400 VC firms in Silicon Valley compared to over 1000 only several years ago. 

The private investor market may be a prelude to a more robust IPO phase next year.  In 2010, 48 technology companies went public, compared to 17 in 2009 and 3 in 2008.  This year alone, two technology companies had successful IPOs, currently trading above their initial prices.  Web-based content developer Demand Media Inc. and research firm Nielsen Holdings Inc. went public in January 2011, with Demand trading at $22 over its $17 initial offering and Nielsen at $27 over $23.

The significance of this emerging industry, while notable, remains mired in debate. Emerging companies have discovered a lucrative way to raise funds for their expansion without having to go the IPO-route, or at least delay an inevitable IPO.  Early investors are benefiting by purchasing shares that will exponentially multiply upon exit or an IPO, leading to returns exceeding those earned by ordinary investors post-IPO or even late private investors pre-IPO. The Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) is already investigating this parallel investor market; New York-based SecondMarket stated that the SEC has requested information on investment funds that are pooling together shares of companies.

The SEC may be evaluating the need to regulate such pooled funds that circumvent the 500 shareholder rule and thereby avoiding financial disclosure as markedly different from a select few venture capitalists investing in fully researched companies. Securitization of such investment vehicles may lead to additional regulatory issues, particularly in the derivatives market.

How far pre-IPO shares trading goes remains to be seen. As a uniquely alternative capital raising model, the secondary market is providing company owners, employees and investors an opportunity to generate wealth while increasing company valuation.  While risks of a bubble will always exist in this sphere, the secondary market is proving that an IPO, the ultimate hallmark of corporate achievement, may be finally witnessing some competition.

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Mon, 24 Jan 2011 20:15:00 -0800 Make Law, Not War http://shezisardar.posterous.com/make-law-not-war http://shezisardar.posterous.com/make-law-not-war

The law makes people nervous. It’s intimidating and creates a negative impression.  When I mention I’m a technology lawyer at industry events, it usually elicits a facial reaction somewhere between a blank stare and a perturbed, cynical frown. It’s as if the two words, “technology” and “lawyer,” don’t belong together, at least not as an occupational term. Many technologists, developers and CEOs of all things World Wide Web can’t seem to wrap their brilliant cerebral wiring around the concept, concluding that the restrictive hubris of law has no place in the free flow of information, in the engagement of ideas and methods, or in the business models of web-based monetization, whether its iPad apps or crowdsourced, real-time Q&As.

To the contrary, my genius friends, the law has everything to do with technology, and in particular, the expansion of technology. In 500 B.C., the Greek city of Sybaris, located in what is now southern Italy, postulated that inventors should have the right to a year-long patent, with exclusive rights to profits derived from such ‘refinements.’ In 1449, King Henry VI granted the first patent with a license of twenty years to John of Utynam for introducing the making of colored glass to England. In the Web 3.0 environment, U.S. courts have ruled that service providers such as Facebook, Twitter or YouTube are not liable for the consequences stemming from user-posted content, whether the postings violate trademarks or express a call to commit unlawful acts.

These are necessary postures. Without law, no developer could protect their work and build a viable business without fear of having their ideas stolen and copied wholesale. Beyond proprietary protection, the law provides the practical framework through which technologies can be applied with maximum utility. This is no more apparent than in biotechnology, an emerging industry that seeks to integrate the biological with synthetic, machine-based elements to harness natural resources more effectively in the technology, engineering and medicine industries. Recently, scientists announced that algae may prove to be a viable fuel source, which, if mass manufactured, could become a formidable substitute in the petroleum market. The intersection of fuel-producing bacterium and business opportunities presents several novel legal questions: who has rights to bacteria? How far should the law go in designating specific methods and processes in algae conversion as proprietary? Are there multiple ways to convert algae so a market monopoly can be prevented to the benefit of consumers? Or better yet, what methods can be standardized in order for multiple competitors to flourish, similar to ExxonMobil, British Petroleum and Chevron?

The law posits such questions and more. It demands both in theory and application, the appropriate response to unfair practices while mediating non-aligned, if not conflicting, goals between parties looking to form a contractual relationship. Even starry-eyed startups need some legal advice when it comes to those pesky Series A financing rounds.

In its most abstract, the law is no more than custom memorialized for purposes of expediency and predictability. As human beings, we require some semblance of standardization that can enable us to focus on our ambitions. Without the law, we would be left to our own devices, each individual negotiating their terms without any mechanisms to enforce, deter or protect.  I argue that the law is as necessary to the advancement of technology as the very iterations of software and hardware development that contribute to it; a basic ingredient that, if disregarded, will render the technology unworkable. For those who find the law distant and intimidating, know that the law can be in your favor. To the technologists at industry events, next time I mention my profession, breathe a sigh of relief. I’m on your side.

 

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Mon, 15 Nov 2010 12:34:00 -0800 Companies crank up deal machine, put cash to work http://shezisardar.posterous.com/companies-crank-up-deal-machine-put-cash-to-w http://shezisardar.posterous.com/companies-crank-up-deal-machine-put-cash-to-w

NEW YORK (AP) — Big deals are a big deal again.

From Caterpillar to Chevron to Google, some of the best-known names in corporate America are scooping up smaller companies, finally putting the piles of cash they've been sitting on to use and positioning themselves for a stronger economic recovery.

The volume of mergers and acquisitions is still running well below what it was in 2007 before the Great Recession, but the burst in activity is a sign of economic vitality and shows that companies are starting to shake off some of their caution.

"Our pipeline is bursting," says Robert Profusek, head of mergers and acquisitions at the law firm Jones Day, who advised Continental Airlines when it was acquired by the parent of United for $3.2 billion. "We are gearing up for an incredible M&A boom."

M&A volume reached $2.25 trillion in the first 10 months of the year, a 28 percent increase over last year. August was the highest month on record, with $307 billion in deals, more than double August 2009, according to Dealogic, which tracks such data. October remained strong with $202 billion deals, up 32 percent from last year.

"It's an early indicator that confidence is shifting," says George Geis, faculty director of the mergers and acquisitions executive program at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Almost all the deals are companies buying companies. Private-equity firms, which spurred the buyout boom last decade, have made just 8 percent of the acquisitions this year, compared with 23 percent in 2006.

Typical is Caterpillar Inc.'s announcement Monday that it will buy Bucyrus International Inc. for $7.6 billion. Caterpillar, the world's largest maker of construction and mining equipment, was sitting on $2.3 billion in cash at the end of the third quarter. The acquisition allows Caterpillar to add to its line of mining equipment, which is in high demand in emerging markets.

Just last week Chevron Corp. said it would buy natural gas producer Atlas Energy Inc. for $4.3 billion, giving the oil company an entry into the rich gas fields in the eastern part of the U.S.

Among the other deals in the past three months, Dove soap maker Unilever PLC bought the VO5 haircare company Alberto-Culver Co. for $3.7 billion, and Southwest Airlines Co. bought AirTran Holdings Inc. for $1.4 billion. Drug giant Pfizer Inc. bought pain medication maker King Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $3.6 billion, and Google Inc. bought BlindType, a startup that corrects sloppy typing on mobile phones for an undisclosed price.

The deals are happening, in part, because companies have amassed a record $1.84 trillion in cash as of June 30, according to the Federal Reserve. That was 18 percent more than a year earlier.

Few things in business conjure up as much excitement as wheeling and dealing. Mergers are a high-stakes, secretive game and often reflect an ambitious executive's eagerness to leave a personal stamp on the company. Some of that atmosphere is back. The recent Southwest Airlines-AirTran deal used secret codes such as "falcon" and "cowboy" in e-mails and documents exchanged between executives to keep their talks confidential.

But unlike the dealmaking of the 1990s and most of the 2000s, ego-driven blockbuster deals are rare. Most deals this year have been smaller and driven by strategic decisions emerging from the recession.

Every recession brings change. Products, and sometimes companies, become obsolete. Consumers' tastes change. Hard times drive innovation, which leads to new technologies and products. Companies that want to be prepared for an improving economy pursue acquisitions because they are a quick way to fill holes in their businesses, says Robert Bruner, an M&A expert and dean of the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia.

One positive: The deals are less likely to result in the mass layoffs that often come with mergers and acquisitions. Hewlett-Packard Co.'s $25 billion deal for Compaq in 2001 resulted in at least 15,000 layoffs, and Bank of America Corp.'s acquisition of Merrill Lynch at the height of the financial crisis resulted in 35,000 job cuts.

There's no doubt that newly combined companies will cut redundant jobs. But they will not be at the mass scale previously seen because the deep recession wrung out the fat from the work force, Bruner says.

Chris Young, head of takeover defense at Credit Suisse Group's mergers & acquisitions unit, says more companies are willing to consider deals than just a few months ago.

"When the prevailing view is that the world is going to end, a director would be more concerned about making sure to hoard cash and get the house in order rather than making acquisitions," Young says. Now, clients have stopped talking of a double-drip recession and started discussing "ways to restart the engine of growth."

Technology giant IBM Corp. has made 15 acquisitions this year, up from eight in 2009. Each is in an area that has the potential for high growth.

"We choose companies that will help us fill a missing piece in our portfolio or expand what we already have," says Steve Mills, a senior vice president at IBM and the architect of its acquisitions.

3M Co., which makes Post-It notes and Scotch tape, is on a buying spree. CEO George Buckley said he would spend $2 billion on acquisitions in 2010, double the amount last year. The acquisitions range from Ross Reels, a manufacturer of fly fishing reels, to Arizant, a maker of specialty medical products.

Google has made 20 acquisitions so far this year, compared with eight the previous two years combined. Most acquisitions are in rapidly growing areas like smart phones and social networking.

Executives from disparate businesses are pumping up an atmosphere of anticipation too. Executives at BMW AG and U.S. Bancorp say they are looking for opportunities.

"This is the time to buy and position yourself for the takeoff, even if there is the risk of a double-dip (in the economy)," says Thomas Lys, who teaches mergers and acquisition at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. "No guts, no glory."

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Sat, 06 Nov 2010 07:58:00 -0700 Top Four Legal Issues in Clean Technology http://shezisardar.posterous.com/top-four-legal-issues-in-clean-technology http://shezisardar.posterous.com/top-four-legal-issues-in-clean-technology

 Clean technologies are receiving increased attention from a variety of stakeholders today. All levels of government, from local to federal, are providing tax abatements, grants and subsidies for the development of clean technologies involving solar, wind, carbon sequestration and nanotechnology. With global warming a household name and the “green” label in vogue, clean technology is enjoying a renaissance in the U.S.

Clean technology venture capital deals and financing have exponentially increased, from under $1 billion in 2002 to nearly $8.5 billion in 2008. Clean technology ventures currently leads the investment pack under the rubric of emerging industries, securing over $2billion in venture capital during the first quarter of 2010. 

Challenges however remain. China has undercut U.S. solar panel developers with their rock-bottom prices while producing over four times as much megawatt power per panel in a quarter of the time. As a result, California companies now struggle to compete despite the favorable economic and regulatory environment afforded to them.  Further, many of the latest iterations of clean technology such as ethanol-based fuel and wind power have yet to be fully scaled for mass production, or even proven as sustainable mechanisms for supplanting traditional fuel generation.

Despite the global volatility of the clean technology industry and the limited remedial effects of the domestic legal infrastructure, there are creative legal solutions that can be individually negotiated into any clean technology venture deal.  These briefly addressed solutions, while not exhaustive, take into consideration both the capital-intensive nature of clean technology ventures and its lengthy beta-to-commercialization process.

1.    Method of Financing.  Does your CleanTech venture seek debt or equity financing or a hybrid of both? What are the “Market Terms” for such financing? For example, interest rates, warrant coverage and related issues such as registration rights, anti-dilution protection and the warrant strike price for shares of the venture are all terms that should be addressed in any financing deal structure.

2.    Intellectual Property.  Does your method, process or product have intellectual property protection? How is it distinct and unique from competing or similar technologies? Will it serve as collateral to any debt financing deal to the benefit of a lender in the event of default? Furthermore, IP litigation has become one of the most prolific and hotly contested areas of law, with grievances and lawsuits filed almost daily across the U.S. over who owns the rights to technical minutiae and against monopolistic behavior by competitors. For clean technology ventures operating on an international scale, additional IP issues arise in local or regional contexts, particularly under the European Union which tends vigorously enforce its anti-competitive regulations by mandating that technologies and know-how be open-source.

3.    Licensing.  In terms of technology, there is a distinction between integrated products, those products that combine technologies into systems, and component-based products, illustrated by example as renewable batteries, photovoltaic membranes, or nanochips.  The degree of licensing to third parties will depend on how your product is characterized, the applied business model and the nature of the market in which it's being introduced.  If your product is a component, licensing will be a primary way to engage customers and clients since it cannot be economically viable unless it’s utilized in other computing, industrial or communication hardware or software aggregated on a systemic level. 

4.    Material Adverse Conditions. MAC clauses have received their fair share of attention across industries. As a contractual provision, MAC clauses define changes in the business, operations and conditions of a company that are material and adverse to the contracting party.  MAC clauses come up in both debt financing deals as a “catch-all” safety event for lenders in the event of default and also with clients and customers who seek to limit their obligations under an agreement should an adverse condition arise. Case law has generally imposed a high standard on contracting parties seeking relief under MAC clauses, often hinging on the precise language of the clause itself. A “material” change must be substantial, taking into account the long-term perspective rather than, for example, a drop in quarterly earnings due to market conditions or strategic business decisions.   

As a CleanTech venture, a narrowly defined MAC clause, coupled with more carve-outs, will impose a higher threshold on the contracting party should it want to void the agreement based on perceived adverse conditions.


The clean technology industry is growing and evolving at a frenetic pace. The legal framework is nascent at best. Emerging legal issues however, are becoming more nuanced as novel business cycles and disruptive technologies are upending traditional industries. As legal issues sharpen, CleanTech ventures should understand from the outset that their financial success and competitive advantage is based not only on sky high visionary thinking, but the transactional details paving the road underneath.

 

Sheheryar Sardar, Esq. & Benish Shah, Esq., Sardar Law Firm LLC

www.sardarlawfirm.com

@sardarlawfirm

@shezisardar

@benishshah

 

 

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Tue, 19 Oct 2010 14:47:00 -0700 Top Business Litigation Trends in a Recessionary Environment http://shezisardar.posterous.com/top-business-litigation-trends-in-a-recession http://shezisardar.posterous.com/top-business-litigation-trends-in-a-recession

  Commercial litigation has rapidly evolved in the United States since the deregulatory movement in the 1970s. Today, it is an industry behemoth that impacts and shapes the socio-economic discourse of our society, resulting in applicable legal standards on safety regulations, negligence, commercial competition, antitrust, intellectual property, and bankruptcies, to name a few.  Human conduct is parsed and defined in the annals of judiciaries; lawyers construct arguments that may have ramifications for years if adopted, the commercialization process is first filtered through the lens of dispute prevention as an anticipatory measure. 

The recessionary environment has proven no less a growing market for litigation, where a 2010 survey taken of a broad swath of the legal industry – law firms and general counsels – points to an anticipated rise in litigation and business disputes in the next 12 months.  Indeed, when a dispute arises, nearly 60% of the survey’s respondents choose litigation over other forms of dispute resolution such as arbitration. With a moribund and uncertain economy, companies and businesses are increasingly protective of their commercial and tactical advantages, leading to greater litigation involving complex corporate issues. 

As a cornerstone of managing conflict in contemporary America, litigation will always remain a viable choice, albeit one of last resort. The recession merely shifted the focus of litigation.  Here are top five trends that provide a general overview of litigation:

1. The Top Five Litigation Areas are: Intellectual Property; Regulatory Investigation; Contracts, Labor & Employment, and Electronic Discovery.

2. With the growing and standard use of electronic discovery as a tool in the arsenal of legal strategy, 80% of respondents agreed that the Rules of Civil Procedure should be modified to limit e-discovery in civil actions.

3. The industries which more often initiate litigation are energy, health care, manufacturing and insurance.

4. More companies are using alternative fee arrangements than 2009, including 61% of the largest Fortune 1000 companies.

5. The changing economy and the uncertain costs of litigation are compelling reasons to often reach an amicable settlement before going to trial.

With emerging industries such as renewable energy and infrastructure, social and digital media, mobile technology and biotechnology fast dominating the market as leaders of economic growth, novel legal issues and commercial disputes are increasingly finding themselves in the courtroom, an ominous forecast of litigation’s staying power.

~ Sheheryar Sardar, Esq. and Benish Shah, Esq., Attorneys at Sardar Law Firm LLC, a corporate law and commercial litigation firm in New York City. 

www.sardarlawfirm.com

www.socialmedialegal.wordpress.com

sardar@sardarlawfirm.com

 

Follow Us On Twitter: @sardarlawfirm  @socialmedia_law

                                        @benishshah     @shezisardar

 

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Sun, 10 Oct 2010 22:13:00 -0700 The Virtual Sand Dune http://shezisardar.posterous.com/the-virtual-sand-dune-0 http://shezisardar.posterous.com/the-virtual-sand-dune-0

I lived in simpler times. As a child growing up in Kuwait, I used to watch a hierarchy of ants reconfigure a three-foot sand dune in hours. It was a marvelous sequence of events. The way each ant singularly focused on carrying particles of sand to its destination, building an intricate social network out of an oasis. If I poked a stick in their perfect design, chaos would ensue.  The ants would come out by the thousands from their fortified pores with the ferocity of a defending army, eager to reconstruct their way of life.  More than leisure, I spent my days growing up with an innocent curiosity that, combined with an active imagination, resulted in wondrous encounters with the elements of the natural world. There was an energy in nature that I could connect to, a deep sense of earth that, ironically, begs me to ask even deeper questions about the nature of our digital world today.

Comprised of what can be aptly considered Too Much Information (TMI), embodied by the infinitely streaming universes of Facebook, Twitter and text messaging, today’s world is immediate and demanding. It seeks your attention with the unapologetic firmness of a maternal aunt who will force you to keep your behavior in check should you want out.

Today, in the early 21st Century, I wake up to the first thirty emails waiting for me on my iPhone, and that’s before I even get out of bed.  Once up, I’m on my laptop for hours.  Beyond work, there are websites to browse, news articles to read, words to hyperlink, blogs to write, personalities to ponder, games to play, hobbies to collect, and targeted brand advertising to digest.  Only the onset of hunger compels me to get up and think about slapping together a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a rather mundane task compared to what awaits me on my Twitter feed. All those shortened bit.ly and is.gd URLs that open a world of worlds for me to explore. Who doesn’t want to know the latest theories of management pronounced by Harvard Business Review, the results of mapping the brain to ascertain evil, the sophisticated algorithms that automate cars by Google, or the regulatory tools to curb recessionary fluctuations? And we haven’t even gotten to the mindless Facebook status updates by the dozens, by the hour. My childhood curiosity, once supple ground for growth, has become an exhausting curse.

My social network is akin to the sand dune brimming with ants, granular yet comprehensive, routine but infinite. To unplug myself is to violate some unspoken, cardinal rule of human interaction, built not on personal development but the artifices of unrelenting digital expressions and sound bites. To unplug is to not exist.

But I do exist, and my digital extension is simply an extension, not some nebulous substitute of who I am. I’ve managed to narrow my use of new media to my professional purpose, similar to ants using particles of sand from among the waves of the desert.  The struggle is a perennial one. In some ways, I still live in those simpler times, a bygone era when the physical world of ants, not the digital link, represented a URL.

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Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:09:00 -0700 Manhattan Chamber of Commerce Spotlights the Value of Small Businesses http://shezisardar.posterous.com/manhattan-chamber-of-commerce-spotlights-the-0 http://shezisardar.posterous.com/manhattan-chamber-of-commerce-spotlights-the-0

On July 14, New York City’s active and popular business organization, the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, hosted a seminal half-day event on the economic outlook for small businesses.  Hosted by Nancy Ploeger, President of the Chamber, and Bank of America, the event enjoyed a packed audience during what may be debated as the waning months of a fierce recession. 

Jeff Barker of Bank of America set the tone of the event as one focused on the critical value small businesses provide to New York City.  The Chamber met audience expectations with an array of diverse, accomplished panelists who spoke about the robust contributions small businesses provide to the local economy.  Maria Gotsch of NYC Investment Fund and NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn both touched upon how the private and public sectors are formulating initiatives to make it easier for small businesses to operate.  Quinn in particular referenced several major initiatives to curb regulatory inefficiencies and make more transparent the taxation and compliance processes many small businesses such as restaurants and retail outlets must adhere to.  The first panel represented several industries, with Ron Bergamini from the green sector, Matthew Reich of Tom Cat Bakery from manufacturing, Shelly Palmer from Technology and Scott Heiferman of MeetUp.com, from the newest and most promising field, social media.

Each panelist noted the challenging time that was 2008 and 2009.  Reich pointed out how his business incurred severe losses due to the drastic declines in manufacturing orders.  Heiferman emphasized how, as a reaction to 9/11, he thought of connecting people across the city through the World Wide Web as a means to bolster collaboration and strengthen a bewildered city.  His epiphany resulted in MeetUp.com, which now boasts of thousands of members and numerous, interest-based professional groups that meet on a regular basis.

The second panel session was no less compelling, although focused on issues more specific to the practical needs of small businesses.  Judy Messina of Crain’s New York Business and Lucy Kennedy of MetLife, among other panelists, discussed the new healthcare legislation and how it will impact small businesses.   The second part of the session had Rae Rosen of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York moderating the aptly titled Access to Credit panel, where Ed Powers of Capital Access Funds, Jorge Silva-Puras of the Small Business Administration, Edwin Hong of SeedCo Financial and Nancy Carlin of BOCNET echoed the difficulty small businesses have faced in securing lines of credit for the smooth running of their operations. 

The Chamber hosted an event that could not have come at a more opportune moment.  Small businesses in New York City have been severely affected in this tumultuous economic climate.  With the regulatory morass only now slowly adapting to a more agile economic environment, many entrepreneurs had been forced to shutter their businesses or substantially raise their prices to merely break even.  The event by the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce set the stage for cautious optimism in the small business sector, which, despite its struggles in the past few years, is bound for a renaissance in one of the most resilient cities in the world.

 

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Wed, 30 Jun 2010 09:34:00 -0700 The Underrated Phenomenon of Individual Brand Equity http://shezisardar.posterous.com/the-underrated-phenomenon-of-individual-brand http://shezisardar.posterous.com/the-underrated-phenomenon-of-individual-brand

 A close acquaintance recently asked me how we strategize our law firm’s branding.  I answered, it’s quite simple, we brand ourselves as personalities, and the rest follows. He questioned the concept - would branding a law firm through its owners result in market growth?  After all, who’s ever heard of a Steve Jobs of law firms? My point exactly, who indeed has heard of such a concept?

Individual brand equity is nothing new.  There are CEOs like Jobs of Apple, Dan Hesse of Sprint, or Nigel Travis of Papa John’s who have positioned themselves as brand ambassadors of their companies, transcending the traditional corporate image as a faceless entity.  Personality-driven brands are behind the successes of fashion houses like Armani and Gaultier.  Movado touts Derek Jeter wearing its sleek watches, while Coca-Cola has current rage Sarah Jessica Parker drinking its carbonate.  While the level of involvement by each individual varies with each company’s objectives, all this culminates into what can be succinctly summarized as individual brand equity, a surprisingly seminal notion despite its intuitive feel. After all, as emotional beings, we connect to other people who happen to articulate hope in a deeply personal and profound manner, whether that sense of hope is wrapped around Edward and Bella as the epitome of young love, or President Obama convincing an entire nation when ascending to the Office of Presidency that we are stronger than the Great Recession.  There is an idea, and then there’s a personality who sells that idea to the masses. 

Building and credentialing that personality gives rise to a successful brand.  Competence matters, but only once the audience is convinced of the personality driving the brand.  No idea will sustain without competence or execution, but every idea must necessarily have brand equity behind it.  Traditional industries should embrace this nebulous concept – law firms, private equity boutiques, and financial institutions need to hone in on their brand equity as a personality-driven phenomenon.  This will also provide flexibility when dealing with worst-case public relations scenarios.  BP could have done so much better if the company had driven its public relations efforts through a formidable, magnetic personality, who understood that the now infamous remark, “I want my life back,” by ousted CEO Tony Hayward simply wasn’t going to cut it.

Individual brand equity is an underrated but highly potent tool in the arsenal of any organization’s growth strategy.  If conceived and nurtured correctly, it can not only increase a company’s profit margin but humanize a company’s ability to connect to its current customers and expand its customer base.  Masking the organization as one devoid of any personal characteristics will only alienate stakeholders and the public – think populist rage against banks.  Now more than ever, individual brand equity is a necessity, a salient feature of any organization that wants to sustain its business.  As Oscar Wilde said, “society exists only as a mental concept; in the real world there are only individuals,” a fitting and relevant pronouncement for today’s insatiable, gratifying consumer market.

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Sun, 20 Jun 2010 13:36:00 -0700 Executing an Idea: Grow Beyond the Horizon http://shezisardar.posterous.com/executing-an-idea-grow-beyond-the-horizon http://shezisardar.posterous.com/executing-an-idea-grow-beyond-the-horizon

Believing is one thing.  Executing is another.  How many of us have thought, I could do that better? There are myriad of ways to succeed, and yet, every so often, we come across an individual who has succeeded beyond what we even envisioned for ourselves, whose idea was at best unoriginal, at worst plagiarized. Was it simply raw talent and luck? Was it you, whose ideas weren’t brilliant enough? To the perplexed, the obvious answer is no. 

The true recipe for success, among many ingredients, necessarily includes execution.  Too many of us, and I am one of the guilty, sit and think about success.  We think about how it would feel, how it must taste, how all those gorgeous people on television, reality television stars excluded, must be basking in their glory, living a life we could only dream about - those television anchors, policy pundits, acclaimed novelists, enterprising technologists, famed boutiques, and exhibitionist painters.

Let’s go back to the 1930s, during a little era called The Great Depression.  There was a young woman, born in a working class family in Queens, New York.  Her parents owned a hardware store, where she worked as a teenager. One day she decided to help her uncle, a chemist.  They began making untested skincare products.  This young woman, believing in her nascent products, went to the streets of New York City and started selling to other women – yes, she stood daily for hours, soliciting potential clients to try her products, and this during a time when the concept of true skincare did not exist.

After much struggle, she eventually persuaded several retailers to host her products on their shelves.  Her products took off beyond what a simple middle-class girl could even comprehend.  Today, she is a legend in her own right, her brand one of the most respected in the world.  Her name was Estee Lauder.

Did she have help? Yes, her uncle happened to be a chemist – she had access to chemicals and the know-how needed to create the product.  But she had to go out and execute her plan. She had to get out there and talk to people about an entirely new concept at the risk of rejection.  She did this for years, investing hours each day. 

An idea, however brilliant, has no value unless you materialize the beginnings of a plan to execute it.  Do not think about the plan anymore than you need to think about your next vacation to Europe.  You won’t know every detail, every alley, every opportunity you may have when you begin your journey, but you will know enough to start the process and learn along the way.  There is no perfect plan, no perfect execution.  Indeed, there is even no guarantee of success.  But new opportunities arise from even the most elementary plans.  Live with that ambiguity and uncertainty, and watch your idea grow beyond the horizon.

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