Unicorn Problems? IPO Doldrums
There has been a lot of IPO news lately. First and foremost was the launch of my book on How to Take a Company Public. In the weeks since publication there […]
Category Archives: Analyst Decoder Ring
Sitting on the end of the Whip
There is a metaphor I hear occasionally to describe semiconductors – the idea of a bullwhip. A big part of running a successful chip company is accurately forecasting demand. Semiconductor […]
A Practical Guide to IPOs – Chapter 13: Five Years in the Wilderness
KEY LESSON: The only way to recover from a broken IPO is a string of good results, and a lot of time. One of the last IPOs I worked on […]
Are IPOs going out of Fashion?
Last was a bad one for public markets, at least a bad week for people who believe that tech companies can find a home in the public markets. First, the long-awaited Pure Storage […]
Qualcomm and China – 2/3rds of the way there: A Follow-up on some past posts.
Back in January, I wrote about Qualcomm’s position in China. At the time, there were rumors that the company was nearing an agreement with the Chinese government addressing the company’s […]
A Practical Guide to IPOs: Chapter 10 – Meet the Street
KEY LESSON: Liquidity, as measured by trading volume, matters more than share price No plan ever survives first contact with the enemy. Or, if 19th century Prussian generals do not carry […]
Why the Disconnect? Public vs. Private investors on IoT
I have been doing a lot of work around IoT (the Internet of Things) lately. It is a subject of near universal interest among the kinds of people I hang […]
A Practical Guide to IPOs Chapter 8 – The Expectations Game
A Practical Guide to IPOs Chapt 8 – The Expectations Game – When you provide analysts with numbers, make sure they are numbers you can beat. Choose a number that: 1) you think you can forecast consistently; and 2) bears some resemblance to your actual business. Probably the most important message in this whole series.
Chapter 7 – The Dividing Line or How to Prepare for Public Markets
KEY LESSON: Be reasonable about what your company can accomplish In the last chapter, we took a speedy tour through the IPO process. I now want to return to that […]
IPO Series Chapter 6 – “The Process”
KEY LESSON: Be prepared. Decisions made before the IPO can have lasting implications long after the IPO. In this chapter, I am going to use broad strokes to walk through […]