Remembering to Keep it All in Balance

Posted on April 30, 2012 by kfinn

As school comes to a close and I head off to do ibanking at Credit Suisse, keeping it all in balance seems to be a closing theme.  During my TEC (The Executive Committee) meeting last week, I discussed this issue at length with my mentor, Pete.  He reminded me that it’s great to be successful in business, however, it’s even better to be successful in business and life.  Pete then told me the stories, lives, and careers of people he knows.  Some sounded great, success in business, family and friends.  Others sounded downright miserable, complete with family members suing each other. Continue reading →

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Quote: Be Nice

Posted on March 6, 2012 by kfinn

I heard a good quote this past weekend from Jordan Juenemann during Senior Night at Allen Fieldhouse on the KU campus.  It sums up humility nicely.

It’s nice to be important, but more important to be nice.

Rock chalk Jayhawk!

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Postmortem: I Crashed a Company. This is What I Learned.

Posted on February 26, 2012 by kfinn

The following post has been in my drafts queue since last fall…  It has been difficult articulating my experience in business failure, but I hope my four key takeaways help you avoid similar mistakes.  Enjoy.

In theory many business ideas seem easy, but in practice they turn out to be much more difficult.  While advising tech companies in Silicon Valley on mergers and acquisitions, I saw countless companies fall into this trap. Often, the story to the Board and press went like this: “We’re going to buy target company, integrate it seamlessly, and then the combined company’s revenues will go up while costs come down.”  Pull this move off, and poof — increased shareholder value via M&A.  Unfortunately, what seemed good in PowerPoint principle turned out to be more difficult in real world application for many clients – often resulting in restructuring. Continue reading →

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Succinct and Timeless Business Advice

Posted on February 20, 2012 by kfinn

A few weeks ago I got some timeless advice from a guest speaker in my TOC program, an on-campus forum for MBA students to interact with classmates and seasoned executives to better manage one’s business and career.  The guest speaker, who requested no attribution for this post, gave me and my classmates the below advice.  This is one of the best, succinct, lists of management principles I have come across, so I thought it would be nice to share it here for a broader audience.  The italics are my own notes.

Lessons Learned Along the Way

The three critical elements of a company are: Market, Management and Money.  You need all three for a good business.  Never forget, growing companies need money.  Growth is affected by external financing needs, margin, ROE, etc.

The Market

  • Know now your company’s value proposition (i.e. why customers should do business with you). Continue reading →
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A Note on Competition: Avoid the Obvious

Posted on December 18, 2011 by kfinn

“The more challenging and potentially lucrative the waters you fish in, the more likely they are to have attracted skilled fisherman.  Unless your skills render you fully competitive, you’re most likely to be prey than victor.” – Howard Marks

Which is better: Seizing the ripe opportunity in front of you, or hunting down a mediocre one on the fringe? I would argue the latter, which I want to demonstrate with something that has been a big part of my life – surfing. Yes, surfing. I realize this is a stretch for non-surfers, but with this story I think you will see the parallels to opportunities in your life, whether they are business or personal ones. Continue reading →

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Stock Pitch: Avery Dennison Corporation

Posted on November 23, 2011 by kfinn

I have been working on my stock pitches for my SIF class.  Using my template, I put together another pitch to present in class next week.  Pitching Avery Dennison is a little more difficult for me because it’s further from my tech roots, but I enjoyed learning about a new industry and business — even if it’s not as exciting as technology.

As you read this pitch, please keep in mind that this is purely for academic purposes.  This is not a solicitation to buy or sell shares of Avery Dennison.  Continue reading →

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Quote: Mark Twain on Avoiding the Crowd

Posted on November 22, 2011 by kfinn

I found a good quote that reminds me of the advice that I got from Marshall Heinberg, Tom Barrack and Bing Gordon.  Sometimes you just have to go against the grain… that’s where opportunity exists.

“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.” – Mark Twain

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

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Interesting Start-ups: Pinterest, Ness, Everlane, Shaker

Posted on November 14, 2011 by kfinn

A v2.0 of Ma.gnolia and Del.icio.us, Pinterest is an interesting start-up.  And judging from the number of “new follower” e-mails I get daily, it’s interesting to a lot of my friends, too.  But I’m not totally sold on this one.  Do we need another source for content curation in addition to Twitter, Facebook, RSS, LinkedIn, and traditional media websites?  For the sake of the company’s impressive list of investors, I hope I’m wrong, but nevertheless it will be interesting to see the evolution of this site along with the cadre of recently launched competitors: Canv.as, Snip.it, Svpply.com, Nuji.com and Pearltrees.com.  UI and speed to scale are going to be the keys to success in this space – and in this regard Pinterest seems to be doing a great job. Continue reading →

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Quote: Warren Buffett on Ignoring Stock Market Chatter

Posted on October 30, 2011 by kfinn

“We don’t buy and sell stocks based upon what other people think the stock market is going to do, (I never have an opinion) but rather upon what we think the company is going to do.  The course of the stock market will determine to a great degree, when we will be right, but the accuracy of our analysis of the company will largely determine whether we will be right. Who would think of buying or selling a private business because of someone’s guess on the stock market?”  -Warren Buffett

My dad recently sent me this quote.  I like it because it helps keep short-term commentary from affecting long-term analysis and opinion, the true focus of investing (in my opinion).  Through the SIF, I have had the chance to hear similar thoughts on investing from people such as Dave Iben at Tradewinds; he doesn’t want to hear anything unless it will be meaningful in five years.  It’s nice to hear that others try to ignore CNBC and the like, t00.

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Entrepreneurship: Picking A Co-Founder

Posted on October 20, 2011 by kfinn

I’m sitting in my entrepreneurship class, Cases in New Ventures, taught by Professor Steven Mednick.  The first half of each class is a series of student presentations, which are little boring to be honest, but the second half of class is great.  During the second-half of each class, an entrepreneur speaks to us about their entrepreneurial journey.  Last week we heard from an entrepreneur that had a $160mm deal fall apart during the 2008 financial crisis.  This week, we heard from an entrepreneur whose partner cratered a $100mm deal.  My big takeaway this week was one key item: Pick your co-founder carefully.  Below is the advice that the entrepreneur gave us. Continue reading →

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