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Five Flavour Friday – A weekly list of 5 things I have interest in!   1.  Company to follow: Nanometrics Inc based in the west end of Ottawa develops products and solutions for measuring seismic data and translating that into actionable insight. David Alexander is the CFO there and he is looking for a financial controller. They also have several other openings on the technical side. If you want to work for a great company with great tech then check them out!  2.     What I read: A great article by Inc. Australia on Canadian entrepreneur Katherine Homuth and the company she founded called Sheertex. A great description of the ups and downs of capital constraints, capacity issues, fund raising and proving to investors that your vision will work. Take a read as it is a great article about a great founder and company. https://lnkd.in/ePPUPkd7 3.   What I listened to: How I Built This with Guy Raz podcast featuring another great Canadian success story, SmartSweets: Tara Bosch. Much like the Sheertex story in #2 above, Tara Bosch had an ambitious vision and at the age of 21 dropped out of UBC to pursue something great. The number of times she fought back from the brink is inspiring. Delighted to hear a shoutout to BDC’s Futureprenuer program that provided her with the $100k she needed to get the minimum order volume going with her contract manufacturer. Tara Bosch we would love to host you on our equivalent platform at BDC called Executive Insights and learn more about how you grew SmartSweets from zero to a $360M exit in five years!  4.   Event to attend: The Ottawa chapter of the M&A club is hosting an event on August 22nd with guest Brock Murray, co-founder of seoplus+. He will share strategies on how to maximize the value of digital assets and how acquirers can integrate those assets post acquisition to maximize value. Great topic and thanks for pulling this together Sarwar Qureshi, CPA, CA, LPA.    5.   Quote I am pondering: “The person you will be in 5 years depends largely on: ➡️ The books you read ➡️ The food you eat ➡️ The people you spend time with ➡️ The habits you adopt ➡️ The conversations you engage in” The greatest investment of all time is the one you make in yourself. Small things compound over time. Don’t wait.  Ross Morgan, CPA, CA, MAcc will be doing the FFF takeover on my feed for the next two. Give it a read and like. #learning #sharing

Sometimes the best partnerships start with a simple "Why not?" Four years ago, nFusion Capital, LLC inspired us to launch our #juniorcapital financing solution for #factors and #assetbasedlenders. Today, we celebrate their success as they secure larger bank and #subdebt lines, paving the way for future growth. Here's to continued collaboration and shared achievements! #lenderfinance #whynot

Our CEO Jens Grudno had a great chat with Will Smith from Acquiring Minds. They chattet about building vs. buying companies, buying companies out of bancruptcy and restructuring them, compared value investing with aquiring a business, and the many many mistakes Jens Grudno made along his journey. Jens Grudno gets extremely talkative, to say the least, especially when he drinks too much caffeine, so please excuse the length of the podcast. https://lnkd.in/eWD7HYKF

I want to hold up The IT Nation torch today in honor of our keynote speaker, Kevin Blake, CEO of TechMD! I have an incredibly personal story to share about Kevin, and I venture to say there are at least 2,500 of us who could tell a similar story about the profound impact Kevin and his family have had on our lives. Kevin mentions his first IT Nation Connect in 2007 with just three employees (see comments for video). Today, the number of people who love being led by him is 100 times larger. Kevin and I met at a significant inflection point in my life. I had run a single MSP M&A sell-side auction in 2018, and as a newly single father, I had a tremendous sense of urgency to find a new client. Around that time, Kevin and I connected through a cold email I sent him amid an #MSP buy-side assignment. Although my client wasn't fit to invest in Kevin’s business, I had a strong sense that a #privateequity sponsor named ClearLight Partners would be perfect. Driving an old Honda Civic my father had given me post-divorce, I embarked on a 12-hour roundtrip without a confirmed appointment to convince Kevin to hire me and my firm for a one-off assignment to secure growth capital from ClearLight. The Honda broke down just as I neared Kevin’s office. However, Kevin saw my determination and hired me and my firm for the assignment. Kevin and I flew to Newport Beach, CA, shortly after to meet with Kyle Burke, Mark Gartner, and Dustin Byer. Days later, Kevin received a letter of intent from ClearLight to become its #MSP ‘Platform’ investment! In 2019, Kevin changed the trajectory of my life and my son's life. He advised me to attend The IT Nation Connect in Orlando in November, assuring me that every one I needed to know would be there. I took his advice. Within hours, Kevin introduced me to legendary MSP founders and CEOs like Rashaad Bajwa, Jake Spanberger, Kevin Cook, David Shaffer, Vince Kent, and many others, telling them, "You’ve got to meet this guy. He helped me secure a private equity platform investment." Inspired, I embarked on another 17-hour roundtrip drive without a confirmed meeting to see Mohit 'Mo' Vij of General Informatics. Months later, Mo/GI received a transformative growth capital investment from Rosewood Private Investments, adding incredible talent like Donald C. Monistere, MBA. Thanks to Kevin Blake, FOCUS Investment Banking’s MSP Team has been the catalyst for 12 platform transactions like Kevin’s and has advised on transactions with 77 buyers and sellers. In my opinion, the secret sauce of The IT Nation is the community of ‘go-givers’ known as IT Nation Evolve, the peer group community founded by Arlin Sorensen. Please get in touch with Joddey Hicks or ask me for a referral. I am sure it will change your life. Thank you, Kevin Blake, for investing in so many of us and for changing lives through your leadership. #InspiringLeadership, Victoria Bruns, Erwin Visser, ConnectWise, Microsoft

Putting in long hours and working diligently might create a sense of productivity, but the crucial question is: Are you building something that will be in high demand soon? Read more in this #TheNewDirectorsChair interview with Andrew Thompson, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Spring Ridge Ventures, with The ExCo Group's Adam Bryant and David Reimer. 🔗 https://hubs.la/Q02ddMvZ0 #Productivity #MarketDemand #BusinessSuccess

Where does Butterfly Network, Inc. go from here – Part I, scenario of raising more money!   Previously I wrote about the Ascent and Descent of Butterfly. In the next few posts, I will go through Butterfly’s options as they move forward.   Reading through #Butterfly communication makes it clear that the company is still holding on to its dream of making ultrasound ubiquitous. But, looking at their financials reveals that the company is on a clock, and is quickly burning through its remaining cash. One scenario that allows Butterfly to continue to work toward its dream is to raise more capital. In this post I will discuss the likelihood of this scenario.       Early Investors   Like any relationship, the relationship between founders and investors is build on trust. Once that trust is damaged it is hard to rebuild it. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was one of the early investors in Butterfly, but last year when they wanted to help develop portable AI-enabled ultrasound devices, they partnered with GEHC and Philips instead. That sent a signal on where the foundation stands today with respect to additional investments in Butterfly.   Late Investors   Some major investors bought into the Butterfly hype and invested in the company either during its SPAC or shortly after. But as I covered in my previous post, Butterfly valuation nosedived after its IPO. That meant all those investors lost their money. In 2022, several frustrated investors filed a lawsuit against the company. A quick look at their case details reveals what the temperature looks like amongst Butterfly investors … "Company overstated its business and financial prospects", "Company's public statements were materially false and misleading" .... Case is still open.   High Burn Rate   Butterfly has a history of high operating loss (~$200M per year). In the current setting, raising $200M will only offer them 1-2 more year. To truly move toward their dream, Butterfly needs another significant round of investment.   “Future is Bright!” … or is it?     Butterfly remaining cash from SPAC ($130M) will only offer 1-2 more year of operation. Unless the company raises more capital, it is truly headed toward bankruptcy. The leadership is aware of this and has initiated multiple cost-cutting exercises to extend the run rate. At the same time, the leadership is trying hard to wipe out Butterfly’s past and hype its future, to attract new investors. Calling 2023 “Transition Year” is a good example of this.   But it is hard to imagine that these will be enough to justify another round of investment. This is the company that recognizes most of its past investments as loss (over $700M). In 2023, the company also purged over $20M of its unsold inventory and reported 20% decline in its product revenue.      In Sum   In the current climate it will be very difficult for Butterfly to find another major investor. The other option for Butterfly would be to get acquired. I will discuss that scenario next.

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Meet the Silicon Valley billionaires, founders, and investors backing Kamala Harris https://ift.tt/m51eJcF Mark Cuban, Reid Hoffman, and Vinod Khosla are among the dozens of Silicon Valley leaders backing Kamala Harris. Borja B. Hojas/Getty Images, Drew Angerer/Getty Images, Taylor Hill/Getty Images More than 100 powerful venture capitalists organized to pledge support for Kamala Harris. The effort, named VCsForKamala, comes as other Silicon Valley leaders turn to Trump. Here are the biggest signatories and their history with the historic election cycle. As the once decidedly liberal Silicon Valley splinters this election, with figures like Elon Musk, Marc Andreessen, and David Sacks publicly backing former President Donald Trump, a group of powerful venture capitalists have combined forces to declare their support for Vice President Kamala Harris. On Wednesday, more than 100 leaders in Silicon Valley pledged to vote and solicit donations for Harris on a new website, VCsForKamala.org. According to one of the group's organizers, the original signatories represent a combined $150 billion in assets under management. "We are pro-business, pro-American dream, pro-entrepreneurship, and pro-technological progress," reads a statement on the VCsForKamala's website. "We also believe in democracy as the backbone of our nation." Harris, who was born in Oakland, has garnered support from dozens of leaders in her backyard supportive of her pro-business policies. Here are some of the biggest names on the list. Mark Cuban Mark Cuban. Europa Press Sports/Getty Images The billionaire, Shark Tank star, and former principal owner of the Dallas Mavericks is one of the most well-known signatories. Valued at $5.4 billion according to Forbes, Cuban voted for Nikki Haley in the 2024 GOP primaries but later attended a Biden fundraiser, ABC News reported. He vowed to support Biden after his disastrous debate performance but said hewas interested in whether other Democrats were better positioned to beat Trump. He was one of the quickest to react when Biden dropped his reelection bid, writing on X, "Father time is undefeated." Cuban has retweeted various posts about Harris' campaign, including one saying that Democrats had "some well-needed momentum." He anticipates that she will be more open to business, artificial intelligence, and crypto, Politico reported. Reid Hoffman Reid Hoffman. Kimberly White/Getty Images Reid Hoffman, a LinkedIn cofounder and longtime Democratic donor, wasted no time throwing his weight behind Harris, offering his support for her campaign the same day that Biden ended his. Of the president, he said that dropping out was "one of the most selfless acts we've seen from a politician in modern American history." In January, Hoffman poured $2 million into a super PAC that led a write-in campaign in New Hampshire for Biden's campaign. The Information first reported that Hoffman pushed Reed Hastings, Netflix chairman, to donate $7 m...