Southeast VC

Interview with Sasson Darwish, Bank of America

Here is a recent interview I did with Sasson Darwish, Managing Director in the Technology Investment Banking Group at Bank of America.

Worth reading if you're thinking about an exit for your company. He talks about the M&A/IPO activity in the market, M&A bidding wars, valuation trends and mistakes he sees companies get into when looking to exit.

Vonage Lawsuit

The lawsuit against Vonage by unhappy investors doesn't surprise me. Although the fact the stock dove 30% in just 7 days does. All of this makes me thankful I passed on the opportunity to participate in the IPO.

Preparing for Your Successful Exit

I'm looking forward to moderating a panel next Tuesday at CED's Engage Finance conference on "Preparing for Your Successful Exit." The conference is going to be held at Kenan-Flagler in Chapel Hill, NC.

My panel is really strong with the following participants:

-Dan Pelak, former CEO of Closure Medical (public co. acquired by J&J for almost $400m)

-Tim Biltz, former COO of SpectraSite (acquired by American Tower for $3.1 billion) and former COO of Vanguard Cellular (acquired by A&T for $900m)

-Cal Hackeman, National Managing Partner, Technology Industry Practice, Grant Thornton

Any questions you want asked? Email me in advance and I'll make sure they're brought up.

The conference is inexpensive (50 bucks) and I think the content will be really good with panelists from organizations like Novak Biddle Venture Partners, Intersouth, Silicon Valley Bank, RBC and ChannelAdvisor. The keynote will be given by Richard Casey, president & CEO of Square 1 Bank.

Hope to see you there.

Super Bowl Indicator

If you believe in the "Super Bowl Indicator," you should be pretty bullish and bet on the stock market in '06.

Go on a Road Show

If you want to watch a company's CEO pitch their proposed public offering, it can now be viewed here.

According to the TBJ, this just started December 1, after a new rule from the SEC. I have watched a few of them including Raleigh-based Voyager Pharmaceutical.