Dragons Den in reverse
I find Dragons’ Den compulsive TV viewing. For those not familiar with this UK program, the format is that a panel of experienced (and wealthy) Angel investors hear pitches from budding entrepreneurs seeking funding. They decide on camera whether to invest in the proposition...click on title link to read more.
Posted by JohnMelotte, Regional Director on 02 March 2009
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Crisis always offers opportunity
“I live in mighty fear that all the universe will be broken into a thousand fragments in the general ruin, that formless chaos will return and vanquish the gods and men, that the earth and sea will be engulfed by the planets wandering in the heavens."...click on title link to read more.
Posted by WilliamMontgomery, Senior Vice President on 27 February 2009
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Software M&A – should you be a player?
"New venture financing has ground to a halt, as many VCs rush to prop up portfolio companies hit hard by the downturn and angels fear to tread," said Ward Carter, Corum's President, in Channel Pro (www.channelpro.co.uk )...click on title link to read more.
Posted by JessicaEastman, Marketing Coordinator on 25 February 2009
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Dougan Milne Introduction
Hello, my name is Dougan Milne. I've been with Corum since 2005 as a research analyst in our Zurich, Switzerland office. Our research departments are highly synchronized between the US and Europe, so I am interacting daily with Ryan, Tomoki, Amber and Lynda to make sure there are no gaps in our deal tracking, buyer profiling, and client targeting...click on title link to read more.
Posted by DouganMilne, Vice President, Research on 24 February 2009
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If an overwhelming majority is convinced...
What happened to my fellow countrymen? Known as being pessimistic by nature and trying to avoid any kind of risk, they seem to be ignoring the frightening forecasts for our country this time. Economists, the government, the media – they all are preparing us for the worst recession in Germany for the last 50 years...click on title link to read more.
Posted by FrankBerger, Regional Director on 23 February 2009
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There are simply more buyers
Tech heavy NASDAQ is down close to 40% since mid-January 2008. Two years with no IPO market. Economic crisis wreaking havoc throughout all industries globally. Yet software and IT transaction volumes are only off 22%. Why? One reason is there are simply more buyers...click on title link to read more.
Posted by RyanBlakely, Vice President, Research on 19 February 2009
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"I am so pleased we got out when we did."
While traveling recently, I met with a prior client and good friend who sold his software business through Corum in 2006. After 18 years of pressure of meeting payroll and competing with the giants, he is happy to be relieved of the burden. He’s also extremely pleased to have gained some liquidity and financial diversification, especially in light of...click on title link to read more.
Posted by WardCarter, Chairman on 18 February 2009
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UK government support for SMEs
It used to be that the SFLG (Small Firms Loan Guarantee) scheme was the only real support that government offered SMEs, and very good it was, too. With the current financial turmoil small businesses now have their some further schemes, albeit not on the scale of the scores of billions directed to support UK banks. Anyway, they could be worth a look...click on title link to read more.
Posted by JohnMelotte, Regional Director on 12 February 2009
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Financial news headlines
I was on the net this morning skimming financial news headlines – none of them good, when it occurred to me how often I don’t see a cash flow statement in the financial packages I get from my smaller clients. Our depressed economy is causing businesses across the board a lot of pain and software companies licensing software tend to have a pretty lumpy income...click on title link to read more.
Posted by WilliamMontgomery, Senior Vice President on 11 February 2009
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Storage area and supply inventory
It’s the start of a new year and I’m taking a fresh look at our storage area and supply inventory. Those boxes of stationery have an old address – let’s turn them into notepads and make use of them. Why do we still have that old thing in the big box? It cannot be used again and it’s taking valuable storage space..click on title link to read more.
Posted by PatSultan, Director, Operations on 10 February 2009
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Aptonyms are the core of a lot of bad puns
I ran across a new word today – Aptonym. I wanted to share with you. Microsoft’s spell checker doesn’t know it either so I don’t feel too bad about my ignorance. What is an Aptonym you ask? An aptonym is the term used for "people whose names and occupations or situations have a close correspondence"...click on title link to read more.
Posted by WilliamMontgomery, Senior Vice President on 05 February 2009
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The gap between expectations and real value
Miro Parizek warns that the gap between expectations and real value is making deals hard to agree and is holding back the level of M&A activity...
I am certain that way too many entrepreneurs are completely underestimating the weight of the “recession” that is coming their way..click on title link to read more.
Posted by MiroParizek, Managing Director on 04 February 2009
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A Seismic shift has taken place on Wall Street
A Seismic shift has taken place on Wall Street – Boutique M&A firms are taking over.
I just came across a very interesting article from Bloomberg which discussed the collapse of traditional investments banks and the emergence of highly niche and more focused boutique M&A firms as leaders in the field...click on title link to read more.
Posted by DangNguyen, Financial Analyst on 03 February 2009
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Brazil – a good place for IT investments
We have seen a consolidation move in Brazil in 2008, including with the friendly takeover offer for Datasul by TOTVS (both companies made several acquisitions of their own in 08 and previous years), the acquisition of ATAN by Accenture, and the merger of several System Integrators into R$ 100m + national behemoths, including BBKO-Hold, Virtus (Dedalus), or...click on title link to read more.
Posted by ThomasEggers, Regional Director on 02 February 2009
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"Shop in your own closet!"
I was wandering around on the Internet this morning and ran across an article about saving money titled "Shop in your own closet!" about magazines. For some reason the title made me think about the people that work at Corum and in every company...click on title link to read more.
Posted by WilliamMontgomery, Senior Vice President on 30 January 2009
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Fits and starts
We all look to past experience to explain the present. My first reaction to the financial crisis was to look back at the trends that followed the dot.com bubble, and what I found was rather uninteresting: M&A volumes followed NASDAQ pricing trends in lockstep. The NASDAQ bottom was within months of the M&A volume. Looking two more years into the past is more interesting...click on title link to re
Posted by NatBurgess, President on 29 January 2009
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Predicting professional success
I was reading a Malcolm Gladwell blog entry titled Teachers And Quarterbacks this morning. He made a comment I think is relevant to anyone hiring software developers. Gladwell, in part said “..what matters more than anything in predicting professional success is the quality of the learning environment that the quarterback is drafted into, not the quality of the experience he was drafted from.” ..
Posted by WilliamMontgomery, Senior Vice President on 27 January 2009
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My vote for one of 2008's strangest deals is...
My vote for one of 2008's strangest deals is Elevation Partners $100 million investment in Palm announced this week. It’s especially strange since it was made with full knowledge of the brutal financial markets in which we find ourselves at year end.
Palm built a great name in the olden days but is there be any room for Palm in the market?...click on title link to read more.
Posted by MarkReed, Executive Vice President on 26 January 2009
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In 2009...
In 2009, the IT market as a whole will be shaped by two major forces colliding with each other at warp speed. A deep global recession meets an ongoing IT industry transformation. The recession will have a huge impact on the market...click on title link to read more.
Posted by LyndaTripp, Vice President on 15 January 2009
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Jeff Brown - Introduction
Hello, I am Jeff Brown. I am a regional director and deal maker for Corum, based in Houston. I joined the firm in 2007 after 25 years in technology entrepreneurship including roles as founder and CEO. Much of my experience is energy related. That's natural since my education is in geology and I spent five years doing CO2 related climate change research...click on title link to read more.
Posted by JeffBrown, Vice President on 13 January 2009
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