JPM - Fun, Fast and Furious

Private Equity in MENA 2010

(download)

An interesting report that highlights the number of deals done in the region. Certainly a slowdown – though many take time to admit it. Hat tip to Biju.

Retweet Loading mentions

Comments [0]

P.S. Come By Rail - Warren Buffett

(download)

Every year Warren Buffett opens up to his shareholders. Fortunately, I’m one – a small one nonetheless. Fortunately, his openness isn’t just limited to us shareholders. You can visit http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/ for some good information. Meanwhile, you can read the letter to shareholders and learn a lot more.

Retweet Loading mentions

Comments [0]

Money isn't everything

Retweet Loading mentions

Comments [0]

Tata - Too Good To Fail

I’m sure you’ve heard of the Nano – the world’s cheapest car. In that case, you’ve heard about Tata. Here’s an excellent piece from Strategy & Business on Tata – Too Good To Fail.

Retweet Loading mentions

Comments [0]

Where did all the bankers go ?

Each of these firms saw an increase in the LinkedIn activity of their employees, measured by member registrations or updates to the individual’s company title on LinkedIn. This activity coincided with key corporate announcements such as the acquisition of Merrill Lynch by Bank Of America, or the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy announcement.

Talent flow during the financial collapse (Source: LinkedIn Data)

Where did all these employees go?  One hypothesis is that many of the employees left the financial industry.  According to the LinkedIn data set, that just isn’t true. There are a handful of people that did transition to other industries and start new careers, but most stayed in the financial space. To be specific, other than two acquiring companies (Bank of America acquired Merrill Lynch and Nomura acquired Lehman Brothers’ franchise in the Asia Pacific region), Barclays was by far the biggest beneficiary, scooping up 10% of the laid off talent, followed by Credit Suisse at 1.5% and Citigroup at 1.1 %.

Retweet Loading mentions

Comments [2]

7 Investment Tools For Successful Investing

Keep your axe sharp.... that was the best advice I ever received.

People say that you shouldn't blame your tools. I agree, having the wrong tools is your fault! (So don't blame game them!) I'm no suggesting you have the state of the art. You just need the basics to help you with investing. I'll share with you the basics.

Investment Tool #1
Invest some good money in a decent computer. I used to use Dell with Windows. However, I've switched to Mac - and won't be turning back. Macs' are costlier upfront - but they're more stable and reliable. The only thing I really miss was Excel. However, there's a way around - get yourself VMWare Fusion and you can run Windows environment on your Mac (with Microsoft Office)! Whatever... get a good and reliable computer. Period.

Investment Tool #2
High Speed Broadband Internet Connection. Don't skimp on this. I'm not suggesting you go for the 21Mb connection - a 1 Mb will do just fine for starters. But don't skimp here. You need to be connected - both from the point of view of researching, trading and investing. If you have a faster connection - you can stream information via the various news channels straight to your desktop. No need to pickup the remote for the TV and get distracted.

Investment Tool #3
Get a simple BIG calculator. Yes, I know that sounds stupid - but before I tell you about the remaining tools, you just need one. Simple calculations without the need to move a mouse is always good.

Investment Tool #4
Buy a spreadsheet program. If you're on Mac - you have Numbers, if you're on PC - you can opt between Microsoft Office (preferable) or Open Office. Whatever you chose - get familiar with the programme - the time you spend getting to know your software will save you countless hours! I use spreadsheets to keep a track of my portfolio, conduct analysis of financial statements, asset allocation, seeing the returns (and losses sometimes). This is going to be your key tool.

Investment Tool #5
Online Discount Brokerage. How else are you going to put in those trades? Oh, yes you can call your broker - but our objective is to do everything ourselves as far as possible and save money. The famous ones include TD Ameritrade, ETrade and ThinkOrSwim (which is now acquired by TD Ameritrade). You should have both web-based trading screen access as well as any downloadable software. I use ThinkOrSwim - although its mainly meant for traders - I learn alot from it and find it easier and faster to use.

Investment Tool #6
Research Sites. There are plenty of sites out there. But I only need a few of them. And the ones I use are free. Google Finance is a real great site. Highly recommended. Yahoo Finance has always been a favourite for many - but I prefer Google, they also have screening tools, excellent graphs, links to news articles, blogs, portfolio, watchlists, financials - the works.

Investment Tool #7
If you don't search for your own investment ideas - you need a good option to receive regular flow of research. Subscribe to the best independent research firms out there. (I use The Oxford Club, EquityMaster, Personalfn, KirkReport and Weber Global Opportunities).

Retweet Loading mentions

Comments [0]

Deal Maker CRM for Deal Flow - Highrise

It's all about the network. The value of the network increases disproportionately to the size.

If you did a survey, you'd be surprized at how many high-touch professional services firms (PSFs) such as private equity, venture capital and investment banks actually track their deal flow. That's primarily because the deal team are too busy working on finding deals, post acquisition monitoring and growing their portfolio companies, to update a deal register or any crm software for that matter.

However, if there is a solution that will reduce the amount of time needed to enter the data points and access them - then you stand a chance of getting them to use the solution. As a deal maker, if I don't see immediate value for the time and effort spent, I'd certainly not waste any more precious time on it.

Another issue, is probably the lack of a formalized sales process to actually force someone to use the CRM package.

However, if you've ever had the chance to understand first-hand the importance of knowledge management - you'll definitely want to put in place a system where deal makers are encouraged to share information.

I found a solution that probably meets all the essentials - Highrise. I'm currently using this for tracking the deal flow in AVCION and highly recommend it. Not only have I been more efficient, but I'm really on top of things now. Wouldn't you like to be switched on always!

banner-300x250.png 

   
Click here to download:
Deal_Maker_CRM_for_Deal_Flow_-.zip (137 KB)

Retweet Loading mentions
Filed under  //   avcion   banking   business   crm   deal flow   deal maker   highrise   private equity   system   venture capital  

Comments [2]

Jason Fried Speaks - 37Signals

Retweet Loading mentions

Comments [0]

Apple iPad Disappointment...

Apple released the iPad. Honestly, I was expecting it. But I was expecting more. It’s working on an iPhone OS3 operating system. It allows the same applications (or apps for short) to be used. However, it doesn’t have a camera! What’s the use of a tablet without a camera? It no longer serves as a multimedia device. Infact I was hoping they’d have two cameras – one on the front, the other on the back. Now will this be able to compete with Kindle. Yes. And No. Yes, if Amazon releases its Kindle for Mac and iPad. I guess you can use the Kindle for iPhone app – but I’m yet to see that. And No because Amazon hasn’t really opened up the Kindle store to the world (Bahrain is yet to get access). Apple now provides a book store (iBooks) for iPad – now that’s interesting – are we hinting at something here? As I stated in my earlier post, people want a multi-purpose device and not a single use one. Oh, btw you can’t multi-task on an iPad – which means no listening to music while you type something out.

Retweet Loading mentions

Comments [2]

Alexander the Great's last words

Alexander, after conquering many kingdoms, was returning home. On the way, he fell ill and it took him to his death bed. With death staring him in his face, Alexander realized how his conquests, his great army, his sharp sword and all his wealth were of no consequence.

He now longed to reach home to see his mother's face and bid her his last adieu. But, he had to accept the fact that his sinking health would not permit Him to reach his distant homeland. So, the mighty conqueror lay prostrate and pale, helplessly waiting to breathe his last.

He called his generals and said, "I will depart from this world soon, I have three wishes, please carr them out without fail." With tears flowing down their cheeks, the generals agreed to abide by their king's last wishes.

"My first desire is that", said Alexander,
"My physicians alone must" carry my coffin."

After a pause, he continued, "Secondly, I desire that when my coffin is being carried to the grave, the path leading to the graveyard be strewn with gold, silver and precious stones which I have collected in my treasury".

The king felt exhausted after saying this. He took a minute's rest and continued. "My third and last wish is that both my hands be kept dangling out of my coffin".

The people who had gathered there wondered at the king's strange wishes. But no one dared bring the question to their lips.. Alexander's favorite general kissed his hand and pressed them to his heart. "O king, we assure you that your wishes will all be fulfilled. But tell us why do you make such strange wishes?"

At this Alexander took a deep breath and said: "I would like the world to know of the three lessons I have just learnt.

Lessons to learn from last 3 wishes of King Alexander...

I want my physicians to carry my coffin because people should realize that no doctor can really cure any body. They are powerless and cannot save a person from the clutches of death. So let not people take life for granted.

The second wish of strewing gold, silver and other riches on the way to the graveyard is to tell People that not even a fraction of gold will come with me. I spent all my life earning riches but cannot take anything with me. Let people realize that it is a sheer waste of time to chase wealth.

And about my third wish of having my hands dangling out of the coffin, I wish people to know that I came empty handed into this world and empty handed I go out of this world".

With these words, the king closed his eyes. Soon he let death conquer him and breathed his last. . . .

LESSON TO LEARN
Remember, your good health is in your own hands, look after it.
Wealth is only meaningful if you can enjoy while you are still alive and kicking.
What you do for yourself dies with you but what you do for others, lives on. "Legacy".

Alexander’s last words: “Bury my body, do not build any monument, keep my hands outside so that the world knows the person who won the world had nothing in his hands when dying“.

Retweet Loading mentions
Filed under  //   quote  

Comments [0]