Why We Blog
We find it odd but opportunistic that some of the best investment bankers in the internet and media industries don’t take full advantage of the internet to promote their services and views. We’re sure that they know how to blog and podcast and use social media to get their brand out there, but to our best knowledge no one is doing . . . yet.
Maybe they’re strong believers in traditional channels, like tombstone advertisements in the Wall Street Journal. Perhaps their brand recognition carries them, or they have wide and deep industry relationships and don’t need to promote their services. We don’t doubt their investment banking prowess, we just can’t figure out why name brand middle market investment banks in the media space don’t use the full range of dramatically less expensive channels available to them. So we’re going to give it a shot.
Our Mission
Let’s get it on the table and out in the open. The purpose of the site is to drum up investment banking business so that we can put food on the table. We make no bones about it. Eventually, when other bankers blog, don’t let them tell you that they do it for any other reason. Notwithstanding, we hope you’ll read our blog and visit our website, participate, debate, call us (preferably) insightful . . . . You are even welcome to call us [fill in your own word here], but most of all, we hope that if you have a deal, you’ll consider hiring us to represent you.
Otherwise, our mission at Intangible Insights is to be a source of information for entrepreneurs, technologists, lawyers, accountants, bankers, perhaps even sociologists and others who are interested in the internet space. While we understand large portions of the technology, the principals of accounting, the areas of law, the business strategy, and so on, our expertise is in the area of deals and valuation. Therefore, we and our guests will filter our areas of expertise through the prism of valuation. What drives it? What enhances it? Who supports it?
Our Scope and Our Focus
Other than it being a catchy name, why Intangible Insights? Of course, there are thousands of internet-reliant businesses that have no significant intangible assets but certainly are valuable and the subject of M&A and corporate finance transactions every day. It’s our belief that the challenging and interesting valuations and deals, which set the benchmark and lead the industry, lie in the gray zone of intangibility. Although 2i reports on the entire industry, we find the intangible exceptionally interesting and valuable, and we seek to learn and profit from this space.
Our Principles
As technology and industry evolve so will 2i’s focus. However, a few intangible principals will remain constant:
· Like beauty and the beholder, value lies in the offer of the buyer. You may never know how someone can squeeze, or expects to squeeze, some cash flow out of an asset, but we believe that someday, somehow, directly or indirectly, the purchase must yield more cash flow than it costs to buy and support. While intangible assets have inherent value, ultimately when the dust settles (and the bubbles pop), the almighty dollar drives business valuation.
· Venture capitalists are known for the cliché “Execution is everything.” We agree. An entrepreneur can have vision, an operating plan, capital, and technology, but if he can’t execute he does not drive value and ultimately the company is worth little, if anything. At first, this may seem redundant to our first principal. Successful execution generates cash. The difference is that cash is fungible and execution is not. The exact same technology and plan can be worth billions under one person’s (or team’s) management and zero under another.
· Here, we call ‘em like we see ‘em. When we’re retained by a client for an M&A assignment, we are their champion. We’re trying to get the highest price on a sell-side deal and the lowest price on buy-side deal. But on these pages, like a valuation assignment for a board of directors, you’ll get our unvarnished thoughts and opinions. You may disagree, but hopefully you’ll think our arguments are cogent, and they help you to frame your decision making and close deals.
