Technology, Capital Markets, Corporate Governance, Leadership, Entrepreneurship
Category: Fintech
Investors that value growth AND profitability ought to consider a number of tried-and-true FinTech names. Several days ago we were critical of some of the recent IPO and IPO hopeful crop of companies that enjoyed (even if temporarily) nosebleed valuations while delivering little in the way of recurring revenue much less profitability. Contrast that with … Continue reading FinTech for Growth & Profitability
AI is a scale game. Massive amounts of data and a large number of data scientists are required to build and train machine learning models and neural networks that underpin products such as Google Assistant and many others we've grown accustomed to. Google has never been great at selling to the enterprise. If it ever … Continue reading Google – Keeping Tabs on the AI Leader
Last Week I Participated on an AI-focused Panel at the SS&C Deliver Conference The panel - “Practical Applications for AI in Investment Operations & Accounting” - was especially enjoyable because the audience engaged. While much has changed since I last worked in an Investment Operations capacity in 1998, much remains the same - meaning there … Continue reading It’s “Early Days” for NLP. The Opportunities Are Many
Incentivize Prospective Participants with A Seat at the Table MoviePass shut down on September 14th. We do not have first-hand knowledge of MoviePass’ ever-evolving business model. However, we do know that MoviePass never quite figured out how to properly incentivize movie theaters to drive audience participation. When building new network businesses, it makes sense to … Continue reading If You Build It They Won’t Necessarily ComePremium
Alternative Title: Innovation at Scale Sure, it's cheaper than ever to innovate today. Computing power increases while prices stay relatively flat. Cloud computing enables startups and small companies to acquire server capacity when needed and to leverage Artificial Intelligence capability from Day 1. Yet there are still real benefits to having scale, especially within the … Continue reading Don’t Bite the Hand that Feeds You
Companies mentioned: Adobe (tkr: ADBE), Alteryx (tkr: AYX), Amazon (tkr: AMZN), Automation Anywhere (private), BNY Mellon (tkr: BK), DataRobot (private), Google (tkr: GOOG), Microsoft (tkr: MSFT), Pegasystems (tkr: PEGA), Salesforce (tkr: CRM), SAS (private), SS&C Technologies (tkr: SSNC), Tableau (tkr: CRM, acquisition closed August 1st 2019), Tibco (private). Word count: 1,111. Two major trends have … Continue reading AI as A Competitive Differentiator for Asset ManagersPremium
When is the correct time to sell your company? Many entrepreneurs and CEOs struggle with this question. A blueprint unfortunately does not exist. Below are signposts we have observed primarily across Application Software, FinTech, InsurTech, Information Services, IT Services and Technology-Enabled Services. The company participates in a mature end market and continued growth is dependent … Continue reading Is It Time to Sell Your Company?
Some years ago many insurance carriers wrote tranches of long-term care (“LTC”) life insurance policies which have proved to be toxic. These “toxic” LTC policies - primarily written between 1999-2004 - were at the heart of a scathing critique of General Electric (tkr: GE) last week which ultimately accused the company of accounting fraud. While … Continue reading Toxic Long Term Care Policies: A Bane for Many. A Boon for Some.
We recently wrote that “Scale Matters in Tech”. Technology companies that have captured the number 1 or number 2 position within a particular vertical enjoy Economies of Scale including: 1.) automatically getting a seat at the table for sales bakeoffs, 2.) job seekers naturally gravitate toward market leaders, 3.) prospective acquisition targets will find you, … Continue reading Three Activist Investor Targets
LP’s are increasingly hiring third-party expert firms to verify fees payable to Private Equity managers. When I first read this news I was surprised to learn that many LP’s don’t have an operationalized process around validating management fee schedules and payment processing. Apparently I was naive in thinking that PE managers supplied LPs with a … Continue reading LP Fee Verification & Administration as a Service
