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Organic growth and M&A

Mergers & acquisitions and organic growth
1397_ 6/19/13 - Larry corralled Todd Roebken, the current president of ACG Denver. This past month they conducted their annual Leadership Planning Meeting, very exciting - the networking was spectacular, with all kinds of people who want to do and get involved, and it makes you proud to be part of it. "This is where you can hear about the different committees we have at ACG Denver - figure out where you can add value and where you can get value from being involved in this organization. If you're wondering why ACG, there are a lot of reasons." Todd tells us, "There are 500+/- members, 30% of those members are at C-level participation - Colorado middle market companies growing here in Colorado. It's really all the players, the movers and the shakers, in growth or M&A here in Colorado." One of the things Todd loves about ACG is that it is not industry specific. He said, "We have companies from all over the range, manufacturing companies, oil and gas, technology companies - all different kinds of companies trying to grow and that need resources to help them grow." ACG Denver has 50+ events every year that revolve around organic growth and M&A, so there are all kinds of opportunities for people to get involved as well as come to these events and network. Of these events, Larry loves the monthly luncheon meetings - he always attends and asked Todd to tell us about the other events. "We have a whole track for C-level execs, the Corporate Breakfast series. We do some social events on the corporate side, some CEO dinners. We have the DealMaker’s Forum, we also have the Leadership 20 program which is inspiring the middle market service companies - managers and up and coming leaders in those companies. And it's an MBA Leadership track that's condensed into a six week program, we put that on. We do a lot with schools to help them and we have the David Sloan Scholarship program for the Executive MBA and MBA program. The list just goes on and on, it's an exciting organization. We really have the community of service providers, we have the C-levels and their teams, intermediaries, the M&A gurus in town, the investment bankers - it is just the place to be if you want to help companies to grow."...Listen, there's much more...
RELATED LINKS: Jones Lang LaSalle Denver || Todd Roebken, Managing Director || ACG Denver || M&A Channel || Podcasting Directory || KEYWORDS: Todd Roebken, Jones Lang LaSalle, ACG Denver, Middle Market Companies, M&A, DealMaker’s Forum, David Sloan Scholarship Program, Leadership Planning Meeting, bytes=5892705
LISTEN TO: Todd Roebken, President, ACG Denver and Managing Director, Jones Lang LaSalle

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Turnout was amazing, 1000's say thanks!

Supporting our veterans & active duty personnel
1396_ 6/17/13 - A day of thanks for the service and sacrifice of our veterans & active duty personnel to enjoy with family & friends! We recognize the integral role military families serve as they provide unwavering support for the men and women who protect our freedom. They inspire our service members and bring life into our military communities. They are strong, caring and resilient. They don’t always wear a uniform but their service to our nation is selfless. FAMILY FUN DAY was held on the Streets at South Glenn in front of the South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce. Larry and Pat really enjoyed the event and talked with a number of people including ‘heavy hitters’. A very special band, the Bluzinators entertained the audience. CIMCO Cares (Private Wealth) believes in ‘Giving Back’ and supporting the community. CIMCO set up and coordinated the entire event with Chris Pelley, CEO and Mona McDonnell, Director of Marketing and Biz Dev along with other CIMCO people. Watch the short video…
RELATED LINKS: CIMCO || Community Reach || South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce || US Department of Veterans Affairs || …Photos || KEYWORDS: CIMCO Cares, Armed Forces Appreciation, Military Families Recognition,
Video Watch: Armed Forces Appreciation

Innovation is a step further

What's the difference between an improvement and an innovation
1395_ 6/15/13 - Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA, a professor at the CU School of Medicine, Department of Otolaryngology and he is President/CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs.
Part 3 of 4... We're talking about innovation and Arlen says... "So, the issue is what is innovation? If you ask 100 people, you're going to get 100 different answers. So, here is Arlen's two cents..."First of all there is a difference between an idea, an invention and innovation. An idea is something that pops in your mind - that's the end of it. An invention is an idea reduced to practice. You make a sketch, you build a prototype - you actually start conceptualizing how this thing is going to look/taste/feel, it's reduced to practice. It could be a process or service, it doesn't necessarily have to be a product or goods. But innovation is a step further. Innovation is about creating value and value that someone is willing to pay you for, or exchange something of value which is usually money. So an invention doesn't do you any good unless someone is willing to give you money to use it or buy it. That's what innovation is. Now it's usually something new. An argument is what's the difference between an improvement and an innovation? And does that make a difference? Probably not, but an improvement is you take an old way of doing something and you improve it verses an innovation where you take a new way to try to make things better. Arlen said, "In my view the U.S. healthcare system has not been terribly innovative. In fact most of the biomedical industrial complex has not been terribly innovative." He went on to say if you look at the amount of money that goes into the top research and development funnel through NIH... Last year the FDA approved 39 new drugs - total. And that was the highest number in 50 years. So what we get out of the bottom for what we put in the top, are 39 new drugs. And, if you look at what are those drugs, a lot of them are ...listen for more...
RELATED LINKS: Society of Physician Entrepreneurs || CU School of Medicine || TiE Rockies Colorado || Economy Builders || KEYWORDS: Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA, CU School of Medicine, Otolaryngology, SoPE, TiE Rockies, Colorado, Society of Physician Entrepreneurs, Idea, Invention, Innovation, > bytes=4457015
LISTEN TO: Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA, President/CEO, SoPE

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Removing roadblocks to selling business

Many business owners would like to retire
1393_ 6/14/13 - Fifty percent of all businesses in the United States are owned by baby boomers' today and eleven thousand are turning 65 per day! And, they're looking for ways out. They've spent their entire lives building the business up, now they're trying to find ways to retire. Les Simpson has important answers. There are many business owners out there that would like to retire but they don't know how, or if they can. According to the SBA 50% of all businesses are owned by Baby boomers. 8 Trillion ready to be transferred to the next generation. But of the 1.2 Million businesses for sale a year only 210,000 will sell. There are three main roadblocks for this. Baby boomers fear running out of money lasting for the future. Where will they re-invest the money for security. And how they will make it after paying the taxes. Structured Sales solves these problems. Larry asked Les to explain how this would work. Les answered, "When a person sells a business or commercial real estate, we reduce or bypass all the new taxes and guarantee a person retirement income. An example of that; If a person sells a business and there's a $3 million profit, all they know they can do with that at this point, is pay all the up front taxes. Thanks to the tax increases this January, it went up to $840,000 on that $3 million. The biggest challenge is educating people." If you're thinking about selling 10 years out, Les recommends getting professional advice now. There are a lot of things in a company that need to straighten out legally in order to be a good candidate for a sale. The SBA says 1.2 million businesses per year, go on sale, but only 20% of those sell. Sometimes it's because they don't want to pay those taxes, or they can't find the right financing, but a lot of it is when they do the due diligence on the company there are problems...Listen for more... Les also chairs the General Member Committee for TiE Rockies.
RELATED LINKS: Deferred Tax Benefits, Inc. || Innovation Pavilion || TiE Rockies || Blog || In the News || KEYWORDS: Les Simpson, Deferred, Tax Benefits, Charter Member, TiE Rockies, Colorado, Baby Boomers, Retire, SBA, > bytes=5351030
LISTEN TO: Les Simpson, Deferred Tax Benefits Charter Member TiE Rockies

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KidsTek 12th Annual Golf Classic

Why is KidsTek important? Founded in 2000 as an answer to:

• Develop the future technology workforce

• Enhance the lives and opportunities of our highest needs youth by providing opportunities and perspective-broadening experiences and real-world, hands-on training for advanced placement in college and/or workforce readiness

• Serve as one of the important STEM Education initiatives for the technology community in Colorado.

KidsTek is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization

The mission of KidsTek is to increase the technology literacy of Colorado's underserved children and youth by providing free technology education through innovative after-school project based programs and in-school certification programs.

Founded in 2000 as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization by several of Colorados leading technology executives to enhance our communities and to develop the future technology workforce through opportunity and perspective-broadening experiences for undeserved youth.  With a start-up grant from the Anschutz Foundation, KidsTek has raised over $1,000,000 to date to deliver to technology programs in metro Denver.  Through our first non-profit partnership, the Boys & Girls Club of Metro Denver (BGCMD), we have established a successful technology program for kids, Ages K-12, that is an award-winning model for Boys & Girls Clubs nationally.

Learn More at KidsTek

Enormous change and expansion

Now in 2013 they have just achieved a Billion Dollar threshold
1392_ 6/11/13 - Zayo was launched earlier, but their first dollar of revenue was in July of 2007. Now in 2013 they have just achieved, on an annualized basis a Billion Dollar threshold. Larry asked Dan Caruso, Founder and CEO, what all that expansion and the changes look like. "The last year has been a period of enormous change for Zayo. When we started the company, it was based on the premise that fiber in the ground would be a very valuable and scarce resource over time, because of the need we all have for increased bandwidth - kind of an essential resource to supply bandwidth. So we built the whole business plan around this bandwidth infrastructure concept. And, it was predicated on acquiring companies that had built fiber years in the past Pull them together into a national [and now international] platform, and use that platform to sell and produce bandwidth for very large consumers of bandwidth. So over the last year that all really came together thru a series of acquisitions. The two largest of those were 360 Networks, which was completed at the beginning of last year, and Above Net, which was completed in July 2012 time frame. Those two plus the other acquisitions resulted in our company more than tripling in size in the last 18 months. Dan said, "Today's focus, more than anything else is putting that fiber to work in businesses that need bandwidth as part of their core business proposition. That includes the wireless carriers. With all of us using our wireless devices more frequently and far more applications, the wireless carriers have to keep pace. To do that they need more fiber. The big Internet companies - the amount of data they need to store and move around is growing and growing, and growing. So they need more robust fiber solutions. There are other institutions as well, such as healthcare. Think of all the things you go to the doctor for and how much of that involves sharing and transferring of information. Their needs are growing at a dramatic pace. Media companies, financial institutions, all kinds of vertical ventures need more and more bandwidth. Zayo deals directly with customers in each of those verticals"...listen for more as Dan discusses the challenges and opportunities...
RELATED LINKS: Zayo || Dan Caruso's Bear on Business || In the News || Podcasting Directory || KEYWORDS: Dan Caruso, Zayo, Bandwidth, Business Plans, Bear on Business, Fiber, 360 Networks, Abve Net, Media Companies, Financial Institutions, Vertical Ventures, > bytes=7414912
LISTEN TO: Dan Caruso, CEO/Founder, Zayo, Inc.

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Conscious capitalism, social enterprise, new future

TiE Rockies & CIMCO Cares presents "Lead the Way" See Photos

“Lead the Way” Chris Pelley (CM TiE Rockies) and Mona McConnell, Marketing Director, CIMCO Cares and guest speaker, Francy Milner, J.D. from CU Leeds School of Business

Business leaders have the power to solve social problems with authentic collaboration. CIMCO Cares is one catalyst in this effort. This was a spirited presentation / discussion and everyone walked away with solid ideas on how to benefit from what we’ve experienced!

Francy Milner teaches business ethics and corporate social responsibility at the Leeds School of Business of the University of Colorado at Boulder. In her role as the Associate Director for the Center for Education on Social Responsibility (CESR), she focuses on curriculum development for graduate and undergraduate courses that help students explore their personal values and their assessment of the role of business and business leaders in a global society.

Document oriented database - NoSQL

  When you are querying the system, you want a really fast response
    1391_ 6/7/13 - We're here at Gluecon 2013 with Matt Ingenthron, director of Developer Solutions at Couchbase a No SQL database company. NoSQL database is a term thrown around in the industry these days. Matt said, "What it really means for us is we are a document oriented database and we are focused on interactive applications. So think of situations like Orbitz, one of our deployments. For example, where you are querying the system - you want a really fast response because you want to be able to browse these hotels very quickly. So we are really designed for easy scale, for a flexible data model, you don't have to force yourself into a relational database kind of structure. And, we're also very good at high availability and really good response time. Couchbase works with all different size companies and we're open source, by the way. So that also means we have a number of companies and people that just write projects on the side, and they just want to use a database that's easy to use." But going back to the big deployments, AOL uses Couchbase for ad targeting, Orbitz uses Couchbase for content behind their travel system, everyone from Starbucks to BMW USA. We're also very big in the social gaming space because those are situations where people really need a high through-put and low response times. Matt asked, "Have you heard of a game called Draw Something or Pictionary - those guys when they started with Couchbase had six nodes of catch space and in about 45 days they grew - because their game became very popular, very quickly. So in about 45 days they needed to grow that to just under 100 nodes. Games usually measure things as daily active users, they went from 60,000 daily active users to 25 million in 45 days." When asked what challenges companies are facing today, Matt said, "I would say we continue to see unprecedented opportunity to take a lot of the data we see in an organizations, a lot of the way companies touch their users, and do that in a more meaningful way. ...listen for more.
RELATED LINKS: Couchbase || Glue 2012 || Defrag Conference 2013 || Defrag || Software Channel || w3w3 Blog || KEYWORDS: Matt Ingenthron, Couchbase, No SQL database company, SAP, AOL, Orbitz, Starbucks, BMW USA, Eric Norlin, Gluecon, Defrag, > bytes=5121988
LISTEN TO: Matt Ingenthron, Couchbase

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Global Marketing eyes on technology

Companies are starting to do more dynamic pricing
1390_ 6/6/13 - At the Glue conference, Larry corralled Thomas Grassl, the Director of Developer Relations at SAP Global Marketing, Inc. - he is looking after all of their developer outreach programs and Glue was the perfect conference for Thomas because there are tons of developers here. SAP, as most people know, is big enterprise and process software for the enterprise, and has over 200,000 customers. They're keeping an eye on new technologies and how they can help their customers to enhance the business processes, putting these new technologies into the customer's hands. SAP is globally focused, in fact Thomas said, "I don't know which country SAP isn't in, and we really do work from the small business up to the giant companies out there. This can be a developer from the system integrator to an individual who does their own consulting practice or a mobile developer who starts their own business around developing mobile apps for the enterprise business space. So, basically we are looking at all types of developers and helping them to get kick-started on these things and also helping them to learn about the enterprise and what to build for the enterprise. It's a little bit different than if you are building mobile apps for example, in the consumer space. Larry asks, "With all the different changes we've been through, what are the biggest challenges for businesses today?" Thomas said, "Businesses definitely need to be very agile. It's no longer like you've figured out a product, and you know how to produce it and sell it. There are always new challenges coming up. It's like new economies are coming up and they're eating into your market. So these companies are constantly looking at what new technologies, the latest technologies will help them improve their business processes. A good example is we have this new memory data base, it's called SAP HANA and it allows..." There's more...
RELATED LINKS: SAP Global Marketing, Inc. || Glue 2012 || Defrag Conference 2013 || Defrag || Software Channel || Economy Builders || KEYWORDS: Thomas Grassl, SAP, Eric Norlin, Gluecon, Defrag, Cloud Computing, Mobile Development, SAP HANN, Enterprise, Globally Focused Brad Feld, Seth Levine, Jason Mendelson, Ryan McIntyre > bytes=4670174
LISTEN TO: Thomas Grassl, SAP Global Marketing

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E&Y 2013 Gala season begins

Photos - 2013 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year
Finalists Reception  - Governor's Residence Boettcher Mansion

Celebrate our entrepreneurs.
It takes vision and courage to lead a successful business. These special people have created many of the world's most dynamic and successful companies.

The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® Award celebrates their remarkable achievements. That's why it's the world's most prestigious business accolade — it recognizes the most exceptional among a unique group of people.

You are inveted to join us at the Ernst & Young
Entrepreneur Of The Year 2013 Mountain Desert Region Awards which includes Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico.

Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® Awards Gala Thursday, June 20, 2013 - Black Tie
Registration and Information