It never fails. There is bound to be rough weather ahead. The trick is to always keep looking for the faintest of silver linings. This last week another small victory in what seemed like a morass of setbacks. One more CEO Got it! He opted to change his game plan after three months of an ineffective fund raising campaign. He will increase his raise from $7M to $100M, and in the process redefine and re-brand his company from the bottom up.
In the sidelines there is another battle raging. This particular company is in the finance sector and has been trying to raise $10M since January '11. There have been many close calls with high-ranking companies in their business sector. No takers. At the last minute negotiations have gone South. They recently resorted to retaining an investment bank to raise their $10M. The problem here is that the investment banker has the same case of myopia as the company. They can only look for solutions within the box. We are not holding our breath. How many times can you go to the well and come up dry?
The solution from our perspective is bold and gutsy. It involves doing an LBO on one of the major players in their sector. So far, the message has not sunk in. Their CEO is not convinced that they are at the end of the line. He thinks that miraculously someone will pour $10M into a proposition that has been turned down for any number of reasons. All it would take is a $300M - $500M LBO, giving the company extra cash for marketing as it makes the transition from buy-out target to parent company. Not to mention the buzz this will create on the street. Huge PR mileage. Besides if you are in death-throes, it's best to go out with a flourish than a whimper.
Silver linings can be manufactured; they don't have to naturally appear.
Rule #2 of 52: Create Silver Linings.
