Evaluate nonprofits by starting with the goal

November 11, 2009

This recent memo from the president of Guidestar.org moved way beyond the typical self-congratulatory non-news and sales announcements and started off with a bang: start with these two simple and profound questions: what is your organization’s mission and how are you trying to accomplish it? It’s amazing how many organizations can’t answer this. I read [...]

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What data is needed for an alternative fee structure?

June 16, 2009

We recently wrote about alternative fee structures for large law firms and their clients. A post from the WSJ law blog on Kirkland & Ellis’s foray into the field recognizes a point we’ve made before: some companies (and indeed, most law firms) don’t have good information about their usage of legal services. Without solid data-driven [...]

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Can buybacks make sense in a crisis?

June 9, 2009

Just recently, we published another post regarding stock buybacks and how the math is the math: you can change your risk profile, but in any case, at some point the usage of cash to buy stock makes sense as a low-cost way of returning value to shareholders. Sure, there are commentators who complain that a [...]

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More MSFT cash-usage ideas….

June 2, 2009

[NB: this post was started quite some time ago, and it recently re-surfaced in our 'drafts' folder. Sorry for the delay, but we believe that the underlying issues are still interesting and how companies use cash is more, not less, relevant in a turbulent economy.] Business Week ran a short piece profiling the investment analysis [...]

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$500 software bounty for Blackberry BCC tool (increased!)

April 2, 2009

Now that Rim is adding its own app store, titled “App World,” we’re renewing and increasing our earlier software bounty for a tool (plugin/patch/hack) that allows users of hosted BES to enable automatic BCC’ing of any address. Our original post described the features and functions, with an original bounty of $250. New Bounty: $500 (work-for-hire) [...]

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How to build your business during slow times

March 27, 2009

(NB: This is a revised repost from Rick’s blog. We realized it might be helpful here.) This recent Seth Godin post was another timely suggestion from him. He seems to really have a finger on the pulse of what is going on, with timely, succinct, no-fluff posts on issues that are popping up for us [...]

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Use 409A risk & expense to improve the company

March 24, 2009

This short summary notes that IRC Section 409Ais now effective (actually as of January 1, 2009). While there are number of well-known types of deferred compensation that are subject to 409A, there is one area where the exact application of the law can be confusing even to those who specialize in general corporate practice.Incentive stock [...]

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NOLs can be hard to understand

February 23, 2009

Net operating losses, or NOLs, accumulate when a business has tax losses in a given year rather than profits. They are typically carried back to earlier profits but may be accumulated in as carry-forwards for up to 20 years. Sirius, after recently merging with XM, has an unfortunate asset: accumulated NOLs of about $6 billion. [...]

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When directors understand governance

February 9, 2009

Footnoted, a regular read for us, recently found some great references to intra-board conflict resolution, or the lack thereof. This memo by director Thomas Hallagan explains several of the reasons he decided to leave the board of Amerisafe at the expiration of his term. We’ve heard similar comments from directors at other companies, although not [...]

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Redesigning

January 31, 2009

We are redesigning our site to improve our communications with you: our clients, our prospects, our market. Please share your thoughts with us in the comments.

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