Simplicity vs complexity

By rickColosimo / February 3, 2011 / Comments Off on Simplicity vs complexity

Although the mind instinctively rejects all needless complexity, we shall greatly err if we fail to recognize the fact that what the mind recoils from is not the complexity, but the needlessness. G.H. Lewes, “Simplicity,” in Foundations of English Style 108, 108 (Paul M. Fulcher ed., 1927). Our vision for financial management for companies employs…

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Do you track liquidation scenarios in your startup?

By rickColosimo / February 1, 2011 /

Fred Wilson has had a series of posts relating to M&A transactions, generally revolving around case studies. This one on ChiliSoft describes how certain features embedded in the capitalization table (liquidation preferences and floating price warrants), coupled with being acquired for shares rather than cash led to a seemingly dramatic erosion of value for the…

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What happens when nonpublic information is shared?

By rickColosimo / December 20, 2010 / Comments Off on What happens when nonpublic information is shared?

Answer: it becomes regular useless information, arbitraged away by the market. (Unless you don’t believe in the efficient market hypothesis, in which case you’re reading the wrong blog! The only way to live in between those two things is to believe that you understand the mechanics of value differently or better than the market and…

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Replace missed donations with pledges

By rickColosimo / November 21, 2010 / Comments Off on Replace missed donations with pledges

This WSJ article describes the potential fallout to nonprofit organizations from projected changes in tax rates. If personal income tax rates are going to increase, then, as the article states, it make sense to defer donations until the years when the value of the tax deduction is increased. (To the donor, that return is all…

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