N2Growth Blog

FEBRUARY 8, 2019

Maybe you’re prepping for the IPO. Missing the turn or making it too late can cause a company to stagnate or implode or can spell the death of the idea; or worse, the idea becomes someone else’s to bring to market without you. You’re not managing your energy well. Effective time management begins with good energy management.

Delegation 249

Delegation Maturity CEO Execution 249

Strategy Driven

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

When it comes to fulfilling this end, the usual route to going public involves an initial public offering , also known as an IPO. IPOs can confer great benefits on companies that are able to go through them. But IPOs also come with some steep costs and excessive risks. IPOs have huge costs and risks.

IPO 62

IPO Real Estate Cost Company 62

Strategy Driven

APRIL 4, 2023

You should also prepare some insights about your market and competition. How can I manage my business’s funding effectively once I have raised it? Corporate partnerships and sponsorships that provide funding in exchange for marketing or other benefits How can I make my business more attractive to potential investors?

Venture Capitalist 103

Venture Capitalist Finance Microfinance How To 103

Decker Communication

NOVEMBER 21, 2019

Ken Blanchard is a friend of mine (and the very successful author of The One Minute Manager ) who knows well the changes in leadership over the last 40 years. It’s a lesson I learned the hard way – trial and error to get to collaboration. . He says, “The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.”

Decentralization 81

Decentralization Blanchard IPO Call Center 81

The Horizons Tracker

DECEMBER 22, 2024

Entrepreneurs often struggle to bring new products to market, but academic researchers face an extra challenge they might not expect: themselves. After spending years on a specific topic, they might have a hard time adapting when they discover that their technology isn’t quite right for the market. They were also 2.5%

Biotechnology 52

Biotechnology IPO Entrepreneur Technology 52

Marshall Goldsmith

FEBRUARY 8, 2018

This blog post is the first of a two-part series on transformational growth and disruptive change by my dear friend Mark Thompson for the AMA (American Management Association). It’s not an imposition on management to hear out all these diverse ideas; it’s not a separate HR “program” to be tolerated. Dear readers! Version 2.0

Competitive Advantage 70

Competitive Advantage Banking Diversity IPO 70

Harvard Business Review

MAY 15, 2012

And despite all of Facebook's user support, investors should be skeptical of the company's pricey IPO. Over the past couple of years, I've become close with a handful of web product managers. Private Market Valuations aren't Great Indicators of Public Returns The final reason for trepidation is probably the most important.

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IPO Advertising IRR Venture Funding 19

The Practical Leader

JANUARY 25, 2012

” “… studies find that primary contributors to employee commitment include : management concern for employees and customers. “ Structural cohesion is an employee-generated synergy — essentially a close-knit, high-energy culture — that propels the company forward.”

Company 53

Company IPO Ethics Magazine 53

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 25, 2013

The editors managing the Visualizing Data Insight Center have asked us to submit visualizations that we find compelling or effective. A Quartz article on the IPO of hipster journal company Moleskine included this chart that comes from the company's prospectus.

Positioning 22

Positioning Marketing IPO Bottom-up 22

The Center For Leadership Studies

JUNE 1, 2022

Technology: This is a quote I came across recently in a business publication: “… of 53 tech-related companies that went public last year through an IPO or direct listing, all but three are now trading well below their offer or opening price … more than half have tumbled by at least 50%.”. Everyone is a coach.”. Is coaching a “good thing?

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IPO Travel Content Reference 52

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 9, 2012

— from private equity to hedge funds to IPOs. In today's see-saw economy, just as important as the timing of your IPO is being prepared and spot-on with your messaging. I've never met an IPO team that couldn't talk for days about their business and their industry — that's what makes them the experts. The lesson here?

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IPO Audience Storytelling Video 15

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 7, 2011

billion market valuation. As a price strategy consultant, it's common for managers and sales people to enthusiastically pitch me on a strategy of "let's get them in the door with a big discount, they'll love our product or service, and then return to pay full price." Consumers, of course, love big discounts. So what do you think?

IPO 14

IPO Discount Price Business Model 14

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 27, 2018

stock exchanges has declined by almost 50% from its peak in 1996, despite dramatic increase in aggregate market capitalization. firms gravitate towards digital strategies, firms have less need for elaborate finance, marketing, production, distribution, accounting, and human resource departments. stock exchanges.

IPO 14

IPO Company First-mover Advantage Intangible Assets 14

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 16, 2011

The best way to manage a fledgling business is for managers to be impatient for profit but patient for growth. First, when a business is impatient for profit, managers are forced to validate their assumptions and demonstrate that customers are fundamentally willing to pay an acceptable price for the company's offering.

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Christensen Fixed Costs Metrics Business Model 22

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 31, 2014

It’s still the users whose creating and sharing gives Twitter its value as a business, but their activities are now mostly channeled and managed by the company itself. billion in its 2013 IPO) that investors have plowed into it. Could Twitter have chosen not to follow the standard VC-to-IPO path that has brought it to this pass?

Marketing 13

Marketing IPO Venture Capitalist Fashion 13

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 25, 2013

The editors managing the Visualizing Data Insight Center have asked us to submit visualizations that we find compelling or effective. A Quartz article on the IPO of hipster journal company Moleskine included this chart that comes from the company's prospectus.

Positioning 10

Positioning Marketing IPO Bottom-up 10

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 12, 2012

A few weeks ago, I read an article in the Wall Street Journal about people who had opened up their very first investment accounts just to get in on the Facebook IPO. It also seems likely that he's kicking himself today, as the value of the stock has dropped almost 25% since its May 17 IPO. MORE ON MANAGING RISKY BEHAVIORS.

IPO 15

IPO Bond Long-term Short-term 15

Harvard Business Review

JULY 24, 2017

Change management can be a test for any organization. Several studies by Towers Watson show that just 25% of change management initiatives are successful over the long term. Change management certainly tested us. During our feedback discussions, for example, many associates brought up their desire for more flexibility.

Management 15

Management IPO Diversity Long-term 15

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 2, 2017

For decades, we have heard that emerging markets are poised for huge growth that will yield even greater prosperity. Much like their famed Silicon Valley counterparts, emerging market accelerators aim to boost startups’ potential for raising growth capital.

Marketing 12

Marketing Venture Funding Entrepreneur IPO 12

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 3, 2012

Such regulations, if they succeed in increasing the information flow between managements and markets, are also good news for investors in general. The only real way to protect the "most susceptible investors" Sorkin is talking about is to keep them away from the stock market. I don't know the answer to that question.

IPO 14

IPO Conflict of Interest Information Marketing 14

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 23, 2013

To a person, they look astonished when I ask whether their dedication comes from anticipation of the money they could make in the event of an IPO. One person says that he can’t let himself think about an IPO. One sales manager, a former actor, recited Shakespeare at a customer meeting and won over skeptical executives.

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Motivation IPO Norton Open-book 14

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 5, 2014

Booming public equities and a recovered IPO market generated record portfolio company exits and distributions from VC funds. A VC firm is, first and foremost, an investment vehicle created to generate returns for investors that exceed those available in the fully liquid, low cost public equity markets.

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Venture Capitalist Asset Management Rate of Return Incentives 22

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

Between now and the IPO, every bit of information about the company’s finances and other metrics will be closely scrutinized. Research shows that firms’ management teams influence the success of their IPOs. Senior Management & the Board of Directors. But one key variable is missing from that list: people.

IPO 10

IPO Execution Incentives Finance 10

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 30, 2014

The M&A markets are frothy, corporations are investing in Silicon Valley labs, and even PhDs looking for jobs in business schools are finding it tough to find homes without “innovation” somewhere in their background. But it’s an idea that demands attention, investment, and a long view of the market.

Long-term 14

Long-term Innovation Company IPO 14

Harvard Business Review

MAY 20, 2011

Fast forward four years and LinkedIn is a public company with a market cap of more than $9 billion and revenues of about $400 million. LinkedIn didn't create the very quiet tech market it was born into, but it definitely benefited from it. In 2003 there were no tech IPOs at all. It stuck with its target market.

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IPO Advertising Business Model Marketing 16

Harvard Business Review

JULY 21, 2014

That could mean illustrating the effects of a proposed customer management system with testimonials from actual customers, or describing how the data-sharing project you want to expand helped keep employees connected during a major outage. Is there a market opportunity the company is overlooking? ” says Sheen. The price tag?

IPO 13

IPO Audience Chief Information Officer Case Study 13

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 3, 2018

Council of Institutional Investors (CII), representing managers of $25 trillion assets, recently demanded limiting any company’s dual-class share structure to seven years. Some of the largest companies of recent times by market capitalization, such as Facebook, Alphabet, and Alibaba, carry dual class-shares.

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Class Maturity IPO Short-term 14

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 8, 2010

Right now, yesterday's organizations — from corporations to Congress — have a gaping, yawning disclosure gap: the how, what, why, how and when of disclosure simply isn't good enough for markets and communities to be able to allocate and utilize resources productively or efficiently.

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GDP Hypercompetition IPO Information 19

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 7, 2017

Just as striking is her description of Uber’s HR organization, which advised Fowler that because the manager in question was a high performer, HR did not feel comfortable punishing him. Today Uber is no startup, with 11,000 employees, not including its drivers, and a 2017 market value at IPO that is estimated as $28–$70 billion.

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Compliance Hedge Human Capital Finance 18

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 9, 2011

It's okay for you if asset prices stop rising, but if they fall dramatically — or if the market for them simply stops functioning — you're in big trouble. Market sentiment shifted (possibly because of the Barron's article), the prices of Internet stocks tanked, and within a year or two most of the 51 were no longer with us.

Company 15

Company Finance Price IPO 15

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 30, 2016

We were reminded of this a few years ago, when we studied a major European conglomerate with more than 50 distinct businesses spread across dozens of markets. “Talent management is easily over a third of all executive time when you count it all,” one long-standing company employee told us about how the company is run.

Supply Chain 15

Supply Chain Company IPO Talent Management 15

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 6, 2014

At the time, though, we were just in search of a new approach to building a sustainable business in that critical but often difficult market. In fact, you could say (and many did) that our previous attempts had failed, in that we hadn’t established a sustained market position. Things hadn’t gone well up until that point.

Chief Financial Officer 14

Chief Financial Officer Learning-by-Doing Operations IPO 14

Harvard Business Review

JULY 18, 2012

Ever thought air mattresses in living rooms would grow into a billion dollar company that would take on the vacation rental market and the hotel industry? Billion-dollar companies do not happen if the founding team is not extremely well suited to the market (now called " founder/market fit "). No 20,000 tech jobs.

Venture Capitalist 21

Venture Capitalist Software Entrepreneur Engineering 21

Harvard Business Review

JULY 18, 2012

Ever thought air mattresses in living rooms would grow into a billion dollar company that would take on the vacation rental market and the hotel industry? Billion-dollar companies do not happen if the founding team is not extremely well suited to the market (now called " founder/market fit "). No 20,000 tech jobs.

Venture Capitalist 21

Venture Capitalist Software Entrepreneur Engineering 21

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 15, 2018

While most of the private equity companies are private, a few like Blackstone Group, KKR, Carlyle Group, and Apollo Global Management are traded on stock exchanges. Gone is the heyday of the 1990s when firms with simply an idea and little or no revenues could do an IPO.

Venture Capitalist 8

Venture Capitalist IPO Company Kleiner 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 23, 2013

There are three pieces of data that are particularly shocking to internet, software, and biotech entrepreneurs who are on the verge of committing their firms to starting firms in secondary startup markets (and, in particular, outside of the San Francisco Bay). Not focused on new marketing campaigns. It takes longer to raise money.

IPO 12

IPO Venture Capitalist Entrepreneur Competitive Advantage 12

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 15, 2013

And last year, he decided that the answer was to take the company private, to escape the hectoring of the public market. Competitors like IBM and Compaq struggled with the politics of managing their various channel partners and lagged Dell in inventory management. For more background on the potential deal, click here.)

Rivkin 15

Rivkin Succession Short-term Case Study 15