In Reel Time

2010.48 Thoughts on the media industry

Last weekend I was asked twice about what will happen with the media industry long term. I get asked this question often (or the variant…what are your thoughts on the media industry).

The question is so big and broad I always inhale and think for a minute before saying a word (it’s like being asked if there is a God or how we’ll fix social security).

So the short answer is that I don’t know.

But the long answer revolves around the best way to figure out any evolving industry.

2010.47 Inside Job screening and my review

What should have been an important movie is marred by a slanted and biased attack.

First, thank you to The Wrap for inviting me to a screening of Inside Job (click Inside Job for webpage) last night in Sherman Oaks. And thank you also to director Charles Ferguson for speaking about the film and answering questions after the screening.

I wasn’t able to articulate the question I would have liked answered last night but now can: Why lose such an important message in mean spirited and malicious attacks?

2010.46: LAVA’s annual private equity breakfast

Within the private equity universe the world is back on track and the eighteen-month nuclear winter is over. PE buyers are seeing many more deals and multiples have jumped (up to 12x plus in healthcare deals). One caveat is that getting debt financing to buy a company with less than $5 million in EDITDA remains tough.

Diligence has gotten more rigorous (including from the limited partners who are doing much more themselves – immeasurably so)…

2010.45: 17 words not to use in a business plan

We’ve all heard them – the words that make us cringe. Worse than that, I can tell a few lines into a business plan (offering document, etc) that the related company doesn’t “get it” (oh, and, don’t use quotation marks like I just did – too cute). The below words don’t sell your story and may end up doing the exact opposite.

1. “Next big thing”. Please, someone give me a dollar for every time I’ve seen or heard that one and I’m retiring. Proof on that is in the numbers: show me traction in building your business and I’ll see it. I’ve known people that built the next big thing and they were always too busy working (and scared of competition) to boast along the way.

2010:44 Due diligence; better to identify problems early on

People entering the panel room.

I was a panelist at the recent Digital Hollywood conference. The topic was Venture Funding, Investment and Mergers. One question made me really think. In the context of a busted deal, we were asked how to head off surprise issues which can crater a potential company sale. The answer is to do your (generally extensive) due diligence both thoroughly and as quickly as possible.

But how exactly does company’s management go about doing that diligence?

Guy Hands is a chump; or, M&A 101

Man up, Guy, admit that you overpaid for EMI, and don’t go looking for someone to blame for your potentially career-wrecking mistake…

2010.42 Digital Hollywood Day One: Comments about Michael Eisner’s Keynote Interview

Michael Eisner was the first keynote speaker at Digital Hollywood in Los Angeles today. He was engaging and funny. I liked him; and I didn’t have preconceived notions.

Michael Eisner was the first keynote speaker at Digital Hollywood in Los Angeles today. He was engaging and funny. I liked him; and I didn’t have preconceived notions.

Key points:

1. The first thing he wanted to talk about was his new game coming out via Facebook on November 1. Lesson: we are all working at a conference. Don’t lose sight of why you’re really there.

2. He is very positive on the movie industry; the worse shape it’s in, the more he likes it because that focuses creativity.

2010.41 My last week: ITExpo; Digital Music Forum West: Caltech/MIT Enterprise Forum

Last week I dabbled in a few conferences and then committed to a panel. What did I learn?

2010:40 Exit strategies: practical realities for 2010

As I often say, I grew up in and out of Silicon Valley with a dad in high-tech. So, early on I knew what venture capital is (along with “chips”, “boxes”, “burn rate” and other valley lingo). The valley has changed; most of the orchards are gone and Tully Road is lined with company headquarters not the stables I visited in my teens.

Some things haven’t changed: Steve Jobs, Stanford University and the dead (cell) zone between Sand Hill and Page Mill Roads on 280.

But I’ve been surprised recently by the number of VCs saying – publicly and on panels – that any company looking for funding needs to have an exit strategy based around likely corporate buyers. Basically, a company sale instead of an IPO. The basis? The practical reality is that VC backed IPOs (no, wait, all IPOs) have gotten fewer and harder to complete…

2010.49 Media Innovations Summit 2010: 22 points from day one

1. Mark Cuban – in person – is engaging, friendly, brilliant, insightful, knowledgeable and says things that others lack either the insight or courage to say.
2. Be careful what you write about people in blogs because you may once meet them in person. (Scroll down to see my blog on Mark Cuban and Lions Gate). (Will probably put the link once I post the blog).
3. Mark Cuban, “You don’t live in the world that you were born in.”
4. Smaller conferences have some strong advantages – at Media Innovations Summit the panelists mingled freely among the attendees, introduced themselves and watched many of the other panels.