Pro-rata rights
Pro-rata rights allow existing investors to purchase shares to maintain their current ownership percentage in a company during subsequent rounds of financing. These rights provide investors »
Crowdfunding is leveling the playing field
Rodrigo Niño, founder of Prodigy Networks, explained that the power of a dollar is different based on who invests it. As ballpark figures, he claims: If »
Where managers should focus their energy
Managers are responsible for ensuring that they and their teams perform at a high level to create value for a firm. To do that, managers need »
Follow the cash
To understand business agreements, you need to follow the cash. This may sound simplistic, but it's often made difficult by design. When agreements are opaque, those »
The power of synergy
Today we discussed NBC Universal's symphony strategy of cross promoting upcoming products/releases across their different properties. While, in theory, this seems like a strategy that »
Types of thinkers
In my Board of Directors class, we talked about how employees generally fall into one of three categories in an organization. Mission / Vision Objective / Strategy / Procedures »
Tensions between stars and publishers
The agents for Maria Sharapova and LeBron James have come to class the last couple days to talk about the power dynamics in endorsement deals. Common »
Pay-to-play provisions
Today we talked about pay-to-play provisions in VC term sheets. These provisions require investors to invest in subsequent financing rounds or risk having their current preferred »
Retail shopping is about experience
As shopping increasingly moves online, retailers are thinking carefully about the experiences they offer. While I knew that, I hadn't really thought about how this trend »
Expectations about problem sets
Last week, a professor warned us that we would not be able to finish a problem set he assigned if we started it the night before »