During last night’s NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional final between Louisville and Duke, Louisville player Kevin Ware jumped to block a three point shot and landed poorly, breaking his leg, including his tibia (shin) bone, in two places. The gruesome injury was caught on live TV and Ware’s teammates can be seen reacting viscerally to the injury, which occurred directly in front of the Louisville bench.
According to an Associated Press report, Ware underwent leg surgery soon after the injury. The bones in his leg have been successfully set, with a metal rod inserted into his tibia.
According to Louisville coach Rick Pitino, Ware could be back on the court as soon as next year. He related to the AP that Ware’s injury is similar to one Louisville football player Michael Bush sustained in 2006. Bush went on to have a successful career playing for the Oakland Raiders and Chicago Bears in the NFL.
The following link provides a clear look at Ware’s injury. It is not safe for either work or life, but does show exactly why Ware’s teammates reacted the way they did: Ware’s injury.
Livingstone has added seven new principals to the firm. They are: Andrew Bozzelli, Ryan Buckley, Karl Freimuth, Joe Greenwood, Andrew Isgrig, Jim Moskal, and Tom Lesch.
PRESS RELEASE
Livingstone, the leading independent, international investment banking firm, is pleased to announce the addition of seven new principals to the firm, together with three other professionals in the Chicago office. These personnel actions will further strengthen Livingstone’s capabilities across several key industry groups and position the firm for continued growth. Livingstone now claims 75 corporate finance professionals across five principal offices in the U.S., Europe and Asia specializing in six key global sectors.
The new principals are:
Andrew Bozzelli, Vice President, joined the firm in 2010 and specializes in M&A, capital raising, and financial restructuring across multiple sectors. Andy, a CPA, earned his MBA from the University of Chicago, and BBA and MS from the University of Notre Dame.
Ryan Buckley, Vice President, joined at the firm’s inception in 2007 and provides eight years of M&A and capital raising experience particularly in consumer and healthcare transactions. Ryan received his BBA from the University of Michigan.
Karl Freimuth, Director, also started with Livingstone in 2007 and brings ten years of cross-border M&A, capital raising and financial restructuring experience with particular sector expertise in diversified industrial manufacturing and commercial services. Karl earned his BBA from the University of Michigan.
Joe Greenwood, Managing Director, who joined in 2010, leads the firm’s Special Situations practice. He brings over 14 years of restructuring, distressed M&A and financial advisory experience to the firm. Joe is a CPA and a Certified Insolvency and Restructuring Advisor with his MBA from Georgetown and BBA from the University of Wisconsin.
Andrew Isgrig, Managing Director, joined Livingstone in 2011 and heads the firm’s Industrial practice. He has more than 20 years’ experience advising public and private companies on middle market M&A and capital markets transactions on a global basis. Andy received his MBA from the University of Michigan and BS in business from Indiana University.
Tom Lesch, Director, has led Livingstone’s Debt Capital Markets practice for two years, bringing 12 years of his commercial finance experience to the firm. Tom earned his MBA from the University of Chicago and BA from Denison University.
Jim Moskal, Managing Director, leads Livingstone’s Healthcare practice. Jim joined the firm in 2008 with 15 years of experience advising public and private companies on all phases of mergers and acquisitions and capital market transactions. Jim received his MBA from the University of Chicago and BS from the University of Illinois.
In other personnel action:
Livingstone hired Robert Tymowski, Associate, who joined the firm from Baird after two years of advising middle market companies on M&A transactions and capital raises, primarily in the business services, logistics and industrial sectors. Rob earned his MBA, ME & BSE from the University of Michigan.
The firm also announced the hiring of analysts Andrew Rust, a 2013 graduate of the University of Notre Dame, and Matthew French, a 2013 graduate of Indiana University.
“We buy stuff too.” That’s the rallying cry I’ve heard from widely read female bloggers over age 49, who are frustrated that a well-established cadre of younger women with young children — known as “mommybloggers” — garner extensive promotional contracts with major brand advertisers, while Boomer-aged women online are often ignored.
What marketers seem to be missing is that Boomer women are actually outspending younger generations online — and not on the products that might come to mind when you picture the 50+ set. Boomers averaged $650 spent online vs. Gen X at $581 and Gen Y at $429, according to Forrester Research. They are buying beauty products, electronics, experiences, vacations, and health products.
To make sense of the confluence of disposable income and increasing online time among this generation and what it means for marketers, I’ve drawn on my own experience and the rise of the mommyblogger.
I began working in digital marketing to women when I was 22. Back then we had message boards to share the woes and joys of life, not Facebook or blogs. Along the way, I’ve marketed everything from makeup to presidential candidates, but the bulk of my work has concentrated on reaching mothers of young children, that sweet demographic of women 25-45 with kids at home and lots and lots of consumer goods to purchase. In 2008, Bryan McCleary, director of external relations for P&G, endorsed a mom-centric marketing worldview when he said, “It’s official: Mom bloggers are the new influencers.” In 2013, the world of “influencer marketing” is a crucial element of the marketing mix. Increasingly, we don’t make purchasing decisions based on impersonal Consumer Reports or television commercials; we turn instead to our trusted web of friends and confidants online for their knowledge and experiences.
Marketers seem to have missed — or ignored — the arrival of Boomers online. Perhaps their entree into the digital world was quieter and more gradual than their younger counterparts. Perhaps this generation is different than any other generation we’ve seen come of age, in terms of their disposable income and longer life expectancy. They just don’t fit into the traditional marketing bucket reserved for 50-65 year olds — they are more active, more vibrant, and healthier, than any generation that has come before. Perhaps there’s just not a convenient way to talk about this demographic — “mommyblogger” is a convenient brand identity that immediately helps people understand what they do and who they are. While some bloggers in the older demographic use “Boomer” and some use “midlife,” neither term is quite comfortable. Chloe Jeffreys of GenerationFabulous.com says that midlife bloggers don’t particularly care for the term “midlife”: “I fought until I was 51 and then I realized I’m probably not going to live past 102!” Though these women might not know quite sure how to label themselves and their experiences, their might online is not lessened, and marketers need to understand that.
“The ad model hasn’t shifted from targeting 18-49 year olds, but the next time you walk into an Apple store, take a look at who’s there,” says Anne Marie Kovacs of the BoomBox Network. Chances are, it’s men and women over 45. Apart from the fact that those between the ages of 50 and 65 spend twice the amount of money on healthcare than the 18 to 25 year-old set and three times as much money on housing, 50 to 65 year-olds also spend an amazing 78% more money on shopping. Simply put, marketers should follow the money.
What do these women want marketers to know? They want marketers to better help women age well; it’s about looks, finance, dreams, work, parents, and kids.
I’ve heard from many of these bloggers that the elder caregiving explosion is a popular marketing message to boomers online, often as proxies for their elderly parents, who are not net savvy. Informal, unpaid caregivers contributed $450 billion in help to older adults — and two out of three say caregiving has impacted their work. There is obviously a huge market opportunity to provide a variety of services to these caregivers. AARP reports “42 percent of U.S. workers have provided care for an aging relative or friend in the past five years. About half (49 percent) of the workforce expects to be providing eldercare in the coming five years.” Most of these caregivers are midlife women.
Caregiving is a huge impact on midlife women, but it’s just one element of a whole life. Just as mommybloggers write about everything on their blogs, midlife bloggers aren’t beholden to only talking about the sandwich generation.
Think about beauty and fashion. One of my favorite new blogs, Une Femme De Certain Age, highlights great fashion and looks for the second half of your life: in her eyes, a footloose life spent traveling and exploring. Barbara Grufferman writes The Best of Everything After 50, talking to Boomer women about health, style, finance, sex, and design. Sound like other blogs you’ve read authored by women in their 20s and 30s?
Then there’s food. On her blog, A Boomer’s Life After 50, Judi Freedman covers everything from heart health to cooking, to dealing with raising adult children and the recent loss of her mom. Hers is an authoritative voice, one well worth the attention of a brand marketer.
Work, personal finance and entrepreneurship is a huge focus. Darryle Pollack, 63, a former TV journalist turned blogger is launching The WHOA network, a video network that helps women honor their age, says, “at this point in life it’s almost shocking to realize how much energy and drive I have. All the women I know: even if they haven’t worked before, they’re working now, and they’re using digital media to find that path. Traditionally, women who are past childbearing age sort of faded into the woodwork and that is SO not happening now.”
All women who use social media to connect want the same thing: a community of friends where they can talk openly about their opinions, hopes, and dreams as those things apply to them. And they want to be recognized for the value they bring to these conversations.
From my vantage point as a Gen Xer, I’m thrilled at the increasing breadth of women’s voices online. Even the original cadre of “mommybloggers” have reached an age where their kids are older, and their lives and blog content are expanding too. Gen Xers may just find themselves in a similar position as they approach 50.
The fullness of a woman’s life demands a 360-degree view from marketers; her interests cannot be contained to a narrow lens or a defined age group.
China’s top consumer watchdog group has called for Apple to start calling the iPad a computer. Why? Because if Apple’s tablet is reclassified, it will mean the device will have to come with a standard two-year warranty like all other computers sold in the country. Currently, the iPad comes with a one-year warranty, the same policy Apple has in almost all other regions.
China.org.cn has the China Consumers Association’s statement:
In a statement posted on the CCA’s website, Apple Inc. was told to equalize the warranty periods in China compared with other countries. Buyers of iPads, after the company admitted the device is classifiable as a portable computer, are entitled to two-year after-sale service packages for its key components, said the statement.
The past week has seen media outlets controlled by the Communist government attack Apple’s device repair and refurbishment policy and then subsequently the company’s response to the criticism.
Even before the wave of media criticism began last week, Apple’s been fighting a lot of different battles in China: the trademark and copyright laws in the country have kept Apple’s lawyers busy, while the working conditions in its suppliers’ Chinese factories have kept it on the defense, both in China and abroad. And meanwhile, the company is trying to make lifelong customers out of the country’s wealthier citizens.
How Apple’s products and brand are portrayed in China — and especially in the media — is incredibly important to Apple’s future: CEO Tim Cook says the company is on track to have China as its No. 1 market one day.
Students at Virginia Tech have all the fun. Not only do they have the uber-geeky RoMeLa, or Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory, but they also have their own 3-D printing kiosk. And it’s free to use.
Known as the DreamVendor, it’s comprised of four 3-D printers and a system to read product designs from an SD card. Students simply create their designs — which can be done down the hall in the university’s CAD laboratory — and print them as needed. Perhaps the school will add the MakerBot Digitizer — a 3-D scanner announced at SXSW– when it arrives later this year. Here’s how VT describes the DreamVendor:
“Think of it as a vending machine with an infinite inventory – you simply insert an SD card that contains 3D printer code (generated from your CAD model) into the machine; the DreamVendor then prints your 3D part and dispenses it into a bin when it’s finished.
“In addition, the DreamVendor houses physical examples of the latest research by the members of the DREAMS Lab. We hope that the DreamVendor will provide students with an easy way to access the exciting field of additive manufacturing.”
In a video recorded last year, just a few weeks after the unveiling the DreamVendor, a university graduate student notes that the kiosk has been running nearly all the time. Any why not? You can always print your own designs, but if a peer creates something that interests you, it’s a snap to create a duplicate of the object.
Even the White House is getting in on the April Fools’ fun today. Here’s a “special message from the President” that WhiteHouse.gov shared via its YouTube channel this morning:
Some companies and developer like to create fake products on April Fools’ Day, but a few adventurous types make their pranks a reality. Guild Wars 2 developers ArenaNet took this road less traveled and created an entirely new area within the popular MMO.
ArenaNet announced today that Super Adventure Box, an 8-bit homage to the games of yesteryear, is a new area that will be available to Guild Wars 2 players for the entirety of April.
I usually dread April Fools’ Day, but ArenaNet has made my day with this little stunt. The fact that it’s a real area within the game makes it even better. I stopped playing Guild Wars 2 months ago, but I might just have to jump back in for this.
A Google April Fool’s Day post on Google Nose, a new service in beta that “leverages new and existing technologies to offer the sharpest olfactory experience available” may have been a joke, but it’s not that far from reality.
IBM, which fields a prodigious research organization, is convinced that endowing computers with human-like senses is a key focus and outlined its thoughts in its annual list of five technologies to watch last December.
Such technologies include chemical sensors that emit an odor when they detect some sort of pattern. “You can paint chemical sensors on a surface and when they detect a pattern, they give off a smell — you could make a rich paint with all sorts of sensors that mimic things that you like,” IBM fellow and VP of innovation Bernie Meyerson told me at the time.
If integrated with a smartphone, for example, these technologies could tell from your breath that you have or are about to get a cold and enable your doctor to diagnose you remotely based on that information and prescribe treatment.
So a computing device with a nose that knows is really not all that crazy.
HBO’s hit series Game of Thrones is one of the most downloaded shows on television. By some accounts, it’s the most pirated show around.
And apparently, not everyone at HBO thinks that this is completely terrible.
HBO programming head Michael Lombardo recently spoke with Entertainment Weekly, and referred to the rampant Game of Thrones piracy as a “compliment of sorts.” Also, it’s not really hurting DVD sales.
“I probably shouldn’t be saying this, but it is a compliment of sorts,” Lombardo told EW. “The demand is there. And it certainly didn’t negatively impact the DVD sales. [Piracy is] something that comes along with having a wildly successful show on a subscription network.”
Lombardo also confirmed that per season, Game of Thrones is HBO’s #1 money machine.
Delving deeper in to the issue of piracy, Lombardo cited a concern that doesn’t have anything to do with HBO’s bottom line. He worried that viewers who download the show may be seeing an inferior product.
“One of my worries is about the copies [downloaders are] seeing. The production values of this show are so incredible. So I’m hoping that in the purloined different generation of cuts that the show is holding up.”
This isn’t HBO condoning the piracy of one of its most-popular shows. He make a point to remind us that HBO still attempts to stop piracy when it can. But, they “haven’t sent out the Game of Thrones police.”
Lombardo isn’t the first person associated with HBO to talk about piracy in this manner. Last month, frequent HBO director David Petrarca (GoT, Big Love, True Blood) hinted that shows like Game of Thrones rely on “cultural buzz,” and that downloading is part of that.
He quickly backtracked those comments, saying that Game of Thrones piracy was only a signifier of its popularity, not a cause of it.
HBO had this to say in the wake of that:
“Game of Thrones is sold worldwide, available legally on a large variety of viewing platforms and is one of HBO’s most popular series. With that kind of success comes a great amount of social media chatter, so can’t say we see an upside to illegal downloads.”
While we’re not seeing any monumental shift in the way one of the top cable content providers around views piracy, we are seeing a shift in how some people associated with that content think about it. Of course, if you’re serious about combatting piracy, ease of access to content usually helps – and this is something that HBO has been accused of failing on recently. Last month, HBO CEO Richard Plepler hinted that just maybe, HBO may offer HBO GO apart from cable subscriptions – possibly as a bundle with an ISP.
It has become abundantly clear that cats are an important part of the Internet, and in particular, search activity. Google has responded to this appropriately with the latest version of DoubleClick Search, as of April Fools’ Day.
Here’s a sample from Google’s blog post on the release:
As digital marketing continues to evolve, we’re seeing a host of new questions crop up around search — the channel that used to be “all figured out.” How can search win the moments that matter and quickly capture the attention of consumers? What is the new definition of an “effective” search campaign? And how do you measure it all?
We travelled the globe and spoke directly with clients to understand what best resonates with them in the constantly-evolving online space, and heard the answer loud and clear: cats.
“Over the past year, we’ve seen tremendous growth in cat-related online activity,” said Amit Varia, Paw-duct Manager for DoubleCat Search. “Cats populate just about every corner of the internet. With DoubleCat Search, we wanted to design a UI that aligns with a tech-savvy user’s natural affinity toward cats, to deliver the most intuitive, LOL-worthy search management experience.”
The offering takes advantage of a new UI:
Google says it will be rolling out additional features in the coming weeks. On the menu: laser pointer alerts, the “maximize cheeseburgers” bid strategy, and the ability to upload paw prints via API.
The business case for custom data centers are sometimes driven by special technical requirements, rath¬er than a better ROI. In those cases, the IT architects should be asked to make a solid business justification for its long term viability of the specialized IT hardware, as well as the competitive advantages of the leading edge technology.
However, if some reasonable compromise and proper research is done prior and during the design phase, it may be possible to deliver a custom built data center with minimal impact on the long term TCO (refer to part 2 “Total Cost of Ownership”). A case in point is the high density cooling requirements of blade servers or other high powered densely packed IT equipment sometimes called “server farms” used for large internet driven applications and also for “hyper scale” computing. Older data centers that were not designed to handle these higher density cooling loads, had difficulty in properly cooling the equipment and typically were forced to “overcool” in an effort to deal with heat loads beyond their design capacities. This resulted in wasted energy, which raised energy based operating costs.
More recent designs can handle some level of higher densities, but are not necessarily able to cool in the most energy efficient manner (see part 3 “Energy Efficiency”). A custom data center specially designed for high density systems can effectively handle the high cooling loads and also maximize the energy efficiency. However, before committing to a custom extremely high density design, be aware that if it is not fully utilized at or near its maximum capacity, the projected CapEx and OpEx numbers will not be realistic. This also relates to the question of facility ownership vs leased facilities, which is also a significant part of the TCO portion of business justification (please refer to part 1 “Build vs Buy”). There are public relations related factors involved such a sustainability related to the use of energy as well as the source of energy, as was dis¬cussed above in the Alternate and Sustainable Energy Sources section.
The Bottom Line
While IT systems continue to evolve at an ever accelerating rate and the physical facility tries to allow for “future proofing”, yet still keeping to a reasonable semblance of adhering to current industry standards. The leading data center designers are torn between trying to anticipate upcoming perceived change in IT equipment and providing the flexibility to support it, yet continuing to provide the support for mainstream systems. This flexibility should be taken into consideration when looking at a custom design.
If you are a typical mid-size to large enterprise organi¬zation that is using primarily standard IT hardware you may want to stay within the typical designs for a traditional data center, perhaps with a modicum of customization which may well be accommodated with a “build to suit” offering. Even if you decide to build and own your data center, you still need to consider that your organization may need to sell or lease it out in the future. This could be driven by any number of reasons, such as out-growing it, a merger or acquisition or even downsizing. A highly customized data center may be harder to sell or lease out.
If you have carefully examined your IT roadmap and business requirements and taken a holistic approach to the long term goals, you may find that a custom solution may be a good long term investment, that produces a technical competitive advantage and a lower TCO, however do not be swayed simply because a certain design is the “latest trend”. Long term reliability and maintainability is still a critical element for the data center.
On the other side of the fence if you are a multi-site Internet services driven organization that plans to operate specially designed or unique non-standard IT hardware, you may want to take advantage of some of the more esoteric designs that will provide a technical performance edge, or deliver an extremely high level of energy efficiency, but perhaps with a lower level of physical power and cooling system redundancy.
Once you have a clear understanding and justification of your IT architecture, systems and strategies requirements and have decided on a build-to-suit or a highly customized design, it is imperative that you interview design and build organizations and select the one that you are comfortable with. They should have demon-strated experience in delivering standard data centers, as well as an open-minded design staff that are within their comfort zone to think outside the box, both figu¬ratively and literally.
Last week, American Idol judge Nicki Minaj told three contestants to “get off the stage” after what she considered a lackluster performance of the Four Tops’ “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch).”
At least one of the contestants took offense to Minaj’s remarks. Devin Velez, who was eliminated from the Fox karaoke competition last week, later cracked that Minaj “could have been upset because the night before she was wearing the same colored dress as Mariah,” referring to Mariah Carey, another American Idol judge.
Minaj has now responded to Velez’s remarks with some harsh comments on her Twitter feed:
Med Opportunity Partners, a Greenwich Conn.-based private equity firm, has acquired Ferro Pfanstiehl Laboratories, Inc. The seller is Ferro Corporation. Terms were not disclosed.
PRESS RELEASE
Med Opportunity Partners, LLC (“MEDOP”), a Greenwich CT-based private equity firm focused exclusively on the health care sector, announced today its acquisition of Ferro Pfanstiehl Laboratories, Inc., a global leader in cGMP carbohydrates and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), from Ferro Corporation. MEDOP, a strategic, operating-oriented investment firm, brings significant resources, pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical relationships, and capital to fuel the Company’s growth.
Ferro Pfanstiehl Laboratories, Inc. has been renamed Pfanstiehl, Inc. (“Pfanstiehl”), reflecting its rich history and reputation developed since the Company was founded in 1919. Pfanstiehl is a leading technology-based provider of specialized products and services for niche pharmaceutical and biotechnological applications. Cindy Kerker, President of Pfanstiehl, commented about the new partnership with MEDOP: “We are pleased to be backed by MEDOP as we enter a very exciting stage of our company’s history with an unprecedented opportunity for growth in the biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical market place. Our ability to deliver quality, high purity excipients and APIs including cytotoxics to our customers should be enhanced by MEDOP and their strategic operating approach and financial resources.”
“We are excited to invest in Pfanstiehl at this time,” said Jim Breckenridge, MEDOP Founding Member and new Pfanstiehl Chairman. “The US global biopharmaceutical market is expected to exceed $100 billion by 2015 and requires high purity functional excipients to meet increasing quality, regulatory and service requirements. Pfanstiehl is well positioned to be a major beneficiary of this overall shift toward high purity cGMP excipients utilized in biopharmaceutical formulation and manufacturing processes. We plan to invest in Pfanstiehl to expand the Company’s participation in these compelling sectors.”
ABOUT PFANSTIEHL, INC.
Pfanstiehl is a leading technology-based provider of specialized products and services for niche pharmaceutical and biotechnological applications. Pfanstiehl develops and manufactures high-purity, low-endotoxin sugars utilized as injectable excipients and for cell culture media and protein stabilization as well as high-potency active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), including cytotoxic actives. It also produces carbohydrates used as key ingredients in pharmaceutical applications and materials for large volume parenteral applications. The business is located in Waukegan, IL and employs 80 employees. Visit us at www.pfanstiehl.com.
ABOUT MED OPPORTUNITY PARTNERS, LLC
Med Opportunity Partners, LLC (http://www.MedOpportunity.com) is a Greenwich, CT-based operating-oriented private equity firm that acquires leading niche healthcare companies at their growth stage. MEDOP has significant experience in operating and investing in the healthcare industry, and specific expertise in pharmaceuticals and high value ingredients and technologies for the pharmaceutical, generic and biotechnology sectors. Founded by seasoned healthcare investors and operators, MEDOP partners with companies that can benefit from its extensive industry knowledge, relationships and proven operating and transaction experience. MEDOP receives funding from prominent investors including pension funds, endowments, family offices and financial institutions.
ABOUT FERRO CORPORATION
Ferro Corporation (http://www.ferro.com) is a leading global supplier of technology-based performance materials and chemicals for manufacturers. Ferro products are sold into the building and construction, automotive, appliances, electronics, household furnishings, and industrial products markets. Headquartered in Mayfield Heights, Ohio, the Company has approximately 4,780 employees globally and reported 2012 sales of $1.8 billion.
Kantar is out with its smartphone market share numbers for three months ending in February and Android devices continue pulling away from iPhone in the United States. A year ago, iOS led Android by 47%-45% in the smartphone operating system market share competition. By February 2013, Android had moved to a 51%-43% lead. This report is a fairly strong argument for why Apple (AAPL) must get a budget smartphone out as soon as it can. The Apple brand is far stronger in its home market than it is in Asia, Latin America or even continental Europe. Yet even in its stronghold, Apple’s smartphone market share is now slipping fast as new buyers gravitate towards cheaper options or are captured by Samsung’s (005930) Galaxy glamor.
There is a lot of quality television within television. For example, The Simpsons introduced us to the colorful antics of Itchy and Scratchy many years ago. More recently, Queen of Jordan has taken the world by storm in 30 Rock. Now all these shows are coming to one place.
Hulu announced today it has acquired all the classic TV shows within TV shows that you love. It all starts with a celebration of the 85th anniversary of The Itchy and Scratchy Show. Hulu says that it has acquired almost all 63,764 episodes of the long running TV show, with only seven episodes being banned for “nonviolence, understanding, and helping.
Hulu isn’t just adding notable TV shows to its lineup today as it has also acquired the classic direct-to-TV film – The Rural Juror. The film, starring Jenna Maroney, is a seven-hour epic that rivals any John Grisham novel adaptation.
All of this is Hulu’s April Fools’ Day prank, but the site really is hosting most of this content today. Now’s your chance to watch all the best episodes of Itchy and Scratchy if you find yourself missing one of the greatest TV shows within a TV show ever made.
Los Angeles-based private equity firm Vance Street Capital has acquired Micronics Inc., a provider of aftermarket filtration products. Terms of the deal were not released. Micronics is based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
PRESS RELEASE
Vance Street Capital LLC, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm, today announced that it has acquired a majority interest in Micronics Inc., a global provider of aftermarket filtration products and OEM custom filter presses. Micronics’ management team will also have a significant ownership stake in the business. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Headquartered in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Micronics provides filtration products to varied industries worldwide including mining, chemical, wastewater, metals, and food and beverage. The company also has locations in the United Kingdom.
“We look forward to working closely with Barry Hibble and the entire Micronics management team to help the company capitalize on the many growth opportunities it has before it, both here and abroad,” said Jake Blumenthal, principal at Vance Street Capital. “We focus on investing in companies that provide engineered solutions to blue chip customers and we feel that Micronics is perfectly positioned to continue to gain market share.”
“In Vance Street, we could not have found a better partner as Micronics enters its next phase of growth,” said Micronics Chief Executive Officer Barry Hibble. “The firm has extensive experience working with manufacturers as well as a deep understanding of operations. This transaction is a positive development for our company and our hard-working employees as we look to the future with our new partners.”
The Micronics transaction represents Vance Street’s seventh platform acquisition in its current fund.
The acquisition was funded with debt from FS Investment Corporation, which is sub-advised by an affiliate of GSO Capital Partners LP (Blackstone’s credit business). Paul Hastings LLP acted as legal advisor to Vance Street Capital.
About Micronics Inc.
Micronics, headquartered in Portsmouth, NH, has been in business since 1983, offering filter presses of all sizes, including the fully automatic Lasta MC for mining, replacement plates, parts and filter cloth for all equipment. Micronics has locations in the UK and is the only distributor for Ishigaki Co. Ltd. in North America and South America. For more information please visit www.MicronicsInc.com.
About Vance Street Capital
Vance Street Capital is a Los Angeles-based private equity firm that makes control investments in companies with enterprise values up to $200 million. Preferred industries include precision industrial manufacturing, aerospace and defense, medical components and devices, and business services. For over two decades, Vance Street’s partners have worked with management, family owners and other co-investors to accelerate revenue growth, improve operations and acquire strategic assets for the companies in their investment portfolio.
Entrepreneurs are a unique group of people, but they behave in patterns. In fact, as I recently wrote here on HBR, my firm’s research shows that most serial entrepreneurs display persuasion, leadership, personal accountability, goal orientation, and interpersonal skills. But in that same study, we also discovered a set of skills they do not possess.
To rehash our methods, we assessed subjects identified as serial entrepreneurs on what personal skills they possessed. Then they were compared to a control group of 17,000. As before, this group was assessed on their mastery of 23 practical, job-related skills. We measured whether skills were well developed, developed, moderately developed, or needed developing.
After analyzing the data, we found four distinct skills lacking in most serial entrepreneurs, three skills statistically significantly and one other also noticeably lacking. The statistical significance is derived by comparing the lowest ranking skills to the entrepreneurs’ top skills, as evaluated in the first study.
Empathy is one of the qualities serial entrepreneurs lack most. Entrepreneurs build things and solve problems for people, but according to this study they do this in hopes of a return on investment. Entrepreneurs may have high empathy on an intellectual level, in that they want to produce a product or service that will help someone. This is often, however, also tied to the entrepreneur receiving a return for their time and effort, which people with high empathy do not generally expect.
Entrepreneurial-minded people are not proficient in managing themselves and their time. In many jobs, managing personal day-to-day tasks might take away from accomplishing larger company goals, which are critical to entrepreneurs. Since entrepreneurs typically have many projects underway at one time, they simply do not have time to micromanage each. Often they need assistance managing everyday tasks and should hire or delegate them to someone who has mastered this skill.
This leads to another skill entrepreneurs lack: planning and organizing. Similar to self-management, if entrepreneurs spent time planning and organizing every task or meeting, they would never get anything else done. Once again, hiring someone to keep their calendar, organize meetings and events, keep the office de-cluttered, and help keep them on schedule can put them at an advantage.
Entrepreneurs also do not excel above the control group when it comes to analytical problem solving. They have high utilitarian motivators (potential future gains, monetary returns, new products or ideas), so their focus is often on making a quick decision. They have a sense of urgency in decision-making, and by nature they do not have time to collect and analyze the data. They see numbers as getting in their way, and they should – everyone who has told them an idea wouldn’t pan out has used data and logic to illustrate that point. For example, Martin Luther King Jr. stated, “I have a dream.” He did not say, “I have a plan and strategy.” Entrepreneurs have the vision, but need to employ people to create an executable strategy and carry it through.
Entrepreneurial-minded individuals possess a distinct set of skills that lead to great leadership and ideas. Perhaps the skills they have not mastered are equally important. With an understanding of those weaknesses, they can compensate for them by surrounding themselves with people who excel in these areas. As a leader, realizing other’s strengths and dovetailing them into your own weaknesses is key to developing a team that will carry out your grand vision and achieve goals.
The executive team at Denver-based PeakColo, which has experienced strong growth by focusing on sales of turnkey “white label” cloud offerings through reseller channels. (Image: PeakColo)
PeakColo has recorded triple digit growth annually for the last few years, but you don’t often hear about it. That’s because PeakColo is often the provider behind the provider – the company is channel based, offering white-label cloud services that are resold by managed service providers (MSPs) and value-added resellers (VARs).
The company was founded in 2006, and has powered Infrastructure as a Service (IasS) clouds for a variety of offerings, from local VARs to helping data center providers offer hybrid services. PeakColo enables its customers to supply IaaS under their own brand in a turnkey fashion. Customers include Arrow Enterprise Computing Solutions, Avnet Technology Solutions and CDW.
“Our differentiator is we’re 100% building clouds through the channels,” said Luke Norris, Founder and CEO of PeakColo. “Growth has been great, 100% each year. The adoption in the last year has picked up, with bigger names, bigger customers.”
Filling A Need for Resellers
The company supplies and manages the nuts and bolts of an IaaS offering and acts as senior level support. There are a lot of agents, value-added resellers and system integrators out there, and many are finding they simply can’t compete without a cloud offering. PeakColo helps them snap one on. “Our customers are predominantly in the mid-market, the $50 million to $150 million or so shop,” said Norris. A customer like Arrow has around 25,000 VARS in their channel that can leverage IaaS which is ultimately provided by PeakColo.
The company has three cloud offerings, RedCloud, BlueCloud, WhiteCloud. Red is the hosted private cloud. It’s targeted to enterprises that need to meet critical governance compliance requirements like PCI, HIPAA, and SOX. It’s VMware- based, comes via vDirector portal and has an SLA of 100%. Blue is the public cloud, and White is the white label cloud. Its storage infrastructure is entirely built on NetApp.
The company has distributed cloud nodes in major cities throughout the continental United States. It has infrastructure in Seattle, Chicago and three nodes in Denver.”One of our delineators is to eventually be in every NFL tiered city,” said Norris. Last January, the company expanded its VMware vCloud-Powered platform into the New York and New Jersey metro areas through its partnership with NYI.
Trends in Cloud
In addition to a healthy channel market, the company is seeing various trends in cloud. While PeakColo doesn’t work directly with the end customers, they are seeing several trends in the channel. Customers are working with their VAR to get their cloud strategy together.
“The big trend we’re seeing is an enterprise production push,” said Norris. “It’s no longer solely disaster recovery and development driving cloud. There’s also a tremendous uptick of ‘geo-dispersement’, customers are picking multiple nodes.” The company also says that VMware still seems to be dominant in terms of demand, but Microsoft’s Hyper-V is picking up.
“There’s a dramatic uptick of organizations getting out of the enterprise consumption model,” said Norris, referring to the tech cycle refresh that plagues an organization that chooses to do everything on-premises. “Now, you’re able to drive business in a way that hasn’t been seen before.”
“A tremendous driver is helping match applications to infrastructure,” said Norris. While there is multiple price point compression, and VARs are getting pinched, offering cloud and showing customers how to properly use it means their role is an integral one.
Happy April First, errybody! Yes, that’s right, we’ve reached that special, inimitable time of year. April Fools Day 2013. At TechCrunch, we have a long history of taking April Fools seriously. Deadly, deadly seriously. So, we’ve taken it upon ourselves to create a master list (which will be updated throughout the day) with the best tomfoolery, pranks, WTFs and LOLs the Internet and the tech industry have to offer.
All night and all day, whatever it takes. If a company close to you happens to break out its clown shoes in what can only be an eye-rolling effort at being funny (really, the one time of year we indulge terrible nerd jokes publicly), please alert us in the comment section. And, again, thank you for your help in advance.
We’ve tried to separate the good from the bad and the ugly — and highlight the stuff that’s actually funny — sometimes with success, sometimes not.
So here they are.
(And, again, for our annual disclaimer: If you’re one of those folks who finds April Fools stressful because you’re constantly subject to punkings courtesy of your co-workers, rest assured that we at TechCrunch would never do that to you. Never. Never ever.)
The Great List Of April Foolings
Google Nose
You have to give Google props. They always take April Fools Day pretty seriously, and cats are usually involved. But this year Google is poking fun of its Glass Project with some olfactory goodness. Google Nose. Smells galore. You’ve probably been wondering what Google does with all that information that it tirelessly indexes for its search engine, combing the Web with Page Rank to serve you moderately usable results. Well, it’s also been collecting scents.
Now, as Greg reports, instead of paying hundreds or thousands for its newest piece of sexy hardware, Google is now letting you type your favorite scent into its search engine, tap the “smell button” and inhale to your hearts content. Just try not to sneeze on your monitor.
YouTube? More like NOTube, amirite?
That’s right. You heard it here first. Jordan brook the news Google has decided to shut down YouTube. After eight years, the company revealed that the whole thing has actually been an American Idol-like competition. Thank god, because for those of us that were taught that life is a competition — no enjoyment necessary — well, we’ve been a little suspicious of YouTube.
But the company has finally revealed that the competition that we know as YouTube is coming to a close, and that an expert panel of judges — YouTube celebrities themselves — will choose the winners. But don’t expect the winners to be announced any time soon. The judges will spend the next decade sifting through YouTube videos to choose said winners. Tomorrow, at midnight, the site will shut down and all content will be deleted. When it reopens in 2023, the only remaining video will be the winner. Frankly, it all makes perfect sense.
Gmail Blue
The hits just keep coming for The Googs. Next stop on the April Fools Google Train? “Gmail Blue.” That should explain itself, but just in case, it took Google “six years to develop the technology” to turn Gmail blue. Google turns nine tomorrow, and it might as well just go for it.
A poke at Facebook? Who’s to say?
You Got Vowels? Give Twitter Money.
Twitter has announced Twttr. Who needs vowels, am I right? Not you. Or Twitter. Twitter’s new “two-tiered” service includes a free portion called “Twttr” where each tweet (or “twt”) shall contain nary-a-vowel. But just in case that has you up in arms, you can have your stinkin’ vowels back, but it will cost you $5/month.
Pretty minimal price to pay for the fundamental building blocks of, you know, the English language and all. But because Twitter is ever-the-beneficent social network, it will offer the “sometimes Y” free of charge. Well, isn’t that precious? Oh, and thankfully URL vowels are free. Twitter’s not into the whole “hidden fees” thing, you understand. It’s almost like that April Fools joke where Facebook tried to make you pay $1 to message strangers. Oh wait, that actually happened.
It seems like an angry intern has wiggled his way into Netflix’s genre system, with all sorts of new genres popping up for the first time today.
Other family favorites include “Movies That Are In English But Still Require Subtitles”, “Movies With Epic Nicolas Cage Meltdowns”, and my favorite, “Surreal Ballets Based on a William Shatner Album” which just lists William Shatner’s Gonzo Ballet 50 times.
Virgin’s Glass-Bottomed Plane
Glass-bottomed boats are so last year. That’s why Virgin is stepping it up a notch with the world’s first-ever glass-bottomed plane. Richard Branson proves himself to be a peerless innovator yet again:
We hope to trial the glass bottom technology with other Virgin airlines in time and have asked other Virgin companies to support this innovative trial and launch our new domestic Scottish route. This really is a team effort from all corners of Virgin.
Speechless.
Sony For Pets
Sony is releasing a new “Animalia” line of products for your tech product-starved pets. And they’re really “stoked” about it. As are your pets, no doubt. Because your hamsters need to test out those Beats headphones you bought them for Christmas.
According to Sony:
The introductory line-up includes Sony-branded products targeted at owners with dogs, cats and hamsters, with additional devices and networked services slated for release later this year. Check out this video to learn all about our new K9 4K TV, M3-OW KittyCans, and In-Cage Speakers.
ThinkGeek
ThinkGeek has a whole new line of April Fools products that are fun for the whole family. Like this “Eye Of Sauron Desk Lamp.” My apologies if your order doesn’t go through. I’ve already bought 50 of them.
Archeological analysis has confirmed that our Google Maps Street View team has indeed found one of history’s long lost relics: a treasure map belonging to the infamous pirate, William “Captain” Kidd.
The map was found on a recent expedition in the Indian Ocean, as part of a deep-water dive to expand our underwater Street View collection. Captain Kidd was rumored to have buried his treasure around the world, and tales of a long-lost treasure map have lingered for generations.
Google+ Photos And +Emotion
Google+ now lets you add real emotions to your photos. This would be hilarious if 25 startups weren’t currently working on/pitching this idea — outside of Google+. Because the best Google+ April Fools joke is, really, well, Google+.
Google Analytics
Some users of Google Analytics may begin noticing that they have a few new international visitors checking out their sites. I’m just glad Google didn’t say that they were “totally out of this world.” Google is now including active visitors from the International Space Station, Control Room, who clearly have nothing better to do than to check out your WordPress blog. Here’s Carl to explain.
Is your house looking a bit tired and shabby? Want to make your narky step-aunt jealous? Trying to keep up with the Joneses but don’t have the money to complete an expensive reno?
Now you can give your house a lick of fresh paint for free on Street View with Google SCHMICK (Simple Complete House Makeover Internet Conversion Kit). Forgot to mow the nature strip? Deck it out with some fresh buffalo grass. Front steps falling down? Swap them out for doric columns and a pergola. Graffiti on the front fence? Cover it with so many palm trees people will think they’re on the Vegas strip.
Google’s Levity Algorithm
For your Google Apps pleasures:
Toshiba Gets A Console
That’s right. Today, Toshiba is announcing its first-ever gaming console: The Shibasphere. Look out, every gaming console ever made, past, present or future. The Shibasphere is here.
The Shibasphere features unprecedented computing power, a completely controller-free interface, and Logical Aggression Monitoring that deploys positive therapeutics to prevent emotionally devastating rage-quits. Available accessories include the Shibadome, Shibasuit and Shibatote that enhance the sound, motion detection and portability of the console, and also features:
12 core 3.5 Ghz Processors
8192 MB GDDR5 RAM Graphics Card
809.3b Infrared Motion Detection
1080p Full HD
7.1 Channel Surround Sound
5 Stereo Mini Jacks
8 HDMI Ports
AC Power
SoundCloud’s Dropometer
Sometimes you just don’t know when “the drop” is going to hit in a song. Not sure what I’m talking about? If you’ve ever seen a Harlem Shake video, it’s that very short, euphoric moment where the music drops out for a second and suddenly everyone is dancing/humping something. (See a notable example from my alma mater here.) Well, now, using its patent-pending algorithm, SoundCloud will tell you when that “unpredictable and surprising moment” is going to happen, via The Dropometer:
… The Dropometer is designed to help you prepare yourself for the big moment, whether that means getting in the mental space where you can really break it down, or fixing yourself a fortifying snack.
While we first innovated the Dropometer around dubstep, we’ve identified broad utility for this new functionality across all genres. Look to the Dropometer to find out when to expect a key crescendo in a 17th-century symphony or the emotional climax in an episode of This American Life.
Love with Food Gon’ Get You High
Love With Food is announcing a new product line called Love With WEED — a monthly subscription that delivers a new high every month. For every box sent, we’ll plant a cannabis shrub along CA Route 1. It’s like Tom’s, but greener. Here it is.
Sphero PeaceKeeper
Robotics takes a step forward today with “Sphero — Peacekeeper Edition.” The robotics maker is now offering a super-sized version of Sphero that you can control from your smartphone or tablet. And cats love it. It measures 3-feet in diameter, weighs over 150 pounds but is totally fun and lightweight and agile. The future is now, people. GoSphero.
StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon has put together a big list of things you can to do prank your colleagues, family members and loved ones. See it here.
RunKeeper
The next revolution in running is here. Now. And it’s really big.
Despite the best efforts of my administration, prolonged partisan debates in Congress are preventing us from a solution to our mounting national debt. Instead of bickering over taxes, we’re taking a new approach: asking everyday Americans to chip in so we can pay off our debt once and for all.
With your help, it’s time to act.
HELP PAY OFF our NATIONAL DEBT
Samsung’s Eco Trees
Really hilarious, Samsung: “Samsung Electronics announced Eco Trees, a smart, eco-friendly air purifier that runs on solar energy.” Get it? Chlorophyll? More like Bore-ophyll. Here are all of their fresh new Eco Tree products.
We are delighted to announce a significant new extension to Nokia’s product offering with the Nokia 5AM-TH1N6 Constellation, a touch-screen microwave oven. The Constellation sets itself apart with a superfast, water-cooled 8-core high-voltage transformer, which brings a combined performance of 5,000 watts to end-users, letting them heat up turnkey meal solutions within seconds.
‘Nokia has a proven track record and extensive IPR in working with microwave radios, so for us this was a logical next step. We can attack our competition in their core business,’ says Olavi Huhtikuu, Nokia’s director of household innovation.
‘That’s why we developed the highly innovative 5AM-TH1N6 Constellation, which will revolutionize everything from single households to canteen kitchens.’
The new Nokia 5AM-TH1N6 has even more innovative features. The device comes with the latest eye-tracking technology, which stops the food from rotating when you look at it, and it automatically adjusts the temperature depending on how hungry you look.
BMW Gets Into Strollers
With a royal baby due this summer, we are proud to announce the launch of our limited edition BMW P.R.A.M. (Postnatal Royal Auto Mobile). Available in Princess Pink or Royal Blue, this soft-top convertible has been designed using our EfficientDynamics technology. With two or four-wheel-drive, it rides as smoothly on a polo field as it does down The Mall and comes with air conditioning and built-in extendable flagpoles as standard. For those who are ‘too posh to push’ this masterpiece of motherhood even comes fitted with N.A.P.P.I.E. (Nanny-Assisting Petrol-Powered Injection Engine).
