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For small- and mid-size companies, offering stock directly to the public without an underwriter can be a successful way to raise public money. This article provides an introduction to what is involved in a direct public offering, and describes the pros and cons of this approach.
Being a public company has upsides, such as increased value of your company and stock liquidity. Entrepreneurs, though, should realize the downsides, such as compliance costs and lack of personal and company privacy. Looking thoroughly at the entire picture will help you decide whether going public is your best move.
Joe McCracken, Vice President of Business Development at Genentech, walks through the founding and growth phase of the company. In particular, McCracken describes the culture at Genentech, which is credited for consistent ground breaking R&D and the resulting financial success.
Nick Earl, Vice President and General Manager of Electronic Arts shares his thoughts on the future of the gaming market. He discusses the changing global market space, the latest generation of consoles, mobile game distribution, user generated content, social networks and EA's strategy in the online gaming space.
Greg Ballard, President & Chief Executive Officer Over his distinguished career in the gaming, entertainment and multimedia industries, Greg Ballard has served as CEO at SONICblue, makers of ReplayTV and Rio digital music players; MyFamily.com, a successful subscription-based Internet service; and 3Dfx where, over a three-year period, he grew the company from $4 million to an annualized rate of more than $400 million. He previously served as CEO and COO for Warner Custom Music, a division of Time Warner, Inc. Ballard was also president of Capcom Software, the U.S. subsidiary known for hits such as Street Fighter, Mega-Man and Resident Evil, as well as COO and CFO of Digital Pictures, a leading video game developer for Sega CD. In recent years Ballard has served on the board of directors for xFire, an online gaming platform and community purchased by Viacom in April 2006, and on the public boards of THQ (NASDAQ: THQI), Pinnacle Systems and IGN. He holds a B.A. from the University of Redlands and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Greg Ballard, a veteran entrepreneur and currently the CEO of Glu Mobile, shares his business insights on products, people and values through a variety of enlightening and entertaining anecdotes.
Rick Wallace was appointed chief executive officer of KLA-Tencor Corporation on January 1, 2006. Wallace brings 17 years of experience at KLA-Tencor to his current role, and has held a variety of senior management positions at KLA-Tencor. These include president and chief operating officer, executive vice president, overseeing the company's Reticle and Photomask Inspection Division, Films and Surface Technology Division, CTO Software and Customer Groups, and executive vice president of KLA-Tencor's Wafer Inspection Group. He also served at KLA-Tencor as group vice president for the Lithography Control Group, as well as vice president/general manager and vice president of marketing for the Wafer Inspection Division. He joined KLA-Tencor in 1988 as an applications engineer.
Richard Caruso considers success less a matter of financial accomplishment than of meaningful personal contribution. He's managed to do both.
Joe McCracken is Vice President of Business Development at Genentech, Inc. In this role, McCracken is responsible for all business development activities at the company, including the identification and negotiation of collaboration and licensing agreements with academic institutions, biotechnology companies and pharmaceutical companies throughout the world. After a seven-year absence, McCracken rejoined Genentech in 2000 as Vice President of Business Development. During his earlier time with Genentech, McCracken served in many capacities, culminating in positions as Director of Business Development and Representative Director of Genentech Ltd., Genentech's wholly owned subsidiary in Japan. McCracken has more than 19 years of experience in technical, business development and market development roles with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. He has also served as Vice President of Technology Licensing and Alliances at Aventis, and Vice President of Worldwide Business and Technology Development at Rhone-Poulenc Rorer S.A.
When entrepreneurs sign up strategic partners, the primary focus often is on development and sales of products or services. For their protection, however, entrepreneurs also need to focus on crafting a proper legal framework in the event the partnership needs to be terminated.
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