END OF YEAR MESSAGE – WELCOME TO 2016

Greetings from the first month of what will be the biggest year ever in tech M&A. I’m late with my end of year email, which means I’ve had the benefit of updates from friends around the world.

The mood in Europe is cautious – we are feeling thankful for what we have, because recent tragic events served to remind us how quickly our lives can change. In Asia there is capital, energy and opportunity to build, and in spite volatility the speculation-drive mainland China market, tech leaders are out building companies – aggressively – and looking for acquisitions around the world.

As an angel investor I continue to bet on teams and ignore geographies (which is how I got involved in French security startup Trust-in-Soft – a world class team in a challenging geography.) I also participated in the seeding GlamHive, a promising startup that is focused on capturing and monetizing the consumer behaviors that have evolved around Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter.

In the US our tech landscape continues to grow at the extreme ends, leaving a gap in the middle; the trend that started back in 2006 and 2007 of private equity firms moving up-market has concentrated a lot of money in a short list of “unicorns” – and at the other end of the spectrum, the startup sector has become an industry unto itself, with new incubators and angel funds popping up in every major city. There is not enough activity in the middle – the Series A crunch continues – but the really good startups will find a way forward.

As an M&A advisor entering my 26th year in the business, my strategy remains unchanged because, as the great ballerina Anna Pavlova put it, “to follow, without halt, one aim – that is the secret to success.” My aim is to help privately held tech companies achieve liquidity, and to close deals that result in referenceable clients, and buyers. I’m happy to have achieved this goal in multiple transactions in 2015, including the sale of e-MDs to Marlin Equity, and Spectrum Equity’s investment in Picmonkey.

This is a good time to be building companies. It is an historic time to be harvesting the fruits of your labor. I look forward to continuing our dialog in 2016.