Monthly Archives: July 2015

Blackhawk approaches Business and Investments as Industrialists

The underlying philosophy of Blackhawk Partners’ investment approach consists of funding its private equity sponsored transactions with a combination of equity and debt.

Unlike most private family offices:

1. Blackhawk does not place money with other funds or investment managers;
2. Blackhawk is not in the money management, brokerage or securities business;
3. Blackhawk is a “strategic advisor” and “investor” in private equity transactions with a focus on the energy, industrial, technology and security sectors.

Strategy

Blackhawk underwrites the equity portion of a transaction, both directly and through a core group of associated family offices, on a deal-by-deal and no-fee basis, allowing its partner clients the opportunity to co-invest in its equity transactions. This model reflects our preference for investment discretion, with many high-net-worth investors themselves being hands-on business owners.

 

For More: http://www.blackhawkpartners.com/services/investing/

Increasing Marketshare and Profitability through the Crowd—Bringing Main Street to Wall Street

Increasing Marketshare and Profitability through the Crowd—Bringing Main Street to Wall Street – Financial Policy Council

Topic: Increasing Marketshare and Profitability through the Crowd—Bringing Main Street to Wall Street

Date: Monday September 14, 2015
Time: 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Location: The Graduate Center / CUNY at 365 Fifth Avenue at The Elebash Recital Hall – On the main floor of the building and on the left as you enter into the main lobby
When crowdfunding and marketplace lending came onto the scene there was little interest from Wall Street in these platforms that were mainly working with undesirable startups and sub-prime borrowers. A few years later crowdfunding has become a true contender, eclipsing angel investments and will soon overtake venture capital as the primary method for funding new businesses.  And now, platform “crowd” finance is beginning to create large dents in both the emerging and growth equity fields.
This is a critical opportunity for savvy investment firms to use their existing brand to expand their reach toward new customer bases. Tapping into Main Street accredited investors that want to invest alongside institutional players and expanding access to deal flow.  One such example of this expansion is Goldman Sachs’ entry into the online lending market.

Due Diligence Is No Mystery

If you ask ten funded entrepreneurs what happened during the VC/private equity due diligence process, you will get ten different answers. Some will say they lost valuable months answering endless questions for groups that never produced a term sheet. Others may admit they gained valuable insights into their business.

I am uncertain when the due diligence process gathered so much mystique, but among entrepreneurs, there is still an urban “myth status” about what happens behind closed doors.

We believe it shouldn’t be a mystery. Understanding due diligence improves the information flow between private equity groups and potential entrepreneurs. Better information leads to better investment decisions and better long-term partnerships.

 

For More: Due Diligence Is No Mystery

Don’t Demonize Arabs – Do Business with them

I am a Lebanese-American, a conservative and a capitalist. I was born in Lebanon and had one dream and one dream alone – to come to America and make my fortune as a capitalist. I did just that. I studied at The Wharton School, went to work at the most entrepreneurial firm on Wall Street, Drexel Burnham Lambert, became a global entrepreneur-financier, and made my mark dealing with some of the largest capital pools in the world, orchestrating large-scale buyouts and recapitalizations.

Today, the Middle East is a very different place than the one I left 25 years ago. “This isn’t your father’s Middle East,” a good friend with whom I do business in the region loves to tell me. And yet he is disappointed that most Americans seem stuck in the 1970s when it comes to how we think and describe the place – as if all Arabs are the same, none worthy of our trust or respect.

 

Read more at: Don’t Demonize Arabs – Do Business with them

No one asked the Entrepreneurs

The haggling between Democrats and Republicans is over, as President Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s nearly $800 billion “stimulus” program becomes law and the cash works its way into the economy. But the burning question is: Will it work? Will this “stimulus” bill stimulate the economy?

We have heard endlessly from pundits on both sides of the aisle, from folks who call themselves economists and from politicians of every stripe about the efficacy of this package. But what do business leaders think? What do people in the capital business think? And most important, what do the markets think?

 

For More:  No one asked the entrepreneurs

 

Thank You,

Will President Obama’s stimulus Package Work?

The haggling between Democrats and Republicans is over, as President Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s nearly $800 billion “stimulus” program becomes law, and the cash works its way into the economy. But the burning question is, will it work? Will this “stimulus” bill stimulate the economy?

We have heard endlessly from pundits on both sides of the aisle, from folks who call themselves economists, and from politicians of every stripe about the efficacy of this package. But what do business leaders think? What do people in the capital business think? And most important, what do the markets think?

As a person who deals with capital every day, who works with and funds entrepreneurs for a living, and who knows the nuts and bolts of job and wealth creation, I believe this program is nothing less than a rip-off of US taxpayers, and will not work. Indeed, it looks like 25 years of government expansion jammed into one bill and sold as stimulus.

This stimulus package is short on incentives to get consumers spending again and long on social goals that won’t stimulate economic activity. It is totally unfocused and spreads a lot of money around on nickel-and-dime programs that will have the little lasting impact on our economy.

 

For More:  Will President Obama’s stimulus Package Work?

Toward an Equitable Tax System

To most American citizens that the U.S. Tax Code has become a truncheon used to beat the American people into lockstep by an increasingly truculent political class. The actual legislative code is more than four times the length of the Christian Bible and is full of incomprehensible and contradictory exceptions and exemptions.

It is an unjust piece of legislation that hinders and manipulates economic activity.

It is enforced by an agency that is far too often the antithesis of the basic American principles of due process and equitable justice.

The time has come to replace this punitive tax system, which seeks to appropriate a portion of our income with a tax system that collects revenue on positive economic activity only. In that way, legislators would be less inclined to pass laws that inhibit economic growth or penalize success. Their actions would have a direct impact on the amount of revenues generated.

 

For More: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/04/17/toward-equitable-tax-system.html

Customer Wallets Are Tight

The unemployment rate in the U.S. may have hit a four year low. U.S. government sources are claiming that the initial claims for unemployment benefits have fallen by 5,000 applications to a seasonally adjusted figure of 348,000; but this doesn’t mean that customers have become more open to spending more money. Yet it is good to hear that employers in the U.S. have created 245,000 jobs per month between December 2011 and February 2012. On the face of it, at least for the short-term, these figures suggest that growth is returning to the U.S. market.

However, Ziad K Abdelnour author of Economic Warfare: Secrets of Wealth Creation In The Age Of Welfare Politics thinks that, in the long term, the policies of the U.S. government and the U.S. Federal Reserve are going to cause more havoc. In Abdelnour’s view, President Obama’s administration is overly focused on job creation as it attempts to “buy” the country out of recession with increased budget deficits. Abdelnour believes that this is eventually going to damage the U.S. economy because the U.S. government is not concerned with empowering individuals to create growth.

 

For More: http://www.icmi.com/Resources/Customer-Experience/2012/04/Customer-Wallets-Are-Tight-So-Is-Empathy-the-Best-Strategy

Defending the Rich from the Author of ‘Economic Warfare’

It is an oft-repeated axiom that a person can learn a whole lot about a society by how it treats its poor; but just as much may be learned by looking at how that same society treats its rich.

Indeed, the economic future of the poor—and our nation—will be determined in the coming decades by how we treat the people in this country who create great wealth. It will be determined by our understanding of the so-called rich and by our need to foster and protect this minority of true wealth creators.

It is an unpopular thing to say…Rich people need help?

Rich people need to be protected?

Rich people a minority?

“Give me a break,” people say. “They just seem to keep getting richer!”

For More:: Defending the Rich from the Author of ‘Economic Warfare’

How to make Money in the Obama age

With our country spinning in a whirlpool of change, it takes some daring to resolve to not only survive but to thrive. As government chugs along toward its destination of no longer being the friend of the American citizen, it behooves each citizen to take care of himself and his own.

That’s why Ziad K Abdelnour’s new book, “Economic Warfare: Secrets of Wealth Creation in the Age of Welfare Politics” grabbed my attention. In short, America is the land of opportunity, but it is being run by change agents who want to take your hard-earned money and redistribute it to voting blocs beholden to … the redistributors!

 

For some time, this reality has created real problems for the most innovative and resourceful Americans. It is also seen in the subtle propaganda in the media, who love to lambast, for example, corporations, in the drive to remake America. The non-discerning (see Movement, Occupy) lap it up and fail to see they are merely dupes.

Thank You.