Featured Media Mentions
“You could argue there’s never been a moment in history where a private-company founder has more power,” says Adam Epstein, an adviser on corporate governance to CEOs and their boards.
"The Age of Tech Superheroes Must End," The Wall Street Journal, Christopher Mims, June 7, 2018
The Wall Street Journal (CEO deference)
Advocates for small-caps say that thin liquidity hurts the sector. Light trading volumes in a company’s shares can make it harder for the company to raise capital or even to entice top talent with stock-option grants, said Adam Epstein, founder of Third Creek Advisors, which advises small-cap firms.
“It’s a pretty austere challenge for these companies,” he said at the SEC meeting.
"Upstart Exchange Blasts Nasdaq Plan to Boost Small-Stock Trading," The Wall Street Journal, Alexander Osipovich, April 23, 2018
The Wall Street Journal (SEC Meeting)
“When boards fail to effectively oversee ‘tone at the top,’ when companies devolve into win ‘at all cost’ (culture), it’s often because the board is inexperienced or lacks sufficient time to focus thereon,” Epstein said. “In the valley, the problem is rarely (the former). It often has more to do with the fact that investors/directors often are on many boards, and also have day jobs.”
“Zenefits Struggles Show VC’s Are Not Paying Enough Attention,” San Francisco Chronicle, Thomas Lee, February 18, 2016
San Francisco Chronicle (Zenefits)
"The weaknesses you see at Sony and other companies, large and small, can’t be fixed by installing one more fire wall or some new antivirus software. By the time the good guys zig, the bad guys are already zagging.”
“Forget the Gossip, These Are the Lessons of the Sony Hack,” Bloomberg Businessweek, Paul M. Barrett, December 16, 2014
Businessweek (Sony Cyber Breach)
“The 10b5-1 rule created a safe harbor for executives from insider trading. Opportunistic trading is what they are trying to obviate. When you are an insider and you are trading opportunistically, why is filing a little form supposed to make me feel like you are complying.”
“Directors Take Shelter in Trading Plans,” The Wall Street Journal, Susan Pulliam and Rob Barry, April 25, 2013
The Wall Street Journal (10b5 plans)
"The small-cap ecosystem has changed materially since 2008, but unfortunately pre-IPO board composition practices have remained largely the same.”
“Advice for Pulling Off a Successful IPO,” Forbes, Tom Taulli, January 30, 2013
Forbes (IPOs)
Articles
Blog
Unlocking Shareholder Value with One Hard Conversation
I spend most of my time in boardrooms and board meetings. I know it’s been fashionable over the years for people to carp that most boards are comprised of old white men, who do the bare minimum to collect a check. The first part is unfortunately true. I’ve not found the second part to be […]
Emails, Boardrooms, and Attorney-Client Privilege
In each of the 10 years my firm has been in existence, I’ve witnessed a disastrous boardroom situation. All of them had three things in common: (1) email; (2) impaired reputations; and (3) they were completely avoidable. Email has been around for a long time, so you’d think that smart, seasoned executives wouldn’t misuse it. You’d be […]
The Importance of a Great Chair to Small-Cap Boards
I am on the Editorial Advisory Board of Small-Cap Institute, Inc. With SCI’s approval, I thought I would share one of their recent articles that every small-cap officer and director should consider reading. Unlike in most mid- and large-cap companies, it’s common for small-cap companies to be operated and governed by those who are either […]
Lesson Learned: Brand Stewardship Requires Relentless Vigilance… and Then Some
Last week, I was reading a terrific article to be published in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review by Professor Elizabeth Pollman entitled, “Startup Governance.” I made my way through the lion’s share of the article when I saw the below footnote on page 43. Professor Pollman cited a comment that I made a couple […]
Sorry VCs, Direct Listings Are Not a Magic Elixir
Spotify Technology and Slack Technologies, each multibillion-dollar companies, listed their shares for trading on the New York Stock Exchange in the past two years. But unlike the typical initial public offering (IPO), neither company received any financing proceeds. Why would a company go through all the trouble of an IPO and elect not to raise […]
