I found a great blog for startups – onstartups.com . It contains some interesting perspectives from an experienced entrepreneur. I have extracted the key points from two of his articles below and then provided brief comments of how I have applied similar principles to my current startup. I encourage you to read the original articles and subscribe to the RSS feed.
Read MoreArchive for ‘Equity Market 3.0’
15 June 2006 Category: Central Brain assembly, Central Brain building blocks, Private equity and venture capital No Comments 
The BVI has incorporated over 700,000 companies, which by some estimates represents approximately 40% of companies registered in “offshore” jurisdictions. It has achieved its leading position by offering a specific mix of corporate law, investor protection, simplicity and privacy that others have since copied. The BVI has unique attributes that mean it is always considered as a place to incorporate. It has a cost-effective regime that has been recognised by the British government, the International Monetary Fund, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as being compliant with the relevant international standards. Although, these same organisations also demonise offshore jurisdictions to discourage their use and protect domestic tax bases. Eleven BVI companies are listed on the the AIM stock exchange including an E-Gaming company.
Read More14 June 2006 Category: Central Brain assembly, Economic development, Equity Market 3.0, Specialist financial centres No Comments
Financial modelling is highly specialised. A template is useless unless the skills are available to customise it for a specific need. The skills required include Microsoft Excel, a knowledge of accounting standards and being able to communicate the business model by using a financial model. I was reluctant to provide this model, but it does represent a “start” for many people. If you improve the spreadsheet, I would also welcome the opportunity to include those improvements here. Perhaps, we will create an “Open source” financial forecast model for the world. Maybe, the world only needs one and this can be our contribution to the world.
Read More12 June 2006 Category: A Personal Central Brain, Central Brain assembly, Private equity and venture capital, Templates (business planning) No Comments
The internet would appear to facilitate greater participation in the “listed company” market by the offshore stock exchanges. Offshore centres can list companies at a fraction of the cost of onshore exchanges. Onshore equity markets are expensive and can only be used by large companies. Does the current standard of compliance and regulation mean that small companies can not get capital for growth so that they become large? What does society gain from ensuring effective capital allocation to early stage companies? In the internet era, the offshore stock exchange may ultimately have a greater role.
Read MoreApproximately, 33-40% of the worlds financial assets and 50% of financial market transactions occur in offshore jurisdictions. In recent years, onshore countries have collaborated to stamp out “harmful tax competition”. The offshore jurisdictions are, and will remain, a critical part of the financial system. The internet and standardisation of offshore “products” has made offshore accessible to all. The onshore economies may continue “enforce” existing laws which seek to tax residents on world wide income. They may engage in “tax competition” or restructure misunderstood and unworkable tax systems. Whatever happens, the internet is likely to play a significant role in facilitating change.
Read MoreWeb 2.0 was a phrase to describe new web companies that emerged over the last year. I could not understand how many of them were going to make money. Crash 2.0 may become the reference to the failure of these companies over the coming year. Companies will always fail as a result of poor execution. Investors that fund companies with bad ideas, non-existant revenue strategies or in unattractive markets may also fail. It is all part of the capitalist system which ultimately moves capital from those that pick losers, to those that can pick winners. The coming .NET, or Nextnet, boom is likely to based upon greater substance than the .COM boom. Crash 2.0 may be one of the early chapters in the .NET boom, or could it be the final chapter?
Read MoreI recently read a series of articles by Paul B. Farrell at Marketwatch.com . I will extract a paragraph from each article to encourage you to read them. “The Planet of the Apes is a perfect metaphor for the way America’s 95 million investors are being psychologically manipulated and controlled by a small cartel of less than one million people in and around Wall Street. For both that 95 million and the one million the stakes are huge, because $8.6 trillion is invested in mutual funds alone.” “Research from critics like Vanguard’s Jack Bogle have longed warn that Wall Street and the financial-services industry are “skimming” one-third off the top of investors returns, substantially reducing your retirement assets. Some critics like Boston research firm Dalbar go further: Most investors make less than inflation, but are clueless because they’re brainwashed to think otherwise.”
Read MoreCould an online social network undertake investment analysis. Perhaps, a company or freelancer could prepare an equity research report. This report could serve as the foundation for analysis by an online social report in the same way that just occured on Digg. The tools could be extended further to include Wiki’s so that the report could also be prepared by the community using an open source approach.
Read More23 May 2006 Category: Equity Market 3.0, Web 1.0 proprietary hierarchies vs. Web 3.0 community networks No Comments
For the year ending March 2006, the number of companies listed on the NYSE and NASDAQ fell 3.1% and 0.9% respectively. Could the decline in their home markets have inspired these major exchanges to acquire or merge? A combined NASDAQ / London Stock Exchange represents 15% of the number of global listed companies and 14.7% of global market capitalisation. A combined NYSE / Euronext represents 8.5% of the number of global listed companies and 25.7% of global market capitalisation.
Read More22 May 2006 Category: Stock exchanges 1.0 No Comments
During the period ending 31st March 2006, the market capitalisation of stock exchanges in the America’s, Asia Pacific and Europe grew 15.3%, 36.2% and 23.3% resepctively. This was driven by increasing valuations of listed companies, but was also influenced by changes in the number of companies. There were changes in the number of companies:- The America’s decreased 0.5%, Asia Pacific increased 2.5% and Europe increased 3.5%. Despite strong equity markets, there was a decline in the number of companies listed in key markets and specific exchanges that implemented niche strategies experienced growth.
Read MoreOn the 1st April 2006, the World Bank released a policy paper titled "Promoting access to primary equity markets : a legal and regulatory approach". The report is available from here. "Abstract: This paper examines legal and regulatory measures that can be taken to promote access to the primary market in emerging market economies. While capital market development depends on many factors including, primarily, a favorable macroeconomic environment, an appropriately designed and effective legal and regulatory framework can help to encourage market growth and to increase access to finance for all companies, including small- and medium-sized enterprises. In this paper we identify the basic necessities that underpin a regulatory regime that ... Read More
“Power will shift from the traders who have benefited from merely facilitating transactions to the buyers and sellers who take positions on either end of the trade, and that which is most highly prized in financial markets – the ability to create value – is likely to experience a renaissance as transformational as anything the industry has ever witnessed.” – IBM report. The opportunity for online social networks in financial markets is becoming clear.
Read More17 April 2006 Category: Boom then depression by 2012, Capital allocation and remote services, Economic development, Equity Market 3.0, Private equity and venture capital, Specialist financial centres, Stock exchanges 1.0, Web 1.0 Intellectual property vs. Web 3.0 Community knowledge, Web 1.0 proprietary hierarchies vs. Web 3.0 community networks 2 Comments
Online social networks will drive a significant lift in productivity over the next decade. The internet will be essential to coordinating these networks. Online social networks are likely to be more efficient at manufacturing and distributing information. Consumers may be offered more convenient means to purchase, at lower cost using open source philosophies that may deliver greater customer satisfaction. Government can allow people to benefit from economic development, although some industries may perish or need to evolve in the short term.
Read More8 April 2006 Category: A Personal Central Brain, Boom then depression by 2012, Central Brain assembly, Central Brain building blocks, Critical path to Web 4.0, Digital Ecosystems, Economic development, Equity Market 3.0, Free software and Open source, Human awareness and development, Industry collaboration (Central Brain), Web 1.0 proprietary hierarchies vs. Web 3.0 community networks 2 Comments
Existing industries have billions of dollars of historical investment, hundreds of years of history and employ of tens of thousands of people. These industries are being challenged by more innovative players that apply new business models to reduce costs. Challenges to the introduction of the railroad included “Rail travel at high speed is not possible, because passengers, unable to breathe, would die of asphyxia.” This article offers a brief insight into the emerging responses of industry and their efforts to lobby government. Will government “asphyxiate” the people on the information superhighway? Will we be forced to travel by canal? Will we be forced to use the telephone?
Read MoreMoore’s Law is forecast to continue. If the rate of improvement continues, technology will be 128 times more powerful in ten years, and over 4,000 times more powerful in 15 years. Will it be possible for a single laptop capture, store, process and transmit information for entire industries? Could a single laptop replace the global music industry, a stock exchange or provide voice calls for the world? There are billions of dollars of historical investment, hundreds of years of history and tens of thousands of people being challenged by new companies. Starbucks may have enough bandwidth to run a bank, but you probably would not want to live there 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
Read More25 March 2006 Category: A Personal Central Brain, Capital allocation and remote services, Central Brain assembly, Central Brain building blocks, Economic development, Equity Market 3.0, Free software and Open source, Industry collaboration (Central Brain), Web 1.0 Intellectual property vs. Web 3.0 Community knowledge, Web 1.0 proprietary hierarchies vs. Web 3.0 community networks No Comments
The McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) examined the financial assets of more than 100 countries since 1980. The result is a comprehensive profile of the global capital market (GCM) and an in-depth analysis of its evolution across geographies and asset classes.
Read More“Shares in the London Stock Exchange (LSE) have jumped by 30% on Monday following speculation of a bid war.” Consolidation in this market is an inevitable consequence of the compeitive pressure from competing electronic networks which utilise lower cost technologies. The fundamental function of the stock exchange – matching buyers and sellers of shares – is not as lucrative as it was twenty years ago. “In the New Reality a complete minnow of a stock exchange will grow to be a world player.” A merger between the LSE and NYSE would produce a dominant exchange, but can it compete with the inevitable compeititon from the internet?
Read More14 March 2006 Category: Stock exchanges 1.0 1 Comment
The Government of Malta has announced framework discussions with Tecom Investments of Dubai on the setting up a new ‘SmartCity@Malta’. The Government of Malta has agreed to invest the land into the project whilst Tecom is expected to undertake an investment of approximately US$300 million over the coming 8 years. The first deliverables from this project are expected by 2008. This is a very exciting development. It may establish a cluster of IT companies in the EU, just like Dubai Internet City has done for the Middle East. It is also a visible sign to Middle East economies to establish new sectors and reduce their dependence on dwindling oil reserves.
Read More25 February 2006 Category: Economic development, Specialist financial centres No Comments
The Open Source model of building software harnesses the collective knowledge of a group of volunteers to build complex software. Over the next few years, collective knowledge networks like the open source movement will move beyond developing open source software, to manufacturing and distributing products products and services in other industries.
Read More13 February 2006 Category: Capital allocation and remote services, Climate stability 4.0, Critical path to Web 4.0, Declining markets, Democracy 3.0 and global governance 4.0, Digital Ecosystems, Economic development, Equity Market 3.0, Free software and Open source, Peak oil water food resources and leadership, Web 1.0 Intellectual property vs. Web 3.0 Community knowledge, Web 1.0 proprietary hierarchies vs. Web 3.0 community networks No Comments
Offshore financial centres had a reputation for being havens of criminal activity. The following five year old articles show this reputation is undeserved.They suggest that the “persecution of tax havens is not the fight against money laundering but the fight against low taxes”. The persecution of “tax havens” was simply an instrument of the nation state to protect domestic tax revenues from foreign tax competition.
Today, the majority of financial centres are well regulated and well respected. The also offer companies and investors the opportunity to reduce compliance costs and take advantage of countries dedicated to servicing their needs. Some countries are focussed on attracting a specific type of company. They enact legislation that is necessary to provide a respectable base for specific types of business. For example, the Isle of Man is focussed upon attracting EBusiness. These smaller financial centres are likely to be significant beneficiaries of the globalisation of financial markets. Business owners and entrepreneurs may choose to incorporate in these centres and derive significant benefits. They will need to pay taxes on any foreign income they derive or is attributed to them by their tax laws. The majority of financial centres are havens for business, rather than a means to reduce taxes.
Read More21 January 2006 Category: Capital allocation and remote services, Central Brain assembly, Central Brain building blocks, Climate stability 4.0, Critical path to Web 4.0, Declining markets, Democracy 3.0 and global governance 4.0, Equity Market 3.0, Peak oil water food resources and leadership, Private equity and venture capital, Specialist financial centres, Stock exchanges 1.0, Web 1.0 Intellectual property vs. Web 3.0 Community knowledge No Comments
The primary function of our political leadership is to safeguard the essentials of our community – our global community. There is action that can be taken on key issues of oil, food, water, climate change, national insolvency and retirement of the baby boomers. There is just enough time for action. The resources are available for most of the pressing issues. However, precious public funds are spent on more interesting ambitions, rather than the fundamentals. If questioned, more complex issues are introduced to defer the need to make difficult, but simple, decisions. The world confronts key challenges. Action on fundamental issues seem to be perpetually deferred until after the next election. Ambitions receive priority. The demand for leadership is growing rapidly. The supply of leadership is in declining. Perhaps, the law of diminishing returns applies to our political leadership.
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Marcus Cake
Peter Elliott
Matt Taylor
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