Last Wednesday, the CEO of Better.com, Vishal Garg, fired 900 employees during a 3-minute holiday Zoom presentation. Questions: Where did CEO Garg “bad-mouth” the laid off employees, accusing them of stealing time from the company? What percent of Better.com’s workforce is this? What industry is Better.com in? Explain all the factors that are wrong with… Read more »
Posts Tagged: financing
A New Way to Raise Money
Interestingly, some entrepreneurs are following a new path, which avoids venture capital pitches or crowd funding. In this quest, before they even have a working product, they are creating their own digital currencies and selling so-called coins on the web, which sometimes raises them tens of millions of dollars in a matter of minutes. Questions:… Read more »
Litigation Finance
This article discusses the trend of litigation finance, where individuals and companies are turning to private companies to front the money for legal costs in expensive litigation. Despite having in-house counsel, even larger companies are selling off pieces of lawsuits to improve cash flow and reduce risk. Questions: 1. Between 2013 and 2014, how much… Read more »
Another Bubble?
Airbnb’s latest financing round is being led by private equity firm General Atlantic, and includes Hillhouse Capital Group, a Chinese fund manager, and Tiger Global Management, which just led a big $80 million financing for Postmates. The deal is expected to be officially announced today, Monday, June 29. Questions: 1. What is a “private IPO”?… Read more »
Watch Out for On-The-Lot Financing
Since many banks will not give auto loans to people with bad credit or no credit, due to increased restrictions or risk, on-the-lot financing has become more popular. Unfortunately, since Buy-Here-Pay-Here financing is not strictly regulated, interest rates can be quite high. Questions: 1. What are the benefits of on-the-lot financing? 2. What are the… Read more »
Debt for Life?
Here are the facts. Four-year college graduates’ pay advantage over high school grads has doubled over the past 30 years. However, in 2010, student debt exceeded credit-card debt for the first time and in 2011, it surpassed auto loans. In March 2012, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that student debt had passed $1 trillion… Read more »