Boston Meridian is an innovative investment banking firm focused on providing strategic M&A advisory and capital raising services to fast growing private and small cap public growth companies. Since their founding in 2004 they have closed more than $6 billion in transaction value.
We invited Boston Merdian’s co-founder and partner JC Raby on to the OODAcast to discuss his insights into the market today as well as his views on things companies can do to ensure they position themselves for the best possible transaction in the future. We also asked his advice for the strategic investor/buyer of firms including context on due diligence prior to an event.
Topics discussed included:
- The current market for businesses that offer cybersecurity products and services
- How the old model of Product-Market fit is increasingly now one of Product-Channel-Market fit
- The approach to technology development and maintenance that investment banks, investors and acquirers need to see
- The dynamic between innovators and regulators
- The most rapid areas of innovation and investment today
- The best approaches to technology due diligence and cybersecurity due diligence
JC Raby has more than 16 years of investment banking experience in mergers and acquisitions as well as private and public financings. JC’s clients include leading Fortune 500 acquirers and middle-market growth companies across a number of industries including media and Technology (software, business services, and communications equipment) manufacturing and consumer products, together accounting for over $9 billion in transaction value.
Prior to founding Boston Meridian, JC was a senior executive for Thomas Weisel Partners (now Stifel Financial) a leading San Francisco based merchant bank in which JC ran the Boston Investment Banking Group, with responsibility to grow the firm’s relationships with leading East Coast technology firms as well as the New England private equity community. Prior to joining Thomas Weisel Partners, JC was a Vice President at Montgomery Securities (now Bank of America Securities) where he was responsible for the execution of merger and acquisition transactions; and began his career in the corporate finance group at PaineWebber Inc. (now UBS Securities).
Podcast Version:
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Additional Resources:
A Practitioner’s View of Corporate Intelligence
Organizations in competitive environments should continually look for ways to gain advantage over their competitors. The ability of a business to learn and translate that learning into action, at speeds faster than others, is one of the most important competitive advantages you can have. This fact of business life is why the model of success in Air to Air combat articulated by former Air Force fighter pilot John Boyd, the Observe – Orient – Decide – Act (OODA) decision loop, is so relevant in business decision-making today.
In this business model, decisions are based on observations of dynamic situations tempered with business context to drive decisions and actions. These actions should change the situation meaning new observations and new decisions and actions will follow. This all underscores the need for a good corporate intelligence program. See: A Practitioner’s View of Corporate Intelligence
Optimizing Corporate Intelligence
This post dives into actionable recommendation on ways to optimize a corporate intelligence effort. It is based on a career serving large scale analytical efforts in the US Intelligence Community and in applying principles of intelligence in corporate America. See: Optimizing Corporate Intelligence
Mental Models For Leadership In The Modern Age
An Executive’s Guide To Cognitive Bias in Decision Making
Cognitive Bias and the errors in judgement they produce are seen in every aspect of human decision-making, including in the business world. Companies that have a better understanding of these cognitive biases can optimize decision making at all levels of the organization, leading to better performance in the market. Companies that ignore the impact these biases have on corporate decision-making put themselves at unnecessary risk. This post by OODA Co-Founder Bob Gourley provides personal insights into key biases as well as mitigation strategies you can put in place right now. See: An Executive’s Guide To Cognitive Bias in Decision Making
OODA On Corporate Intelligence In The New Age
We strongly encourage every company, large or small, to set aside dedicated time to focus on ways to improve your ability to understand the nature of the significantly changed risk environment we are all operating in today, and then assess how your organizational thinking should change. As an aid to assessing your corporate sensemaking abilities, this post summarizes OODA’s research and analysis into optimizing corporate intelligence for the modern age. See: OODA On Corporate Intelligence In The New Age
Useful Standards For Corporate Intelligence
This post discusses standards in intelligence, a topic that can improve the quality of all corporate intelligence efforts and do so while reducing ambiguity in the information used to drive decisions and enhancing the ability of corporations to defend their most critical information. See: Useful Standards For Corporate Intelligence
In Business, Like In War, Data Is A Weapon
Broadly speaking, a weapon is anything that provides an advantage over an adversary. In this context, data is, and always has been, a weapon. This post, part of our Intelligent Enterprise series, focuses on how to take more proactive action in use of data as a weapon. See: Data is a Weapon
Fine Tuning Your Falsehood Detector: Time to update the models you use to screen for deception, dishonesty, corruption, fraud and falsity
The best business leaders are good at spotting falsehoods. Some joke and say the have a “bullshit detector”, but that humorous description does not do service to the way great leaders detect falsehoods. Bullshit is easy to detect. You see it and smell it and if you step in it it is your own fault. In the modern world falsehoods are far more nuanced. Now more than ever, business and government leaders need to ensure their mental models for detecting falsehood are operating in peak condition. For more see: Fine Tuning Your Falsehood Detector: Time to update the models you use to screen for deception, dishonesty, corruption, fraud and falsity
