The Reverse Merger Conference is now over and I walked away with both a great education and even more confidence in the future of the small-cap / micro-cap world. For those of you that think stock spammers and message board manipulators represent the quality and identity of this space, you couldn’t be farther from the truth.
The fact of the matter is that the pool of talent, expertise, knowledge and integrity in this space runs far and deep. Believe me, I’m not easily impressed. I’ve sat in private meetings with Prime Ministers and Cabinet Ministers that can’t touch this group with a ten-foot ticker. Some great examples of all sizes and walks include:
- Tim Keating of Keating Investments
- Richard Anslow of Anslow + Jaclin
- Gary McAdam and his team at Growth Ventures
- Daniel McClory at Hunter Wise Financial Group
- Nimish Patel of Richardson Patel
- Michael Williams of Williams Law Group
- Andre Schwegger of Terranova Capital Partners
- David Baker of Core Fund Management
I could go on but I’m pleased to say the list of talent was too long to mention here. Suffice it to say, the TSX Venture Exchange sent their business development team to educate more than 300 delegates about why U.S. CEOs are considering the CPC route (Capital Pool Corporation) in Canada.
The forum topics were extensive and highly informative about important issues that surround every aspects of this business. You can view the list and order the audio/book set here . At less than $400, you are getting the education of a lifetime.
If we have a major weakness in this space, it is our paradoxical nature in which we are bombarded by the “nothing to lose” spam companies, while the best of breed spend their time running real businesses.Â
We need to change this. For the good of our entire industry, we need to stop allowing stock spammers, direct mail promoters and message board manipulators from defining our identity. Conferences are – and will continue to be – a great way for industry participants to amalgamate and communicate.Â
But we are preaching to the converted.
We need to reach and change the impressions of Bob and Mary retail. Doing so will open the OTCBB and Pink Sheets to a significantly wider audience of investors that will drive liquidity to utopian levels.
How do we reach them? How do we put our best foot forward? Web 2.0. I’ll save that discussion for my next post – but would love to hear what others have to say.
Regards,
George
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George,
The reverse merger industry has gone from infamy to legitimacy over the past 3 or 4 years. Some of the primary drivers behind this transformation include: (1) an upgrade in the quality of sponsors participating in this arena; (2) improved education through the publishing of David Feldman’s book on the subject; (3) dramatically increased transaction transparency via The Reverse Merger Report–published monthly by DealFlow Media; (4) SEC rule changes that were implemented in August 2005 which dramatically improved the speed and breadth of transaction disclosure; and (5) most importantly, a long and growing list of high quality reverse merger transactions that have simultaneously raised large amounts of growth capital for issuers.
The increased level of transparency and disclosure has allowed the industry thought leaders to drain the swamp and expose the bad guys.
The next step in the process is for all micro- and small-cap partipants to embrace the best investor relations practices that are now readily available in a Web 2.0 world. Of course, this will take time and a fair amount of education. But the benefit is enormous–namely, a clear demarcation between responsible, value added alternative public offering sponsors and the boiler room penny stock scammers that still populate part of our world.
Tim Keating
Keating Investments
George,
As part of the Growth Ventures “team” – although we are not formally affiliated with each other, but we do get along well – I appreciate your message regarding the credibility we are building as well as the challenges we face in the small/micro cap world. Very good message.
Regards,
Joe
George you’ve touched on an issue that has plagued our industry for a number of years now but notbeen able to do anything about. If you think the answer lies in a web2.0 solution than I am all ears and I would trust many others would welcome the opportunity as well.