October 2020

Gray cat stretch

Due Diligence, Investing October 20, 2020

The SPAC Fad

SPACs are having (another) moment.  SPAC stands for Special Purpose Acquisition Company.  Often referred to as “blank-check” companies, a SPAC is initially just a management team.  The team raises funds via IPO.  Investors bet that the team will buy a private business and make it more valuable.  Usually, the team specializes in a particular area.  The last time SPACs were popular, management teams with experience in the energy sector were buying shale assets.  Today, SPAC activity covers a wider range of ground.  From gambling (Draft Kings) to space travel (Virgin Galactic), money is being raised to sidestep the traditional IPO in favor of SPACs. Not All Good Electric truck maker Nikola was an early darling of the SPAC movement.  Nikola was supposed to be the Tesla (get it?) of the truck world.  Truck orders poured in from Anheuser-Busch.  Large investment firms across the world scrambled to buy in.  General Motors…

How it started William

Family, News October 19, 2020

How it Started – How it’s Going

Thank you for supporting our Northeast Ohio Walk for PKD!  The picture accompanying this post shows William’s setup in the NICU shortly after he was born.  On the right is today’s typical set up: bus stop, kid brother tagging along, and you can practically hear him sighing as Mom takes ANOTHER picture.  It’s been a goofy year, but we are happy to report that the Northeast Ohio Walk for PKD raised over $4,000 for PKD research.  Team William raised over $3,000 of that!  Wow!  Thank you! The best part of the Walk for PKD is knowing that the money goes to researching polycycstic kidney disease.  Our journey with PKD has not been a picnic, but we were very fortunate that so much research had already begun.  My hope is that PKD becomes more manageable every year for families like ours until there is finally a cure.  The PKD foundation already…

Fall PKD

Family, News October 12, 2020

Walk for PKD

It’s Fall in Cleveland.  By now we’ve usually got two sports teams to be disappointed in and we turn our eyes to college football.  This year, however, the Browns are the bright spot while the Indians and Buckeyes are testing our patience.  The other fixture for Clevelanders in fall is the Northeast Ohio Walk for PKD!  I post about it every year.  This year is different in that it will be a virtual walk, but we are hoping that doesn’t mean people are socially distanced from their pocketbooks.  Please check out Team William (we’ve already raised $690!!!) and my personal fundraising page.  I’ll also be tweeting and LinkedIn-ing (?) … uh … posting on social media tidbits about PKD throughout the week so if it feels like I’m louder than usual, I am!  This is an important cause to my family and to me.  Below is our story: William was…