Increasing Shareholder Value

The WomenNow May 24 Face2Face Panel discussion was on the topic of Increasing Shareholder Value and was sponsored by the Monali Jain Foundation, featuring:

Linda Holroyd (Moderator) : CEO and Founder at FountainBlue

Sumeet Jain: Partner at CMEA Capital

Vivek Paul: Professor at Stanford

Gary Shara:  Attorney At Law

Savitha Srinivasan: Partner, Venture Capital Group at IBM

Our esteemed panelists represented corporate venture, investor, serial entrepreneur and consulting perspectives, with deep experience and expertise in working directly and indirectly with companies of all sizes manage their shareholder value.

They defined shareholder value as the price of the stock for companies that are public, combined with future and anticipated stock value, and the actions taken to manage and maximize shareholder value overall. Whether they are representing an up-and-coming tech company, a small non-tech services company, an investor or a corporation, our panel commented that the companies leaders must proactively manage shareholder value, and work with all stakeholders to maximize such value. Below is advice offered to entrepreneurs for increasing shareholder value:

1. Act with integrity. Be authentic, sincere and truthful in your communications, reflecting that core integrity in all that you do.
2. Be the type of passionate, persistent entrepreneur who may even be described as a psychopath in her/his will to accomplish the impossible, despite the naysayer and the obstacles.
3. Communicate your passion in a way that inspires others to support and follow that vision.
4. Validate that vision with real market/customer data and needs.
5. Keep moving the needle forward, making overall forward progress despite inevitable blips.
6. Set your standards high for everything that you do, and hire the right people accomplish the impossible. Don’t hesitate to lay off the people who aren’t passionate about what you’re doing for whom.
7. Build relationships and networks to support yourself personally and your cause.
8. Proactively manage a pivot for your technology/product and company when the numbers and customers are telling you that’s what needs to happen. In order to do this, you must always pay attention to the data, what the customers, partners, investors and other stakeholders are telling you.
9. Seek counsel from people who are willing to tell you you’re on the wrong track.

10. Put the company in front of yourself. Know when it’s time for you to move on into another role so that someone else can make that company bigger and better.

Our panel discussion concluded with a look to what’s hot in the future, all centered around how technology is making information more relevant, making possible new ways of doing things that even anticipate and predict your needs. Business models and entrepreneurial opportunities will be hugely impacted by these technology changes, and even more so because these technology advances also make it possible for rapid creations of companies that cater to the needs of niche customers, leveraging their desires, needs and patterns and delivering what they were looking for, perhaps even before they know what they need!

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