Last week I had the privilege of meeting with the senior leadership of one of the Federal Reserve Banks. For close to three hours we discussed the middle-market financing environment and the ramifications for smaller companies. Not only was it an incredible opportunity to interact with the people charged with overseeing monetary policy, it also gave me a chance to look back on the last few years and see a few trends more clearly. 

We started the meeting by detailing the types of institutions providing middle-market financing today and the various types of lending structures they offer. What was quickly evident is that lending in the middle market is currently dominated by non-bank capital sources. 

Certainly for companies with...

I never met a great entrepreneur who was afraid of failure. Or who didn’t take over-sized risks to win big. This is why many get fired.

I spent the first 10 years of my career at A.T. Kearney, a long way from the risk taking that is Silicon Valley. Kearney, at 85, is one of the oldest consulting firms in the world. It is a tight partnership and people are rarely let go. Employees grow and develop, and some leave to become industry executives. But part of the culture is that managers shy away from firing colleagues.

I almost got fired a few times. And I probably would have been a better entrepreneur if I had. Except for some great clients, who loved my maverick nature, and a great friend and mentor, Bob Duffy, who is still at the firm and has been there since I was in kin...

Ryan Seacrest has gone private equity.

Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital have committed to invest up to $300 million in Ryan Seacrest Media, the investment company from the “American Idol” host. RSM will use the funds to “identify, acquire and develop innovative” media company, media content and other properties.

Clear Channel, which is also owned by THL and Bain, has also bought a minority stake in Ryan Seacrest Productions, according to the statement . RSP is the entertainment company kn...

(Reuters) - Facebook’s initial public offering is likely to set a new standard for how low investment banks are willing to go on advisory fees to win big business.

The world’s largest online social network is expected to tap public markets for $10 billion in the coming months in an offering that will value the company at up to $100 billion, according to sources familiar with the planned IPO. It will be one of the biggest U.S. market debuts ever, and a prized trophy for the investment bankers seeking to...

As most industry observers already know, today Andreessen Horowitz, the Sand Hill Road firm, announced it has closed on $1.5 billion in fresh capital, bringing the money raised by the firm – founded less than three years ago — to a stunning $2.7 billion.

Whether that’s good news or bad for Silicon Valley is an open question.

The firm’s LPs are clearly pleased with the direction of the firm thus far. Cofounder Ben Horowitz tells me the firm could have easily raised “$5 billion. We had guys wanting to write really big checks.�

The LPs’ zeal is unde...

As someone who spends more time reading venture funding data than any human should, one trend that’s long stood out is the comparative paucity of capital going to companies in the Southeastern U.S., and in particular, Atlanta.

Last year, companies in the Atlanta metro area raised $374 million in venture funding, according to Thomson Reuters. On the face of it, that doesn’t sound like a bad chunk of change. However, it’s still less than 4% of the $11.6 billion that went into companies in Silicon Valley – a region that,...