Author Archive

George Shea

George M. Shea, a FOCUS Partner and Information Technology Team Leader, has over 30 years of broad IT industry experience in acquisitions and divestitures, corporate finance, business development, strategic planning, marketing, sales, and operations.

Salesforce Market Insights

The M&A market for companies in the Salesforce Partners program is reaching a critical inflection point. Competition is growing more intense, as the number of available firms shrinks, raising already-high valuations for those that remain independent. At the same time, proposed capital gains tax hikes make it imperative for potential sellers to consider doing deals as soon as possible.
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Software and SaaS M&A Webinar

FOCUS joined other industry experts discuss the current state of M&A in the software and SaaS space. Valuations, the impacts of remote work, creative due diligence tactics and how buyers and sellers are sharing risk to get transactions to the finish line are all covered in this virtual roundtable.
Investors Point to Exit Strategies for Startups

Investors Point to Exit Strategies for Startups

Based on an interview of George M. Shea, Partner and IT Team Leader, and Manan K. Shah, Managing Partner, FOCUS Investment Banking LLC

You’ve scaled and done all the hard work. Should you prepare your startup for exit? How do you know if your business is ready for a sale or acquisition? As a CEO, it’s important to have your affairs in order before putting it up to the highest bidder. From financial to operational preparation, it’s important to take your time and not take the first offer on the table.
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PREPPING THE PRINCESS: Criteria for Preparing to Sell

Selling a business comes with a lot of uncertainties. While a would-be seller can’t always control which parties are interested in buying, the seller does control the way the business is managed and scaled leading up to the sale—and the way they use their leverage in negotiations. FOCUS Partners George Shea and Manan Shah discuss the current selling climate, typical exit process, and the importance of a strong management team.

Develop a GRC Framework

Large companies in regulated industries such as financial services and healthcare generate and consume reams of data about their customers, business operations, and the markets at large. Traditionally, these companies capture data in “information silos,” often with different legacy systems and formats leading to security issues. Improving data security requires major process changes, and automatically …

business journal article overview

Investors will be ready to do deals with midmarket tech companies

On Jan. 18, Kodachrome officially died. This happened when Dwayne's Photo, the last developer of the once popular mass-marketed color film manufactured by Eastman-Kodak Co., ceased processing Kodachrome film.

That is but on example of a once-booming industry that simply ran its course. Be it buggy whips, typewriters or VCRs, this is simply a case …

The Biggest Sale of His Life: How One Small Business Owner Persevered and Sold His Company

A privately held services company shouldn’t overlook the possibility of selling or merging with a larger player to obtain liquidity and maximize shareholder value. Even in difficult economic times, it’s still possible to find precisely the right buyer for your company, according to George M. Shea, a FOCUS Partner, who shares an instructive sales experience in a new article, “The Biggest Sale of His Life: How One Small Business Owner Persevered and Sold His Company.”