Haft Group - Counseling Small and Mid-Cap Ventures for 35 Years

A Pebble Points the Way - Despite the Recession

A friend of mine, an investment banker, several of them, told me recently that in adversity there is opportunity. So in this “Great recession,” while I don't want it to be a recession, the reason why I now have the first website I have ever done is because I find that having that new leg of exposure allows me to probe into the growth companies, especially those beneath the radar screen that need the exposure.

If you can visualize dropping a pebble into a little bowl of water or into a little plate of water, and the different ripples widen out. At the core of that dropping of that pebble is what I do. I create a core audience around every client. You don't have to be friends with the whole world, what you do have to have are respect of a few that will follow your business, will be loyal to your business, and will understand you. They have to come through me in order to get to you. So I am your firewall as it were, and I'm very protective of that business.

I am aware of the financial market place and the requirements, the reporting requirements and the timeliness of those requirements, the message that a company is striving to get out. One of the most important things of any public document other than the due diligence and the 10k's and the Q's is the profile of that company. The profile of the management, the profile company, the balance sheet, the P&L, it's your entry wand if you will. It is your magic wand into the financial marketplace. You are judged also by those you are associated with, and you're judged by those items that you present to others.

This recession is a strong opportunity to separate these companies from companies in the past few years that appeared on paper to be strong, but never had those fundamentals which truly enable them to weather these times. I think the market is beginning once again to respect and appreciate strong fundamentals including a strong balance sheet, P&L, and management. This is an environment where management can truly prove themselves as any fool can sail on smooth waters, but it takes a real captain to make it through a storm.