RE: ICGE & SFE
Chaz2,
First let me say that I am a big fan of both the holdings that are in ICGE and SFE. I think you are well positioned in the B2B space via these two incubators. Although, a lot of focus has been on some of the broader issues which will provide some nuts and bolts and tools for B2B to take place (i2, Oracle, Commerce One, Ariba, SAP, etc...) - the two incubators roll up their sleeves and get down under the hood for close examination of some companies that are not 'mainstream' investing names like the procurement, ERP, SCM vendors.
In fact, the majority of the retail investment community has no idea what's under the hood at companies like SFE and ICGE. I would say that for other reasons, more know what's under the hood at the Godzilla incubator CMGI - simply because it was a top five performer for the previous decade and a lot of people have lifted the hood over the past few years to see why the engine runs. I guess I should have been more specific in my previous post as I didn't intend to create any confusion. Although CMGI's excellent management has proven that they leave no stone unturned, in comparison to ICGE and SFE which have focused on B2B specifically - CMGI is not focused on this market alone. Therefore, the waters begin to get unclear in terms of diversity of investing if one buys all three. I'm not saying that would be a bad thing to do as they all incubate different properties. However, if an investor was looking for a B2B specific incubator at this time, I would rule out CMGI.
The interesting study is how much capital will flow into these types of incubator investments going forward. If CMGI is any indication of success, then well managed incubators might be a rather 'easy' way to play various investment spaces without having to take on the research as a retail investor to have a basket of stocks under your own 'incubator portfolio'. It's a novel concept that will be applied to industries like biotechnology and various portions of the Internet Technology field.
BB |
