Jay Sachetti joined Jeff O’Brien, partner at Husch Blackwell and Dyanne Ross-Hanson, president of Exit Planning Strategies talked about the market for mergers and acquisitions, exit planning opportunities for companies that don’t end up for sale and how companies can maximize their eventual sale price during an early October panel at the first Upsize on Tap event at Summit Brewing Co. in St. Paul.
When the state Legislature passed a law requiring employers to provide paid leave and safe time for employees, Justin Bieganek started hearing differing details from friends, colleagues and peers.
About 50 business owners and their attorneys sautéed and fricasseed a Caribbean-style dinner in January at Kitchen Window Culinary Arts Cooking School’s second-floor demonstration kitchen, in Calhoun Square in Minneapolis.
Under the direction of Scott Rosenbaum, executive chef, they learned to keep cooking the onions until they’re brown (more flavor), and to use pablano peppers rather than green (the latter taste like wax, he says).
The Informer also learned about a telecom company’s nearly completed acquisition, a Minneapolis attorney’s secret obsession with musical theater, and many more tidbits as the steam rose. All that chopping and mixing, not to mention wine-drinking, eases the information flow.
The event, called Recipe for Success, was for client appreciation, hosted by the entrepreneurial services team at Gray Plant Mooty law firm in Minneapolis. (Gray Plant Mooty’s Dan Tenenbaum and Les Korsh are Upsize’s attorneys.) All attendees got to eat the dinner afterward.
Tenenbaum said the group holds three such classes each year. He got the idea four years ago when brainstorming for a winter client event.
Try to make it to: Gray Plant Mooty’s entrepreneurial services group hosts its annual summer golf outing, hackers especially invited. (But you have to be a client.) Dan Tenenbaum: 612.632.3050; da***********@****aw.com; www.gpmlaw.com
“Come celebrate the beginning of the ending of winter,” read the invitation from Tartan Marketing in Maple Grove, to attend a St. Brigid’s Day Festival Jan. 27. That was an optimistic way of putting it, the Informer mused.
“When you’re in Minnesota you have to be optimistic,” said Jim MacLachlan, reached after the event by phone. This is the second year his marketing firm has thrown the party for clients.
“We wanted something that we could own,” MacLachlan said about the St. Brigid’s selection. “We went into the archives of Celtic history. She was the goddess of spring, kind of like the Groundhog’s Day. It complements our brand.”
About 90 people came, and although the invite said from 4 to 7 “the last people left about midnight,” MacLachlan said. Scotch tastings, Scotch eggs made by MacLachlan’s mother, and other goodies made by his wife and business partner, Margie, added to the draw.
Then there were the outfits. “All the Tartan men wore kilts,” MacLachlan said.
“When people walk in the door and see six guys in kilts, it’s…interesting,” MacLachlan said. He wouldn’t answer the most-asked question — what do you wear under that? — except to relate off the record a ribald answer that he attributed to Sean Connery.
“The goal was to be memorable,” MacLachlan said, something he preaches to his clients as they build their brands. “What can you do that’s ownable? We’re teaching our clients they should be able to do this, too.”
Try to make it to: St. Brigid’s Day comes around next January. Jim MacLachlan, Tartan Marketing: 763.391.7575; in**@*************ng.com; www.tartanmarketing.com
Claudia Waterloo, a vice president and financial adviser at Morgan Stanley in Bloomington, means it when she says she caters to women. She made the chicken tarragon salad herself that she served at her 10-times-a-year First Tuesday luncheon.
The goal of the women’s lunches, and the evening co-ed events that she hosts, is to build people’s investment knowledge, and to build her client base, the Informer presumes.
In February the theme was “Smart Women Finish Rich,” covering the advice of author David Bach. Waterloo spent the most time showing how people should build their “values ladder,” so they can then put their money where their values are.
To do this yourself or with a partner, first ask: “What’s important about money to you?” Maybe you’ll say “security.” Then ask, “Really, why is that important to you?” You might say, “I want to be financially independent.” Then ask, “Really, why is that important to you?” “So I’m not a burden to my family.” “I want to give to my family, not take.” I want to enjoy my life with my family and friends.”
Each statement is a rung on the ladder. When those are written, start matching the way you manage your money to the values. For example, if you want to not be a burden on your family when you’re 70, cut your monthly expenses and start saving when you’re 40.
Waterloo said this is the eighth anniversary of the luncheons. She started making her own food a few years ago when attendance started outstripping the expense budget that Morgan Stanley provides.
Try to make it to: The April 5 First Tuesday luncheon is “Keys to Successful Investing.” Contact Claudia Waterloo: 952.921.1911; cl**************@***********ey.com; www.morganstanley.com
More than 700 people partied almost until the rooster crowed at Risdall Advertising Agency’s first Chinese New Year celebration Feb. 9, 2005 (that’s 4703 in China.) They ran out of food by 5:30 and had to order more.
“It was insane,” said John Risdall, president of the agency in New Brighton, reached afterward by phone. They ordered appetizers from LeeAnn Chin (“Those got Hoovered pretty fast,” Risdall said) and duck from Ping’s. “We all had on snappy red Chinese jackets.”
Risdall, his father and his son were all born under the sign of the rooster, hence the theme. Guests were invited to “kiss the monkey goodbye” at a “cock-a-doodle-doozy” of a party. (Quit snickering. It was a cute invitation.)
The agency has had a party every year for about 30 years, but this one was the first to draw people new to the agency, and the first to draw so many guests. Risdall said Matt Noah, who runs the local networking groups MedSuds.com and NetSuds.com, posted the event on his Web sites and got 125 RSVPs. “He’s a networking monster,” Risdall said about Noah. “He’s the guru.”
Risdall said he threw a huge party because he wanted to thank clients and employees for a great year. The agency ranked as the No. 1 Web developer in the state, the sixth largest ad agency, and the sixth largest public relations agency, up 10 spots from the year before. “We’re at a new place and a new time.”
Try to make it to: next year’s client bash, theme unknown at this time. John Risdall, Risdall Advertising Agency: 651.631.1098; www.risdall.com
