The May Report: 8/12/2011: Let the games commence: A tale of two attitudes and cities: Geras lets his pet toad Neil Kane back out into the wild: Bob and Neil to spend exactly 138 days in The May Report stockade, the same length of time they withheld from this reporter the fact that Mr. Kane had “resigned,”or more likely, gotten canned; No wonder the dynamic duo has been so secretive and absolutely silent about Kane’s departure: $750K in revenue with 20-30 employees after 7 yrs is nothing to write home about; On the other side of the ledger, with a positive upbeat attitude, little secrecy and no paranoia, Kevin Willer: Loyola Academy and Boston College grad (just as Jack Philbin of Vibes and Genevieve Thiers of Opera Moda and SitterCity are — btw, she’s pregnant with twins); employee #185 at Google and the first person to occupy the Chicago office with 2 desks, 2 computers and 2 phones — & he worked at a dude ranch in Wyoming, plus he’s changing the philosophy of the CEC and business model from “you come hither and we sit on the mountain top” under the leadership of you-know-who to “we’ll come to you, visit your office and see you where you work” — a refreshing change indeed and Willer says that “If we are talking about Groupon a year from now, we have not done our job.” You know exactly what he means: this is a rare and “must take advantage of the moment” opportunity so we better not muff it; in praise of Lon, J. B., and Matt

Editor and publisher: Ron May, ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com, www.themayreport.com , 773-525-3944.

If you missed an article, go here: www.tmronline.com/A55951/tmrarticles.nsf/vwFullNewsletter

Louis Brandeis: “Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.”
_________________________________
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Starting a Drupal Project?

Managing a Drupal Website?

Day 1: Managing Enterprise Drupal Projects

FOR: Marketing or IT Professionals embarking on an enterprise Drupal development project.

Learn how to orchestrate, budget and launch your Drupal project without draining the budget and the development teams.

Thursday, September 22, 2011. Full Day training $295

www.duoconsulting.com/training/successfully-managing-enterprise-drupal-projects

Day 2: Drupal 6 Site Administration

FOR: Companies and organizations looking to learn more about Drupal.

Understand content types and website construction using the Drupal framework.

Friday, September 23, 2011 Full Day training: $295

www.duoconsulting.com/training/drupal-6-site-administration

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____________________________

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Entrepreneur Alert: The dumber the money the deeper the pockets! Financing available.

Tired of getting the door slammed in your face by funding sources who feel that your idea is too hair brained? If so, you have hit The Spot with Pizza Bob “Bubba” Gerask – the loneliest, dumbest money on the block. From motorized spitballs to cockroach powered tractors, there is literally no gambit Gerask won’t fund – and he wants just one thing in exchange: to be your friend. Flatter Gerask and he’ll open his wallet – if the investment doesn’t pay out – even better – he’ll take you out to dinner anyway!

Testimonials:

“I robbed Bob blind and he still loves me!” Al Wasserburgler – who bilked Gerask for an undisclosed sum of money that was spent on plane rides, alcohol and wanton women.

“I didn’t have to do squat as a CEO of a company Gerask funded – because I couldn’t do squat. It was perfect! He fired me and now I get to clean basements and work out all day.: Neil Kaner – whose complete lack of performance doesn’t preclude Bob from being his biggest fan on Facebook.

Submit your scheme to Mr. Gerask now – he’s easy to Spot – he’s the only Angel investor driving around with a vanity plate on his black Lexus that declares him a member of the Venture Capitalist club. bob@vcbob.com and 312-440-0040

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________________________
TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Scoop section:

– Briefly noted, by Ron May
__________________________
*************************************

Kane’s Cleaning Service: From basements to startups, we’ll clean you out.

Take a look at Angie’s List: How many cleaning services can boast a recommendation from President Obama? Only one cleaning service in the greater Chicago area can boast this level of testimonial: Neil Kane’s cleaning service. Lead by former Advanced Diamond Technologies CEO Neil Kane, Kane’s Cleaning Service specializes in all the mucky, dirty, slimy cleaning in places that would only make a toad happy. Let Neil’s team (of one) bring his unique genius to bear on your most pressing cleaning problems: crawlspaces, crevices, litter boxes, stairwells, basement walls stained with mold and seepage – you name it. Neil Kane will get into it. You might say he’s “resigned” to cleaning.

Ask for the Bob “Bubba” Gerask special: Neil will clean until you run out of money, or the Al Wasserburglar special: Neil will clean you out of money.

Contact Neil Kane’s basement cleaning services at tacobravo@hotmail.com
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THE MAY REPORT seeks as much information as it can gather about the history of the business dealings of Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell. It is not just dirt — dirt is good and we’ll take as much as you can dish out –but it’s much more than that.

I’m looking for good things too. If you agree with Steve Kaplan of ChicagoBooth that Eric Lefkofsky is the greatest entrepreneur in the country in the last decade I want to hear from you too, but I’ll want to know why you believe that.

I want to know how they make decisions, what issues they consider, what questions they ask in making decisions and formulating tactics and strategy, how long they take, whose opinions they seek, what books and magazines they read, what their style of management is, how smart they are — or how dumb –and we can include the accounting methods fiasco in the Groupon S-1 in the discussion.

I want to piece together a complete taxonomy and anatomy, and a complete understanding of personalities and dynamics.

If you have had any dealings with them — and this dates back to Brandon Apparel and Starbelly and HA-LO days so we are not just talking Inner Workings or Echo Logistics or of course Groupon and Lightbank –contact me on a confidential basis at ronaldmay@aol.com or better yet, call me at 773-525-3944
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__________________________
The Scoop section:
___________________
Briefly noted, by Ron May

* I have about twenty items for the report, mostly Groupon and Advanced Diamond Technology related and some stuff from Tom Bennett, but I will put that together and get it to you before Saturday dawn.

I am mad at some people, some I know well and some not at all. The doctor who runs the BRAVO research study at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Mary McGrae McDermott, M.D., and professor of medicine at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Rex Graff, the project coordinator; Priya Agrawal, one of the representatives; Kasey, one of the representatives and Eddie. I will tell you the whole story next week, but this is why I was bummed out last week starting on Thursday afternoon. That funk ended early Saturday morning with the information coming my way on the amended Google S-1.

But then came early Wednesday morning when I found out — or at least interpreted the press release from Jill Jackson of Calyx Consulting who is the PR person for Advanced Diamond Technologies — that Neil Kane had been canned.

If he had been fired a week earlier, that would not have bothered me so much but given how long I have known Neil and Bob Geras (about twenty years each), I would have expected to have heard about it pretty quickly after it happened.

But later in the day on Wednesday, I found out that Neil had “resigned” back in the last week of March. Don’t you just love the bs. Neil and Bob are old school and that is why they are going nowhere.

They are too precious, too self-absorbed and too secretive. They play junior high school games and it is quite juvenile — sort of like Ron May and this report.

Look, I am mad and I don’t mind saying it. Disloyalty and betrayal and conspiracy of silence is hard to swallow.

Neil, what’s the big deal? Why hide the “resignation” for 138 days?

So what if you went to Davos for two years?

So what if you paid $2,500 to Obama early on and got a private party invite? So what if Obama signed a thank you note to you for your giving him the Life Magazine from the MLK, Jr. cover?

What have you done lately, Neil?

Have you built a successful firm?

No, is the answer, and in this case, neither has Bob, and it is silly that Bob is the so-called Chairman.

When was Bob’s last case of cashing out?

It is no big deal that Geras canned you. He had to. He hung on to you as long as he could and Geras himself is running out of moolah. In fact, if he does not get a liquidity event soon, Dawn may kick him out. And he will be sleeping on the couch. Dawn has already tried the pad lock on the fridge routine.

Bob and Neil, don’t tell the truth to John Pletz at Crain’s, but this is Ron May guys and given how long I have known you, and how much coverage you have gotten in TMR (Bob has about 495 documents and Neil Kane has 269), I would have thought there was more trust and loyalty than you have demonstrated.

Hence, starting today, Bob Geras and Neil Kane will spend exactly 138 days in the TMR stockade, the exact same length of time it took for me to find out that Neil was gone from ADT after he “resigned.” A firm generating $750K in revenue with 20 to 30 employees and contractors, and paying its CEO somewhere in the $125K to $150K range (my best guess), is unnecessarily blowing more than $10K a month and that is real money for a start-up that is not generating enough revenue to pay the bills.

Why was the attendance down so much this year at the SAB poker charity tournament? Partly because they skipped a year in Glenview and partly because Bob does not have the pull and clout that he used to. Let’s just say that he has become increasingly irrelevant with his 25 or more investments, mostly old deals now, that have not cashed out and especially when Lightbank has been popping out about five deals a quarter or even more and Sandbox the same, and others like HPA are quite active as well. Lonely Bob Geras has written himself into some degree of irrelevancy. If you don’t think Bob Geras is viewed as a joke, why is it that only Jules Knapp and suck up Nik Rokop and the suck up ITA have given him awards? There may have been another one but I have forgotten.

Neil should have probably been canned three or four years ago. Oh, but Neil was there for Bob’s 70th birthday with his picture in the paper honoring Bob. How do you spell sycophant?

Bob is loyal until the end even if it is not the right thing to do from a business standpoint. And he can be bamboozled.

Two words on that topic. Al Wasserberger.

QED, or I rest my case.

Bob can be a hard edged negotiator but he is not a hard edged investor. By that I mean that when it comes to warrants and default positions, money issues strictly, Bob looks out for Bob. He is shrewd on the money side. Talk to Lou Gruber on that topic and how well Bob cashed out on Arryx.

But on the people side, he is now and always has been a soft touch and slow to realize he is being had. Bob wants to be accepted in the club too much.

That is because Bob invests at core because he wants to be included in the action and more importantly, by the gang. Bob is like the guy who was not invited to the parties in high school. That’s why he showed up in one of the goofiest hats I have ever seen with a blower noise maker at Al Wasserberger’s Chicago Bears Super Bowl party a few years back when they lost in the 4th Q to Indiana.

Bob never got the respect he craved. He used to put people to sleep in his talks which rambled on interminably and usually had at least 25 pages of typed notes on how he invests and what he looks for.

He was without a doubt overshadowed by Bill Weaver and even Barry Moltz was better known than he was.

Bob had two things to offer: Money and moral support.

Please understand. I like Bob a lot and if I ever really had trouble, I would go to Bob for help, and he has been as close as one can come to a “friend” for a guy (moi) who neither seeks nor wants friends.

Bob visited me in the hospital and he and his wife came to my birthday party (when I turned 50). I’ve talked to him many times and many times he has given me advice and counsel. I have usually not asked for it, but he offered anyway.

One time, after I had been escorted out by the cops at the Cultural Center as Herr Weinstein had ordered my exit, Bob approached me with advice. There was only one problem. He sent notes to people like Dick Reck and Scott Glickson to tell them how he had calmed down that irate Ron May. In other words, Bob’s talking to me was for HIS benefit, so that he could gain admission to the club that he always felt he had been excluded from. How do I know he sent the notes? Well, I had my sources amongst the folks that Bob sent notes to.

Bob, if you want to be my “friend,” be my friend, don’t say you are so that you can tell others that you are and score “good guy” points with them.

My first obligation is to whom? As Polonius said to Hamlet, “To thine own self be true.”

If I am not honest with myself, I cannot be honest with you, the reader. And if I am not honest with you, the reader, why the hell do the report in the first place? And what value does it have?

Now, let me talk a bit about Neil Kane. Neil is a wuss by his own admission. For years he has called a mutual contact of ours many times — and he knows very well who that is — to cry on his shoulder about how he is unsure about what he is doing.

Diane Hickey, ADT’s Sales and Marketing VP who has a Ph.D. in material science from the University of Florida, told me that Neil “resigned” when they were 90% of the way to the funding they got — the so-called Series D for $5.2MM from the Russian VC firm.

Ninety percent, really?!

Then why did he “quit” at that key juncture, just before reached the promised land? Was Neil Moses?

Everything that Jill Jackson who also has a science background — she worked at Argonne as an environmental scientist — has been spin to put a happy face on Neil Kane’s departure. He is now working out and cleaning his basement. And here is something interesting and psychologically revealing.
+++++++++++++++++
Paul May Neil congrats on all the successes. The other brother .
Yesterday at 8:01am ·Like · · See Friendship

Neil Kane

walked 2.0 mi in 32 mins and burned 244 calories

Aug 9, 2011 4:30:37 PM
New: Share your walk, run, hike, or other workout!

Tuesday at 5:04pm via Cardio Trainer ·Like ·
2 people like this.

Bob Geras Great, you made room for 1/2 slice of pizza!
Tuesday at 5:19pm · Like

Neil Kane Right…or 3 apples…your choice!
Tuesday at 5:36pm · Like

Bob Geras how about an apple pizza?
Tuesday at 11:11pm · Like

Write a comment…

Neil Kane

ran 3.1 mi in 40 mins on the treadmill and burned 500 calories

Aug 6, 2011 1:02:00 PM
New: Share your walk, run, hike, or other workout!

August 6 at 1:03pm via Cardio Trainer ·Like ·

Neil Kane

biked 16.8 mi in 1 hour 24 mins and burned 987 calories
Jul 31, 2011 1:46:43 PM
New: Share your walk, run, hike, or other workout!

July 31 at 3:12pm via Cardio Trainer ·Like ·
Kandi Wasser likes this.
Write a comment…

RECENT ACTIVITY
Neil is now friends with Raman Chadha and 8 other people.

Neil Kane

climbed stairs for 38 mins and burned 506 calories
Jul 30, 2011 6:27:00 PM
New: Share your walk, run, hike, or other workout!

July 30 at 6:27pm via Cardio Trainer ·Like ·

Neil Kane

climbed stairs for 37 mins and burned 493 calories
Jul 26, 2011 2:50:00 PM
New: Share your walk, run, hike, or other workout!

July 26 at 2:50pm via Cardio Trainer ·Like ·

Neil Kane

biked 16.7 mi in 1 hour 37 mins and burned 1001 calories
Jul 21, 2011 1:34:57 PM
New: Share your walk, run, hike, or other workout!

July 21 at 3:20pm via Cardio Trainer ·Like ·

Neil Kane

climbed stairs for 37 mins and burned 493 calories
Jul 18, 2011 10:58:00 AM
New: Share your walk, run, hike, or other workout!

July 18 at 10:59am via Cardio Trainer ·Like ·

Howard Shapiro hey, you training for the sears tower run?
July 18 at 5:02pm · Like

Neil Kane Just trying to overcome 20 years of bad habits.
July 18 at 5:39pm · Like

Howard Shapiro only “20 years”…consider yourself lucky! keep climbing!! cheers
July 19 at 9:03am · Like
Write a comment…

Neil Kane

climbed stairs for 36 mins and burned 480 calories
Jul 16, 2011 2:35:00 PM
New: Share your walk, run, hike, or other workout!

July 16 at 2:35pm via Cardio Trainer ·Like ·
RECENT ACTIVITY
Neil is now friends with Jeff Coney and 2 other people.

Neil Kane likes a link.

CourierNews :: Naperville birthday party celebrates last of Harry Potter movies
The release of the seventh and final Harry Potter movie July 15 is reason enough to invite a slew of friends over for a party. What made one Naperville family’s gathering July 8 extra special was a birthday angle — 9 1/2 months into Sophie Kane’s ninth year.
July 12 at 5:15pm ·Like · · Share

Neil Kane likes a link.

Naperville birthday party celebrates last of Harry Potter movies – PhotoGallery – Chicago Sun-Times
The release of the eighth and final Harry Potter movie July 15 is reason enough to invite a slew of friends over for a party. What made one Naperville family’s gathering July 8 extra special was a birthday angle — 9 1/2 months into Sophie
July 12 at 10:34am ·Like · · Share
RECENT ACTIVITY
Neil is now friends with Phil Vickman and Mary Mazzio.

Neil Kane

walked 3.3 mi in 49 mins and burned 379 calories
Jul 11, 2011 6:14:19 PM
New: Share your walk, run, hike, or other workout!

July 11 at 7:04pm via Cardio Trainer ·Like ·

Neil Kane

swam for 36 mins and burned 499 calories
Jul 10, 2011 2:37:00 PM
New: Share your walk, run, hike, or other workout!

July 10 at 2:38pm via Cardio Trainer ·Like ·

Neil Kane

biked 11.2 mi in 57 mins and burned 685 calories
Jul 9, 2011 1:15:13 PM
New: Share your walk, run, hike, or other workout!

July 9 at 2:15pm via Cardio Trainer ·Like ·

Neil Kane

walked 3.1 mi in 52 mins and burned 365 calories
Jul 8, 2011 2:15:15 PM
New: Share your walk, run, hike, or other workout!

July 8 at 3:08pm via Cardio Trainer ·Like ·
RECENT ACTIVITY
Neil and Jay Manson are now friends.
·Like · · Add Jay as Friend
Neil is now friends with Mark A. Herschberg and 3 other people.

Neil Kane was tagged in Ari Goldberg’s album.

Renaissance Weekend – July 2011
5 new photos
July 8 at 11:42am

Neil Kane

climbed stairs for 36 mins and burned 499 calories
Jul 7, 2011 7:15:00 PM
New: Share your walk, run, hike, or other workout!

July 7 at 7:15pm via Cardio Trainer ·Like ·

Neil Kane John Wilkes Booth was not killed in a barn in Virginia…

Columnists 06-15-2011 :: AmericanWay
www.americanwaymag.com
Be forewarned that the following tale does not appear in any of those bone-dry American-­history textbooks you read back in the day. It’s a tad murky on the dates you were required to memorize and usually isn’t given so much as a ­footnote by tweedy Civil War scholars.
July 6 at 5:42pm ·Like · · Share

Neil Kane

climbed stairs for 32 mins and burned 430 calories
Jun 28, 2011 12:47:00 PM
New: Share your walk, run, hike, or other workout!

June 28 at 12:47pm via Cardio Trainer ·Like ·
RECENT ACTIVITY
Neil and Sahil Singh Gujral are now friends.
·Like · · Add Sahil as Friend
Neil is now friends with Lauren Uyeshiro and 3 other people.

Neil Kane

lifted weights for 40 mins and burned 201 calories
Jun 28, 2011 12:31:00 PM
New: Share your walk, run, hike, or other workout!

June 28 at 12:31pm via Cardio Trainer ·Like ·
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

May again. BTW, notice the glad handing from my brother Paul. He must have read the article on Wednesday morning.

Notice that going back to June 28th when these entries start, there is no Bob Geras entry until, “coincidentally,” August 9th, just by coincidence I’m sure, the same day as the press release announcing the new CEO and president of ADT, and the press release not mentioning Neil’s name for which Jill had no explanation and also the puffy John Pletz article in Crain’s, both of which were staged.

Heck, here is the Pletz puff piece.
+++++++++++++++++++

Advanced Diamond gets new CEO, investment
InboxX

Reply |Jill Jackson jill@calyxconsulting.com to me
show details Aug 10 (2 days ago)

fromJill Jackson jill@calyxconsulting.com
toron@themayreport.com

dateWed, Aug 10, 2011 at 12:50 PM
subjectAdvanced Diamond gets new CEO, investment
mailed-bycalyxconsulting.com

hide details Aug 10 (2 days ago)

Ron,

Per your request, here is a plain text version of yesterday’s Crain’s Chicago Business article about ADT.

-Jill
Advanced Diamond gets new CEO, investment
By: John Pletz August 09, 2011
(Crain’s) — Advanced Diamond Technologies Inc., a spinoff from Argonne National Laboratory, has new money and a new CEO as it looks to start cranking up sales after years of development.
The Romeoville-based company creates diamonds for industrial uses such as ball bearings in production of very hard compounds used in pharmaceutical manufacturing.
It hired John Yerger, a manufacturing veteran, as CEO on Tuesday after receiving $5.2 million from investors led by S-Group Capital Management, the investment arm of Russian steel tycoon Alexei Mordashov, CEO of OAO Severstal.
With the funding, Advanced Diamond looks to double its staff from less than 20 today, and crank up sales, says John Carlisle, co-founder and chief technology officer. “What we need are sales, marketing and business development resources,” Mr. Carlisle says. “We’re at a point where the technology risk is gone and now it’s time for aggressive deployment.”
Mr. Yerger, 50, is a Chicagoan who turned around SMS Technologies Inc., a 500-person high-tech manufacturer in San Diego, which recently was sold. He replaces Neil Kane, 48, who had been CEO of Advanced Diamond since it spun off from Argonne in 2003 but stepped down in April.
“I recognized a year ago that the future was all about improving our manufacturing readiness and growing sales, so we needed a change in focus from developing technology to serving customers,” says Mr. Kane, who lined up Mr. Mordashov as an investor. “It was best for the business for me to step aside and pass the baton. I’m really a startup guy.”
Advanced Diamond recently expanded its manufacturing capability to serve its biggest customer, EMD Millipore, a division of Merck KGaA, based in Darmstadt, Germany. Diamond-coated bearings used to process pharmaceutical compounds hold up better than other materials.
Last year, Advanced Diamond recorded $750,000 in sales and expects to top $1 million in 2011, Mr. Carlisle says.
The company plans to expand into new markets, such as water treatment and semiconductor manufacturing.
Advanced Diamond could be a big win for Darien-based Argonne, which still owns a piece of the company and gets a stream of royalties. But its halting progress so far underscores the patience and money required to build a nanotech company from scratch.
The company has pulled in $11.2 million in venture funding, led by Chicago-based LaSalle Investments, along with $8 million in federal research grants.
Mr. Carlisle says the most recent investment “will get us to profitability in some businesses and get us to a position to raise money in others.”
__________________________________

Jill Jackson
Partner
Calyx Consulting | cultivating ideas—harvesting results®
communications, marketing, public relations, management consulting

t: 312.231.9870
f: 312.264.0319
e: jill@calyxconsulting.com
www.calyxconsulting.com

117 N. Jefferson Street, Suite LL05
Chicago, IL 60661
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

May again. I added the bold font, by the way. “What we need are sales.” No sh** Sherlock.

I don’t doubt that Neil Kane and Bob Geras are “friends” after all these years but let’s not kid ourselves. This is spin. It is a staged joke and a charade.

Neil is quoted here as saying “I’m really a startup guy.”

Yeah, a “start up guy” who gets the firm to $750K in sales after seven years is a success?

You tell me.

Neil’s been getting to the “next” stage for years.

Things got so bad that he even consented to present to Len Bland’s group and that is like the blind leading the blind. Len’s been busy lately himself but more on that Monday. He lacked the balls to show up at the Poker Charity since he knew I would be there and curious that Neil too was missing.

Not curious to me now!

All of a sudden, on Wednesday, Jill Jackson called me returning my call and she could not explain the absence of Neil’s name in the press release. Then Diane Hickey called me and we talked a while and she did not really know what Neil is doing but he still has ADT on his Facebook page and he has changed his LinkedIn entry with no specifics on what he is doing. Why?

BTW, Diane has never called me but she was “just checking to see if I needed anything.” That is called damage control in the PR biz.

Neil is doing nothing but working out and cleaning basements.

Jill and Diane, no offense, but Bob and Neil have conned you into some of the worst, some of the most shabby and some of the most transparent PR I have seen. You know what it reminds me of:
Adolph Hitler shaking hands with Neville Chamberlain:

www.uncoverage.net/2011/05/the-g8-summit-a-roomful-of-neville-chamberlains-has-just-begun-wwiii/neville_chamberlain-shakes-hands-with-hitler/

Look, get your politically correct hat and throw it away. I am not comparing Bob or Neil to Adolph.

Neil Kane is like the lonely dog in the pound that no ones wants to home, licking his paws since no one wants to pet him.

And Bob Geras, who is not a VC but rather an angel investor, and a lonely one at that — not always but most of the time — has a vanity plate on his black Lexus which says “VC Bob.” On Wednesday, August 3rd, at 12:15pm, he was seen driving his black Lexus south on Clark near the Post Office. The interesting thing is that he arms were stretched out and that’s because he had the seat all the way back. Why? Possibly because he’s a schwelt 248 pounds.

What is the correct analogy/metaphor here?
For Neil Kane, Magilla Gorilla:

As for Bob Geras, the only PR he is any good at is promoting the really good work that his wife Dawn does. He looks like a midget compared to Dawn. Dawn is doing god’s work on earth.

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: For those who might have missed the TV coverage last night: Dawn, Gov. Quinn on Baby Safe Haven Law Chanell 2 WBBM-TV
Date: 8/12/2011 8:55:04 A.M. Central Daylight Time
From: bob@vcbob.com
To: jfk@grishamcorp.com, JBPritzker@pritzkergroup.com, eoufis@driehaus.com, rlevy@vpcadvisors.com

chicago.cbslocal.com/video/6143766-safe-havens-for-abandoned-babies-expanded/

–
Bob Geras
LASALLE INVESTMENTS
Venturing Since 1968
++++++++++++++++++++++

When it comes to smart investments, Bob is often just plain dumb money, kind of like Thurston Howell III.

tinyurl.com/3z7nj8v

So, from Oliver, Who will buy this wonderful morning?

www.guntheranderson.com/v/data/whowillb.htm

www.metrolyrics.com/who-will-buy-lyrics-oliver.html

The bs surrounding Kane’s “resignation” and the whole Geras/Kane buddy buddy routine is so fake it makes me want to puke.

If it is no big deal and Neil is just “a start up guy,” why wait 138 days to tell us about it?

And if you really have no shame and nothing to hide, why conspire for the same length of time to not tell the one guy who has covered this firm since Day One?

Like I said, 138 days in the TMR stockade and that will be fun.

They, especially Bob, had plenty of opportunity to tell me about ADT and Neil. I did ask him about ADT specifically on June 18th at Dawn’s SAB Poker Charity.

Bob said there would be news in two weeks, and that turned out to be the $5.2MM in funding unless you want to count another one of there annual R&D awards, but as Neil and Bob know, awards don’t pay the rent. It may not pay the rent but I can confirm one thing Flip said years ago at the KPMG Awards Dinner in 1992. His picture helped him pick up girls in bars, he told the crowd.

I just “happen” to be carrying the TechWeek book with me and I have showed it to a number of women (and men) but the women seem particularly impressed. More impressed to see a picture in a glossy book than read some text on the net. The physical copy seems to do wonders. No offers for sex yet though.

Funny how we sat in Bob’s accountant’s friend Al’s dining room in Glenview talking about a lot of things and it must have slipped Mr. Geras’ mind to mention it. Mitch Goldsmith joined us and told a very intriguing story but more on that later.

Hey Darcy, here’s a ditty I “wrote” about this about two days ago when I knew less than I know today.

“Geras lets his pet toad Neil Kane back out into the wild.

The Rodney Dangerfield of Chicago “lo tech” and his personal Rosencrantz, Neil “Toady” Kane have seemingly parted ways. It must be one thing to be a toady for someone who gets respect – but a toady for Danger-Geras must require such a paucity of self respect, few but Neil self-Kaner, could pull it off. Ironically, the last time that Bob received any accolades in the press — and probably privately — was when Steve Lundin engineered Bob’s media exposure on the IVCA’s dime. Yes friends – that was back in 2008 — during the IVCA’s final – biggest – and most successful conference. For all the grousing that thin skinned Bob seems to do about media consultants – and Mssr. Lundin in specific, he actually owes Steve a big wet kiss. For he is the only one who could figure out how to turn a schlamazol into a likable prince. Maybe Neil should hire him for an image touch up – I’d like to see what Lundin can do with reptiles.”

* What was I doing this morning between 8 and 10am?

Sitting at The Bagel with Kevin Willer of the CEC and New World Ventures. In all seriousness, Bob Geras and Neil Kane have been contributors to the community for many years, although that won’t stop me from putting them in the stockade for 138 days — well deserved — but I realized something profound in meeting Kevin.

Despite his Jesuit training at Loyola Academy and Boston College (which also boasts Jack Philbin and Genevieve Thiers as alums and Genevieve is now pregnant with twins and was profiled last week in The Trib), Kevin has a fundamentally positive outlook and he is a man with a mission. We did cover a lot of territory from J. B. Pritzker, to Lon Chow to Matt McCall to Jim Dugan to Jason Helzer. Kevin’s circle of contacts consists of many people but the top of the list includes: Lon Chow, Troy Henikoff, Sam Yagan, Matt McCall, Jim Dugan, Paul Lee who used to be at Playboy Ventures and who is now at Lightbank, Dan Lyne, Maria Katris, and Matt Moog. If I had to pick two or three names at the top of the “I get respect from Kevin Willer” list, it would be Lon Chow and J.B. Pritzker for their tireless, selfless, above and beyond the call of duty work on behalf of entrepreneurs and Matt McCall as well for his community engagement. J. B. gets some press but not as much as his heavy lifting activities call for (he is always working), Kevin said, and one guy who has been largely overlooked in the media considering the number of entrepreneurs he has helped is Lon Chow of Apex Ventures, Kevin firmly feels. In fact, if one person was mentioned and praised more than any other, it was Lon.

The list I have just given you is but the tip of the iceberg and I will write the rest for Saturday morning. I have left out dozens of people we mentioned including many angels, especially HPA and the ChicagoBooth folks.

One point in all seriousness about Kevin vs. Geras and Kane. Kevin is all of 37 years old, and he was employee #185 at Google, but don’t get the idea that was peaches and cream. The first four years were miserable, he told me and one of his friends, Jack (last name, possibly Philbin?), told him he was crazy to go to work for Google in 2000 when there were twenty search engines and search was considered to be a utility of no value and remember that Yahoo! took a pass on working with Google. Remember Alta Vista, Hotbot, Northern Lights, etc.?

Well, that was the environment in which Kevin started out at Google.

The contrast to Geras and Kane is that Bob and Neil have the old world view that it takes years to nurture a start up and that start ups mostly fail and so forth. Their world view is not cynical but it is tamped down from years of a very mixed record of success and failure.

Kevin, by contrast, is much more of an optimist. Bob Geras was probably old at 30 although he is 73 and Neil Kane has been old for his whole life, although he is only 48 which is not young or old, just starting to be middle-aged.

That’s why they are so secretive and scarred to share information.

Kevin would not tell me a few things, but he was up-front about what he would not tell me, not coy or cloistered. Otherwise, I was quite impressed by his willingness to answer questions ranging from his angel investments to his whole philosophy and how it differs from you-know-who. And although he has significant philosophical and personalities differences with you-know-who, he did chastise me for my mean spirited attitude in digging up that person’s divorce records.

With Bob and especially Neil, getting info. is like pulling teeth more often than not.

Kevin: open, upbeat, positive attitude, enthusiastic, and does not take swipes at people — at least not directly.

Bob and Neil, the opposite of Kevin most of the time. Save the cards and letters, Nik Rokop. Let them defend themselves. They don’t need you for that.

I’ll tell you one other difference. Kevin is not into poker. Thank goodness.

And he worked on a dude ranch in Wyoming.

Tomorrow morning, you’ll learn about Kevin’s plans for the CEC, his arrangements with Jerry Roper, his angel investing, and much more.

Talk about a man with a mission. He told me that “If we are talking about Groupon a year from now, we have not done our job.”

In other words, Kevin wants to make Groupon one of many successes here, and BTW, he is getting calls from investors in the Valley who want to know what is up in Chicago.

Now the truth be told, I’m more like Geras and Kane — skeptical, pessimistic, looking for conspiracy and collusion, slow to act except when there’s a scoop involved, suspicious of the claims people make — than like Willer, but it is really good to be around a guy like Willer since he’s so uplifting and I felt really good after our meeting — almost good enough to forget about Geras and Kane who really don’t matter these days.

BTW, happy 50th birthday Linda Kollmeyer (Channel 9 lottery drawings), my ex-sister-in-law and happy 49th birthday, my youngest brother Dave (who works for CA.)

+++++++++++++++++++++

Subject: Re: Breakfast at The Bagel
Date: 8/11/2011 9:29:43 A.M. Central Daylight Time
From: kevin@chicagolandec.org
To: ronaldmay@aol.com

Hey Ron,

Elizabeth Grace Willer was 6lbs, 4 oz and 19 inches long. And yes, at Prentice.

Let’s plan on 8am at the Bagel tmrw. I’m not getting a lot of sleep, so bear with me. I just have to be downtown by 9:30 for a CEC meeting.

Looking forward to it.
Thanks, Kevin

Sent from my HTC on the Now Network from Sprint!

—– Reply message —–
From: “RONALDMAY@aol.com”
Date: Wed, Aug 10, 2011 1:28 am
Subject: Breakfast at The Bagel
To: “Willer, Kevin”
Cc: “ronaldmay@aol.com”

August 10, 2011

Kevin,

Congratulations!

How many pounds? What is your daughter’s name?

Did your wife have the baby at Northwestern?

I hope that baby and mother are doing well.

I just now saw your email at 1:20am. I spent a lot of time today down the street at the new Next Door coffee shop / community which is being run by State Farm and by Phil Tadros of Doejo.

Kevin, I don’t want to bother you at a time like this, but Friday works for me.

What time?

I will be there. I may wheel myself over there in my wheelchair and it is less than a block for me.

I look forward to it.

Ron
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