Know Who Drives Return

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Activism is once again front and center in the news lately with several high-profile situations taking the spotlight, from Trian and Disney (DIS) to Elliott and Salesforce (CRM). Thus it was timely to sit down with one of the experts in the activist landscape Michael R. Levin, founder of The Activist Investor and experienced board director and investor.

Michael and David discuss:
- Refresher on UPC contested shareholder voting
- How have activist contests been affected since the rule change
- Settlements vs. voting, what are the trends?
- Land & Buildings / Apartment Investment contest
- What are activists doing to take advantage of the new rules?
- How are companies and boards responding to UPC?
- What to look out for the rest of 2023? ESG Proponents?

Learn more about Michael R Levin and the activist investor at The Activist Investor

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In the latest episode of Know Who Drives Return we sit down with Aria Glasgow, who leads AON's ESG Advisory practice. In her role Aria helps advise companies understand and prioritize their ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) risks.

As ESG continues to become top of mind for corporates, Aria discusses several areas that companies should be concerned about including compensation and incentives, DEI initiatives, the need for better data and reporting, and board oversight.

Watch the interview at Boardroom Alpha:
www.boardroomalpha.com/aons-aria-glasgow-on-managing-esg-and-human-capital-risk

For the full transcript, visit Boardroom Alpha:www.boardroomalpha.com/aons-aria-glasgow-on-managing-esg-and-human-capital-risk

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Boardroom Alpha's David Drapkin is joined by Korn Ferry's Anthony Goodman a lively discussion on board effectiveness, the SEC's new universal proxy card rules, and more.

In an era where board scrutiny and accountability are at an all-time high, board evaluations are of the utmost importance. In addition, a renewed focus on the evaluations of individual directors is becoming more front and center, particularly in light of the new Universal Proxy rules.

Learn more on universal proxy cards: https://www.boardroomalpha.com/univer...

More on Anthony Goodman
Anthony Goodman is Senior Client Partner, ESG & Head of Board Effectiveness Practice at Korn Ferry. Form more on Anthony, you can see his profile here: https://www.kornferry.com/about-us/co...

Watch the video or read the transcript
https://www.boardroomalpha.com/korn-ferrys-anthony-goodman-on-the-importance-of-board-evaluations/

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Sam Zaid , CEO of Getaround, is a technology entrepreneur with an engineering background and a 15 year history in startups. Getaround is a peer to peer carsharing company, that Sam founded about 10 years ago to solve the problem of underutilized cars.

Sam joins David Drapkin on the Know Who Drives Return podcast to discuss the macro trends in car ownership and usage, why the ease of carsharing makes sense, and why they have decided to join the public markets via a reverse merger with InterPrivate II Acquisition Corp. (IPVA).

See the transcript, investor presentation and more.

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Bruce Goldfarb, CEO of Okapi Partners, joins David Drapkin to discuss the newly implement Universal Proxy Card process. Bruce and David discuss the changes and impacts including:

How we got here and overview of changes?
Will universal proxy leads to more activism?
What it means for individual directors
Are there any ESG or DEI implications?
Who are the winners and losers?

Watch the video here: https://www.boardroomalpha.com/universal-proxy-with-bruce-goldfarb-okapi

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Ajay Kochar is the co-founder, President, and CEO of lithium ion battery recycling company Li-Cycle (LICY). An engineering expert in the field, Ajay and his co-founder, Tim Johnston, set out to solve the problem of battery recycling as the proliferation of lithium ion has exploded (in large part thanks to EVs).

Read more at: https://www.boardroomalpha.com/podcast-li-cycle-licys-ajay-kochar-on-lithium-ion-battery-recycling-and-evs

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Boardroom Alhpa's David Drapkin talks to Bruce Ogilvie (Chairman) and Jeff Walker (CEO) from Alliance Entertainment. Both have long history in entertainment distribution industry. Their current company, Alliance Entertainment, has struck a deal to go public via Adara Acquisition Corp. (ADRA). Alliance is a distributor, buying physical entertainment goods from content providers (music companies, gaming companies etc.), and selling to retailers, e-commerce, and even a little D2C.

Watch to learn how they aim is to be a one-stop-shop for all things entertainment.

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Join David Drapkin as he speaks to Westrock Coffee CEO Scott Ford. Westrock Coffee is going public company via a $1.1B deal with Riverview Acquisition Corporation (RVAC).

** Watch the video or read the report

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With tech valuations hammered by rising internet rates, stepping inflation and of course recession fears, we continue to sift through the wreckage for stocks that offer a combination of value and growth. One area that's proven to be a safe haven in the storm: enterprise software. But, for investors who balk at stocks like IBM and HPE, there are plenty of small cap plays. Playing on the theme of cloud computing and data, there's one battered deSPAC on our list that's been largely overlooked: WM Technology (MAPS), the parent company of Weedmaps. On the heels of a strong Q1 earnings report, Boardroom Alpha sat down with Weedmaps CEO Chris Beals to discuss the company's strategy for building a SaaS platform for cannabis commerce.

Read the full write-up here: https://www.boardroomalpha.com/maps-ceo-chris-beals-on-building-the-engine-for-cannabis-commerce/

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Garrett Smallwood, CEO of Wag! explains why the pet care segment is immune to inflationary fears and poised for post-pandemic growth.

Garret joins Joanna Makris on the Know Who Drives Return podcast to go deep on his business and why it might be one of a few SPACs to perform post merger.

Watch all the Know Who Drives Return podcast episodes: https://www.boardroomalpha.com/podcast

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AMZN stock is performing, but are warehouse workers paying the price? We talk to Assistant NYC Comptroller Michael Garland on the NYC Pension Funds' move to unseat two Amazon board members responsible for human capital management at the tech giant.

Joanna Makris and the Boardroom Alpha team sit down with Assistant NYC Comptroller Michael Garland about the NYC pension funds' ESG objectives, how they evaluate boards, the current situation at AMZN, and more.

Read the report here: https://www.boardroomalpha.com/nyc-pension-funds-want-amazon-accountable-for-human-capital

Watch the video on YouTube.

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Voltus is gearing up for a $1.3B SPAC IPO in the coming months. We chat with CEO Gregg Dixon, who shares how the company is leading the charge to decentralize, decarbonize and digitize our energy resources.

Our latest podcast gets an up close look at a company that’s at the center of the green energy movement and an interesting name on our radar as a pure-play ESG investment. Boardroom Alpha sat down with Gregg Dixon, CEO of Voltus.

View the full report: https://www.boardroomalpha.com/green-energy-movement-will-be-digitized-says-voltus-ceo

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Boardroom Alpha talks with Richard Clayton, Director of Research at the Strategic Organizing Center (SOC) Investment Group, walks listeners through how Activision's governance issues may have hurt shareholders as the proposed $68.7B takeover by Microsoft get's voted on this Thursday.

Read the full report and watch the interview: https://www.boardroomalpha.com/why-activision-blizzards-board-is-still-failing-msft-richard-clayton

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Are public companies really leaning in to a more suitable, socially responsible future? Boardroom Alpha sat down with Andy Behar, CEO of non-profit shareholder advocacy organization As You Sow, to discuss some of the key ESG issues investment managers are tackling today.

Read the full report: https://www.boardroomalpha.com/andrew-behar-as-you-sow-esg-revolution

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With the movement toward net zero emissions well underway, we continue to take a closer look at the companies that are at the center of this sea change.Our exploration into bioplastics technology continues with our latest podcast. Boardroom Alpha sat down with John Bissell and Rich Riley, co-CEOs of Origin Materials (ORGN).

Read the full report: https://www.boardroomalpha.com/origin-materials-podcast-carbon-rich-riley-john-bissell/

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Boardroom Alpha talks to Steve Croskrey, CEO of Danimer Scientific (DNMR), on why bioplastics technology is ready for takeoff and how the company is moving the world toward a carbon negative future.

Read the Danimer Scientific report: https://www.boardroomalpha.com/danimer-ceo-podcast-steve-croskrey-plastic-pollution

See all of Boardroom Alpha's Know Who Drives Return podcast episodes and reports here: https://www.boardroomalpha.com/podcast

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Boardroom Alpha sat down with Jon Sabes, CEO of FOXO Technologies. FOXO is an interesting SPAC on our radar, having announced in February an agreement to merge with sponsor Delwinds Insurance Acquisition Corp. (DWIN) in a deal that values the company at an enterprise value of $369 million. The transaction is expected to be completed in Q2.

Listen as Joanna Makris and David Drapkin talk to FOXO's CEO Jon Sabes about how he intends to disrupt the insurance industry.

Also, see read the report or watch the full video here.

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Satellogic, founded in 2010 by Emiliano Kargieman and Gerardo Richarte, is a vertically integrated geospatial company. The company operates a 17-satellite imagery constellation.

Their mission is touted as “Democratizing access to critical geospatial data” which they do via their satellite images and analytics.

Emiliano sits down with David Drapkin and Joanna Makris to discuss what makes SATL special amongst an increasingly crowded space.

** Read the full report at Boardroom Alpha.com

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For ongoing tracking, analytics, and data on SPACs checkout Boardroom Alpha's SPAC Research and Data service.

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Boardroom Alpha sat down with Dee Choubey, CEO of fintech MoneyLion (ML). Moneylion is a mobile banking and financial membership platform that went public via SPAC merger with Fusion Acquisition (FUSE). After a career in investment banking, Dee co-founded MoneyLion in 2013 with an ambitious goal: to combine AI, machine-learning technology and behavioral science to bring consumer finance into the future.

Does MoneyLion have what it takes to compete with the big guys? Can MoneyLion become the next super app? Listen to the podcast to find out more.

** Read the full report here.**

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Relative to 2021, the bloom may be off the SPAC rose. But our latest conversation suggests there are still ways to generate positive returns in SPAC investing. Boardroom Alpha sat down with David Sherman, Founder and Portfolio Manager at SEC-registered investment adviser CrossingBridge Advisors. Based in Pleasantville, New York, with $2.3 billion AUM (Assets Under Management), CrossingBridge specializes in ultra-short duration, low duration high yield and responsible credit strategies in addition to SPACs.

Among his many portfolio manager hats, Sherman manages the CrossingBridge Pre-Merger SPAC ETF (NASDAQ:SPC). The ETF invests only in pre-merger SPACs at or below par value and will only hold the shares for up to 10 days post-merger.

** Read the full report here.**

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Boardroom Alpha sat down with Thomas Ingenlath, CEO of Electric Vehicle (EV) maker Polestar. Polestar is a global pure-play electric vehicle company that’s having its time in the spotlight. The company is expected to go public in a SPAC merger transaction with Gores Gugghenheim (GGPI) in a transaction valued at approximately $26 billion.

** Read the full Polestar / GGPI and EV Market report here.**

Boardroom Alpha's SPAC Service
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Boardroom Alpha sat down with Dr. Jun Pei, CEO of LiDAR technology specialist Cepton Technologies (NASDAQ:CPTN). Cepton is the newest kid on the LiDAR public listing block, having completed its deSPAC earlier this month via sponsor Growth Capital Acquisition Corp. (GCAC).

** Read the full Cepton (CPTN) report here.**

Boardroom Alpha's SPAC Service
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Blair LaCorte, CEO of AEye (NASDAQ:LIDR), provides his take on Autonomous Driving, why a lidar shakeout is coming, and what the carmakers really want.

** Read the the full AEye / LIDR report here**.

Boardroom Alpha's SPAC Service
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The Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing trend has been gaining steam over the last decade and has never been more prevalent than ever. While research continues to differ on the market performance of “good” and “bad” ESG companies, the facts remain that investors care and that developing a sound ESG strategy for corporates should be top of mind.

This week on Know Who Drives Return we talk to Rob Main, a longtime Vanguard veteran, who’s now Managing Partner and COO of Sustainable Governance Partners, a corporate ESG advisory firm. We discuss trends in ESG, what it means for companies and directors alike, and what to look out for in in the 2022 Proxy Season.

Listen at Boardroom Alpha.com.

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Tom Davin, Co-CEO who joined in 2018, and Joe Reece, the executive chairman of the SilverBox Engaged (SBEA) SPAC joined Know Who Drives Return to discuss Black Rifle Coffee, the merger, and their vision for the company.

Read the SBEA / Black Rifle Coffee report here.

Podcast Topics

Intro + background on Tom Davin
Veteran history and mission at Black Rifle
Lifestyle brand and loyalty
Business segments + subscription business
Plans for Outposts (physical stores)
Merchandise and the value of brand
Intro to Joe and SilverBox Engaged (SBEA)
Valuation, competition, and positioning
NFTs or Metaverse?

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Tal Keinan, a former Israeli Military pilot and the CEO of Sky Harbour, got the idea to start Sky when he couldn’t find a spot to park his plane. While this might be the ultimate “first world problem,” there exists a real gap in the private aviation industry of available hangars to park planes versus the growing private jet fleet.

This is where Sky Harbour comes into play, developing and leasing private aviation hangars at airports in the US.

Have a listen to the latest episode of Know Who Drives Return to hear Tal Keinan describe the business and its prospects.

See the report and learn more at www.boardroomalpha.com

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Chris DeMuth founded Rangeley Capital and focuses on SPAC and Value investing. Trained in event-driven situations, Chris has a history of consulting for funds and bank prop desks in his earlier career. He brings a very impressive and analytical framework to his investing style.

These days, and in line with us here at Boardroom Alpha, Chris is also spending a lot of time doing SPAC investing, even joking that at the onset of the idea that you can make speculative investments with a built-in redemption feature as almost too good to be true.

Listen in as Chris and David go deep on investing in SPACs and in Value.

See the report and learn more at www.boardroomalpha.com

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For the latest Know Who Drives Return episode, we sat down with Francis Davidson, the founder and CEO of Sonder, a hospitality company that leases and manages travel properties. Sonder is valued at nearly $2B and is going public through Gores Metropolous II. Francis, at just 29 years old, has been able to rapidly scale the company that he founded 8 years ago as a student at McGill University in Quebec. Will Sonder succeed in grabbing a larger share of the lodging space? Have a listen.

Read the full Sonder / GMII deal report Boardroom Alpha's SPAC Service
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David Drapkin sits down with Amy Nauiokas, the Co-Founder, Co-Chair, and Co-CIO of fintech investing platform Anthemis ($1.2B in AUM), who has been a leading fintech investor for nearly 15 years. Though she has a career that us regular folks might find astounding given she also runs a film and television production company, Archer Gray, which promotes story telling from diverse individuals.

Read the companion report on Boardroom Alpha

Podcast Topics

Intro to Amy and her background
Areas of focus for investing at Anthemis
Recent capital raise for Anthemis, and plans
SPAC, why now and what makes a good sponsor partner
All-female, and ethnically diverse SPAC team
What does the pipeline look like for a SPAC target
How to change the narrative, and tell the story on a SPAC target
Any crypto strategy?
Final touch on Archer Gray and film career

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Dave CEO Jason Wilk joins Boardroom Alpha's David Drapkin to discuss how DAVE has already saved customers billions, how it is shifting its business as it matures, and how its SPAC deal with VPC Impact Acquisition Holdings III (VPCC) will help fuel that shift.

Read the companion report on Boardroom Alpha

Topics On the Podcast

Intro and background on Jason Wilk
Overview of Dave and the origins
Customer acquisition and targeted users
Dave Banking and plans for rollout
Side hustle and how Dave helps customers
User growth, was it sustainable?
Competition: many players, how to win?
Deal, SPAC, and M&A process
Dave’s Operating team + life as public company

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HotelPlanner and Reservations.com are going public in a three-way merger with Astrea Acquisition Corp (ASAX)in a $567M EV deal that was announced in August 2021. Listen in as David Drapkin talks to HotelPlanner CEO Tim Hentschel regarding travel, COVID, what sets them apart from the competition, and why the deal may be attractive to investors.

See the companion report here: HotelPlanner / Reservations.com / ASAX SPAC Deal Overview
Topics On the Podcast

Tim Hentschel Background and founding of HotelPlanner
Differentiation in the marketplace, gig travel agents
Closed User Group discount rates is a major differentiator
HP’s business remained resilient during COVID
Leisure travel vs. professional travel breakdown
Affiliate partners and white labeling
Growth prospects and financial forecasts
Cash use of proceeds and potential redemptions
Future of travel as we navigate ever changing COVID environment
Parting words

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Steve Van Till founded Brivo back in 1999. The cloud-based access control company serves all type of real estate from single-family homes up to commercial buildings. Steve talks to us about Brivo and why in a post-covid world access control is more important than ever - particularly in an increased environment of hybrid work.

Having been almost entirely self-funded for its entire history, Brivo is going public via SPAC to expand sales and accelerate growth. Is it worth taking a bet on the most mature cloud-based access control company out there?

Topics Discussed

Steve's history and founding of Brivo
Real estate areas of coverage and enterprise customer base
Mix of software vs. hardware in Brivo's business
Breakdown of growth expectations
PropTech secular trends as a positive tailwind for the company
Fundraising, SPACs, and why they picked the crown team
Competitive landscape (enterprise, commercial, and multifamily)
Brivo's leadership team

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Taking a minor break from SPACs on our latest podcast we spoke to Greenbox POS (GBOX), a fintech that utilizes block chain technology to create custom payment solutions co-founded by Ben Errez. The company up-listed to Nasdaq earlier this year, and its newly created stablecoin, Coyni, will be a separately publicly traded entity led by Paul Levine.

Key Highlights:

Blockchain technology key for payments, continuing digitization of all payments
Its Gen3 has led to fully custodial + transactional stablecoin, backed by USD
- Stablecoin, Coyni, spun-off to maximize shareholder value in trading on a standalone valuation
- Will begin with a P2P payments app
GBOX stock price has lagged, company is actively buying back shares
Recently raised $100M in financing
Volatility in crypto assets does not negatively affect Greenbox's business
Team believes increased, albeit the correct types, of regulation as a boon

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Investment firm Live Oak Merchant Partners is one of the leading "serial" SPAC sponsors, with views of maintaining a long term presence in the asset class. Led by Rick Hendrix and Gary Wunderlich, Live Oak brings both extensive capital markets and advisory experience with an investment track record.

Live Oak has successfully completed 2 De-SPAC transactions:

Live Oak I, $200M IPO. Merged with Danimer Scientific (DNMR) in Dec-2020
Live Oak II, $253M IPO. Merged with Navitas Semiconductor (NVTS) in Oct-2021

With two more SPACs priced and looking for a target:

Live Oak Mobility (LOKM), March 2021 IPO for $253M, seeking a target within the mobility and motion sectors
Live Oak Crestview Climate (LOCC), in partnership with middle market PE firm Crestview, September 2021 $200M IPO, seeking a target in the climate / sustainability sectors

Rick and Gary are understandably quite bullish on the future of SPACs and the value that they can represent to both potential companies to take public, but also investors. They joined the podcast to discuss the current and future state of the market, what the public has gotten wrong, and what the industry needs to see to sustain and enhance the asset class.

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BM Technologies (BMTX) is a digital, mobile-first FinTech that was born out of BankMobile and boasts ~2M accounts. BankMobile was originally founded by Luvleen Sidhu and developed at parent Customers Bank (CUBI), before ultimately separating and going public via SPAC Megalith Financial Acquisition in January 2021. BMTX recently announced a strategic merger with First Sound Bank and now has plans to become a FinTech bank.

Luvleen is part of a family of lifelong bankers. Father Jay is chairman of Customers Bancorp and brother Sam is the CEO of Customers Bank (we recently spoke to him on our podcast). Luvleen sat down with the Know Who Drives Return podcast to discuss BMTX's future as a FinTech bank, digital banking, and rationale for acquiring a bank charter.

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SeatGeek is a vertically integrated, tech-focused ticketing company that is going public via RedBall Acquisition Corp (RBAC). Ticketing is a highly competitive industry, and many might be more familiar with brands such as Ticketmaster (owned by Live Nation LYV), StubHub (owned by PayPal PYPL), or Vivid Seats (VIVID, itself a de-SPAC).

CEO Jack Groetzingerjoins the podcast to discuss SeatGeek's potential to grab market share in the ticketing landscape by focusing on primary (enterprise) clients, improving its tech stock and ramping up brand awareness.

Key Takeaways

SeatGeek touts its technology and software stack as superior to peers
Full, vertically integrated platform as a differentiator vs. singular primary or secondary reseller, i.e. StubHub (PYPL), VIVID
Focusing on signing so-called "enterprise" clients, (i.e. Dallas Cowboys or The Barclays Center). Higher upfront costs that pay back in 1-2 years and help produce the flywheel and greater customer acquisition vs. search engine marketing
Efforts and cash to invest in greater branding and marketing. SeatGeek has relatively lower brand recognition
SPAC RedBall Acquisition includes veteran investor Gerry Cardinale (RedBird), CEO Alec Scheiner, and Billy Beane (Moneyball fame)

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Navitas Semiconductor (NVTS) is the semiconductor leader in gallium nitride ("GaN") semiconductors that is aiming to replace legacy silicon chips for power applications. GaN is touted as a more sustainable, efficient, and reliable technology vs. silicon.

Veteran semi executive and Navitas Founder & CEO Gene Sheridan joins the Know Who Drives Return Podcast to discuss the future of GaN and future prospects for Navitas (NVTS), who recently went public via SPAC (Live Oak II). NVTS has been an early De-SPAC darling with the stock performing quite well in the $19s as of this writing.

GaN is already in many of your phone and tablet chargers, and is targeting several different industry verticals with its technology. Will GaN be successful in replacing silicon for power applications?

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Chad Rigetti is the CEO and founder of Rigetti Computing, a full-stack quantum computing company who has agreed to a SPAC merger with Supernova Partners Acquisition Co II (SNII). Quantum computing leaders are very bullish on the technology and are projecting that in 5-10 years every company will have quantum computers that can solve problems today's computers cannot.

Is it a winner take all? Fellow de-SPAC darling and quantum computing competitor IONQ focuses on trapped ions vs. superconducting. Chad shares his views on both the competitive dynamic and if there is space for multiple winners, though contends that superconducting technology is best set up for success longterm.

Topics Discussed

Chad Rigetti's career history
Beginner's guide to quantum computing
Rigetti's business model
Superconducting vs. trapped ions (IONQ)
Pitch for buying a share of Rigetti today
Is it ready for widespread commercial adoption?
Customers, governments, and target
The SPAC deal and why Supernova
Use of proceeds, growth plan, and valuation
Managing life as a public company

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Earth Data company Planet Labs is going public thru dMY Technology IV (DMYQ) via a SPAC transaction. Founder and CEO Will Marshall, CFO Ashley Johnson, and dMY CEO Niccolo de Masi join us on the podcast to discuss Planet's prospects and the SPAC transaction.

Planet touts itself as the only company in the world that has the ability to do full daily earth scans, sometimes even twice a day. One can think of Planet as the "Bloomberg Terminal" for Earth data - allowing the consumer to consume their satellite imagery via their own computers. Planet serves numerous industry verticals and has aims for much more, and operates on a data subscription business model.

Key Takeaways:

Not a "satellite company" --> Planet owns the raw satellite data that enables Planet and customers to create value-add data/analytics/services on top
De-risked technology (i.e. launched 200 satellites) and product-market fit (i.e. $100m revenue / +700 customers)
Subscription data business w/ strong renewal rates and account growth
Google partnership -- Google outsources to them, sold their satellites to Planet, and now sells a bundle of Planet + Google Cloud
Capital raised will enable sales and marketing -- team believes this is the key limiter on growth at this point
Product led by Kevin Weil --> previously at Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
Strong, serial sponsor in dMY Technology

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Sam Sidhu is the new President and CEO of tech-focused regional bank Customers Bank. He joins the podcast to discuss the bank's digital-first mindset and crypto.

Discussion Topics

Sam Sidhu - Career Background
Customers Bank Overview, "hi-touch hi-tech"
CUBI stock on the rise, what is the reason?
PPP leader and what it means for future
Crypto strategy and real-time payments
Technology partner TassatPay
What are competitors doing
Crypto currency and retail banking
ESG strategy for Customers Bank
Reflections as a new CEO, and management succession
What to look out for at Customers Bank

About Boardroom AlphaBoardroom Alpha provides ratings, analytics, and context on US public company directors, CEOs, and CFOs. Learn more at www.boardroomalpha.com.

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SPAC SEAH is taking Super Group public in a $4.6B deal that investors are hoping will close in the 4th quarter of 2021. Listen in to learn more about John and Neal's backgrounds, why Super Group may be the right bet for investors, and their expectations on deal close timing, what will happen with warrants, and more.

John and Neal's career histories
Overview of Super Group's Business
US growth ambitions
Playbook for entering new markets/products
NBA, NFL and thoughts around partnerships
Strength of Betway brand, West Ham and Ted Lasso
Competitive landscape, why invest in Super Group?
Customer acquisition strategy, MAUs, and promotions
SPAC deal, UOP, financing, and closing
M&A or potential acquisition target?
Social media and the retail investor crowd
SEAH as sponsor, alignment, and warrants
Tech and data capabilities
Biggest risk to execution?
Metaverse and e-sports
Parting words

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Data veteran Richard Barlow joins the podcast to discuss why he founded Wejo and the prospects for the company amid what he expects to be a boom in connected vehicle data.

Connected data company Wejo was founded in 2014 by CEO Richard Barlow, a data veteran and motorsport enthusiast.

Wejo collects millions of data points from an ever growing fleet of connected cars which enables numerous use cases including helping smart cities manage traffic and more. Wejo agreed to go public via Virtuoso Acquisition Corp (VOSO) in a deal giving them an enterprise value of $800M.

Listen in to learn more about Wejo, how Virtuoso (VOSO) is accelerating them, and why investors should be excited.

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Martin Werner, CEO of DD3 Acquisition Corp II (DDMX) and Moshe Edree of Codere Online join David Drapkin to discuss their SPAC transaction and the future of gaming in LatAm.

Codere Online is the online gaming/gambling arm of parent Codere Group. Codere online is going public via DD3 Acquisition Corp II (DDMX) in a $350M EV transaction announced in June this year.

DDMX shareholders are gearing up for the vote which was just announced for November 18th.

DDMX CEO Martin Werner, former head of Goldman Sachs Mexico, and Codere's Moshe Edree join us on the podcast to discuss the deal and why LatAm is the next frontier for growth in online gaming + gambling.

This is the second SPAC from the DD3 team, having previously led the successful acquisition and De-SPAC of Betterware a Mexico-based D2C company.

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Now more than ever Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) are top of mind for management teams. Olshan partner Elizabeth Gonzalez-Sussman sits down on our podcast to discuss many of these trends, and what companies should be focused on.

We touch on activist investors, racial equity audits, and how a little known agitator in Engine 1 successfully won a proxy battle against behemoth Exxon Mobil.

Elizabeth is an expert in her field and provides valuable insight on not only what's trending but how we can all do better to push the ESG, in particular diversity, agenda.

Topics Discussed

Intro to Elizabeth + Olshan
Diversity mandates for public company boards
Are mandates or other methods more effective?
Racial equity audits + company dynamics
Future of disclosure at the SEC
How do we get get better at promoting underserved talent
Trends in Activism in E + S
Activist vulnerability, and XOM / Engine 1
ESG Funds and greenwashing
Negotiation tactics
Retail investors and effect on activist situations

About Elizabeth Gonzalez-SussmanElizabeth represents and provides strategic guidance to hedge funds and other large investors in shareholder activist situations, including large stock accumulations, behind-the-scenes engagements, letter writing, ESG-focused campaigns, exempt solicitations, submitting shareholder proposals, negotiating settlements, proxy contests, hostile takeovers and other activist related M&A activity. She also advises individual directors and management teams in board disputes at private and public companies. Recent representations have included negotiated settlements by various investor groups at Kohl’s Corporation, Bed Bath & Beyond and Big Lots, successful proxy campaigns by investor groups at EQT Corporation and GameStop Corp., and the successful unsolicited acquisition of Perry Ellis International by its founder George Feldenkreis.

Elizabeth also assists both public and privately-held companies in mergers and acquisitions, capital raising transactions, tender and exchange offers, and general corporate and securities law matters, including SEC reporting and corporate governance.

Prior to joining Olshan, Elizabeth practiced in the corporate finance group of O'Melveny & Myers LLP and in the corporate group of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP.

Learn more about Olshan: https://www.olshanlaw.com/

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CompoSecure is going public in a $1.2B deal with the Roman DBDR Tech Acquisition (DBDR) SPAC. CompoSecure is a leading metal card company with significant revenue, great margins, and great partners. With their move to go public they plan to disrupt the crypto space with their Arculus product line.

Listen in to hear why CompSecure CEO Jon Wilk and DBDR CEO Dr. Don Basile believe that the metal cards business is still in the early innings and their move into crypto will pay off for investors.

Discussion Details

John Wilk's career history
Don Basile's career + what happened at Violin
CompoSecure business overview metal cards + crypto
Growth in metal credit cards? Will people want these?
Are you going to face margin pressure?
Risk of the crypto business going forward
Arculus launch update, and does interest move with Crypto?
Entry into new markets such as gaming and trading
Sale vs. IPO vs. SPAC
Why did Roman DBDR choose CompoSecure?
Investor base and capital structure
Leadership team in place

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In this quick hit episode, David Drapkin talks to Matthew Tuttle from Tuttle Capital on the unprecedented action in DWAC as it breaks all SPAC and MEME records following its announcement to merge with Trump Media & Technology Group. Not even during peak SPAC mania have we seen anything like it. Will it bring back much needed attention to the asset class?

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Inspirato is going public in a SPAC deal valued at $1.1B with Thayer Ventures Acquisition (TVAC). Inspirato's CEO, Brent Handler, and CFO, Web Neighbor, join Boardroom Alpha's David Drapkin for a deep dive on Inspirato and the deal.

** Get your Know Who Drives Return SWAG **

Discussion Details**

Inspirato - Overview
Club and Pass
Why public now and why SPAC?
Why Thayer?
Travel and COVID affects
Growth prospects
Inspirato valuation
Capital Structure
Life as a public company
Competitors
Favorite places

About Inspirato (https://www.inspirato.com/)Launched in 2011, Inspirato is the innovative luxury travel subscription brand that provides affluent travelers access to a managed and controlled portfolio of hand-selected vacation options, delivered through a subscription model to ensure the service and certainty that affluent customers demand. The Inspirato Collection includes branded luxury vacation homes available exclusively to subscribers and guests, accommodations at five-star hotel and resort partners, and custom travel experiences. In 2019, Inspirato improved travel by introducing Inspirato Pass, the world's first luxury travel subscription inclusive of nightly rates, taxes, and fees.

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Vacasa's CEO Matt Roberts joins David Drapkin to discuss what makes Vacasa a compelling addition to investors' portfolios as it goes public via SPAC. Vacasa is a vacation rental management platform that is going public via TPG Pace Solutions (TPGS) in a $3.7 billion EV deal that was announced this summer.

More on Vacasa: https://www.vacasa.com/
More on TPG Pace Solutions (TPGS): https://www.tpg.com/pace-solutions

Discussion Details

Matt Roberts - Career History
Overview of Vacasa's business
Vacasa vs. BKNG, EXPE, ABNB
Covid tailwinds in travel
What does second home supply look like?
Growth prospects
Why go public now, and private to public transition
CFO Jamie Cohen and Vacasa's Leadership
Why SPAC vs. other capital market routes
Valuation in context
Partnership with TPG
What's Matt most excited about

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Aurora CEO Chris Urmson and Reinvent's (RTPY) Michael Thompson join David Drapkin to talk self-driving technology, why Aurora is setup for success, and the overall SPAC market.

Aurora / Reinvent just announced their shareholder vote on the deal is happening on November 2nd.

Reinvent Technology Partners Y (RTPY), is a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) led by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and Zynga founder Mark Pincus.

More on Aurora: https://aurora.tech/
More on Reinvent: https://www.reinventtechnologypartners.com/

Discussion Details

Overview of Aurora and its technology, partnerships
Why public now vs. an additional private round
Why Reinvent, process of finding a SPAC
Sponsor alignment with public shareholders
Keys to success as a public company
2023 Truck launch and go-to-market strategy
Why Aurora vs. a GM or Waymo?
Valuation in context vs. Peers and latest raise?
Telling Aurora's story to the public
Capital structure of the company post close
Reinvent as a SPAC sponsor - picking SPAC targets
Future of the SPAC market from a sponsor perspective
Biggest Risk for Aurora

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Bruce Goldfarb, CEO and Founder of Okapi Partners joins David Drapkin on the Know Who Drives Return podcast. Bruce goes deep on what he's seeing in recent proxy seasons, contested M&A, SPACs, AMC, and whether retail investors are good for the markets.

Discussion Details

Who is Okapi Partners?
Themes of the current proxy season
Contested M&A situations
Getting SPAC deals passed, and retail investor base
Retail, reddit, and the individual investor dynamic
AMC, Adam Aron and new retail strategy
Are retail investors good for the markets?
Director selection in activist situations

Bruce Goldfarb BiographyBruce Goldfarb is Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Okapi Partners. He works closely with a wide range of clients including corporations, mutual funds, activist investors and shareholder groups as well as private equity sponsors and hedge funds, in solicitation and investor response campaigns. He focuses on proxy solicitation strategy, execution for mergers and acquisitions, proxy fights and other extraordinary transactions.

Prior to establishing Okapi Partners, Bruce was the Senior Managing Director and General Counsel of Georgeson Inc. (now a subsidiary of Computershare Limited), where he headed the Global M&A Advisory Group.

Before entering the proxy solicitation business, Bruce was a Senior Vice President of the investment management firm, Scudder, Stevens & Clark, now a part of Deutsche Bank’s Asset Management unit. He joined Scudder as a member of the Legal Department where he concentrated on transactions, including those involving mergers and acquisitions, international matters, alternative investment vehicles, off-shore funds and closed-end funds. Bruce also served as an executive officer of various closed-end funds advised by Scudder. He was the Chairman of Scudder’s Proxy Review Committee and served as the point person for the Scudder Funds proxy solicitation effort relating to the acquisition of Scudder by Zurich Financial Services Group.

Bruce began his career as an attorney at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, where he worked for more than six years, specializing in corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, securities transactions and international matters.

Bruce holds a J.D. from the Columbia University School of Law. He also earned a B.A. in the History of Art from the University of Pennsylvania concurrently with a B.S. Economics with a concentration in Finance, from the Wharton School.

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True Wind Capital's track record as a SPAC sponsor is about as good as it gets. Open Lending Corp (LPRO) is an absolute rock star deSPAC up over 240% since IPO, Rover (ROVR) is up 30% since IPO, and there is more on the way from them with Bilander Acquisition (TWCB) looking for a deal and 3 more in the queue to IPO.

Boardroom Alpha's David Drapkin is joined by True Wind Capital's Scott Wagner and Tom Hegge. Listeners will remember Scott as the ex-CEO of GoDaddy and Tom is a long-time public market investor with private equity roots.

Listen in as the three discuss the SPAC market, what makes True Wind special, and how a SPAC sponsor can successfully build a track record of taking companies public and driving return for all stakeholders.

Learn more about True Wind Capital: https://www.truewindcapital.com/

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Jonathan Browne from Robinson Capital joins Boardroom Alpha's David Drapkin to talk about SPAC arbitrage. Robinson Capital's SPAX ETF launched in June of 2021 and is an actively managed exchange-trade fund (ETF) that invests in Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs), also known as blank check companies. SPAX seeks to provide total return while minimizing downside risk.

Discussion Details

Intro - Background to Robinson
SPACs as an Alternative to Fixed Income
SPACs and Yield, Risk-Free
How do you picks SPACs?
State of the SPAC IPO Market
SPAX - the ETF
What can reinvigorate the SPAC market?
Sponsor alignment
Gamma squeeze
Closed end funds

Jonathan Browne BiographyJon serves as a Portfolio Manager and member of the investment management team at Robinson Capital. He jointly oversees the day-to-day management of the Robinson Funds, including its investment strategies and processes, risk management, regulatory compliance, asset allocation modeling, external manager due diligence and selection, and trading. He is also responsible for overseeing the continued growth and advancement of the firm’s CEF and SPAC research efforts, which includes managing Robinson Capital’s proprietary valuation systems.

Prior to joining Robinson Capital Management, Jon worked as an Associate Portfolio Manager for Federated Investors, Inc. In that role, he helped manage several income focused, multi-asset class portfolios and SMA portfolios. In addition to his portfolio management responsibilities, Jon also served as a Research Analyst, providing fundamental equity research across various industries.

Previously, Jon worked for three years as a Senior Consultant at FactSet Research Systems Inc., where he developed proprietary models and streamlined investment processes for institutional investors, such as hedge fund managers, plan sponsors, and private wealth advisors.

Jon holds both a B.S. and MBA in Finance and Economics from Carnegie Mellon University.

Learn more about SPAX: https://www.robinsonetfs.com/ Learn more about Robinson Capital: https://www.robinsonfunds.com/

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Matthew Tuttle from Tuttle Capital joins David Drapkin to talk about SPACs, FOMO, and tail risk. Tuttle Capital's thematic and actively managed ETFs are taking advantage of the SPAC craze, everybody's FOMO (fear of missing out), and protecting the downside tail risk.

Listen in to learn how they do it and their latest thoughts on what's happening in the markets.

Discussion Topics

Intro to Tuttle Capital
FOMO
Gambling vs. Investing
SPACs, and state of the market
Future of SPACs and sponsors
FATT - Tail Risk ETF
Buy the Dip?
$100 in any ETF

Learn more at Tuttle Capital's site: https://tuttlecap.com/

Matthew Tuttle Biography
Matthew Tuttle is the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of Tuttle Capital Management, LLC.

Matthew is a familiar face among the financial media. He has been a frequent guest on CNBC and Fox Business and has been frequently quoted in the Wall Street Journal and Barron’s.

He is the author of How Harvard & Yale Beat the Market and Financial Secrets of my Wealthy Grandparents.

Matthew has an MBA in finance from Boston University.

(Disclaimers: this is not investment advice. The author may be long one or more securities mentioned in this report.)

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Niccolo de Masi of dMY Technology Group talks to Boardroom Alpha's David Drapkin about why quantum computing is the next big tech innovation and how investors won't want to miss out.

Discussion Topics

Intro
IonQ and Quantum computing overview
IonQ's financial and strategic value
Competitive landscape
Revenue and customer pipeline
SPAC Redemptions
Final message ahead of IonQ shareholder vote

This is the second of two special episodes with Niccolo. Hear Part I on dMY Technology here.

About IonQ
IonQ, Inc. is the leader in quantum computing, with a proven track record of innovation and deployment. IonQ’s 32 qubit quantum computer is the world’s most powerful quantum computer, and IonQ has defined what it believes is the best path forward to scale. IonQ is the only company with its quantum systems available through both the Amazon Braket and Microsoft Azure clouds, as well as through direct API access. IonQ was founded in 2015 by Chris Monroe and Jungsang Kim based on 25 years of pioneering research at the University of Maryland and Duke University.

Learn more at IonQ's website: https://ionq.com/

About Niccolo de Masi (CEO of dMY Technology Group)Niccolo de Masi is an experienced public company chief executive officer and board member with deep expertise in mobile, deep tech, and creating software and hardware ecosystems.

He serves or will serve on the Board of all three dMY Technology SPAC-IPOs post close: Rush Street Interactive, Genius Sports Group, and IonQ.

Over the course of his career, Mr. de Masi has consummated over 25 mergers and acquisitions and has raised approximately $3 billion in equity to support public and private companies he has led. He has held leadership positions in five mobile companies: Glu Mobile, Inc. (Nasdaq: GLUU) (“Glu”), Essential Products, Inc. (“Essential”), Xura, Inc. (formerly Nasdaq: MESG) (“Xura”), Hands-On Mobile and Monstermob Group PLC (formerly LSE: MOB) (“Monstermob”). Mr. de Masi became Chief Executive Officer of Glu and of Monstermob before the age of 30.

From December 2014 through its sale to Electronic Arts in 2021 for $2.4B, Mr. de Masi was Chairman of Glu Mobile, a gaming leader. Mr. de Masi was President and Chief Executive Officer from January 2010 to November 2016 and was instrumental in creating many of the app ecosystem’s “firsts,” including developing mobile “freemium” gaming (of which Glu has published approximately one hundred titles), evolving the Android and iOS rewarded advertising ecosystems, and developing some of the world’s first mobile virtual reality (“VR”) and augmented reality (“AR”) experiences. Mr. de Masi additionally helped to create the entire category of celebrity games, launching Kim Kardashian: Hollywood in June 2014—a unique partnership with Kim Kardashian.

Between October 2018 and January 2020 Niccolo served on the Board of Directors of Resideo Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: REZI). He also served as President, Products and Solutions and Chief Innovation Officer. Resideo, which was spun-off from Honeywell International, Inc. in October 2018, is a leading global provider of critical comfort, residential thermal solutions and security solutions primarily in residential environments that operate in the IoT space. Resideo reported approximately $5 billion in net revenue in 2020 with approximately 13,000 employees.

Mr. de Masi serves on the Leadership Council of the UCLA Grand Challenges.

Mr. de Masi received first class B.A. and M.Sci degrees in physics from Cambridge University.

For more on dMY Technology group visit their website at: https://www.dmytechnology.com/

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Boardroom Alpha's David Drapkin welcomes Union Acquisition II CEO Kyle Bransfield and Procaps CEO Ruben Minski to the podcast. The deal goes to vote on September 22, 2021 and ex-redemption on September 17, so this will be one of shareholders' last opportunities to hear from the team before deciding to redeem or go long alongside Kyle and Ruben. Investors should note that ~$65M was already redeemed from trust at their extension vote in April 2021.

Episode Details

Intro to Procaps
Why Procaps going public now?
Decision to go via SPAC rather than IPO?
Why Union Acquisition?
SPAC history for Union
Redemptions + Capital Structure
PIPE Investors
Procaps valuation
Growth prospects
Where are the risks?
Will Union be a longterm partner?
Procaps transition to a public company
Will Union continue in SPACs
Parting words

Kyle P. Bransfield, CEO of Union AcquisitionKyle P. Bransfield is co-founder of Union Acquisition Group and has served as our Chief Executive Officer and a director since our inception. He has also served as director of Union I since November 2017 (and currently sits on the audit, compensation, and nominating and governance committees) and served as its Chief Executive Officer from December 2017 until it completed its merger with Bioceres in March 2019. Mr. Bransfield is a Partner at Exos Financial, leading the firm’s SPAC strategy. Mr. Bransfield has over 14 years of experience in direct equity and debt private markets principal investing, capital raising, and investment banking. Prior to joining Exos, Mr. Bransfield was a partner at Atlantic-Pacific Capital, leading the firm’s global direct private placement and structured investment activities from 2015 to 2019. Prior to Atlantic-Pacific, Mr. Bransfield was an investment banker in Sagent Advisors’ Private Financing Solutions Group from 2014 to 2015. Prior to Sagent, Mr. Bransfield spent five years from 2009 to 2014 as a Principal and General Partner at CS Capital Partners, a Philadelphia-based multi-family office focused on alternative investments. In his role there, he co-managed a portfolio of direct investments, served as an observer to several boards of directors, and fulfilled operating roles within portfolio companies. In 2006, Mr. Bransfield began his career in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group at Stifel Nicolaus Weisel. Mr. Bransfield received a B.S. in Business Administration from American University.

Ruben Minski, Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Director
Ruben Minski, founder, CEO and president of Procaps Group, with extensive experience and recognition in the pharmaceutical industry. Chemical Engineer from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, he participated in the Owners/President Management program at Harvard University - School of Business, CEOs' II: The Next Step in Strategic Management and in the CEOs' Management Program at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, USA.

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Niccolo de Masi of dMY Technology Group talks to Boardroom Alpha's David Drapkin about why they are at the top of the SPAC sponsor tables, how bad actors are stealing value from everyone else in the SPAC market, and why dMY is "long-term greedy."

Discussion Topics

Intro w/ Niccolo
dMY Overview and value add
Why dMY's deals have been successful
SPACs, targets, and projections from bad actors
Transitioning from private to public
Involvement in PF company boards
Future of the SPAC market
What's next for dMY

This is the first of two special episodes with Niccolo. We'll soon be publishing a second discussion with Niccolo on why quantum computing and IonQ are the next big thing.