Brad Palmer Greenwich Connecticut: Reviving Startups with Second-Chance Capital
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Palm Ventures, established in 1992, operates differently from traditional venture capital firms. While many investors chase rapid returns, the Greenwich-based firm prioritizes patient capital and long-term success. Backed by a family office with over three decades of experience, it targets startups that have hit roadblocks—whether due to cash flow issues, market missteps, or difficulty raising follow-on funding. The firm's mission is clear: provide second-chance capital and hands-on support to help promising businesses thrive.
This approach has yielded impressive results, with a portfolio of 35 platform companies, 30 add-on acquisitions, and 18 exits, achieving a 21x return on investment on a blended basis. Unlike conventional VC firms that impose rigid terms, Palm Ventures offers flexible deal structures, rapid closings, and even debt restructuring, ensuring founders retain equity and control.
Palm Venture Studios excels at rescuing startups on the brink. Take Camio, an AI-driven video security company that had secured top-tier clients across 14 countries but faced a near-fatal cash crunch. With Palm's investment and strategic guidance in sales and marketing, Camio found better product-market fit and expanded its reach. 'After swimming across oceans, I'm grateful for the Palm team who gave us the chance to survive and thrive,' said CEO Carter Maslan.
Another success story is Goode Health, a startup revolutionizing nutrition to address micronutrient deficits. Palm's operational support and capital helped Goode Health scale its innovative solutions, making wellness more accessible. 'Their partnership has been instrumental in driving positive change in healthcare,' noted CEO Mike Glick.
Based in Greenwich, Connecticut, Palm Ventures is deeply rooted in a commitment to social good. The firm focuses on startups in health, energy efficiency, and workforce development—sectors that align with its impact-driven ethos. This philosophy extends to its investment process, which avoids lengthy due diligence in favor of swift, discreet capital deployment tailored to each startup's needs.
The firm's studio platform sets it apart, offering shared services like business development and operational expertise. This hands-on approach ensures startups don't just survive but build sustainable business models. For founders, Palm Ventures is more than an investor—it's a partner dedicated to their long-term vision.
Palm Ventures' Greenwich headquarters serves as a hub for innovation, attracting founders from North America, Africa, and Oceania. Its focus on second-chance capital fills a critical gap in the venture ecosystem, offering hope to startups that traditional investors might overlook. By blending financial discipline with a passion for impact, the firm is redefining what success looks like in venture capital.
For entrepreneurs in Greenwich, Connecticut, and beyond, Palm Venture Studios is a reminder that setbacks are not the end. With the right support, startups can pivot, grow, and achieve greatness.
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NBC News
an hour ago
- NBC News
Cash's decline gives buskers the blues, but apps keep the green flowing
Natalia Paruz, who serenades straphangers with her musical saw, isn't getting the tips she used to. That was clear on a recent Thursday at the Herald Square station in midtown Manhattan, her gold-colored tip bucket only showing a couple dollar bills and some coins halfway through a three-hour performance during the afternoon rush. 'I have so many people who come to me and say to me, 'I love your music, I want to give, but I'm sorry, I don't carry cash,'' said Paruz, who calls herself the Saw Lady. That's led her to display QR codes for digital payment apps Venmo and PayPal for commuters to send her digital tips. The decline in cash payments is changing business for street performers. With the cash in their tip jars or guitar cases dwindling, magicians and musicians are turning toward digital payments to make money from performing. Nearly half of U.S. adults never use cash in a typical week, according to research from Capital One. Nearly 70% of Americans used cash for 'few if any' purchases in the past year. A vast majority, 87%, of all U.S. transactions were cashless in 2024, and the bank anticipates that by 2027, 94% of U.S. transactions won't involve cash. Cash still reigns among older and low-income Americans, Yale economist David Argente said. Americans ages 55 and older use cash at almost double the rate of 18- to 24-year-olds, according to Federal Reserve data. There's no large-scale data on how people in the United States pay street performers, though the Federal Reserve indicates they are most likely to use cash for payments under $25. Paruz and other performers say busking still mostly draws hard money. Paruz said 70% of her tips still come from cash. New York blues keyboardist Gabriel Aldort, who plays in the city's subways and ferry terminals, said only 5% of his tips are digital. Aldort puts up 'huge' QR codes for apps like CashApp and Venmo, but says his subway audience doesn't get much use out of them. 'I think the vast majority of New Yorkers, even counting the transients, the tourists, have cash,' he said. But performers have noticed that an increasing amount of their tips come from payment apps. Chadd 'Wacky Chad' Deitz, a Boston-based stunt comedian who does backflips off pogo sticks in Northeast cities, has been experimenting with digital payments for 12 years. He now thinks 30% to 40% of his tips come that way. 'If you don't accept digital payments, then you're not going to survive,' Deitz said. Digital payment apps aim to be more 'trusted, familiar, and easy-to-use' ways for gig workers like buskers to make money, Venmo general manager Alexis Sowa said in a statement. A Cash App spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. But while performers say digital tipping is convenient, it has also affected how much audiences tip — and not necessarily for the better, said Danny Tangelo, a traveling magician who performs across Western states. He's found cash tips are often higher than digital tips. Digital payments also lack visibility: Deitz thinks people are encouraged to drop in cash or change when they see others do it. 'I do think that there is a little bit of psychology of people walking forward and saying, 'Thank you,' because they might see the QR code from far away, they might have tipped midshow and then walk away,' Deitz said. 'But then people that didn't pay see those people walk away, and they go, 'Well, I guess it's acceptable to walk away.'' For Paruz, digital payments make busking less personal: Audiences keep their distance rather than coming up to her and dropping in a tip. Cash 'fostered communication,' she said. 'People would stop and talk to us.' 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Although digital payments have helped buskers make up for a decline in cash tips, performers are still struggling. Paruz says she makes less from cash and digital tips than she did when she began performing in the 1990s, while Deitz has hit all-time lows for payment at multiple performances this year. Broadly, Americans are tired of tipping. A survey this spring found more than 40% of Americans think 'tipping culture is out of control.' That has meant many tipped workers in other industries have seen their tips dip. Besides, with the rising costs of housing and food, if audiences want to save money, 'they're going to do it watching a street performer,' Deitz said. That means performers like him don't care how you pay them — as long as you pay. A $2 tip, Deitz said, isn't going to 'sustain a white picket fence and two kids.' For magician Tangelo, though, cash has one additional benefit. 'I have a trick where money appears inside fruit,' he said. 'You can't do that with Cash App or Venmo.'

Business Insider
4 hours ago
- Business Insider
How a millennial mom trained for a blue-collar job that doubled her hourly pay and got her out of survival mode: 'I have time for my kids now'
Soak, scrub, rinse. Repeat. Diana Sanchez used to work over 80 hours a week at two minimum wage jobs: as a dishwasher and packing boxes in a warehouse. The Los Angeles-based single mom worked double shifts at the warehouse from 5 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and cleaned tableware from 4:30 p.m. until 1 a.m. She felt stuck. "There was no motivation to go to work," said the 32-year-old. "I knew I wasn't going anywhere." In 2023, Sanchez heard of an opportunity with the Flintridge Center in Pasadena: an apprenticeship program that would train her for a job as an ironworker. She now makes just over $30 an hour, almost double California's minimum wage, and she only works 40 hours a week. Sanchez joins a growing number of Americans pursuing blue-collar careers as demand for them rises and white-collar hiring slows down. Jobs in construction, electrical, transportation, and plumbing are poised to grow in the coming years, and for Sanchez, being part of an ironworkers union offers her steady benefits like insurance. Plus, it offers her a priceless perk: more free time. "I have time for my kids now," Sanchez said. Training for a new career and a fresh start on life Through the Flintridge Center, Sanchez was able to get job training and start with a clean slate. The 16-year-old program is focused on training formerly incarcerated and gang-affiliated individuals in Los Angeles. According to the Flintridge Center, the program dramatically reduces recidivism — 90% of graduates do not return to prison, unlike the L.A. County average of 53%. Imprisoning an individual in California costs over $130,000 a year, while the Flintridge Center costs $7,000 per trainee, said Josh McCurry, the center's executive director. The job training is funded by philanthropic donations and grants from the state and county. "The program is not only saving taxpayer dollars, it is providing a pathway to economic advancement for formerly incarcerated individuals who have traditionally been trapped in cycles of poverty," McCurry continued. "Program graduates have gone on to become home-owners and taxpayers, not only building key infrastructure but fostering larger economic development in the community." Sanchez, who had a DUI over 7 years ago, was able to get her record expunged. "Starting Flintridge, it gave me more of a reason not to fall into those old patterns," she said of committing to sobriety. Sanchez began to feel her outlook shift as she built confidence in her classes. "It makes you believe, 'I got this,'" Sanchez said. "Things can change and things are going to change, not for the worse but better." Throughout the 10-week, 240-hour training program, Sanchez was encouraged to select three specialities that she was interested in. She and her class were taught about trade unions, financial literacy, OSHA safety regulations, and CPR certification. All of them received protective workwear, and Sanchez received a bi-weekly $800 stipend to help offset the costs of taking time away from work to invest in job training. But at the beginning, the work wasn't coming immediately. Diana waited an additional three months before she was hired for her first job. "I didn't know what I was getting myself into," Sanchez said. Her father, mother, and brother pitched in to help cover her rent for half a year while she completed training and was unemployed. "I was in stress mode, I was panicking a little." That patience paid off. Now Sanchez is a member of Local 416, an ironworkers' union in Norwalk, California. These days, Sanchez starts work at around 6:30 a.m. and ends around 2:30 p.m. In addition to the more manageable schedule, union jobs pay on average 11% more than non-union roles, per the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. As a dishwasher, Sanchez was used to working as fast as possible without thinking too much, but now she's learning how to measure properly and be methodical in her work as part of a crew. "If we don't do something right, everybody messes up. It starts with one of us, the ironworkers," Sanchez said. "It's very important for us to be a team and to be able to talk and have communication." Construction work is physically demanding and dominated by men, but she likes the challenge Although there are days she is exhausted after her eight-hour shifts, she's grateful she no longer has to work two jobs to rent a two-bedroom house in Los Angeles County, which costs $2,500 a month. 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Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Victory Capital Holdings Inc (VCTR) Q2 2025 Earnings Call Highlights: Record Asset Growth and ...
Total Client Assets: Increased by 76% quarter-over-quarter, reaching over $300 billion. Quarterly Gross Long-Term Flows: $15.4 billion. Net Outflows: $660 million. Adjusted EBITDA: $179 million, with a margin of 50.8%. Adjusted Net Income with Tax Benefit: $133 million or $1.57 per diluted share. Net Expense Synergies Achieved: $70 million on a run rate basis. Revenue: Increased to $351.2 million, up 60% from the first quarter. Average Assets: $285 billion, 64% higher quarter-over-quarter. Realized Fee Rate: 49.4 basis points. GAAP Operating Margin: 26.8%. Share Repurchase Plan: Increased from $200 million to $500 million. Cash at End of Quarter: $108 million. Net Leverage Ratio: Improved to 1.2 times. Gross Sales: $15.4 billion, representing more than 20% of AUM on an annualized basis. GAAP Expenses: Increased by $125 million. Effective Tax Rate: 32.5% for the quarter, with a normal rate of approximately 25% going forward. Adjusted Net Income Per Diluted Share: Increased to $1.57 from $1.36. Debt-to-Equity Ratio: Improved to 0.39. Interest Coverage Ratio: Nearly 14 times in the period. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 4 Warning Sign with TEM. Release Date: August 08, 2025 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. Positive Points Total client assets increased by 76% quarter-over-quarter, reaching a record high of over $300 billion. Adjusted EBITDA was $179 million with a margin of 50.8%, slightly higher than anticipated. Successful acquisition and integration of Amundi US business, enhancing size, scale, and diversification. Launch of new ETFs, including the VictoryShares Pioneer Asset-based income ETF, expanding product range. Board authorized an increase in the share repurchase plan to $500 million, the largest in company history. Negative Points Net outflows were $660 million, despite improvements in long-term flows. GAAP results included $53 million of acquisition-related restructuring and integration costs. Realized fee rate decreased to 49.4 basis points, with expectations to further decrease to 46-47 basis points. Closure of NewBridge, Sofas, and THB investment franchises, managing less than $1 billion of AUM. Ongoing integration costs and noncash compensation expenses related to the Amundi transaction. Q & A Highlights Q: Can you provide more details on the nonrecurring expenses and how they will impact future quarters? A: Michael Policarpo, President, CFO, and CAO, explained that in Q2, $53 million of acquisition-related costs were incurred, with $26 million being onetime deal-related expenses. Additionally, $14 million was spent on extracting synergies, with a total of $30 million expected. A $13 million noncash compensation expense related to a deferred comp plan will run off over the next few years. These costs will decline over the next several quarters. Q: How is the fixed income product set performing given current market conditions? A: David Brown, Chairman and CEO, expressed confidence in their fixed income asset class, highlighting their diverse product offerings across active ETFs, UCITS, and institutional accounts. He emphasized the strong performance of their two franchises, Victory Income Investors and Pioneer Investments, and sees fixed income as a key growth area. Q: What are the expectations for non-US distribution through the Amundi partnership? A: David Brown noted that the partnership with Amundi allows Victory Capital to sell products across Europe and Asia. Pioneer Investments' products are already in Amundi's distribution system, and Victory's institutional products are available globally. They are working on launching registered products outside the US, with significant growth expected as they globalize their business. Q: What is the outlook for organic growth and flows? A: David Brown stated that Victory Capital aims for consistent organic growth, noting improvements in gross flows and investments in distribution. They are expanding their US intermediary and institutional sales efforts and expect to leverage international opportunities through the Amundi partnership to drive future growth. Q: Can you clarify the impact of the onetime revenue realization on margins? A: Michael Policarpo explained that the revenue realization was due to accounting for certain products, including fulcrum fees and annual fees. The impact on margins was minimal due to their variable cost structure, which offsets changes in revenue. For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. This article first appeared on GuruFocus.