Why Is Unlimited Use of Virtual Data Rooms so Beneficial?

Feb 11, 2010 - by Joel Lessem

It has always puzzled me as to why virtual data room providers charge per data room or per page or total number of users.  How can any company running a deal know exactly how many pages of documents they will have? Or how many users are going to access the deal room? 

Therefore, a buyer is unable to predict the final cost of the VDR. If they misjudge the amount of due diligence documentations or users, they can get stuck with a hefty bill. This type of “multi-line item” quoting is not designed with the customer in mind.

The other item I never understood is why the limitation on the number of deal rooms?  It’s not uncommon to have multiple data rooms for a single project.  More so, it’s the ability to start getting “deal ready” and exchanging documents early on in the mandate. Unlimited use also broadens the scope of use.

Virtual Data Rooms: Unlimited-Use Closes Deals Fast

Mar 4, 2010 - by Joel Lessem

In any deal, time is risk.  The longer it takes to close a deal, the greater the potential for the transaction to get derailed.  Being prepared ahead of time is one way to avoid time delays and risk.

Firmex’s unlimited use virtual data room broadens the range of use investment banks have for their data rooms exponentially: they can collect information to develop and circulate CIMs when marketing transactions and have their client prepare diligence information early. When the LOI is signed, diligence documentation is available and valuable deal momentum is maintained.

Shopping for virtual data rooms at the 11^th hour adds unnecessary risk to maintaining momentum and effectually closing the deal. In some cases our clients may be running multiple transactions as part of one deal (eg.debt refinancing, 3^rd party valuations, selling certain assets etc.). With Firmex, clients can startup additional data rooms to coordinate and manage related transactions at no additional cost or delay.

Firmex charges a flat subscription fee for unlimited data rooms at the same cost as a single data room from an alternative data room provider. The M&A advisory firm can set up and maintain control over all their active mandates, have cost certainty for their clients, and get deals organized ahead of time to avoid delays in the M&A process.

Life Sciences: Highly Confidential Intellectual Property and Virtual Data Rooms

May 13, 2010 - by Joel Lessem

Many Firmex clients are Life Sciences firms developing new therapeutic medicines.  What amazes me about this industry is the time horizon of 15+ years to take a drug from idea to market, costing millions, even billions of dollars. There are 3000-4000 early-stage research-driven firms funded by public markets or venture-capital that take on the technology risk of trying to develop new drug pipeline.

The process to take a new drug through pre-clinical and clinical trials is extensive. Through the process, Life Sciences firms develop new chemical molecules.  The structure of these molecules and their development are potentially worth astronomical amounts of money.  Therefore, the exhaustive trials have to be guarded and kept highly confidential.

In the clinical development process, elements of the firm’s intellectual property (IP) are often shared with scientific consultants, investors and ethics committees from clinical trial sites or jurisdictions.  Additionally, the IP is often reviewed by larger pharmaceutical firms seeking to either license, co-develop or buy the IP from the research based firms.

Virtual Data Rooms for Financial Audits

May 27, 2010 - by Joel Lessem

If anyone  has ever had the pleasure of conducting a financial audit he/she is all too aware that it’s a time consuming process.  The audit process has four main stages:

1. Planning & Risk Assessment:  Are there other factors that could have a material impact on the company and are not evident in the financial reports?  What are the risks of an inaccurate audit opinion?
2. Internal Controls Testing: Are the financial controls rigorous, consistent and accurate?
3. Substantive Procedures: Detailed review of financial information.
4. Finalization:   Create the audit report.

As one might imagine, auditors are typically encamped in the audited company’s offices for weeks, pouring over financial information. It’s inconvenient for the office and it’s inconvenient for the auditor.

Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle:  The What, The How and The Why

Jun 24, 2010 - by Joel Lessem

I watched an interesting talk by Simon Sinek on what makes certain companies or people achieve greatness.  To explain his thesis, Sinek makes a very important distinction in defining what it takes to achieve entrepreneurial success: some people know “what” they do, some people know “how” they do it, but few people consider “why” they do it.

 The “why” of a business venture, for Sinek, is not simply the act of making money; rather, it points more to a cause, vision or purpose.

He says most of us in our daily lives are pre-occupied by the “what” and the “how” – but are not driven by “the why.”  I think Sinek’s correct – we spend much of our time just “getting work done” and don’t remind ourselves of “why” we even care to do it.

Sinek refers to the Wright Brothers, Martin Luther King and Apple Computer as having leaders that ask “why.”  While these examples are humbling, I began to think about the purpose of my company, Firmex. What do we believe in?  What is our cause?

Offsite data back up: Another cloud computing benefit

Aug 25, 2010 - by Nicole Black

One of the benefits of using a cloud computing platform in your law practice is offsite data back up and business continuity.  It’s a convenient and simple solution for data back up, it happens automatically and gives you one less thing to worry about.

Not only that--it can sometimes be a lifesaver. If your files are stored in the cloud, they are safe from inadvertent data loss caused by, for example, a local computer or server failure or a natural disaster.

For example, this article from The Telegram, describes how, in June 2010, a Canadian law firm’s office building caught on fire and the offices of the law firm, Roebothan McKay Marshall were completely destroyed.

Virtual Data Rooms - Top 5 pricing considerations

Mar 17, 2011 - by Aaron Booth

When you’re procuring a virtual data room (VDR), time is of the essence and price is always a factor for you and your clients. During discussions with a potential VDR partner, make sure you know what is included in the price.  Knowing what to look for will ensure that you avoid surprise discussions around hidden fees, so you can concentrate your time on the deal - not the data room. Here are five things to clarify when obtaining a price for a virtual data room:

1. Price Certainty – Make sure the VDR price is fixed and there are no hidden fees for support, services or additional storage. Any fees for extending the length of the deal should also be discussed upfront, just in case the deal process take longer than expected, which tends to happen.
2. Page Count – I have always been perplexed by per page pricing. Who counts thousands of pages? What happens if pages are added or deleted as the deal progresses? Do you pay for blank pages, tables of contents, cover pages? Per page pricing is an outdated pricing model that has its origins in commercial printing.  Per page pricing is not suited for the digital age and should be avoided at all costs.
3. Storage – Secure storage doesn’t have to be expensive. Some vendors will flaunt the fact that they store your data on their own secure servers, but if you start asking questions, you’ll likely find that their features don’t measure up against an industry leader like SunGard. SunGard specializes in data storage and security for the world’s top financial institutions and SunGard’s systems account for and manage more than $25 trillion in investment assets and process more than five million trades a day.
4. Training and Consultation – Find out how much training is included for the price and the experience level of the trainers. You don’t want to end up paying extra fees because a system is hard to use and you want to trust the person who is helping you set-up your deal.
5. Support – Anything less than 24/7/365 is not good enough, and shouldn’t cost extra. Deals span time zones and people work after hours and on weekends. You and your clients need peace of mind that all of your users will be supported, anywhere and anytime.

At Firmex we pride ourselves on providing our clients with straightforward pricing and reliable service that ensures the client experience comes first.