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4. Maintain a strong social media presence to acquire new patients.Social media is unique in that people can randomly stumble upon new and interesting accounts while browsing their platforms of choice. In such an open environment, you only have a few seconds to make a meaningful impression. Don’t be afraid to load your social media pages with crisp images, infographics, videos and visual quotes that attest to your services.
Better yet, social media often allows you to analyze how well your content is performing with potential patients. Many platforms include analytics tools that tell you how many people saw your content and how many people further engaged with it. You can uncover engagement trends that point to which types of content interest people most and upload similar posts to attract new customers.
5. Build a strong online reputation to attract new patients.Through online reputation management, you can build a pristine web presence that helps persuade potential patients to contact you. The best online reputation management services handle the content creation tactics and help you get more patient reviews while addressing negative ones. These services can also offer public relations (including crisis management) and remove negative content.
Some online reputation management services are tailored specifically to patient acquisition and the medical sector. One such company, PatientPop, recently merged with Kareo, one of the best electronic medical records (EMR) software providers. This merger means you’ll get built-in tools for patient acquisition when you use Kareo’s medical software, known for its ease of use. (Read our Kareo review to learn more about this software.)
Using these tools is an excellent way to acquire patients, care for them, and retain them – all under one roof.
Tip
To streamline your medical billing process, invest in staff training, explain fees and personal financial obligations to patients, and implement an electronic medical records system.
What is patient acquisition?Patient acquisition encompasses all strategies your practice implements to bring in new patients. It primarily involves marketing efforts that spotlight your medical practice’s distinguishing features and how they differ from your competitors. Its focus is on patients who have never before used your services, rather than your existing patient base.
Why is patient acquisition important?Many practices – perhaps including yours – earn their reimbursements via a standard fee-for-service model. Under this model, your practice’s revenue increases as you see more patients. This arrangement presents a significant challenge, assuming most of your patients are healthy: How often can you really get your patients to make appointments? Probably not that often, which isn’t great for your revenue. Acquiring new patients can help.
The more patients you bring into your practice, the more appointments you can make. When you have more appointments, you can earn more revenue. It’s easier to turn a profit when you can source appointments from a wider pool of patients than the same core group.
You could argue that the emergence of value-based healthcare models through the government’s MIPS (Merit-Based Incentive Payment System) program lessens the need for patient acquisition. But that argument is flawed. Yes, MIPS can increase your reimbursement per patient, but seeing more patients is still a direct throughline to greater revenue. MIPS can also decrease your reimbursement per patient. In that case, patient acquisition could help stabilize your finances.
What’s the difference between patient acquisition and patient retention?While patient acquisition concerns solely potential new customers, patient retention concerns only your current patients. All patient acquisition initiatives seek to bring you new patients, whereas patient retention efforts seek to prevent current patients from abandoning you for a competitor. (You also need to acquire patients before you can retain them.)
A patient acquisition strategy could involve aiming to place your practice’s website higher in search engine results pages for relevant local queries. That’s because people searching for, say, “podiatrist Brooklyn” are clearly looking for a new doctor. If you’re a podiatrist, you could be that person.
Chances are your current patients aren’t searching for “podiatrist Brooklyn” – well, unless they’re unhappy with you. Patient retention strategies help keep them happy. They require positive, attentive patient interactions with front-office staff and medical personnel. Your front-office staff can also schedule future appointments as patients leave or call them when a new appointment is necessary to maximize retention.
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Smart Patient Rooms Support Clinicians And Enhance Patient Experiences
Inside hospitals and patient rooms, innovators apply healthcare technology in pursuit of improved patient care and patient experiences. Samsung and its partners have created smart solutions for hospital patient rooms, integrating mobile tablets and display technology with cloud-based healthcare apps. Hospitals can use these technologies to increase their engagement with patients and enhance their clinicians’ workflow — ultimately improving average patient outcomes.
Bedside tablets connect patients to care and servicesBy giving patients mobile tablets to use at their bedside, hospitals can offer better access to care, educational resources and entertainment. Providers like Oneview and Equiva offer tablet-based solutions that equip patients with multipurpose technology on familiar Samsung Galaxy tablets.
Patients can view their records and prescriptions, see who’s on their care team and communicate with nurses, doctors and other hospital staff. Rather than summoning a nurse for nonmedical needs, like housekeeping and meal service, patients can use the tablet to request those services directly, freeing medical staff to focus on medical care.
The device can be used to deliver on-demand educational content specific to a patient’s condition, which is much more user-friendly and engaging than a stack of written materials or a scheduled lesson on television. Patients can also use the tablet to watch movies and series, play games or stream music. It’s a welcome distraction from the tedium of a hospital stay — and a window to the outside world.
Some tablet solutions include video chat, which allows patients to stay in touch with their loved ones and expands medical team discussions to include remote specialists and family members.
By providing a more supportive and engaging patient experience, bedside tablets help patients adhere to their medication and wellness plans while reducing readmissions. They also lead to better reviews and feedback, which can improve Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) scores.
Plus, these infotainment apps make it easy for hospitals to maintain data privacy by scrubbing patients’ personal data from each device as soon as they check out.
Better connection and agility improve clinical outcomesIn busy hospitals, efficiency is critical. Smart patient rooms — with seamless healthcare technology — support better clinical outcomes. Purpose-built mobile devices streamline hospital workflows by connecting to larger displays, turning the smart patient room into the hub of a collaborative care environment.
It’s now common for doctors and nurses to carry smartphones with them during their work hours. With the right healthcare apps, their mobile devices can serve as multipurpose professional tools, streamlining their workflows and enabling more accurate data capture. When these mobile devices are data-integrated, caregivers can use them to access electronic health records (EHRs), scan pharmaceutical codes and even conduct virtual consultations. Scanning software such as Knox Capture allows hospitals to integrate in-app scanning capability on rugged Samsung devices, such as the Galaxy Tab Active3 and XCover Pro. Nurses can use integrated data to capture patient IDs and keep track of medical supplies and prescriptions.
In discussing treatment plans with patients and their families, healthcare teams often need to work together. The Samsung Interactive Display provides a collaborative whiteboard-like screen, serving as a portable, intuitive, time-saving technology for caregivers. Just like a paper chart, the Interactive Display lets healthcare teams draw diagrams, take notes and annotate charts and images — but it’s fully digital and mobile, and can be accessed from the patient’s bedside.
Digital signage and displays improve patient experienceThe patient experience is improved by anything that makes healthcare more convenient or services and facilities easier to navigate. The patient experience starts the moment they arrive at the hospital and try to find their way around, which is often overwhelming. Digital displays and touchscreen maps can help patients and visitors understand exactly where they need to go — which is especially useful when the hospital staff has limited availability to answer questions.
In waiting rooms, digital signage allows patients to see where they are in the queue, helping alleviate anxiety about their wait time. These displays can also inform family members of patients’ status as they go through different procedures. With the most common questions answered digitally — and automatically — staff members have more time to focus on direct patient care.
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Digital signage is also part of the smart patient room’s ecosystem. Just outside the room, a display may identify the patient’s care team, along with facts that the team should know before entering the room, such as a patient’s fall risk or latex allergy.
By replacing old dry-erase boards with digital displays, EHR information can be extracted seamlessly rather than written out manually by already overworked staff. In care rooms, these displays help patients and their family members understand the patient’s status, talk to the care team, learn more about relevant medical science and even enjoy some entertainment to help pass the time.
Better experiences improve HCAHPS scoresThe HCAHPS survey measures patients’ impressions about their hospital care. These scores are publicly reported to further incentivize hospitals to improve their quality of care. The survey results are also factored into cost calculations for value-based care. With smart patient room technology, care facilities create more comfortable, open and efficient patient experiences, which helps increase reimbursement rates.
With the technology they need to treat patients more effectively, clinicians can provide higher-quality care. Smart patient rooms have the power to transform the hospital experience.
As you work to make your patient rooms smarter, learn more about Samsung’s other digital healthcare solutions. Or, discover how you can streamline your clinical communications with smartphones with this quick, free assessment.
Hedge Fund Strategies For Managers
Introduction to Hedge Fund Strategies Managers
A hedge fund is an investment partnership between the fund manager (called the general partner) and investors in the hedge fund (called limited partners). Hedge funds strategies can carry a huge investment risk, and chasing the bull market or following a herd mentality can get you financially trampled. Plunging cash into a high-performing fund without doing your homework can result in a poor grade at the end of the trading session. So, here’s your financial market survival toolkit with handy tips to guide you through the ins and outs of hedge fund strategies.
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Meaning of a Hedge Fund Strategies ManagersA hedge fund is a term for investments made by limited partners who contribute money which the general partner then manages.
The hedge fund definition operates on one key principle: Maximize returns and minimize risks. Hence one refers to it as “hedge” fund management.
History of Hedge Fund Strategies Structure of a Hedge Fund Strategies Hedge Fund vs. Mutual FundsA hedge fund strategies have certain points in common with a mutual fund, which are as follows:
Both are pooled investment vehicles.
You can use either to invest in securities such as equities, options, and bonds.
General/Limited Partnership Model
The typical hedge fund strategy structure is two-tier, comprising the general/limited partnership model.
Within this structure, the funds are operated by the general partner, and there should be a minimum of one limited partner who makes investments and has limited liability/liability for paid-in money.
Such a partnership can have multiple general and limited partners. However, some SEC rules limit the number of investors barred from registration.
A typical partnership structure is a limited liability company, or LLC, called so because it is a flow-through tax unit, and investors can be held in limited liability equalling their investment amount.
General partner markets and manages the funds, including hiring a fund manager and administrating fund operations.
One Partner or Many? Hedge Funds take the High Road and Mutual Funds the LowThe fee structure is one of the chief points of difference between Hedge Funds vs Mutual Funds. Mutual Funds involve lower fees, while fees paid by investors in the case of hedge funds strategies are higher and include additional fees not charged by an MF.
Hedge Fund: Term StructureTerms offered by each fund are unique, making it a tangible point of difference. Terms are linked to the following factors:
Subscriptions and redemptions
Lock-UpsSome funds require a lock-up commitment which can either be a hard lock (preventing withdrawal of funds by an investor for a full-time period) or a soft lock (fund withdrawal is possible following payment of a penalty ranging from 2 to 10%).
Distinctive Features of Hedge Fund StrategiesRiskier: Hedge fund strategies are riskier than traditional mutual fund investments. This is because hedge fund strategies do not have to report their underlying positions to any regulatory agency or members of the public.
Seeing is Believing: The Need for Transparency
Investors have demanded more transparency from hedge fund strategies, even though top hedge fund managers do not want to show their cards and reveal their position.
Below are the Important Hedge Fund Strategies Equity Market Neutral
In this hedge fund strategy, funds identify (or at least try to) over and undervalued equity securities. At the same time, there is the neutralization of portfolio exposure to market risk through a combination of short and long positions.
Portfolios are neutral with respect to market, sector, industry, and currency/dollar and have a portfolio beta of 0 value.
How is this ensured? The long and short positions are held with equal potential for related market or sector factors.
The thumb rule: Overvaluation is slower to correct than undervaluation.
Reason: Many investors face limitations pertaining to shorting of stocks.
Benefiting from Mis Pricing: Convertible Arbitrage
These hedge fund strategies can help capitalists with mispricing in convertible securities, such as convertible bonds, warrants, and preferred stock.
Managers buy/sell a security and hedge part/all of the risks linked to it.
Example: Buying a convertible bond and shorting the associated stock to lower risk.
Fixed Income Arbitrage: Over and Undervalued Bonds Important
Here, the funds seek to identify over as well as undervalued bonds on the basis of expected changes in term structure and credit quality of issues/market sectors.
One neutralizes this type of portfolio against directional market movements through a combination of long and short positions.
Profit in the Face of Default: Distressed Securities
Portfolios of distressed securities are invested in the debt and equity of companies facing or undergoing liquidation.
Traditional investors prefer to transfer risks when there is a danger of default. Thus, funds are held long in an account of the non-liquidity of distressed debt and equity, making shorting difficult.
Catching the Price Spread: Merger/Deal Arbitrage
This type of hedge fund strategy can capture the price spread between the current prices of the securities and their expected value following a positive event such as a takeover, M&A, spinoff, or more associated with multiple hedge fund companies.
Merger arbitrage involves purchasing the target firm’s stock, following a merger announcement, and shorting the revenant mount of the acquirer’s stocks.
Merger arbitrage derives a return from news of acquisitions and mergers.
A deal is subject to the following conditions:
Regulatory approvals
A positive vote by target company shareholders
Non-Neutral Portfolios: Hedged/Long-Short Equity
This hedge fund example aims to identify over as well as undervalued securities, thereby dealing in highly concentrated, typically non-neutral portfolios. The value of the short position may be a fraction of the long, and the portfolio may have a net exposure to the equity market in the long term.
The first hedge fund in financial history, launched by A.W. Jones in the late 1940s, used these hedge fund strategies.
It still accounts for a massive share of equity hedge fund assets in current times.
Concept: Investment means encashing on WINNERS as well as LOSERS
Mantra: Pledge long positions in winners as collateral to fund short positions in losers
Result: Combined portfolio creates more profit than loss and lowers the market risk
Seeing the Bigger Picture: Global MacroThis type of hedge fund examples encashes on systematic movements in financial as well as non-financial markets via trading in the following:
Futures
Currencies
Option Contracts
Global Macro = Major Market Trends,
Individual Security Opportunities
Emerging Markets Strategy: Spotlight on Less Mature Markets
These are funds that have links to emerging, less mature markets. Short selling is not permitted in such markets as futures and options are not possible. Funds are long in such a strategy
FOF: A Money MammothFOF, or Funds of Funds, is a fund that makes investments in multiple underlying top hedge funds (typically 10 to 30).
Some FOFs are even more diversified; these are liquid and available to individual investors.
Learning from Management Masters: How Hedge Fund Managers Operate Convertible Arbitrage
This is when hybrid securities come into use, combining a bond with an equity option.
Managers maintain a delta-neutral position where bonds and stocks offset each other as the market fluctuates.
This hedge fund strategy thrives on volatility; the higher the stakes, the more the profit.
Event-Driven
Managers use such hedge fund strategies when the biggest hedge funds purchase company debt from firms facing financial bankruptcy.
In this hedge fund example, managers typically focus on senior debt. If a company has already filed for bankruptcy, the junior class of debt may be a wiser hedge.
In such a strategy of hedge fund definition, investors need to be patient. This is because corporate reorganization can take a lot of time.
Credit or Capital Structure Arbitrage
In this credit strategy, managers watch out for the relative value between senior and junior securities of a single corporate issuer.
Securities of equivalent credit quality are taken from different issuers.
Credit Hedge Funds = Focus on Credit, Not Interest
Fixed Income Arbitrage
Managers glean returns from risk-free government bonds, making a leveraged guess on how the yield curve’s shape will change.
High leverage comes into use for capitalizing returns. The flipped? Leverage causes a greater risk if the manager is incorrect.
Macroeconomic Strategies
This plan involves analyzing how macroeconomic trends will impact interest rates, currencies, commodities, or equities.
Future and currency forwards are most commonly traded in this form of hedge fund careers.
LeverageThis is one of the best (and worst) tactics employed by managers over time. It is the best because strong trading or investment returns are possible. It is also worse if it forces a sell-off, as hedge funds receive margin calls and are forced to sell positions to meet them.
Long OnlyThese hedge fund strategies are used when a hedge fund owns long positions in stocks, or other assets looking for an alpha to the upside to outdo benchmarks. For the hedge fund example, if S&P500 is the benchmark, it is up 10%, and the hedge fund is up 12%; an extra 2% difference between the two is an alpha generated by a portfolio manager.
Short OnlyIn this hedge fund strategy, the manager sells stock shorts. Portfolio managers who engage in shorting have been crushed given the market’s rising tide, which has uplifted sentiments. An example of a Short Only strategy is MySpace, once a leader in social networking and now a virtual non-entity in the social media space.
Fair Trade/Long/Short StrategyWhen the fund matches stocks in the same sector, which is long or owns stocks and engages in shorting, fair trade is the result.
Market NeutralThe flipside: Massive moves upward or downward will negate the other side
Relative Value ArbitrageA strategy used to hedge funds trading debt
Man Vs Machine: Quantitative Hedge Fund ManagementIn this type of hedge fund definition, computer programming uses statistical models and data to locate the alpha camouflaged by market abnormalities.
Risk Measures Used in Hedge Fund StrategiesSD or Standard Deviation: Defined as a level of volatility of returns measured in terms of percentage provided on an annual basis.
Decoding the Results: Variability of annual returns and funds can be compared with SD.
If 2 funds of the same annual returns have different SDs, the one with the lower SD will be more attractive and vice versa.
Additional Metrics
Value At Risk/VaR: measures dollar loss expectation occurring with a probability of 5 in 100 or 5%.
Downside capture: Degree of correlation of fund to markets which are sliding
Rule of thumb: Lower the downside capture, the better the fund is at preserving wealth in the face of a meltdown or vice versa
Drawdown: Maximum drawdown is a measurement of the percentage fall in cumulative return from previous highs. You can assess which funds preserve wealth…these will be the ones that minimize drawdowns.
Leverage: If this increases, funds sell assets at massive discounts to cover margin calls. This serves as a good measure of the health of the hedge fund. Lower leverage is just what the doctor ordered.
Qualitative indices: These include an assessment of the manager, a scale of operations, and back-office administration, to name just a few.
Soft Close Versus Hard Close: Soft close means no additional investors will be allowed, while hard close means there will be absolutely no additional investments.
Why Invest in Hedge Funds?
Risk reduction
Flexible mandates
Return Enhancement
What to Watch Out For Due Diligence/Caveat Emptor?
A low-volatility hedge fund can explode (courtesy of the subprime mortgage crisis of 2007 and its associated market meltdown in 2008). So allocation considerations are very important
The allocation should consider the overall risk.
Another important point to look out for is the level of gross as well as net exposure of the overall portfolio when adding hedge funds to a portfolio.
The definition of the measurement criteria in quantitative and qualitative terms is vital.
Define Measurement CriteriaOne should define criteria in both quantitative and qualitative metrics.
Usually, hedge fund managers send a pitch book describing the firm and its many aspects, such as strategy, principles, and performance. Analysts and investors should ensure they have accessed the pitch book for data.
Compare the hedge fund strategies to those within a similar category to assess how funds performed.
Additional analysis can then be made to decide whether the hedge fund strategies should be invested in or not.
A background check of the firm and an assessment of its back-office operations are some of the qualitative aspects of due diligence.
ConclusionA hedge fund definition is about securing gains and cutting down on losses. Effective hedge funds perform well based on concrete parameters and associated criteria for tangible reasons. Financial wizardry requires the right formula for success. Investors must be aware and alert to get maximum returns and minimum losses from hedge funds. Capitalizing on markets (whether bull or bear) has never been easier.
Recommended ArticleHere are some further related articles to learn more:
5 Simple Steps To Viral Video Results
Let’s start off funny. The following are NOT the 5 steps to viral video results:
Sit around drinking and talking about funny video ideas.
List a bunch of successful viral videos and come up with knock-off ideas to copy them.
Call every funny video idea “viral” before it’s even created and before someone has ever seen it and before anyone has ever passed it to anyone.
Let your clients disapprove all your good ideas and then run with the lame ones.
Create videos without thinking about distribution because OF COURSE it’s going to go viral after just the first person views it.
You get the point.
I recently interviewed a couple of people for my Social Media Expert Interview series – Scott Stratten of UnMarketing fame and Carrie Wilkerson, The Barefoot Executive – who gave me a new perspective on viral video creation.
Why You Shouldn’t Try To Be Funny
The upshot is: funny videos are the hardest to get to go viral. Sense of humor is very personal. And it doesn’t matter if 100,000 people see your skateboarding dog catch fire and faceplant if you don’t get anything out of all those video views. Unless you’re just trying to have fun. But if you care about results, keep reading.
There’s a simpler way. And you can tie it to a conversion event you want to get.
A More Effective Viral Video Style
Just create what I call the “Emotional Slideshow” (because there was no name for it and that’s all I could think of on the spot) type of viral video.
These are nothing new, but they work like gangbusters.
The Time Movie has received 1.4MM views despite being very simply and cheezier than Fabio movie backed by a Yanni soundtrack. Scott admits to being sick of it. But his goal was to get motivational speaking gigs and launch his speaking career without years of painful free gigs- and it worked.
The Boss Movie helped Carrie Wilkerson build a list of 24,000 work-at-home women to market to in just 9 months.
The Crappy Day Movie just debuted and is my first attempt at one of these Emotional Slideshow movies. But it has its own Facebook page and I hear those are really hard to start and very, very expensive.
The Five Steps to Creating An “Emotional Slideshow” Viral Video
Know your audience
List their three biggest problems and three biggest obstacles (you’ll have 6 points)
List their three biggest dreams (not goals), then three examples each of life with those dreams fulfilled (you’ll have 9 points)
Create a line of negative and positive affirmations for each of those 15 points above
Find an emotionally evocative image for each point, and music for the entire slideshow, and create the movie
You can have more points, but you want each image and sentence to last about 7 seconds, and the full movie to be 3-4 minutes.
Then, of course, watch it on several occasions and have other people proof it, especially if they’re your target audience.
Getting Results
Make sure you have some social media monitoring going on, to check on the virility and reputation of your video. If you watched The Boss Movie, you’ll notice Carrie brings up an opt-in page after the movie for a pdf about the 7 Things Your Boss Doesn’t Want You To Know. This is a bribe that goes straight to the audience’s core problem- the limitations of employment. When conceiving your bribe, make sure you start with titles and think like a copywriter before you create the content you’re going to give away.
4 Strategies To Help English Learners Master New Math Skills
Developing new math skills for students learning English means keeping them on grade level and building on their existing speaking, reading, and writing abilities.
Math is often touted as a “universal language,” because numbers work the same no matter where you’re from. But students who speak English as a second language need special support to make sense of the complex instructions and linguistically challenging word problems that make up much of math instruction.
Fortunately, even when learning English, students are still capable of keeping up with their peers and excelling at math on grade level. That’s the driving force behind a California training program from The New Teacher Project and Stanford University’s Understanding Language center, according to a report published in EdSource.
“We know from our work that multilingual learners do not have the same access to grade-level assignments as their peers,” Jeanine Harvey, director of multilingual learner academics at The New Teacher Project, told EdSource. “We wanted to show teachers that all students could engage with grade-level assignments with the right supports.”
These are a few of the strategies recommended by the training program and other experts.
1. Read, Read Again, and Discuss
Asking students to read over a word problem multiple times and discuss it with a partner can help students feel less “bogged down,” as teacher Nicole Thompson told EdSource. In her class, students read over each problem three times.
After the first read, her students pair up and discuss the situation being described; then they do a close read looking at the numbers in the problem; and finally, they tackle the actual problem and its solution. It helps all students better understand what they’re reading, but especially her multilingual learners, she says.
That approach is similar to the 3-Read Protocol used in math classes at Concourse Village Elementary School in the Bronx, which is known for its innovative use of collaborative literacy strategies to support science, math, and social studies units.
Teachers told EdSource that strategies like these have the added benefit of getting more students talking and working together, thereby improving their overall English skills. As fifth grade teacher Juan Gonzalez noted, students are often more capable in this area than teachers give them credit for. “We have to let go of their hand and let them struggle a bit,” he says.
2. Build Strong Vocabulary Skills
If students don’t understand what they’re reading, it might not matter how many times they read it over. That’s why mastering math concepts often means building strong skills for learning new vocabulary.
In the The New Teacher Project training, teachers learned to analyze word problems to pull out the key terms students need to know to understand and solve the problem—and curate illustrative images or simple text definitions.
Since the training focused on multilingual learners, trainers reminded teachers that it’s not just math vocabulary that needs reinforcing, but terms that might not be obvious to English learners. In a problem about carnival ticket prices, for example, teachers might begin by exploring terms like “school carnival” and what the “best deal” for tickets could mean, as well as more idiomatic expressions like “running the ticket booth.” Teachers then showed pictures of carnival rides and larger and smaller currency denominations to create visual definitions of the terms.
Aside from that, teachers use a variety of creative strategies to build strong math vocabulary, including word walls, familiar games like Pictionary, and a “words of the week” activity, during which students are exposed to terms multiple times to help them stick.
3. Let Students Use Their Home language First
“Giving language learners a chance to think through and discuss a text in, say, Spanish before they take it on in English makes them less embarrassed to take part in the discussion,” he says in a recent interview with Edutopia. “Cognitively, it also allows them to take on ideas in a fairly mature and sophisticated way using their best language and skills.”
While students who began learning numeracy and mathematics in other contexts and cultures invariably have had prior exposure to math, they likely have different notions about how to process and solve problems.
For educators, that presents a challenge in acclimating students to a new pedagogical approach—yet it’s also an opportunity. As educators Larry Ferlazzo and Katie Hull Sypnieski note, research shows that it’s easier to learn something new when we connect it to the knowledge we already have. That means educators who activate their students’ prior knowledge by getting them to reflect both on what they already know can better prepare them for new learning.
In some countries, including many Latin American ones, research has found that schools often focus more on mental calculation, drills, and memorization than we do in the U.S.—but it’s sometimes at the expense of collaboration and explaining each step. Other countries sequence math concepts in a completely different order, meaning a fourth grader might enter class without much exposure to a subject like geometry.
It’s for this reason that English learner expert and educator Judie Haynes rejects the idea of math as a universal language. Haynes has written for TESOL about her desire to see teachers take time to recognize these cultural differences before assuming how to proceed.
“It’s important to be aware of what your [English learners] know and what they have been taught when it comes to math so that you can validate that learning by building on it—rather than stumbling over it,” Haynes writes.
Special Purpose Acquisition Company (Spac)
Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC)
An entity formed for the sole purpose of raising investment capital through an IPO
Written by
CFI Team
Published June 29, 2023
Updated July 7, 2023
Reviewed by
Andrew Loo
What is a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC)?A special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) is a corporation formed for the sole purpose of raising investment capital through an initial public offering (IPO). Such a business structure allows investors to contribute money towards a fund, which is then used to acquire one or more unspecified businesses to be identified after the IPO. Therefore, this sort of shell firm structure is often called a “blank-check company” in popular media.
When the SPAC raises the required funds through an IPO, the money is held in a trust until a predetermined period elapses or the desired acquisition is made. Therefore, a SPAC doesn’t conduct any business, does not sell anything and typically only holds the money raised in its own IPO.
In the event that the planned acquisition is not made or legal formalities are still pending, the SPAC is required to return the funds to the investors.
Key Highlights
SPAC stands for Special Purpose Acquisitions Company and is essentially a shell company with the sole purpose of raising money through an IPO to eventually acquire another company.
Founders or Sponsors have a period of time to find a suitable acquisition or the money would otherwise be returned to investors.
How Does a Special Purpose Acquisition Company Work? Founders and SponsorsA special purpose acquisition company is formed by experienced business executives who are confident that their reputation and experience will help them identify a profitable company to acquire. Since the SPAC is only a shell company, the founders’ reputation may become the selling point when sourcing funds from investors. The founders often hold an interest in a specific industry when starting a special purpose acquisition company.
A SPAC may also be founded by a team of well-connected private investors like billionaire Bill Ackman, institutional investors, private equity or hedge funds, or even high-profile CEOs like Richard Branson and even Donald Trump. These financiers are called Sponsors.
The founders and sponsors provide the starting capital for the company and they stand to benefit from a sizeable stake in the acquired company.
Issuing the IPOWhen issuing the IPO, the management team of the SPAC contracts an investment bank to handle the IPO. The investment bank and the management team of the company agree on a fee to be charged for the service, usually about 10% of the IPO proceeds. The securities sold during an IPO are offered at a unit price, which represents one or more shares of common stock.
The prospectus of the SPAC mainly focuses on the sponsors, and less on company history and revenues since the SPAC lacks performance history or revenue reports. All proceeds from the IPO are held in a trust account until a private company is identified as an acquisition target.
Acquiring a Target CompanyAfter the SPAC has raised the required capital through an IPO, the management team has 18 to 24 months to identify a target and complete the acquisition. The period may vary depending on the company and industry. The fair market value of the target company must be 80% or more of the SPAC’s trust assets.
Compared to an IPO, the SPAC is much less risky for the target company. In a SPAC acquisition, the target company only needs to sign a deal with the SPAC for a fixed amount of money at a negotiated price. Whereas if the company decides to go the IPO route, the target company is uncertain about the size, price or even potential demand.
If the SPAC is successful in acquiring a target company, the founders will profit from their stake in the new company, usually 20% of the common stock, while the investors receive an equity position according to their capital contribution.
In the event that the predetermined period lapses before an acquisition is completed, the SPAC is dissolved, and the IPO proceeds held in the trust account are returned to the investors. When running the SPAC, the management team is not allowed to collect salaries until the deal is completed. The founders, in that case, would be out-of-pocket any expenses incurred to set up the SPAC in the first place
SPAC Capital Structure Public UnitsA SPAC floats an IPO to raise the required capital to complete an acquisition of a private company. The capital is sourced from retail and institutional investors, and 100% of the money raised in the IPO is held in a trust account. In return for the capital, investors get to own units, with each unit comprising a share of common stock and a warrant to purchase more stock at a later date.
The purchase price per unit of the securities is usually $10.00. After the IPO, the units become separable into shares of common stock and warrants, which can be traded in the public market. The purpose of the warrant is to provide investors with additional compensation for investing in the SPAC.
Founder/Sponsor SharesThe founders/sponsors of the SPAC will purchase founder shares at the onset of the SPAC registration, and pay nominal consideration for the number of shares that results in a 20% ownership stake in the outstanding shares after the completion of the IPO. The shares are intended to compensate the management team, who are not allowed to receive any salary or commission from the company until an acquisition transaction is completed.
WarrantsThe units sold to the public comprise a fraction of a warrant, which allows the investors to purchase a whole share of common stock. Depending on the bank issuing the IPO and the size of the SPAC, one warrant may be excisable for a fraction of a share (either half, one-third or two-thirds) or a full share of stock.
For example, if a price per unit in the IPO is $10, the warrant may be exercisable at $11.50 per share. The warrants become exercisable either 30 days after the De-SPAC transaction or twelve months after the SPAC IPO.
The public warrants are cash-settled, meaning that the investor must pay the full cost of the warrant in cash to receive a full share of stock. Founder warrants, on the other hand, may be net settled, meaning that they are not required to deliver cash to receive a full share of stock. Instead, they are issued shares of stock with a fair market value equal to the difference between the stock trading price and the warrant strike price.
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