Milestone CEO Book: Why He Aborted the IPO and Chose Canon

By: John Honovich, Published on Sep 15, 2015

Milestone's CEO just published a 205-page book titled 'Business Magnetism'.

Why? No idea. Would assume he had better things to do...

The first 150 pages are painful, with statements like:

"They realize the rarity of this opportunity, and feel the pressure to succeed, but delving into this unchartered territory is also liberating."

and:

"As I go about my daily life, I try to exemplify Kierkegaard’s idea by never becoming complacent and always challenging the status quo."

One of the ways he did that was:

"In a meeting which is likely to be difficult or tense, I equip the room with a small pillow. When people feel frustrated or angry, I explain, they should feel free to release that tension by yelling loudly into the pillow"

But right after teasing about the original ending of the book, it starts getting very interesting as he explains the issues in the IPO process and why it was aborted in favor of choosing the Canon acquisition, including how Avigilon hurt their IPO prospects.

*********'* *** **** ********** ***-******** ****** '******** *********'.

***? ** ****. ***** assume ** *** ****** things ** **...

*** ***** *** ***** are *******, **** ********** like:

"**** ******* *** ****** of **** ***********, *** feel *** ******** ** succeed, *** ******* **** this *********** ********* ** also **********."

***:

"** * ** ***** my ***** ****, * try ** ********* ***********’* idea ** ***** ******** complacent *** ****** *********** the ****** ***."

*** ** *** **** he *** **** ***:

"** * ******* ***** is ****** ** ** difficult ** *****, * equip *** **** **** a ***** ******. **** people **** ********** ** angry, * *******, **** should **** **** ** release **** ******* ** yelling ****** **** *** pillow"

*** ***** ***** ******* about *** ******** ****** of *** ****, ** starts ******* **** *********** as ** ******** *** issues ** *** *** process *** *** ** was ******* ** ***** of ******** *** ***** acquisition, ********* *** ******** hurt ***** *** *********.

[***************]

Problems **** *******

************* ***** *** ********* for ** ***. ** ******* ******* on ****, ******** *** CEO:

"********** **** *********, *** I **** **** ******* this ****** ****’* ** style. ** ****’* *********’* style. ** *** ************ to *** ************ ********** style ** ************* **** we *** ***** *** company ****."

*************

*****, *********'* *** ****** the ******** ** *** public:

"[*****] ******, *** ********** would ** ****** ************, and **’* ********** ** under ******** ** ***********. To ** ******* ******, it ****’* ********* * was ******* ******* **."

**** ** * **** problem, ** **** ******** and **** *** ****** to. *** **** ****** go ***** ** **** numbers *** *** ***, everyone *** **** *** and **** **** ****, creating **** ********** *** field ******.

Showing *****

****** *** **, ***** entreprenuer ******** *** ********* cheered, *********'* *** **** it ** ********* ** Denmark:

"****’* ** ********, “*** original ****** **** **** a *** ** *****.” It’s ******* ********* ** the ** ** ********* in *** *****. *** here **’* ******* ** what *** *********** **** ‘Tall ***** ********’ – cutting **** *** ****** that ****** ******* ** its *****."

Avigilon *** ****** **** *********

** *** *** *** in *******, *********'* ******* cut *********'* *********, ** the *** ********:

"**** **** **** ** provide ******* ** ******** their ***** *********, *** in **** **** **** pointed ** * ***** American ********** ** **** (whose ***** ***** ** the **** *** ********* downwards), *** ******** *** ********. ** **** **** that **** **** ***** forced ** ***** ***** valuation ** * ****** of **** ****** ********."

********'* ****** *** ** not **** *********** *** triggering *** ***** ** Avigilon's ******* *** ****** a **** ** ********* the ************** ** * Milestone ***, ** * falling ******** ***** ***** served ** * ****** comparable *** *********'* *** price.

Lack ** ***

*** ************ ******** ** Milestone ******* ** *** time *** *********, ***** leads ** ***** ********* than ************ **********. *** bankers ****** ** ********* / *** ************ ** more ********* ******* ***** Milestone *** ********* ** do:

"**** ******, *** ***, really **** ******, *** stood *** ******. *** bankers **** ********** **********, determined **** **** **** going ** *** *** to ******* **** *********** about ‘********* *******’, *** he **** *******, **** after ****. *******’ ******** was ** *** ***** that ** ** ******’* provide **** ***********, **** we ******’* ***** *** a ****** *********."

Canon *** * *** *** ** ****

** ********, ***** ******* a ******* ****, ***** they ***** *** **** to **** ****** *** price **** *** **** they **** ***** (****** Danish *** ***** ******** annual ********** - ************'* **** ********** ********).

******** ****** ******** ** say *** **** *** in *** $*** ** $500 ******* *****, ***** would ** * ********* ~5x *********'* *******. ** course, *********'* *** *** not ******** *** ***** but *********** ***** *** overpaid *** **** **** than * **** *****, we ***** *** ** surprised ** ** *** a ****, ********* ****.

The ******

*********'* *** ***** *** book ******* ***** *** future. ** *** **** post, ********* *** ***** ** 'the ***** ** ****** services' *** *** ***** against '*****.*'.

Comments (12)

John Honovich

IPVM | 09/16/15 12:25am

Btw, this is Milestone's CEO best writing ever: Milestone Seeks Global VMS Market Dominance (2011).

Undisclosed Integrator #1

09/16/15 12:30am
CCTV 2.0? Is this a reference to HD-TVI, HD-CVI, etc?

John Honovich

IPVM | In reply to Undisclosed Integrator #1 | 09/16/15 12:33am

According to Milestone's CEO: "bundled solutions look as if they are making a comeback. I call this CCTV 2.0" He laments that this is "return to Proprietary Jail"

More on that in the follow up to this post.

Rogier van der Heide

09/16/15 09:56am

I sure could use a pillow every now and then to scream at. Although, I'm sure my collegue would start to give me weird faces.

Avatar

Lynn Harold

09/16/15 08:54pm

Who knew there was actually a pillow for this purpose?? Maybe it'll become their new source of revenue.

Scream into Pillow

John Honovich

IPVM | In reply to Lynn Harold | 09/16/15 09:06pm

"Maybe it'll become their new source of revenue."

Perhaps a pillow of the month club to get some RMR?

Here's the real deal:

Undisclosed #2

In reply to John Honovich | 09/16/15 09:21pm

Canon's Fujio Mitarai doesn't look like your typical pillow-screamer:

Of course that may change when Axis reports Q3 earnings...

Avatar

Jonathan Lawry

Trecerdo, LLC | In reply to John Honovich | 09/22/15 12:52pm

Maybe their RMR will come from laundry services for those pillows? Yucky stuff would build up over time.

Undisclosed #2

09/19/15 03:37am

John's too modest to mention it, but IPVM figures "prominently" in the book:

Not only were many of our partners there, a large number of security industry press were in attendance as well, and one of the more prominent websites had run with the Sky News story. I needed to nip the speculation in the bud as it risked overwhelming the message of the conference, which was the work we were doing with our partners. We put together a statement, approved by our banking team.

This is what I said onstage: “You have most likely seen today’s home page of the website that is one of the prominent industry watchers in our business. As you can see they are asking a question about us –is Milestone going to IPO? “Milestone is a successful company with a 17-year solid track record in our business. Our primary focus is the continued development of our business but we are also lucky enough to be at a stage in our growth where IPO is one of the options available to us. But it’s just one option and no decision has been made....

Though Security Today remembered it slightly differently:

Taking the stage for an opening keynote speech, Thinggaard asked how many people in the audience follow this analysts’ blog. So few hands were raised in the air, you couldn’t populate a six-year-olds’ birthday cake with an equivalent number of candles.

Security Today also make Lars' denials much more gratuitous and damming, and has him taking a final shot at a certain person in his close:

“We’re not preparing for an IPO this week, in two weeks or two months. An IPO is not on our plate at this time. We’re focusing on a lot of things that pertain to our business structure at this time. Period.” Taking advantage of attending MIPS, Thinggaard reiterated more than once that an initial public offering was not in the works and that everything a person might read on a certain blog just isn’t true.

John Honovich

IPVM | 09/28/15 10:40am

Milestone has now released a video trailer for the book:

John Honovich

IPVM | 10/03/15 12:57am

Milestone, unsolicited, sent me a hardcover copy of the book. It includes numerous photos of Milestone's CEO posing like so:

Undisclosed #2

12/27/15 07:38pm

Independence is one of our core values so when we say stand-alone, we mean stand-alone. If Canon Japan wants Milestone software, they can choose to do so: by being a distributor, or coming to an OEM or other commercial arrangement. They can’t demand that we deliver something to them for free.

Sure they can Lars, they already paid you for it.

Login to read this IPVM report.
Why do I need to log in?
IPVM conducts unique testing and research funded by member's payments enabling us to offer the most independent, accurate and in-depth information.

Related Reports on Financials

Avigilon President Henderson Is Out on Jul 09, 2019
Avigilon's President and COO James Henderson is out, abruptly, after a remarkable ascension over the past 8 years, Motorola VP Jack Molloy has...
RaySharp Revealed - Major China OEM For Western Consumer Video Surveillance on Jul 02, 2019
RaySharp is mostly unknown, even among people in the video surveillance industry, though it is a major supplier of OEM surveillance equipment such...
Alibaba Makes Major Investment Into Uniview on May 30, 2019
China's e-commerce and cloud services giant Alibaba has bought 15% of the shares of Uniview's parent company, TransInfo, in a deal worth ~$500...
ASCMA / Monitronics Declares Chapter 11 Bankruptcy on May 22, 2019
Monitronics is entering into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company, also called Ascent Capital Group Inc., aka ASCMA, aka Brinks Home Security,...
Milestone Execs on Financials, China and Future on Apr 29, 2019
Milestone has released a 44-page annual report for 2018, an atypical and unrequired move for a subsidiary of a large company, however, Milestone...
Hikvision Admits USA Sales Falling on Apr 22, 2019
Hikvision, in a new Chinese financial filing, has admitted that its USA sales are now falling. Less than a year after the US government passed a...
Brinks Home Security / ASCMA Risks Bankruptcy on Apr 08, 2019
ASCMA, aka MONI, aka Brinks Home Security has issued a warning in their most recent financials that they risk bankruptcy. In this note, based on...
ADT Stock Drops After Announcing Loss And Amazon Delay on Mar 12, 2019
ADT's stock price dropped significantly after reporting heavy losses and delays in its Amazon partnership, as seen in the screenshot below: In...
Dahua Posts Slowing But Strong Revenue Growth 2018 on Mar 04, 2019
Despite significant job cuts in China, Dahua's revenues grew more than 25% last year hitting a total of ~$3.5 billion USD, according to its latest...
What Is the Importance of Revenue vs Profitability for Integrators? Statistics on Mar 01, 2019
A company can be highly profitable but if it is small, they will still not make much money. By contrast, a company can generate lots revenue, but...

Most Recent Industry Reports

Responsibility Split Selecting Locks - Statistics on Jul 22, 2019
A heated access debate surrounds who should pick and install the locks. While responsible for selecting the control systems, integrators often...
Vivotek Trend Micro Cyber Security Camera App Tested on Jul 22, 2019
Vivotek and Trend Micro are claiming five million blocked attacks on IP cameras, with their jointly developed app for Vivotek cameras. This new...
Avigilon ACC7 VMS Tested on Jul 22, 2019
Avigilon's Control Center 7 boldly claims it will "transform live video monitoring" with the new Focus of Attention "AI-enabled" interface. We...
History of Video Surveillance on Jul 19, 2019
The video surveillance market has changed significantly since 2000, going from VCRs to emerging into an AI cloud era.  The goal of this history...
Mobile Access Usage Statistics 2019 on Jul 18, 2019
The ability to use mobile phones as access credentials is one of the biggest trends in a market that historically has been slow in adopting new...
New GDPR Guidelines for Video Surveillance Examined on Jul 18, 2019
The highest-level EU data protection authority has issued a new series of provisional video surveillance guidelines. While GDPR has been in...
Wyze AI Analytics Tested - Beats Axis and Hikvision on Jul 17, 2019
$20 camera disruptor Wyze has released free person detection deep learning analytics to all of their users, claiming users will "Only get notified...
Anyvision Aims For 2022 Revenue of $1 Billion on Jul 17, 2019
Only 3 video surveillance manufacturers do a billion dollars or more in annual revenue - Hikvision, Dahua, and Axis. Now, Anyvision plans to join...
HD Analog vs IP Guide on Jul 16, 2019
For years, HD resolution and single cable signal/power were IP camera advantages, with analog cameras limited to much lower resolution and...
How To Troubleshoot Wiegand Reader Problems - Inverted Wiring on Jul 16, 2019
Wiegand is the dominant method of connecting access readers, but problems can arise for installers. In fact, one of the most difficult reader...

The world's leading video surveillance information source, IPVM provides the best reporting, testing and training for 10,000+ members globally. Dedicated to independent and objective information, we uniquely refuse any and all advertisements, sponsorship and consulting from manufacturers.

About | FAQ | Contact