Introduction
Why do stock markets exist? It's pretty simple: companies need funding in order to grow and underwrite whatever ideas they think are commercial. The market is a place where cash-poor companies get in touch with cash-rich investors and swap equity for financing.
What has this fine idea got to do with Mello 2014? Well if you're an institutional investor, with several billion pounds in your back pocket, companies (and plenty of them) come to you with a begging bowl. In stark contrast the opposite is often true for private investors and quite a few companies view us as a suckers waiting to be parted from our money. So there's a real need for a forum where we can find and learn about sensible firms to invest in.
Up till now this gap in the market has been met, primarily, by investor conferences such as The London Investor Show and Master Investor (to take two random examples from Google). Unfortunately these shows tend to attract a plethora of tin-pot mining operations, wildly speculative blue-sky stocks and other firms desperate to cover next month's payroll. Hence the quality is patchy and this is something that has long concerned David Stredder; the hard-working creator of Mello 2014.
Out of a successful thirty-year background in private investing David first began to right this imbalance by starting a monthly investor meeting, Mello Monday, over nine years ago. At these dinners the management of a few invited companies present to the assembled investors; invariably this stimulates vigorous discussion and occasionally some awkward questions for the managers on hand. It's a great format that benefits both individuals and the companies who share their story.
However David is an ambitious and tireless individual who dreams of a world where private shareholders feel (and are) enfranchised while companies get to know who their owners are and engage with them directly. To further this vision he came up with the idea of turning Mello Monday into a three-day, full-on conference and in less than six months this idea became reality (with the help of some very capable and determined associates). The result is Mello 2014 and I, for one, feel very grateful that such an event exists and that my wife was generous enough to let me spend three days enjoying everything…
