WorkWise

Financial Transaction Leadership (Collaboration) Academy

Better anticipate what your clients need from you in investment banking transactions by understanding the internal factors on the banking side driving transaction processes, compelling midcourse corrections, and structuring the choices for clients' decisions when they sell, divest, acquire, IPO, restructure, and more. Become a better advisor on strategic transactions with WorkWise to understand context, state-of-play, deal strategy and tactics. Seasoned professional? Bridge the gaps. Just starting your career? Accelerate up the onramp. Workwise equips you to understand how deals get done. Our invaluable guides offer practical intelligence derived from the expertise of former bankers observing and synthesizing patterns over decades. Workwise knows what you need to know.: practical intelligence for your purposes. No over-generalized arm-waving, no spreadsheet cell diving. War stories ("Investment Banking Theater") when they best illustrate a point.
  • ADVISORS AND DEAL PROS: SELECT YOUR DEAL BELOW

Situational Awareness Is A Superpower For Advising On Investment Banking Transactions - Company Sales, IPOs, Restructuring, Acquisitions, Fairness Opinions, Rights Offerings

You Are A More Valuable Advisor If You Can Anticipate Issues. You Can Anticipate Issues If You Know What's Going On With The Investment Bankers. Knowing How The Game Is Played Is A Level Above Knowing The Pieces And The Rules. Workwise equips you to understand and anticipate investment bankers' operative constraints and their "go-to" strategies for overcoming them in common transaction scenarios - the fundamental elements driving the dynamics of any deal. Senior investment banking transaction managers founded Workwise. They know what you need to know and cut to the chase. Brief video modules, integrated to give you the big picture - and enjoy it.
Not Ready to Engage with a Transaction-Specific Deep-Dive Course Solution? Join an "Open Office Hours" Q&A Series. Weekly live, open-topic Q&A sessions. Sound good? Press "OPEN OFFICE HOURS SERIES."
open office hours series
Groups organized by transaction role and accountability: C-Suite, Key Employee, Deal Pro (lawyers, accountants, consultants). Sorry, no Entry Level or Student groups yet.
Business (or Division) Sale
What the bankers need the the selling management team to know before and during the business or division sale.
IPO
What the bankers need company management to know before and during the IPO process.
Restructuring
What the bankers need company management to know about how liabilities get restructured and negotiated.
Acquisition
What bankers need company management and the Board to know about how markets interpret the prices of acquisitions.
Fairness Opinion
What bankers need company management and the Board to know about what a Fairness Opinion can, and cannot, do.
Rights Offering
What bankers need company management and the Board to know about the "healing power" of a rights offering.
Michael Kane, Ph.D., J.D.
Creative.Education. Leaders

Our Story

Scores of investment banking transactions executed over three decades at two internationally recognized investment banks and my private investment bank - hundreds of transactions evaluated - thousands of executives interviewed - this is how I know how to orient you to investment banking transactions.
I've seen, and been a part of, fantastic successes and made my fair share of errors. I've paid attention. I have learned what I would want to know if I were you now. I'm bringing to you what I teach business leaders in active transactions to empower them to anticipate, and make, informed decisions for all of their stakeholders.
"I teach my clients in every active investment banking engagement. It's the (second) most rewarding part of my job. I have looked back to find the subject matter I most often repeat in a given transaction and am sharing it with you now - before you become accountable for results. It's information you can use if you are a business leader, and if you are at the beginning of your career, it will help you become a business leader."
Michael Kane
Founder & CEO
  • "Kane has a unique ability to not just spot issues, but to proactively help solve them. When things get challenging – and they will, whether you are going through a sale, IPO or a restructuring – any issue that Kane uncovers will be presented to you with a menu of solutions so that you are empowered to navigate the process in an efficient and informed way."
    ★★★★★
    Michael Moulton
    Managing Partner - Law Firm
    "Mike is like 4 or 5 board members in one person. Finance? Yep. Ops? Yep. Strategy? Yep. He’s seen it all, but if you can come up with some-thing he hasn’t seen before, he can figure it out quickly. Responsive. Responsible. Solution-oriented, positive, and calm in every situation. He’s great in transactions and provides a vantage point that helps you consider many more alternatives than you could by yourself. Mike can find and extract value."
    ★★★★★
    Andy Laats
    Founder, Chairman, CEO - Client Company
    "Kane makes a significant difference in maximizing the value to a client company.... helping foster superior returns to the investors"
    ★★★★★
    Keith Benjamin
    Research Analyst, Technology Investment Bank; Venture Capitalist
  • "Kane teaches an M&A Master Class to everyone involved, if you’re interested in learning (and if you’re not, that’s your loss). He brings a unique blend of experience, process, discipline, creativity and intelligence that you're just not going to get from anybody else. ."
    ★★★★★
    Dan Erickson
    CEO - Client Company
    "Michael Kane has the most experience of any-one you'll likely meet in making successful deals -- an astounding range of business types, busi-ness conditions, and buyers. He knows what's possible, and what is a waste of time...He"s a real chess master for selling companies."
    ★★★★★
    Grant Langston
    CEO - Client Company
    "I have found Michael Kane to be very knowledgeable and competent in evaluating companies to determine optimal equity market value and for preparing companies to execute transactions designed to realize that value"
    ★★★★★
    MIchael Moe
    CEO - Investment Bank