Cabrillo provides a full suite of valuation services for public and private companies and Boards of Directors, all performed in accordance with AICPA, GAAP, IFRS, IRS, SEC, and USPAP Standards.
Cabrillo provides a full suite of valuation services for public and private companies and Boards of Directors, all performed in accordance with AICPA, GAAP, IFRS, IRS, SEC, and USPAP Standards.
Business valuation is the process of determining the economic worth or value of a company or business entity. It involves a comprehensive analysis of various factors that contribute to the overall value of the business, such as its assets, liabilities, revenue streams, profitability, growth potential, market position, and future prospects. The valuation process typically utilizes multiple methodologies, including asset-based approaches, income-based approaches (such as the discounted cash flow analysis), and market-based approaches (such as the similar transactions method or the guideline public company method). The goal of business valuation is to arrive at a fair and reasonable estimate of the company’s worth, which can be used for various purposes, such as mergers and acquisitions, fundraising, tax planning, partner buyouts, or litigation support. It is a critical exercise that requires expertise in financial analysis, industry knowledge, and an understanding of valuation principles and techniques.
IRC 409a governs all privately-held companies seeking to issue deferred compensation, which includes many types of equity-based compensation (i.e. stock options). The IRC prohibits the issuance of stock options with exercise prices below fair market value that are in-the-money. Tax penalties stemming from non-compliance can be severe, as both state and federal charges may apply; additionally, non-compliance can impede institutional financing or potential exit strategies. We have substantial expertise in this area and our work has withstood the toughest scrutiny from top tier-VCs, Big Four accounting firms, and most of the top venture law firms in the industry.
Valuations are a central component of Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOP) and are required by law, with severe penalties for non-compliance. We are typically engaged by the ESOP trustee as a financial advisor and perform services for the trustee related to company and stock valuations at ESOP inception and thereafter.
Business combinations give rise to a number of financial reporting requirements for the stakeholders involved. Companies with GAAP-based financial statements must comply with the guidance set forth in Accounting Standards Codification 805, by recognizing and allocating all balance sheet items in an acquisition.
This applies to all tangible and intangible assets and is typically referred to as a Purchase Price Allocation (PPA). To remain compliant, generally any goodwill booked (or indefinite-lived intangible assets) must be tested at least annually under ASC 350.
Valuing thousands of companies across a broad array of industries, from simple seed-funded businesses to significant private and public entities
Collaborating with seasoned professionals, including boards of directors, attorneys, consultants, accountants, and entrepreneurs
Successfully navigating extensive reviews by boards of directors, the SEC and auditors, while always supporting our clients’ positions and strategies
Companies are faced with numerous financial decisions, many of which are one-time events. At Cabrillo Advisors, we know that the combination of our expertise with your knowledge of your company and industry can lead to optimal solutions.
Wade is the Founder and Managing Director at Cabrillo Advisors and brings a great depth of experience and strategic perspective
spanning more than 25 years in senior advisory, deal execution, business valuations and entrepreneurial roles for private and public
companies, as well as for attorneys and high-net-worth individuals.
During his time at Intrepid Investment Bankers, he was responsible for growing the firm’s origination and coverage activities in key
sectors, including technology, healthcare and life sciences.
Prior to founding Cabrillo Advisors, and its predecessor firm MHT Partners in
Dallas, Texas, Wade was a founding principal at Dell Ventures in Austin, Texas, where he invested in high-tech (software,
semiconductor) business services, and Internet based companies. Wade began his postgraduate career at McKinsey & Co, where he
served high-tech and pharma companies on matters of M&A and post merger management. He started his career in Ernst and Young’s
Audit Department, and is licensed CPA in the State of Texas.
Wade has an MBA with distinction from Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Business and graduated from San Diego State
University with a bachelor’s degree in Accounting summa cum laude. Wade holds FINRA Series 7, 24, 63, and 79 licenses.
Dean Colvin has over 25 years of valuation and transaction advisory service experience with both public and private companies, on
matters relating to estate and gift tax, corporate tax planning, financial reporting, strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions, fairness
opinions, restructuring, solvency opinions, portfolio valuation, employee stock ownership plans, and litigation Prior to joining Cabrillo Advisors, Mr. Colvin was a Senior Vice President at FMV Opinions, where he was a leader in the firm’s Southern
California Valuation and Advisory Services practice. Prior to FMV Opinions, Mr. Colvin was a Vice President with Houlihan Lokey, where
he managed valuation and transaction advisory assignments for a variety of purposes. Mr. Colvin began his career as a Manager in the
Corporate Finance and Transaction Advisory Services groups of Ernst & Young and Deloitte
Mr. Colvin earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration at the University of Southern California and an MBA at the
University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business. He is registered with FINRA as a General Securities Representative
(Series 7, 63 and 79).
Gordon Lin is a Senior Director in Cabrillo Advisors.
Gordon specializes in valuation and advisory services, including estate and gift tax, corporate tax
planning, financial reporting, strategic planning, fairness opinions, portfolio valuation, employee stock options and ownership plans.
Gordon has business valuation experience in a number of industries including banking, real estate, insurance, energy, utilities, manufacturing,
technology, media and entertainment, aerospace, and professional services. Gordon Lin has provided valuations of companies across all stages of
development, and of various types of securities, including common and preferred equity, debt and convertible instruments, restricted securities,
stock options, warrants, and other derivative instruments, as well as a variety of structured interests within private equity, hedge fund, and venture
capital firms Prior to joining Cabrillo Advisors, Gordon spent four years at FMV Opinions, where he worked on valuation and transaction advisory assignments
relating to litigation support, corporate planning, estate planning, purchase price allocation, financial reporting, restructuring, solvency and fairness
opinions, and mergers and acquisitions Gordon received his Master of Business Administration degree from the USC Marshall School of Business, where he concentrated in financial
analysis and valuation. Gordon received his undergraduate degree in international studies from University of California, Irvine. He is a FINRA Series
79 and 63 Registered Securities Representative. Gordon Lin is an Accredited Member (AM) of the American Society of Appraisers (ASA).
Carey Delia has over 20 years of valuation and transaction advisory experience, with both public and private companies, on matters relating to fairness and solvency opinions, tax and financial reporting, portfolio valuations, mergers and acquisitions, strategic planning, financial modeling, and private security placement. Prior to joining Cabrillo Advisors, Ms. Delia was a Senior Manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where she managed the execution of valuation engagements across a variety of industries for transaction, financial reporting and tax purposes. These engagements included purchase price allocations, tax reorganizations, impairment tests, transaction modeling, and portfolio evaluations. Prior to PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ms. Delia was a Vice President at Houlihan Lokey, where she managed, executed, and coordinated all aspects of a wide variety of mergers and acquisitions and private security placement engagements.Ms. Delia earned a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Business Administration, cum laude, from the University of Vermont and an MBA in Finance from the University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School of Business. Ms. Delia also serves on the Board of Directors for the Rumson Education Foundation, which is dedicated to enhancing the educational experience of students in the Rumson public school system.
Gadiel Morantes is an accomplished executive who has spent his career building long term relationships with key partners in the venture capital, private equity, and privately held business ecosystems throughout the U.S. He has developed a reputation for adding value to both clients and partners to assist them in achieving their business goals. Gadiel has also successfully built sales teams that have consistently exceeded revenue targets while ensuring exceptional quality and execution for clients.
In his role as President & Chief Revenue Officer of Early Growth (acquired by Escalon Services), Gadiel built the sales team that expanded the organization into key markets throughout the U.S. while achieving consistent revenue growth every year. Previously, Gadiel led Bay Area business development for Square 1 Bank, Moss Adams LLP (formerly Mohler, Nixon, & Williams) and Bowne. In his roles as a VP of Venture Banking and as a business development executive, Gadiel identified new sales opportunities, developed pursuit strategies, increased new business generation, established sales and marketing strategies, and increased overall sales performance within these organizations.
Gadiel earned his BA in Psychology from San Jose State University. He is an active member of YPO Pac West Chapter (Young Presidents’ Organization) and is an advisor and mentor to a number of early stage accelerators. Gadiel sits on the advisory boards for companies helping them achieve growth and increased revenue.
Jonathan Schlesinger has experience in a wide range of valuation and transaction advisory services to both public and private companies. He has valuation and transaction advisory experience related to a number of industries, including IT security, digital media and advertising, original equipment manufacturing, biotechnology, e-commerce, and telecommunications. Jonathan has provided valuation related support to his clients on topics such as equity compensation, gift & estate tax, purchase price allocation and goodwill impairment.
Prior to joining Cabrillo Advisors, Jonathan worked as an analyst with the Light Group where he provided financial planning and analysis related support. Jonathan also worked with Union Bank’s Capital Markets group, supporting their structured financial product division. He is a United States Marine Corps Veteran and earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business.
Han Le is a Manager at Cabrillo Advisors. Han has valuation experience in a number of industries including technology, pharmaceutical, automobile, energy, manufacturing, energy, utilities, media and entertainment, and professional services.
Han has 7 years of valuation and transaction advisory service experience with both public and private companies, while working on solvency and fairness opinions, and valuations for a variety of purposes including but not limited to financing reporting, ESOP, estate and gift tax planning, stock option plans. Mr. Le earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics at University of California, San Diego.
Duyen (Julia) Nguyen is the President of Cabrillo Compliance at Cabrillo Advisors, serving clients in Accounting services, Grant Management, Compliance Consulting and Single Audits Practice (OMB Circular A-133). Julia has more than 14 years of extensive knowledge of higher education, sponsored research, non-profit budgeting, financial analysis, reporting, bench-marking, cash management and accounting.
Prior to joining Cabrillo Advisors, Julia led a team at UCSD managing sponsored research financial services, grant management, compliance advisory, single audits and agency audits for the University of California, San Diego and the University of California, Office of The President. She also worked in Assurance Services at PwC San Diego office performing audits in various industries including A-133 audits for Higher Education and Sponsored Research.
Julia graduated from San Diego State University with a Bachelor in Accounting and an MBA in Finance. She is a CPA and a member of both the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the California Society of CPAs.
Thomas Qian is a Manager at Cabrillo Compliance, serving clients in Accounting Services, Grant Management, Compliance Consulting. Thomas brings over a decade of expertise working in the areas of not‐for‐profits and higher education, with a specialty in budgeting, financial analysis, reporting, grants management, cash management and technical accounting.
Thomas began his career in public accounting at Raffa PC (now Marcum) in Washington, DC, serving dozens of businesses and organizations with managed accounting services and the financial systems implementation. He subsequently assumed leadership roles at two non‐profit organizations before moving to San Diego in 2017.
Prior to joining Cabrillo Advisors, Thomas steered the cash management and banking team at the University of California, San Diego. His experience also encompasses financial management of federal, state, and private grants/contracts, mass data migration/reconciliation projects, drafting technical accounting memos, and performing PCI risk and compliance assessments.
Thomas graduated from American University in Washington, DC with a bachelor’s degree in international relations and a master’s degree in accounting. He holds an active CPA license in DC.
Celeste Asbury has an extensive background in corporate accounting, audit readiness and
support, technical accounting research/white paper preparation and financial reporting. In
addition, Celeste spent ten years in public accounting and has vast experience in the area of
stock based compensation.
Celeste began her career in the audit practice at PwC in San Diego where she worked on clients
such as Qualcomm, The Copley Press (Union Tribune) and Agouron Pharmaceuticals. She has
held a variety of roles at Resources Global Professionals, Slacker Inc, and Vantage Point
Advisors before landing at Ingenu as its Corporate Controller. Most recently, Celeste has
worked in an advisory capacity working with companies to implement new technical accounting
pronouncements, providing general technical accounting support, assisting with ASC 718
calculations and related system implementations and providing fractional Controller/CFO level
services.
Ms. Asbury earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration at San Diego State
University. She is a CPA in the State of California (inactive) and Arizona (active).
Austin Gaddie has experience in a wide range of valuation and transaction advisory services. He has
served both public and private companies in a number of industries, including but not limited to
technology, pharmaceuticals, energy, manufacturing and professional services. Austin has provided
valuation and transaction advisory services to support his clients on mergers and acquisitions, equity
compensation, gift and estate tax planning, strategic alternatives, portfolio valuation, purchase price
allocations and goodwill impairment.
Prior to joining Cabrillo Advisors, Austin worked as an analyst with Chartwell Financial Advisory where
he provided valuation and transaction advisory services primarily to employee stock ownership plan
trustees. Austin earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University
of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business, as a Trustee Scholar with Honors.
Michael Zeisser
Former Chairman, U.S. Investments for Alibaba Group.
Michael Zeisser is the Managing Partner of FMZ Ventures, a growth equity investment fund specializing in experience economy companies and consumer marketplaces. Until April 2018, he was Chairman, U.S. Investments for Alibaba Group and led Alibaba’s strategic investments outside of Asia. Mr. Zeisser joined Alibaba in 2013 prior to its historic IPO and was Alibaba’s most senior executive in the Americas. Before Alibaba Group, Mr. Zeisser spent almost a decade working at Liberty Media Corporation, where he led investments in digital media, online gaming, and commerce. Prior to joining Liberty Media in 2003, he was a partner at McKinsey & Company in New York.
Mr. Zeisser has considerable governance experience. He currently serves on the boards of Global Technology Acquisition Corp. I and several privately held companies, and has previously served on the boards of Trip Advisor, IAC, TIME Inc., Shutterfly, and XO Group. Mr. Zeisser graduated from the University of Strasbourg, France and the J.L.Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.
