Whelan Capital Management (WCM) is an asset management firm that invests in a mixture of public emerging growth equities and private venture capital opportunities. Our primary focus is on investing capital in growth companies at a reasonable price. WCM manages discretionary accounts for qualified individuals. The firm has more than $50 million in capital under management. WCM is also affiliated with Encinal Capital Group, LLC.

WCM and its predecessor affiliate - Whelan & Gratny Capital Management (WGCM) - were founded in 1991 by H. Gabe Whelan and Gary Gratny. Mr. Gratny elected to retire in December 2004 and WCM has been managed by H. Gabe Whelan since. Brad Miller joined WCM in 2007 to assist in investment advisory activities.

Public Company Investment Philosophy

Our investment philosophy is predicated upon the belief that outstanding long-term returns can be achieved through fundamental analysis and independent valuation of the operating performance of specific companies. Emphasizing growth at a reasonable price through long, short, and trading positions, our portfolios are designed to generate capital appreciation while managing capital risk.

Public Company Investment Process

Our investment process begins with the early identification of growth investment themes. From this vantage point, rigorous fundamental analysis is performed on specific companies and industries. We focus on four primary "G.I.V.E." factors: growth, innovation capacity, viability/valuation and event catalyst. This investment methodology is the basis for all buy and sell decisions.

Portfolio construction is accomplished one position at a time and all portfolios are actively managed by WCM. Individual portfolio strategies with respect to the balance of long and short positions and use of leverage, within the context of WCM's investment philosophy, are determined on a client-by-client basis for each discretionary account.

Public & Private Company Investment Criteria

• Growth. Our portfolio companies are generally involved in very dynamic and growing markets. The companies we invest in are leaders in their respective industries and have the ability to grow substantially over the next three to five years.
• Innovation Capacity. A critical component of a company's success is its disciplined approach to innovate within current markets or to create new ones. Accurately valuing a company's innovation capacity can uncover significant "hidden assets"--one of the few remaining advantages for investors looking to outperform an otherwise efficient market.
• Viability/Valuation. Our portfolio companies must have a strong balance sheet that will enable them to succeed in both prosperous and lean business conditions. In addition, we particularly like those firms in which the management owns a meaningful portion of the company and has a proven track record. Valuation within a firm�fs historical context and growth outlook is a strong consideration with respect to the timing of an investment decision. We are especially interested in public companies that exhibit superior growth characteristics and that are reasonably priced relative to the market.
• Event catalyst. When investing in companies, we also seek to identify an event catalyst that will bring the company into a positive growth phase within 6-12 months. Examples of potential catalysts include: a new management team, a strategic acquisition, or a new product introduction.

Short portfolio candidates are the result of companies not passing our rigorous fundamental analysis. Typically, the identification of a strong company in a particular industry will reveal competitors that are either financially weak or that lack a competitive advantage for the long-term. We apply the same "G.I.V.E." analysis to find short candidates, reversing the characteristics to find the weakest companies.

From time to time, a component to our portfolio approach is short-term equity trading. Short-term trading opportunities present themselves when either the stock market indiscriminately discounts the price of a company, or when the prospect for short-term appreciation is evident. Typically, a company's stock sell-off is the result of some form of disappointing company-specific or industry-related news. From time to time the reaction to that news is disproportionate to the actual impact on fundamentals for the company, thus creating a short-term trading opportunity. Our ability to monitor these market actions, coupled with our research process, allows us to take advantage of periodic trading opportunities.