KEYW: "Embrace the Parrot"
KEYW is a curious lil' company in Maryland. It works in the super-secret world of electronic and signals intelligence as a government contractor to defense/intell agencies, but it is -- as of last month -- a publicly traded company, with all the public disclosures that that status brings.
The company's executives, including the CEO Len Moodispaw, have an affinity for Key West. Hence, "KEYW." It seems to be a light atmosphere at KEYW's headquarters in Hanover, with stuffed parrots perched around Moodispaw's office. Last Thursday, the company rang the NASDAQ opening bell and gave investors and analysts a briefing they dubbed: "Embrace the Parrot." Seriously.
Anyhow, here's the story I wrote about KEYW today. Check it out. Below are the first few paragraphs:
Several big investment banks advised Leonard E. Moodispaw that he shouldn't do it — but the CEO of KEYW Corp., a cybersecurity company in Hanover that's been in business for just two years, wouldn't listen.
Restless and eager to expand quickly, Moodispaw took KEYW public last month — after canning the Wall Street naysayers who told him to wait for a more hospitable stock market. The company, with the help of smaller investment banks, raised $89 million on the day of its initial public offering. Within weeks, its market cap rocketed to about $300 million.
"We fired the big guys and did just fine without them," Moodispaw said in a recent interview.
Categories: *NEWS*, East Coast, Entrepreneurs & Risk Takers, Government Tech
