Why would you engage with TCM?  We believe it goes beyond our collective resumes. You should choose to work with TCM because our vision aligns with yours and how we work fits with your goals.

Why we exist:  We match investors and businesses who are both interested in making more money by growing the business’ potential to earn a profit.  We believe there is a “right” deal that has high potential, is reasonably priced, risk-reduced, and designed to maintain alignment between the interests of owners, managers and new investors.

Why we’re different:  We actively work with both sides of the capital equation, leveraging decades of experience, connections and business acumen.  We get our hands dirty preparing the business for this next level of success.

Who we work with: We work with privately held Midwest businesses that have a proven track record of success that, with an infusion of capital, can accelerate their operating income’s growth and profit margin.  Our clients often need us to guide them through some refinements so they’re more attractive to investors or they may be ready right now but don’t know how to package themselves to attract the right investors.

On the investor side, we work with institutional investors (or corporate or professional individual investors in closely-held businesses) who have an interest in placing their money in a business that has a well-designed TCM strategy for growth.

On both sides, our clients have a strong commitment to the successful use of money to make more money.

We are led by the firm’s founding partner, Tom Steen.

Steen was the initiating principal and was one of the founding principals of Cybus Capital Markets in 1995.  Cybus was a merchant bank specialized in raising capital for middle market food and agribusiness firms.  At Cybus, he was the firm’s primary interface with the Iowa Agricultural Finance Corporation, a co-general partner in a $43.0 million public/private investment limited partnership called the tecTERRA Food Capital Fund.  Corporate limited partners included: ADM, Farm Bureau, U.S. Bancorp, West Central Cooperative, Agri-Industries and DuPont Pioneer.  The IAFC Model was designed to avoid many of the direct and indirect pitfalls typically associated with publicly funded venture or private equity pools.  In this model, each key investment decision is driven by an evaluation of the potential for capital gains, as well as, economic benefit to the state and its economy.

In 1985, Steen founded MONY Capital Markets, a subsidiary of Mutual of New York (”MONY”).  Over a ten-year period, MONY Capital Markets grew to become a successful private placement specialist in the middle market and a meaningful contributor to MONY’s corporate strategy.  As a financial intermediary and advisor, MCM originated and completed more than 100 corporate finance transactions in various industries.  At Steen’s initiation in 1995, the operation was sold to key employees and it was renamed, Cybus Capital Markets.

Steen’s positions and responsibilities prior to 1985 include the development of a central U.S. food and agribusiness loan portfolio for Aetna Casualty & Surety (Bell Investment Company, 1980-1985), and the origination and processing of tax-exempt financing for new manufacturing facilities built in the Midwest, as an employee of Dain Bosworth (1977-1980), a regional investment bank based in Minneapolis.

On behalf of the companies he has founded and managed, or on behalf of their clients, Steen has witnessed or coordinated a large number of transactions, management teams, business models, corporate decisions, and other key areas of capital adequacy- all of which help form the basis for the related activities he is now involved in.

He has served on the boards of various companies in biotech, food processing and banking.  He presently serves on the Board of the Plant Sciences Institute at Iowa State University. He is also on the Board of Wholesome Harvest, a niche supply chain manager.