Texar

I tend to view things fairly simply. From coding to business I’ve found that this works exceedingly well. There are always special cases, but I tend to handle those on a case-by-case basis. I try to keep the general workings of my code, my life, and my business fairly straightforward. It’s saved me from a lot of agonizing over finding the perfect way to do a given thing. I also tend to hold specific truths to be self-evident. One of these truths is that if a CEO is required he or she should be brought in early, rather than later. Either a new CEO was required from day one or a new one wasn’t. If they always were, bringing one in early is best for the company, for morale, for logistics, and just generally. Of course finding the right CEO is no easier and may in fact be harder earlier than later, but I stand by my assertion. I didn’t always think this way.   CEO: Now or Never Jim Collins’ new book Good to Great is a prequel to his eye-opening Built to Last that discusses what it takes to get a company from good to great. From a

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When a company is started it’s crucial to ensure that the right people are brought on board at the right time. All too often a company starts up with a slew of techies with little or no business acumen and even less understanding of markets and market drivers. And since every successful company must sell product to a customer it’s crucial that the company determine who those customers are as early as possible. After my time at Texar I’ve come to a series of conclusions as to who should be brought on early, who should be brought on at various stages of corporate growth, and who should never be brought on. Although my take is my own it seems to jive with what most other entrepreneurs see as the correct sequence. In at least one case, though, my belief is at direct odds with what investors, especially, view as crucial to getting a start-up to success. My disagreement stems from the belief of how the senior management team should be arranged, especially with regards to how super successful high-tech companies look at the senior level. Here I’m talking about companies like Microsoft, Oracle, and Newbridge from their formative years until

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In 1998 I graduated with another degree in Computer Science, this time a Master’s degree. If nothing else it proved I had enough perseverance to get to the end game. Even so it was only the start of my intentions. My wife and I wanted to take the technology I had developed and take it mainstream — we wanted to start a company. That spring we had spoken with a slew of investment bankers. We finally settled on a group of four dynamic individuals at Thorington, a boutique investment banking firm. We finalized the paper work through the spring of 1998 and began hunting for cash in earnest shortly after graduation. It would be an interesting period in my life. Working with Bob, John, Kevin, and Rick would be an event in and of itself as we created the business plan, the presentations, and got onto the lists for presentations with various VCs and other investors. We started in May and ended up working together for nearly a year. It was a giddy time. It was all on Internet time. Damn it was fun. I had no idea what to expect when the real work of getting funding began but

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