22 November 2009 by Change Agent Des
This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for my first boss, Tom Poole, who died a year ago. A quiet, unassuming Down Maine’r, as a young man Tom left the Pine Tree State first to fight for our country and then to make his mark on the business world. In his retirement, he returned each summer to his cottage in northern Maine.
Tom taught me four lessons — about hiring, making unpopular decisions, buying a cottage (in Maine!), and taking vacations — that have had an immeasurable impact on my life and, by association, the lives of many around me. Each lesson has its own story which, Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in A Better Way?, Burroughs, Cottage, Des Pieri, Desmond Pieri, First Boss, Greenville Maine, Hiring, Maine, Summer Vacation, Thanksgiving, Tom Poole, Vacation Time | 4 Comments »
11 November 2009 by Change Agent Des
I’ve done 10 interim CEO / interim COO gigs during the last 10 years. In my view, there are four cases when hiring an interim CEO make sense:
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- For The First 3 – 18 Months of a Startup: As detailed in this post (which in turn was prompted by Flybridge Capital Partners venture capitalist Michael Greeley’s recent post) there are times when hiring an interim CEO at the formation of a startup makes sense. Adding the experience of a senior, successful entrepreneur to the passion and vision of the founding entrepreneurs can increase the likelihood of the venture’s success. (This is the role I played at Ember Corporation.)
- Helping a Founding CEO: Often, later in a startup’s life, a founding CEO can use help. Rather than terminating the founder and “throwing the baby out with the bath water,” a better solution might be to bring in an interim COO to counsel the founder, and – in many cases – to actually Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Business, C-Level, CR2, Change Agent, Des Pieri, Desmond Pieri, Dublin, E Ink, Eink, Ember, Everypoint, Flybridge Capital Partners, HeartSine, Interim, Interim Management, Kindle, Michael Greeley, Startups, Turnaround | 4 Comments »
31 October 2009 by Change Agent Des
I agree with venture capitalist Michael Greeley of Flybridge Capital Partners who recently stated that building companies demands great passion, vision and intelligence but “it also helps to have done it before.” He goes on to say that what the marketplace really needs are “senior successful serial entrepreneurs” to serve on the next generation of entrepreneurs’ boards, to open up their rolodexes, and to share what worked and what didn’t work. He ends by noting that, “such mentorship is difficult to find.”
I would like to build on that suggestion; rather than having these serial entrepreneurs simply serve on boards, I suggest that in some cases they should actually serve as the startup’s interim CEO while the company is getting off the ground.
Every startup has a myriad of details and actions that need to be done. Rather than having a board member who simply advises, “You need to do this; and you need to do that,” in many cases the startup would be better served by Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in C-Level, Des Pieri, Desmond Pieri, Flybridge Capital Partners, Interim, Interim Management, Michael Greeley, Startups, Turnaround, Venture Capital | 4 Comments »
19 October 2009 by Change Agent Des
I do start ups and turn arounds, both high-risk ventures. Some turn out well; others do not. Everypoint — a turn around — did not. Here’s why.
In the spring of 2008, I joined Everypoint as interim COO, after nearly 85% of the original VC investment had been spent by the previous two CEOs. During my first weeks people at our target customers — mobile phone makers like RIM and Nokia — told us they did not believe that Allan MacKinnon could invent what he claimed; an entirely new platform for developing apps for mobile phones that (a) were stunningly beautiful, (b) consumed virtually no battery, and (c) ran on 92% of the phones in people’s pockets, i.e., “feature” phones.
“Write once, run anywhere” had been promised for years and never delivered. It was clear the only way to prove we could do what others could not do was to
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Allan MacKinnon, Android, Apple, Blackberry, Business, Des Pieri, Desmond Pieri, Droid, E Ink, Eink, Ember, Everypoint, Feature Phones, Mobile App, Mobile Browser, Mobile Devices, Motorola, Nokia, RIM, Sanjay Jha, Smartphone, Turnaround, Venture Capital, iPhone | 5 Comments »
27 September 2009 by Change Agent Des
Many (most?) founding CEOs don’t survive their VCs. As Galen Moore states in his Mass High Tech piece, “Venture capital investors are notorious for investing in a startup, then replacing its founder with a more-seasoned CEO from their network.” Galen highlights four founding CEOs that have survived, though the article is a bit light on specifics as to how each achieved their success.
Here’s one way: In the last decade, I’ve seen first-hand a number of companies where a founding, first-time CEO heads the VCs off at the pass by bringing in a seasoned COO, on an interim basis, to help them through a rough patch.
It’s true that half of my ten interim assignments have been as CEO, where the VCs wanted to replace a founding CEO. In each case I was asked to take over from a fired founding CEO and “right the ship” before an executive search for an industry-specific CEO could be undertaken.
But the other five interim assignments have been as COO, where the founding CEO themselves decided Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Business, Change Agent, Des Pieri, Desmond Pieri, Galen Moore, Interim, Interim Management, Mass High Tech, Startups, Steve Hafner, Venture Capital | 2 Comments »
28 June 2009 by Change Agent Des
Four years ago — when the iPhone and iPhone apps were just a twinkle in Steve Jobs’ eye — three Boston-based Venture Capitalists had the courage to invest in Allan MacKinnon and his vision of a new app development platform for mobile phones. These VCs had the courage to bet that mobile apps would be the success that they have become, as well as the courage to back Allan’s contrarian approach to create a platform – called Nemo — that would let developers write a mobile app once and have the app run on over 90% of the phones that people have in their pockets.
With the development of Nemo complete, we’ve decided the best way to enter our “commercialization” phase is as part of a larger, established company — either a hand-set manufacturer, or a company that supplies infrastructure to mobile carriers.
So why will it take courage for a VP at one of these companies to buy Everypoint? It’s not because of product risk; testing proves Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Allan MacKinnon, Apple, Everypoint, Fairhaven Capital, Feature Phones, Mobile App, Mobile Devices, Mobiles, Prism Ventureworks, Smart Phone, Smartphone, Venrock Ventures, Venture Capital, iPhone | 4 Comments »
6 June 2009 by Change Agent Des
In an earlier post, I give my view on the six things it takes to be a good interim executive. In another, I discuss the four cases when, in my view, a business should consider interim executive management. Today I was asked, “Why does interim management work?” Here’s what I said.
No Ulterior Motive: For the interim executive, it’s never about “What’s in it for me?” Or, “What’s the impact on my bonus/options/future job.” Rather, it’s always about, “What’s best for the company? What’s the best way to fix this up so I can move on?”
Key Players Engage: It’s never me that turns a place around. Rather it’s key players – many of them junior managers or individual contributors – who are the ones who make the biggest impact. (In this post I talk about how, in the first week on each assignment, I figure out who those key players are.)
Prior Knowledge: I never cease to be amazed how often I’ll use something that someone taught me, often a long time ago and / or often in a seemingly very different circumstance. This prior knowledge from so many varied situations is key.
Posted in Change Agent, Des Pieri, Desmond Pieri, Interim, Interim Management | Leave a Comment »
2 June 2009 by Change Agent Des
My very first interim assignment a decade ago was at E Ink, the maker of Amazon’s Kindle. I am pleased to see the company was successfully sold and will remain in Boston. Congratulations to Russ Wilcox and the great team at E Ink
Here’s what I say about E Ink in my resume:
“Reporting to the CEO, Jim Iuliano in an interim role as General Manager of a 22-person group within a 100-person Atlas Venture funded company that originated out of MIT. Was charged with determining why divisional revenue targets had not been achieved. Although I possessed no prior knowledge of the product space (electronic, centrally controlled signage) or the target markets (retailers and consumer package goods companies), within weeks determined that success could not be immediately achieved with the current product in the existing markets. Created and managed four SWAT teams which rapidly conducted exhaustive research to find a new market opportunity for the Company’s technologies, the Ink-In-Motion line which is still in use today. Currently, E Ink’s technology is the display in the Amazon Kindle and the Sony Reader wireless reading devices. Eink was sold for over $215 million.”
Posted in Amazon, Boston, Change Agent, Des Pieri, Desmond Pieri, E Ink, Eink, Interim, Interim Management, Kindle, MIT, Russ Willcox, Turnaround, Venture Capital | 4 Comments »
27 May 2009 by Change Agent Des
David Brooks’ NY Times Op-Ed piece, “In Praise of Dullness” provides data from numerous studies as to what does – and does not – make a good CEO. He reports that traits that are NOT associated with being an effective CEO include many things that seem counterintuitive, including: strong people skills, being a good listener, a good team builder, an enthusiastic colleague, a great communicator. He contends that warm, flexible, team-oriented and empathetic people are less likely to thrive as CEOs.
Rather Brooks reports that organized, dogged, anal-retentive, and slightly boring people are more likely to thrive as CEOs! Studies show that traits which correlate well with CEO success include emotional stability and conscientiousness; being dependable, making plans, and following through on those plans. He concludes with, “The CEOs that are most likely to succeed are Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in A Better Way?, David Brooks, Des Pieri, Desmond Pieri, Good CEO, Interim, Interim Management, NY Times, Steve Blank, Steven Gary Blank | Leave a Comment »
11 May 2009 by Change Agent Des
We have an important potential client visiting tomorrow so I’ve lassoed the troops and we just cleaned the office. One of the younger guys asked, “Des, this company will be buying our technology, not our office space. So tell me again why we’re cleaning the office before they arrive.” To which one of the other guys said, “Tell them your story Des.” Here goes.
My first job out of school was working for a large computer company. A few years into the gig, I had an assignment on the New England District staff, one of five guys working for the District manager who managed two dozen Branches.
One of our tasks was for the District Manager and his staff to go to each branch once a year and do an all-day review of everything: sales forecasts, accounts receivable, quality of service, installations, inventory etc. The first time I did one of these reviews, when we arrived at the office, I headed straight for the conference room for the presentations to begin.
But the boss said, “No, Des, we start in the back room at the loading dock, Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in A Better Way?, Des Pieri, Desmond Pieri | 3 Comments »
This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for my first boss, Tom Poole, who died a year ago. A quiet, unassuming Down Maine’r, as a young man Tom left the Pine Tree State first to fight for our country and then to make his mark on the business world. In his retirement, he returned each summer to his cottage in northern Maine.
