Experience as SVP of Sales & Marketing, COO, and CEO since 1983 with 4 application software and Software as a Service (SaaS) firms. In 3 of the companies, covering 23 years, the challenge was to market a big ticket application software product to the largest firms in the world who had never heard of the firm and did not have the budget for the product. In each of the cases, new trails were being blazed and a market being created for the following applications:

Supply Chain Management
Web based Order Management
Data as a Service for the Food Service Supply Chain

Role as SVP of Sales and Marketing was to quickly identify the industry markets to sell to; recruit, build and train a sales force; build an alliance organization to partner with the world’s largest consulting firms; identify and execute on acquisitions to expand the product line; participate as part of a 6 person executive team in yearly strategic planning sessions and communicate the results to employees and partners. Results with this firm included revenue growth from zero to $180 million and stock appreciation from $10/share at opening to $130/share 5 years later.

The role of COO entailed taking on a company with $1 million in services revenue, 40 employees, a need to identify the correct industry markets, and, build the sales force and the management team. 1 year later, the firm was on a revenue track of $16 million per year; execs for sales, product management, and implementation services were hired; employees numbered 240; alliances were built with the largest consulting firms in the US; drafted S-1 with Morgan Stanley in anticipation of an IPO. Decision was made to sell the firm (to my previous company) instead of going public.

The challenge as CEO was to take on a software firm with $2 million in revenue, expenses of $500,000 per month and a business model that needed to be changed. Sold a non-strategic, resource intensive software product with annual revenues of $1.2 million to another vendor for $3.5 million which funded the strategic portion of the business. A VP of Engineering was hired to focus on the remaining strategic product. The sales force was completely revamped and partnerships formed with potential acquirers. The business model was changed from an enterprise software sale with upfront license fees to a SaaS Model, which insured consistent monthly revenues for the future. The firm was transformed to a cash flow positive business with revenues that grew from $800,000 per year to $3,000,000.