On my last day of Daytona Bike Week 05 this year, I parked my new Big Inch Bikes - Saturday Night Special chopper at the Stock Exchange, was having dinner with a friend, and happened to run into Robbie Knievel (who, of course, has taken over, with his own unique style, from where his dad, Evel Knievel left off) "Americas Greatest Daredevil".
He was having dinner with his "crew" and we got a few minutes to chat afterwords. He told me about his upcoming A&E TV series premiering Tuesday April 5th at 10pm est on A&E called Knievel's Wild Ride ("Theirs is the road less traveled - a real-life and limb series...") and how in the first episode they are outnumbered in a bar fight ( a reality show I can't wait to see.) Most of the people shown on this website were there.
He also told me about the very radical and powerful new chopper he just built (which he was riding in Daytona) and how he was starting a chopper line of his own. Really cool guy.....very down to earth for the amount of time he spends leaping in the air.
His story reminds me so much of my own wild ride in the software business and the wild rides many of my friends, associates and clients have taken. Ours has also been the road less traveled and resulted in probably as many spills and thrills. It also reminded me that you constantly have to leverage what you have and reinvent yourself when the time calls for it.
But all of that, my friends, is what makes it worth doing.
Live free, ride hard !
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Monday, March 07, 2005
Hi ho ... hi ho....another IPO (for SSA)
SSA Global on last Tuesday said it plans to offer 14.3 million shares at $13-$15 each in a bid to raise up to $215 million in its initial public offering. The Chicago-based maker of Internet-based software for strategic planning, forecasting and budgeting and transactions plans to trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker "SSAG."
But as I say to my kids "This isn't your father's SSA." In fact it barely resembles SSA of old except for the fact that BPCS is part of the porfolio of products being offered by SSAG. I remember the good old days when SSA first went public in the mid 80's....because 6 months later Roger Covey (SSA's CEO and primary founder) came to Boston's Logan Airport to buy my first company (ASE Services.) We were the largest and most successful SSA affiliate. Those were the days of boot-strap financing (no VC's to start either SSA or ASE although Roger did take $1.25 mill. from TA Associates primarily for BOD expertise to help get the IPO off). Those were also the days of 100% revenue growth - with positive cash flow and profits. What a concept! But we did it. And many ventures today could learn a few lessons from those days.
No knock on SSAG - nice job of consolidating bargain basement ventures, who couldn't sustain themselves, into this financial play. Good luck with the IPO. Hope you do at least as well as we did. But somehow it doesn't feel like it is as fun as it was when we built this once laser focused software solution company "in the old days."
But as I say to my kids "This isn't your father's SSA." In fact it barely resembles SSA of old except for the fact that BPCS is part of the porfolio of products being offered by SSAG. I remember the good old days when SSA first went public in the mid 80's....because 6 months later Roger Covey (SSA's CEO and primary founder) came to Boston's Logan Airport to buy my first company (ASE Services.) We were the largest and most successful SSA affiliate. Those were the days of boot-strap financing (no VC's to start either SSA or ASE although Roger did take $1.25 mill. from TA Associates primarily for BOD expertise to help get the IPO off). Those were also the days of 100% revenue growth - with positive cash flow and profits. What a concept! But we did it. And many ventures today could learn a few lessons from those days.
No knock on SSAG - nice job of consolidating bargain basement ventures, who couldn't sustain themselves, into this financial play. Good luck with the IPO. Hope you do at least as well as we did. But somehow it doesn't feel like it is as fun as it was when we built this once laser focused software solution company "in the old days."
ChannelWave acquired by Click Commerce
I met with ChannelWave's former CEO Chris Heidleberger last week at Starbucks to catch up on what each other is up to. I worked with Chris and ChannelWave a few years ago. You meet alot of people in this business and Chris is a terrific person and a friend in addition to being the type of CEO who does whatever it takes.
Enjoy the skiing Chris before you jump into the next venture !
Click Commerce, Inc., a provider of collaborative extranet solutions, acquired substantially all of the operating assets of ChannelWave’s channel management and service automation solutions businesses, for $5.3 million.
Enjoy the skiing Chris before you jump into the next venture !
Click Commerce, Inc., a provider of collaborative extranet solutions, acquired substantially all of the operating assets of ChannelWave’s channel management and service automation solutions businesses, for $5.3 million.
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
Lead clearly and prepare as if for WAR !
One definition of WAR I like is from Dick Marcinko's "Leadership Secrets of the Rogue Warrior" - it is We Are Ready.
I totally agree with Dick when he says it is easy is to make things complex, to be obtuse, to be vague about your company so nobody bothers to challenge you. As in war, business has no place for egotism, infighting, complacency or fear. Although some may say these things are human nature - when faced with a kill or be killed situation - well trained commandos instinctively rise above human nature in order to survive - they don't even think about their weaknesses, they focus on their strengths and on saving their butts. You need to approach your goals with confidence and simplicity - to let the troops know where you stand - no hiding behind walls of obscurity. As the sticker on my Harley helmet says "lead, follow or get out of the way!" Lead from the front.
We in the software industry have faced some of the most difficult issues we have ever faced over the last several years. And there are more challenges ahead…. but you need to make one thing clear to your TEAM if you are going to succeed. You need to convince them that you are not just "committed" to winning in some abstract sense ---- but that you have the will to succeed and therefore you will indeed win.... Then you need to combine that with the right strategy and the execution competence to succeed!
You need to let people know what you stand for as a company - it is not a time to survey and react to what's popular - it's time to get on with your Vision, mission and goals. Factions in the market will challenge your stand - but if you find yourself drawing fire… create, innovate, improvise, make sure you have created an advantage, change the game, move the goal post, get proactive and raise your head and fire back with a vengeance.
Preparation ( competitive analysis, sales training and reviews, executive verification meetings, pre-call scenario roll playing, product training, demo prep. with the prospective client, "stress" testing your people before throwing them to the lions, pre-proposal reviews, legal and accounting reviews, selection team polling, approval process verification, objection preemption, etc......... ) is an absolutely vital element of leadership (quotes such as "the more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in combat"..... and the Nietzsche quote paraphrased: "that which does not kill me, makes me stronger" get the point across.) The real thing should be easier than the drill if the drilling is done right.
Find people who are "compulsively self-reliant",( people who have backups to the backup plan), to go into battle with. Those who don't know better, might call these people insecure or neurotic but I call them prepared professionals. When you are prepared, you not only control the present, you learn to be agile and to adapt to the future. Let's face it though, it is not normal to like preparation and training... but it is necessary for success. Your people are not the companies greatest asset... your prepared people who achieve results are the companies greatest asset. They know that Murhpy lurks behind every corner – and that the only defense is to stay on your toes and to be ready for anything.
I totally agree with Dick when he says it is easy is to make things complex, to be obtuse, to be vague about your company so nobody bothers to challenge you. As in war, business has no place for egotism, infighting, complacency or fear. Although some may say these things are human nature - when faced with a kill or be killed situation - well trained commandos instinctively rise above human nature in order to survive - they don't even think about their weaknesses, they focus on their strengths and on saving their butts. You need to approach your goals with confidence and simplicity - to let the troops know where you stand - no hiding behind walls of obscurity. As the sticker on my Harley helmet says "lead, follow or get out of the way!" Lead from the front.
We in the software industry have faced some of the most difficult issues we have ever faced over the last several years. And there are more challenges ahead…. but you need to make one thing clear to your TEAM if you are going to succeed. You need to convince them that you are not just "committed" to winning in some abstract sense ---- but that you have the will to succeed and therefore you will indeed win.... Then you need to combine that with the right strategy and the execution competence to succeed!
You need to let people know what you stand for as a company - it is not a time to survey and react to what's popular - it's time to get on with your Vision, mission and goals. Factions in the market will challenge your stand - but if you find yourself drawing fire… create, innovate, improvise, make sure you have created an advantage, change the game, move the goal post, get proactive and raise your head and fire back with a vengeance.
Preparation ( competitive analysis, sales training and reviews, executive verification meetings, pre-call scenario roll playing, product training, demo prep. with the prospective client, "stress" testing your people before throwing them to the lions, pre-proposal reviews, legal and accounting reviews, selection team polling, approval process verification, objection preemption, etc......... ) is an absolutely vital element of leadership (quotes such as "the more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in combat"..... and the Nietzsche quote paraphrased: "that which does not kill me, makes me stronger" get the point across.) The real thing should be easier than the drill if the drilling is done right.
Find people who are "compulsively self-reliant",( people who have backups to the backup plan), to go into battle with. Those who don't know better, might call these people insecure or neurotic but I call them prepared professionals. When you are prepared, you not only control the present, you learn to be agile and to adapt to the future. Let's face it though, it is not normal to like preparation and training... but it is necessary for success. Your people are not the companies greatest asset... your prepared people who achieve results are the companies greatest asset. They know that Murhpy lurks behind every corner – and that the only defense is to stay on your toes and to be ready for anything.
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