Mike Roy and I met through the Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Network (DEN) at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business. At the time, we were both serving as panel judges for the school’s business plan competition, which serves as the culmination of their Intro to Entrepreneurship class.
Like good networkers do, we kept in touch after that and have continued to meet on occasion for coffee and business talk. Invariably, our conversations wander from life in New England to his many entrepreneurial pursuits, and to startup ideas. His wealth of knowledge and experience gained in the corporate world, and then in the entrepreneurial startup arena, makes for fascinating and inspiring conversation.
MR: I started my career in the northeast at Federal Signal Corporation, a mini conglomerate and Fortune 1000 company. I entered into sales in the Signal Division (a provider of visual and audible signals to the industrial industry, municipal markets and state/federal governments…they had over 600 products) and moved quickly through expanding levels of responsibility in sales management roles. I was asked to move to Chicago to take responsibility for industry marketing and get my MBA from University of Chicago – Booth. I was then given new assignments of world-wide responsibility to make Federal signal #1 in all industries that we served. After several years, I accomplished this goal and was then transferred/promoted to the Sign Group as Vice President and General Manager. A fun assignment, where I had full P&L responsibility, a global reach for manufacturing to provide the marketplace with corporate and commercial visual identity.
After 14 years, I had the opportunity to join Digital Equipment Corp a Fortune 50 company to align my interest in technology, marketing sales and business development. Over the next ten years, I led marketing operations for the Central Area, built a national and corporate accounts program for Digital’s top 300 accounts and assumed leadership for the Process Industries worldwide. My time at Digital was fast pace, as technology was changing rapidly and go-to-market models moved as fast from direct to indirect models with value added resellers, system integrators and OEMs. Competition was always fierce, so it was necessary to be ahead of them and have a game plan that could be executed form a leadership position and not a follower. A very worthwhile 10 years!
DE: Can you think of a particular experience or assignment that brought you way out of your comfort zone?
MR: It was my last assignment at Digital when I was also asked to lead the Retail and Utility Industries; not having a steeped background in either, I needed to get up to speed quickly and understand the industries business problems and address them with a value proposition that went beyond the four walls of Digital…this meant I needed partners and I went out and built partnerships that were meaningful and more important significant to the customer. This was unique at Digital where I had a free hand in creating my team, the strategic plan with full responsibility for execution and results. I truly believe this was the lever that altered my “personal compass” from a corporate soldier to an entrepreneur.
DE: How did this have a lasting effect on you?
MR: I believe it gave me the confidence to take risk, opened my eyes to a new world that was not bound by organization charts, delayed decision making and giving me a perspective that leadership is driven by those who want to stand up and make things happen.
DE: In what ways did your experiences in the corporate world prepare you for entrepreneurship, and for the process of assessing the potential viability of startup opportunities?
MR: Corporate life formalized my real world business experiences in technical/business education, organizational / operational readiness, strategic marketing, global reach, teaming for success, budgeting, finance and the opportunity to meet entrepreneurs who became partners and colleagues... this all contributed to a fresh outlook when looking at opportunities, sizing them up and knowing that I can add value if they measured up to my criteria.
DE: What are some those criteria?
MR: I would say put-on multiple hats when you evaluate an entrepreneurial opportunity; from product marketing…is the opportunity a niche play, is it wide across many industries or deep enough in a very large industry to pull new demand as a product/service or will it be taken from competition ; through a financial perspective…does the gross revenue deliver healthy margins to support and sustain organizational commitments and growth goals personally and for the company; from an operational perspective… how will manufacturing or services be delivered (internally, outsourced, where, by who); from a marketing / sales perspective… what are the environmental and external influencers to the business, product, and services and at what price point will the market accept as viable to support a business case and value proposition; from the CEO position… how well will the “A” team (management team) collaborate to achieve a unified goal of success in a given time frame and is there enough money to do what is needed; from an investor or stakeholder position…does the entire story hold together to achieve gains and how long will it take for the exit strategy to be achieved; and from a customer point of view… why should I buy this product or service from you?
…and if you are confident with the answers then I suggest taking a look at the first presentation of the company to be given outside of the “four walls” and for every statement that is made ask yourself….”so what”…and if everything holds look deeper and then decide if it is right for you.
DE: What prompted your transition from corporate America to entrepreneurial pursuits?
MR: A west coast opportunity at Whisper Communication in an early stage company wireless provider of metered data for enterprise use (early version of the smart meter in1998) with a beta product that was truly unique to the utility industry. Whisper had a compelling value proposition, a management team consisting of “A” players and funded with $50M in venture capital.
DE: What were some of your other initial opportunities?
MR: They were all early stage companies beyond the idea creation stage that were value driven with a real products/solutions, financially able to stand by themselves for a defined period of time and a first class team that share the same desire and belief for success.
Leveraging my career in consulting was attractive because it allowed me to move across several different industries while spanning technology, marketing, business development and operations. It also gave me the flexibility to start my own company with four partners (a fun time). As I moved from industry marketing engagements, I was being pulled into other areas like supplier relationship management, business intelligence, wireless vehicular monitoring systems and other software applications that advanced process efficiency. Opportunities always seem to surface through a personal network that I continually work on for expansion…
DE: What are some of the takeaways from your corporate career, entrepreneurial activities, and consulting experiences that can be applied to general business management and useful to a wide range of business owners and senior managers?
MR: Manage one’s time…you can never get it back; always align yourself with a product/service that is sustainable for the future, keeps your options open for an exit strategy whether you are in a corporation or in an early stage company; know if you are a risk taker or not…don’t kid yourself about this one; always have enough financial resources to fall back upon if your success timetable is not imminent and , as I said it before, stayed aligned with the “A” team and you will not be disappointed.
DE: Many people feel that the entrepreneurial spirit is ingrained in one’s personality and not acquired over time. What’s your feeling?
MR: No, I do not believe that because real world experiences shape your thinking as to the direction one selects and if you are a competitive survivor and goal orientated you learn to adjust, adapt and be successful whether you select the path as an entrepreneur or corporate leader.
DE: What are you really excited about now?
MR: I look at myself as a serial entrepreneur collaborating at different levels with several new early stage companies that include an Internet TV/Radio station that has expanded to include a shopping mall, magazine, social networking and gaming site; supply chain sourcing application, a geo-referencing solution, an automated title production platform, a data management suite of tools for the enterprise, and an incubator” for emerging “Green Technologies.
