Projects Examples

These projects will give you a sense of the types of work we excel at, but the real key to this success has been a way of thinking and an approach to issues, opportunities, and challenges. This approach can be taught, and we’re happy to do just that. Our goal is to leave you more capable and empowered than before we met.

"Challenges and opportunities repeat across industries"

Leadership

How disruptive is your vision? Will the market catch you and your organization, or are you more nimble? Thhis is a deeper question than it might seem. If your leadership focuses only to near-term tactical leadership questions, you might have more to consider.

Developed and delivered numerous board-level and detailed-level strategies and presentations for product and vision across multiple organizations to direct reports, internal teams, boards, management, outside partners, customers, and investors, including international audiences.
Successfully analyzed and reorganized a wide range of BUs, after being brought into existing and international teams suffering staffing, product, communication, or strategy issues.
Turnaround for stalled start-up of a production-grade consumer “TV” display while bringing the company onto a survivable financial footing.
Founding member of Frost and Sullivan Growth Innovation and Leadership Council (GIL), earned innovation award.

Operations/Management/Admin

While leadership can tell us where we want to go, the ultimate act of execution is generally more in the operations wheelhouse. Are your systems supportive and empowering, or are they a drag on your success? The larger the organization, the more critical this question becomes.

Provided direct oversight of operations and operations planning staff for a wide range of products, including development schedules, production planning, cost reduction targets, production allocations, forecasting, cost analysis, and key account interface in times of difficulty
Developed and implemented a transition strategy capitalizing on emergent flat-screen Digital TV opportunities.
Reduced annual excess inventory builds by $4M by instituting a new forecasting methodology.
Managed business operations as annual revenues tripled to $85M for Broadcast Video tuner semiconductor/software products.
Stopped gross margin collapse for $90M audio semiconductor/software BU focusing on radios and cell phones.
Renegotiated worldwide pricing and modified manufacturing targets to bring business into balance. Gross margin savings totaled $7M.

Strategy

There is no shortage of good ideas to pursue. The real challenge is in balancing the internal team's capabilities against decisions that can be taken in the now and near-term. Sequencing and timelines are an often forgotten aspect of strategy.

Problem-solving from pre-revenue startups to $90M business units, directly managing teams from 4 to 35 as well as outside vendors, partners, and regulators.
Developed and implemented transition strategy capitalizing on then emergent flat screen Digital TV opportunities.
Strategic research and competitive analysis in creating business cases for system-level solutions serving IoT (Internet of Things) security/home automation, home healthcare, and commercial lighting market segments.
Leveraged strategy into messaging structures used to attract and retain customers worldwide.

Product Management

It's generally easy to develop a product that's thrown "over the wall" for sales and marketing to then pick up and try to sell. What's challenging is understanding the market on the front-end with enough clarity to develop attractive offerings designed to intersect with the market needs.

Successfully analyzed, defined, and launched numerous end markets to understand what would move the needle for our customers or our customers’ customers.
Deep exposure to industrial, medical, consumer, handset, PC, and IoT market segments, including data analytics.
Launched a new semiconductor/software product category, which won the Top-100 Products of the Year Award and two Best in Show system awards.
Achieving number one market share position by launching flagship Digital TV RF tuner.
With an insightful approach to software and support, we achieved a 42% market share in the competitive PC segment with 11 direct competitors.

Technology

Every organization is a high-tech organization at some level. The emergence of effective cloud platforms and AI-assisted tools is transforming the nature of job roles. Your organization cannot afford to overlook the productivity-enhancing advantages or ignore the signals from competitors about their technology use.

Developed and implemented a transition strategy capitalizing on emergent flat-screen Digital TV opportunities.
Developed and demonstrated new technology by generating 15 product support videos in English, Spanish, French, and Japanese.
Developed two standards compliant smoke detectors to international regulations over six months with a team of three new graduates.
Developed multiple patented technologies.
Incorporated AI-enabled tool and cloud-enhanced platforms into workflows to enable scale and reduce process error rates.

Software Development

Get beyond the MVP and the "mostly" working stage by understanding how the software will be used in the real world. Even the greatest development teams can benefit from connecting to that reality. The key is a modern agile process with a deeper understanding of the end need. Otherwise, expect to increase resources to cover more expensive backend fixes.

Took over stalled software development team to manage software development, shifting to agile, product strategy, hiring, and strategic roadmaps.
Revamped the test and validation model for a complex server-based application and managed an off-shore test team.
Developed an object-oriented application in C in a TTD framework for a battery-powered embedded consumer device, which carries deep nuance relative to web-based applications.

Equity Fundraising

Raising funds is a daunting task for any organization. It's especially important to have trusted outside perspectives that are willing to convey their honest opinions. Understanding how your investment opportunity fits into the investors' strategy is critical.

Wrote marketing, sales, and engineering sections of S1 for SEC, filling for a record-setting $170M IPO in 2003.
Secured $55M in VC funding over multiple rounds for several semiconductor startups. Created business models, investor presentations, market analyses, and forecasts to support an understandable investment thesis.
Reviewed investment opportunities for Venture Capital firms, providing feedback and market analysis for investment opportunities.

Startup Eco Systems

Startups require constant risk management and reinvention. It is crucial to determine what's adequate for the stage and the situation in such resource-limited environments.

Developed comprehensive cash-flow-oriented growth and staffing models for a range of startups and emergent product lines.
Formed SaaS startup for rapid development of customer support videos by multi-national consumer brands.
Wrote large portions of business plan in support of successful startup acquisitions by large industry players.

Content Creation

Regardless of what your market is or who your customer may be, if they are unaware of your presence or struggle to integrate your offerings into their specific situation, then your potential for growth will be hindered. Content in all its forms is the solution.

Created more than 2000 pages of technical and software manuals for advanced IoT sensor products.
Developed a wide range of technical content for international audiences where English is not their first language.
Developed (IoT) presentation materials for both channel team, sales, and CxO level audiences.
Managed and organized numerous international tradeshow events promoting a complex array of consumer, industrial, and technologically complex products on several continents.
Restructured the go-to-market process to handle a 50% YoY product increase without increasing team size
Executed full rebranding of logo, colors, and website, resulting in a 400% increase in web visitors.

Compliance

Compliance to regulation or customer expectation can be seen as a burden by some. But done well, it empowers an organization with competitive advantage. Learn to exploit the smart approach to compliance for competitive advantage.

Read and absorbed 2000+ pages of international smoke detector regulations to create an internationally compliant design specification for wireless smoke detectors.
Processed 3000+ pages of credit union/banking regulations to process 350 compliance questions with written decisions.
Worked in regimented mil-spec, FAR, DAR, and contract environments.
Implemented numerous ISO readiness projects to successfully pass ISO audit requirements.

Finance and Risk Assessment

Finance and ERM risk approaches have become the backbone of well-functioning organizations. These can be highly burdensome activities, and it's essential to adopt approaches that are financially sound and repeatable

Built complex financial models across multiple organizations that go well beyond P/Ls and balance sheets, to get at the core issues affecting cash flows.
Enhanced forcasting models for multi-tier international supply chains where demand for a given piece-part can be well removed from end-market demand data, while also being subject to dynamic demand issues as well.
I built complex risk assessments for a multi-business unit organization operating in the financial space while translating the meaning of those assessments into human-accessible language.
Worked closely with accountants and regulators to understand FASB, GAAP, and regulatory issues for complex accounting moves.
Created, reviewed, and managed numerous risk and finance-related SOPs and policies.

Governace

The varied viewpoints and discussions resulting from them are beneficial only if your governance permits it. Avoid merely ticking a governance checkbox when you can extract significant value.

Executed SOP and policy updates to support risk, audit, and compliance upgrades at the Board level.
Rebuilt and modernized the audit function under the IIA Framework, increasing the depth of operational and cyber audits for a $3B depository institution.
Updated Audit Committee governance to include risk, compliance, and business insights for a large credit union.
Expanded enterprise risk program (ERM) by adding understandable risk dashboards and defining risk appetite for the Board.

Nonprofit and Board Participation

We support LIfeWorks in Austin, Texas ($30M budget), focused on reducing youth homelessness.

We support the Center for Children and Family Services, Virgina, focused on addressing mental health and family stresses.