SM: How did you characterize the value proposition of what you were doing at the time? You stated the need to have a unique combination of content and to characterize that content with the technology. SA: There are a couple of ways to view the value. From a technology perspective, the unique value we provide
SM: The tax space actually seems like a very solid niche. SA: It is interesting. It is hard to mention the word tax anywhere in the United States. People have an automatic negative response.
SM: What is the story of Sabrix before you entered the picture? SA: There were three founders who were IT professionals at Techtronix. The CFO there, Carl Neun, was one of the early guys who recognized the need to take disparate systems and centralize on a central instance of Oracle. While there are a lot
SM: You arrived at Novell to take charge of a project that was far behind schedule. What was your strategy at that point? SA: We spent a lot of time thinking about what we could do with the technology, specifically how to get it to the market. We made the decision, relatively quickly, to deliver
SM: I find it fascinating that you started as a tech writer and moved all the way to a VP of marketing. Can you tell us more about that experience? SA: The first company I worked for folded into Unisys. They had an advanced R&D group and I worked for them as a technical writer.
Most technology executives with over 20 years of experience did not start their careers as English professors. They certainly don’t start as British literature PhDs teaching in Louisiana. Meet Steve Adams, CEO of Sabrix. Anything but ordinary, Steve has tremendous vision and an incredible track record of success. He worked his way from an entry-level tech
SM: How does this fit with Guardian’s growth plans? RA: They are entering India, and they are entering the US, which is one of the reasons they bought us. They believed in our growth plans.
SM: Can you talk about the recent sale of the company? RA: We were in the middle of raising our second round. We decided somewhere, probably mid last year, that we could leverage more money.