The Education Problem: Raj Reddy (Part 1)

Recently I talked with Raj Reddy (wiki bio here) about his thoughts in applying technology to education. To begin this series we review the theoretical foundation for his current work. SM: Raj, I am really looking forward to having a discussion on what I would call strategy and policy in terms of broader use of

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Turn Around Series: Jerry Rawls, Finisar (Part 2)

After discussing his background, Jerry talks about the decision he and Frank Levinson made to go out on their own and create Finisar. SM: What year does that bring us to, when you left Raychem? JR: That will get us to about 1986 I would guess. In 1986 I was the general manager of a

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Turn Around Series: Jerry Rawls, Finisar (Part 1)

I recently had the opportunity to talk with Jerry Rawls, the CEO and co-founder of Finisar, about his experiences during the past two decades. While technology companies are accustomed to volatile market places and constant change, Jerry guided Finisar through arguably the most volatile market environment in history. In this interview he takes us through

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Serial Entrepreneur: HP Michelet (Part 11)

In this final segment of our interview, we discuss some of the current business initiatives, as well as potential exit strategies. My thanks to HP for providing us with his insight to allow us all to benefit from his experience. I also sincerely hope that all the cleantech entrepreneurs and VCs out there would pay

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Serial Entrepreneur: HP Michelet (Part 10)

I continue my discussion with HP regarding management teams, and then begin to explore other challenges like incredibly long sales cycles of ERI’s business, which makes forecasting and cashflow management very complex. In fact, with 18-36 month sales cycles, it makes me wonder to what extent our VCs who are rushing to Cleantech would have

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Serial Entrepreneur: HP Michelet (Part 9)

Finding the right team to lead a company is very important, and perhaps an area where many entrepreneurs struggle as they cannot attract the right people, or delineate responsibilities clearly or effectively. HP has had the foresight to make difficult management changes as necessary to ensure the success of ERI.

Serial Entrepreneur: HP Michelet (Part 8)

Coming from a strong finance background, here we see how HP and his partners make decisions from both the perspective of the investor and the entrepreneur. This makes for a very interesting study.

Serial Entrepreneur: HP Michelet (Part 7)

We continue to explore the foundations of HP’s involvement in ERI. The company came close to going out of business many times in the last 13 years. Somehow, however, the guys who were writing the checks – including HP himself, kept writing those checks!