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- The Accelerator Conundrum
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turnaround strategy consultant
Turn Around Series: Jerry Rawls, Finisar (Part 7)
Dramatic changes in the market had forced major fiber optic giants like Lucent into tough decisions. The market also proved to be volitile and unpredictable. Nortel, in desperation, offered Finisar its optics business. SM: Nortel had interest in survival. JR: Yes. We spent two weeks in Ottawa trying to figure out how we could assume
Turn Around Series: Jerry Rawls, Finisar (Part 6)
A very interesting discussion of the dramatic times during the late 90’s and the early 2000 timeframe. Read on. SM: What were your sales pre-IPO? JR: I think in the ’98 period they were probably $30M. Our fiscal year 2000, which is when we went public, was $67M. In January of 1999 the IPO market
Turn Around Series: Jerry Rawls, Finisar (Part 5)
Among the many amazing feats Jerry has accomplished with Finisar, one of the most impressive is how the company was able to grow and develop without the assistance of outside funding. SM: All of this you were still doing without outside money; it was still a bootstrapped company? JR: Still a bootstrapped company. SM: Wow,
Turn Around Series: Jerry Rawls, Finisar (Part 4)
A key strategic victory for Finisar was facilitating the fiber channel stadard to utilize multimode fiber and shorter wavelengths. Here Jerry discusses how Finisar was able to do this, a feat which leading experts at the time said was impossible.
Turn Around Series: Jerry Rawls, Finisar (Part 3)
To support the company initially, Finisar relied on providing consulting services. It’s a very common way that companies bootstrap themselves. I have done it myself. SM: What kind of Consulting did you provide? Like System Integrators? JR: Well, actually, the first customer would be Raynet themselves, but we would have to get others soon enough.
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
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
Microsoft’s Growth Strategy Revisited
On April 10, 2005, almost immediately after I started this blog, I had written a piece called Microsoft’s Two Should-Be Acquisition Candidates, from the point of view of addressing the growth trends in the SME markets. The two candidates were: Autodesk (ADSK) and PayChex (PAYX). I have to pay close attention to Microsoft, since my
