Paramar Consulting
- 1. Paramar Consulting A Summary of Clients, Assignments, and Lessons Learned
- 2. A New Chapter Begins Despite enjoying early success in the corporate world, the ethical and philosophical disconnect. A new path was taken with the formation of Paramar - an independent consulting firm. Leveraging the visibility created during my corporate tenure, I was retained by a number of industry leaders including Intel, AT&T, the Soros Fund, and Ziff-Davis. Working with a variety of enterprises I found my passion lied with smaller companies where -unconstrained by bureaucracy - one person could make a difference. To focus on the small-to-mid sized business segment, Paramar was ultimately “rebranded” to Panoptic Strategies.
- 3. Can We Monetize? The Client: AT&T The Focus Could credit and phone card fraud detection and prevention technology developed for internal be taken to market? The Consulting Challenge Without any prior knowledge of the fraud prevention and detection market, become an expert in 120 days. The Deliverable With the invaluable assistance from Jim Marsh, a technical expert in the field of telecommunications, using only publicly available information, we set out to piece together a profile of a market.
- 4. Can We Monetize? (continued) The Deliverable (continued) The result: A comprehensive 167-page report that detailed the market size, competition, system strengths/weaknesses, and the associated risks and opportunities of productizing the technology. The findings - including a Q&A session - were present to an audience of more than 20 AT&T veterans. The attendees walked away believing I was also a veteran in the field. The Take-Away Demonstrated the ability to quickly assimilate information and become an expert in new markets and industries.
- 5. To Expand or Not to Expand The Client: Hero Nutritional Products (HNP) A $3 million family-owned business and one of the first companies to market “gummy” vitamins. The Focus Could (and should) a company focused on selling into the health food market penetrate the mainstream food, drug, and “big box” retail channels including Wal-Mart? The Consulting Challenge Assess the market, establish internal processes to create a foundation for future financial stability, and develop a strategy to approach the mainstream channels.
- 6. To Expand or Not to Expand (continued) The Deliverables Became an “adjunct “ member of the leadership team, assuming the role of chief operating officer. Developed financial processes and inventory controls to ensure the company was well positioned to sustain its success. Presented to an array of major chains including Wal-Mart, Walgreens, Rite Aid, CVS, Alberstons, and Kroger. Though the channels were receptive , the risks and investment requirement was beyond the company’s comfort zone. Almost two decades later, HNP remains in business and ultimately did expand its distribution to CVS, Target and others. The Take-Away Demonstrated ability to evaluate/penetrate multiple channels
- 7. A Twofold Pioneering Challenge The Client: Ziff-Davis Market Research The Focus Take a $50,000 high-end research database developed by the market research arm of Ziff-Davis Publishing and parse it to sell the data over the Web to a broader audience. The Consulting Challenge Salvage a misguided engineering-driven effort that was high on technology bells and whistles but low on product value. The Deliverable Over a twelve-month period assumed the position of general manager with oversight of development, marketing and sales.
- 8. A Twofold Pioneering Challenge (continued) The Deliverable (continued) Reset unrealistic expectations. Management believed the product would yield an instant windfall. The mantra was “millions why we sleep.” But no groundwork had been laid to create a market making that outcome unrealistic. Sufficient marketing/product work was completed to make the initial launch date. However, shortly after, the dot.com bubble burst causing a drastic decline in the parent company’s primary revenue stream. An already stressed budget was further scaled back and the company was unable to recover. Take-Away This was a case of want not to do. It is critical to prioritize objectives up front and properly allocate resources. It also illustrated how external events can cause a severe impact.
- 9. VC Due Diligence The Client: Venture Capital firm the Soros Fund The Focus Evaluate investment value of a “last mile” fiber optic startup. The Consulting Challenge Review the target company’s product, unique selling proposition, intellectual property and valuation. The Deliverable Determined the company’s technology and development schedule did not provide a sufficient advantage. The recommendation was to pass. The client concurred. The Take-Away Demonstrated ability to evaluate and value companies.
- 10. Should we Spin-off? The Client: Sybase - a leading database company The Focus: Determine if the development tools business unit was a viable candidate to be spun off or sold. The Consulting Challenge Develop a valuation by evaluating the existing product, development plans, user base, and future market potential. Assess the market value versus the value of maintaining the business unit as an integrated product line. The Deliverable Assessed the product development plans and development team to determine if the technology was sustainable and if key staff were likely to be retained if a sale occurred.
- 11. Should we spin-off? (Continued) The Deliverable Evaluated the existing user base and developed projections to determine future market projections. Determined the valuation of the business unit and compared the potential sale value to the intrinsic value of maintaining the tool product line to support existing database customers. Investigated if alternative approaches existed or would emerge to support database customer development needs. The Take-Away The challenge with this project was twofold: to assess the value of the technology and to identify the potential unintended consequences that might impact the revenue stream of the company’s primary database products.