Roberto's Ruminations

Dateline Honolulu, Hawaii

(Ukeleles strumming in the background) "...I want to go back to my little grass shack in Honolulu, Hawaii..." (well - maybe not the grass shack).

It's always nice to be back on the islands, the weather is perfect and the pace is a lot slower than the mainland. This first stop breaks up what is usually a long trip to Asia. I want to see family and friends before picking up the pace in Hong Kong.

A favorite uncle of mine just retired here and while there are lots of family members around the islands, he is one I needed to catch up with the most. So I used his new home near Pearl Harbor as a base for my few days on island, and headed into downtown Waikiki to visit with a friend and former investor in one of my previous companies.

Karl is part Portugese & Japanese and a full on Hawaii boy. His immediate and extended family have been on the island since ever since and he's been off the grid for a few years now, following the market meltdown of 2001-2002. I've known Karl since 1999 when he was with JPMorgan and then ABN-AMRO. He's been very busy building a home in downtown Honolulu as well as a really neat retirement home up toward the North Shore.

During our visit, we explored the ideas around the next "new thing" and very much resonated around the need for clean technology and how to bring them to market. I firmly believe that the growing demand for energy, especially in the large developing markets creates huge opportunities for renewable alternatives.

We shared a number of ideas around clean fuels (hydrogen, ethanol), biodegradable packaging (ala Earthshell products ), and clean generation technologies such as ocean thermal energy conversion. Karl's been doing a lot of thinking in this area during his hiatus from the finance world and we have a lot more ground to cover, but it was a great way to start my trip.

I forget how much I take for granted the infrastructure on the mainland, and it is certainly more noticable when you leave the continental US. Hawaii is more advanced than most island environments, but there is a higher occurance of rolling brown-outs and water outages. Some folks are already playing with in-home solar power generation systems, and having a substantial rain water cistern is pretty standard fare on the Big Island. I think Hawaii will be a regular stop on my future itinerary as I further explore the alternative renewalble energy sector.

Serendipitously, the National Renewable Energy Labs are located in Golden, Colorado. I've got a lot of homework to do when I get back in town.

Back On & In the Air

Spring has finally arrived, and it is a favorite time year for me. I decided to get back on the air after a long hiatus and share my newest adventure.

After 4 exciting years of guiding Newmerix from a nascent idea to a young company with products and customers, it was time to explore new horizons. The business is well positioned to get to its next stage of growth; a new round of financing is secured, customers are glad to share their success stories, and the pipeline of new prospects continues to grow. I'm excited for Newmerix' future, and looking forward to figuring out the next new thing too.

Not one to sit still too long, I completed my transition out of the business at the end of the first quarter, and began making arrangements to leave Denver just after the tax filing deadline on April 17th. The volume of inquires and curiosity of what I'd do next led me to pull together a 6 week journey that will take me around the world. I've committed to myself to create a good mix of recreation and "new thing meetings" during the trip. Whatever I decide, it will be a ton of fun and I expect will have an international flavor from the outset.

My travels take me westward with stops in Honolulu, Hong Kong, Guam, Sydney, Munich, Paris, London, and Washington, DC. Specific business meetings will likely require a few excursion trips to Tokyo, Singapore, and Bangkok. As the world continues to shrink, I'm psyched at the idea of seeing what opportunities are being cooked up in various parts of the globe.

Stay tuned, I'm back on and back in the air. Next report - date line Hawaii and the idea around renewable energy technology.

Hiatus - Slow Down to Speed Up

6 Months - It went by rather quickly. I took a break from the blogsphere to focus on the various moving parts at Newmerix that demanded my attention. During my hiatus, the remainder of the management team was hired and the business went on to have a solid performing 1st quarter. Q2 is also looking very promising, and that's a much bigger target.

As I approach the end of the quarter, it's clear we're entering into that phase of demanding growth that requires scalability in our ability to hire great people and to scale our sales, engineering, and support processes.

Newmerix has been on such a tear since its founding, that it now needs to slow down (just a bit) in order to speed up and scale its operations. Hiring is our #1 effort as the job market in Boulder, CO is a low 4.9% against a national average of 5.1%. With such a tight market, it has been challenging finding good people with which to grow the business. To exacerbate matters, we're currently seeking 10 new staff members - which only makes the search process that much harder.

While the challenges of hiring are what they are, we now have more new customers and even more solid prospects. As with all growing startups the need to increase our "plant capacity" becomes even more acute as customers are added.

So, while slowing down to speed up sounds contradictory, it is a necessary pause in any business if you hope to move to the next level of growth. Just don't slow down too long!

It's About Customer Service, Stupid

I've been pretty slammed lately with all matter of activities around putting our Series B to good use. Between selecting recruiters, interviewing candidates, courting customers, looking for a new building, and putting together the infrastructure necessary to scale the business - there hasn't been much time for blogging.

Just this weekend, I've found satisfaction in the fact that over the past three weeks, we've extended offers to five very enthusiastic employees of the highest caliber in sales and engineering. As these new employees got started on their first few days, I have every confidence that they will take Newmerix to a new level of growth and innovation.

With all this positive feeling, I took it upon myself to improve a few more of the other less gratifying areas of my professional life.  One of these critical areas was my mobile phone provider. For some time now, I've been downright livid at the absolutely "shitty" customer service that I've experienced with my service provider - it was time to switch. Forget the fact that number portability has taken this long to be a reality, it appears that provisioning systems, sales, and billing still don't work within the confines of any of today's service providers.

I left AT&T Wireless/Cingular due to pathetic connections and even poorer billing practices. I think the quality of two cans connected with string is on par with my prior service. Also, when you're willing to pay someone good hard earned money but they can't seem to find a way to make the monthly recurring transaction stick it's really time to move on.

So I researched, read reviews, and elected to go to Sprint. I'll tell you that after 2 agonizing days of talking to customer service reps in the US and the Philippines, I may need to check into the funny farm. Sprint wasn't much better, and I suppose all of the other providers are really no different. I ordered a telephone of the highest end, but when it arrived, I could not unlock it. The last 4 digits of my SSN apparently did not register with whomever programmed the phone. Every other logical 4 digit combination was also not in this mystery person's psyche. So after numerous calls to Sprint Customer Service, I had to take the phone into a Sprint store for reprogramming.

My goodwill was quickly disappearing on Saturday when I was told at the first store that the phone was so new, no one knew how to reprogram the damn thing. It got worse when the pimply faced kid behind the counter at the next Sprint outlet tried to tell me I wasn't entering the password properly and proceeded to go through the same mind numbing drill I'd already tried on Friday evening.

Keeping a very long and ugly story short, I now have a working, high tech smartphone working. It was excruciatingly painful to get here, and I'm reminded that when buildng, running, and growing a business, "It's About Customer Service, Stupid"! Remember this, practice this, strive for this, and keep looking for ways to improve it. It is your best weapon in a customer unfriendly world.

Consolidations in the Software Industry

I got into the office early today and was greeted by the surprising announcement of the departure of Craig Conway, CEO of PeopleSoft. As Newmerix is currently focused on the PeopleSoft market, this certainly rated as another interesting development in the ongoing saga of PeopleSoft and the hostile takeover being perpetrated by Oracle.

However, if you consider the history of the technology industry, there is always a time when rationalization will occur. Remember the consolidation of the hardware companies, how about telecom? So too go the ERP firms. Whatever the outcome, Newmerix is well positioned to benefit the many users of PeopleSoft's products. PeopleSoft touts their products as "The World's Most Flexible, Adaptable Software" and that is music to our ears, as we assist companies in automating the quality and change that is brought about by all that flexibility.

Rationalization does come at a cost, and to those that are impacted; individuals, families, and customers, there will be challenging times ahead. These systems are complex and mission critical, and the stakes are high. I expect that whatever challenges these kinds of consolidations bring, customers will ultimately enjoy more innovative products at competitive prices in the years to come. Darwinian behavior does have its benefits and this is just another evolution in the technology space.

CQB Startup

It's a cool desert morning in April and the instructor sets out the first scenario of the day. "Alright boys, the hostage count is unknown and the bad guys are armed. Do your job..." My partner "Barry" is a solid guy and it feels good to have him nearby. The adrenaline feels like an electric current, and every sense is cranked past high.

I'm through the door, down the hall, see the goblins, front sights on - sqeeze. The acknowledgment of the .45 feels good in my hand, the hits are spot on. "Barry's" shots echo from the adjoining rooms, sectors clear in record time. Not bad for a first run, but in the after-action, we each got a good guy in the process. It feels bad, and it's only paper...

I often think about that early training in "close quarters battle" where things happen very quickly, and not everything you think you see is correct. A few more scenario runs, many rounds later, and the judgement got dialed in, targets were clearly id'd, the good guys had no holes, and "Barry" and I were on fire. Startups are equally intense, even similar, but with different things at stake. Your reputation, your pride, and plenty of folks depending on you.

Today, I'm working on my third venture backed startup - Newmerix, and while lives aren't on the line, the environment remains an intense crucible which is an absolute blast to work in. I would not have it any other way! I am fortunate to also share this intensely gratifying place with folks whom I have come to call friends and colleagues. To experience a different flavor of intense, read Brad Feld's and Jim LeJeal's blog. Both upstanding guys, and take no prisoners poker players.

While my days of CQB are done, the thrill of building a business, being surrounded by bright and competent people is a pleasure that I am lucky to have. I'm good to go for a few more of these startups.