From
Adventure Racing to the Race for Funding
– A Winner’s Story:
Member spotlight: Interview with Keri DeWitt, President/CEO
of Teresis Media, Inc.
Winner, “Best of Show” at VentureNet 2004
Founded
in 2003, Teresis provides location-based digitizing, media management,
and transcription services for unscripted television shows.
With the boom in "reality" TV shows, Teresis is emerging
to solve a critical need in the industry. We caught up with
Teresis' President/CEO Keri DeWitt for this interview as she
juggled pitches to investors, hiring interviews, a search for
office space and the day-to-day running of her company.
What
kind of experience do you have prior to starting Teresis?
My
background is in systems integration, consulting, programming,
application development - I rode the whole Internet curve. One
of my first positions was with EMI Music Distribution, where
I architected their North American intranet so they could put
their sales reports online and save the costs of Fed-Exing materials.
Later I worked for IKON Technology Services where one of the
systems I developed for Toshiba America Electronic Division
was nominated for a Lotus Beacon award. That got some notoriety,
and I was recruited to the Bay Area to work for Net Objects
and build a professional services organization with the Vice
President of the Enterprise Division. She and I grew the division
from a staff of 2 to 24 and $5 million in revenue in one year.
I commuted about 100,000 miles that year, traveling to various
customer sites helping sales. When Net Objects burned through
its $75 million and sold off its Enterprise division, I saw
the writing on the wall and took a position with VeriSign as
a senior product manager in their International division.
MORE
>>
CEOs
OF FAST GROWING TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES SHARE THOUGHTS ON WHAT IT
TAKES TO SUCCEED
By Deloitte & Touche's Technology, Media & Telecommunications
Group
The
CEO Survey, conducted by Deloitte & Touche's Technology, Media
& Telecommunications Group, asks leaders of the fastest growing
technology companies in the greater Los Angeles area (ranked by
Deloitte, based on fiscal year revenue growth over a five-year
period) to weigh in on what factors and challenges had the greatest
impact on their success, as well as their outlook on the economy
and their business. The results are a fascinating look into the
minds of some of today's most innovative business leaders.
As
the economy starts to show signs of recovery, CEOs are returning
to a level of optimism which was last seen a few years ago.
Rather than focusing on further reductions and ways to manage
their cash flow, CEOs are turning their sights towards strategies
to grow their businesses again.
MORE
>>
SECRETS
OF SUCCESSFUL SOFTWARE MARKETING
HINT: IT'S NOT THE TECHNOLOGY
By Rick Sharga, President & CEO, CJ Patrick
Company
Some
people call them "epiphanies." I prefer "blinding
glimpses of the obvious."
Whatever
you call them, you're probably aware of the experience. It's that
moment of clarity-when all the extraneous information melts away
and you're left with THE ANSWER: an undeniable, absolute sense
that you've figured things out.
I
remember one such moment, while sitting through a two minute Brittany
Spears Super Bowl commercial. After watching Ms. Spears wriggle
and writhe her way through multiple-and increasingly more revealing-costume
changes, my wife turned to me and said "You know, she's not
really all that good a singer."
No.
Really?
My
wife's "epiphany," that Brittany Spears' popularity
had less to do with her vocal chords and everything to do with
the sexual cords she struck among teenage boys is a classic case
of product packaging. And a great example of marketing.
Love
her or hate her, software marketers can learn a lot from Brittany
Spears.
MORE>>
UNDERSTANDING
AND USING KEY LICENSING TERMINOLOGY
By Tom D. Le, Attorney, Stradling Yocca Carlson &
Rauth
Some
of the most seemingly straight-forward licensing terms in software
licenses often have legal and business consequences that are
anything but straight-forward. Understanding and using these
terms in a precise and considered manner will help avoid unintended
outcomes.
Among the most commonly used licensing terminology are four
terms used to set forth the basic rights being licensed -- the
right to use, reproduce, modify and distribute, and four terms
used to further define or limit these basic rights -- exclusive,
perpetual, irrevocable and sublicensable.
Most software licensing professionals undoubtedly have come
across these licensing terms. On the one hand, these terms are
useful shorthand references to describe the basic deal being
entered into by the licensor and the licensee. On the other
hand, while in many cases these terms are seemingly straightforward,
they often have unintended legal and business consequences.
Because they are so commonly used, however, the software licensing
professional may overlook these consequences.
MORE
>>
HIT
A WALL? IMPROVE YOUR PRODUCT LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT
By Lee Shaeffer, Director, Sissach Technologies
When
properly applied, the product lifecycle management process will
lead to better products getting to market faster…using
fewer resources. This article briefly describes the process
and provides tips on implementing it effectively.
In
the beginning, there was the dining room table…several
developers seated around, working on Release 1.0. Two to three
years later, the company has a nice revenue stream, 30 to 40
employees…and chaos. Revenue growth has stalled, Release
3.0 is six months late and its specs keep changing with every
call from a salesperson to a developer.
All
too often, the management at emerging companies focus exclusively
on revenue growth and view "process" as evil - the
bureaucracy that the entrepreneurs left behind at their former
employers, something that gets in the way of rapid progress.
Indeed, too much process, especially the wrong process, will
be damaging to a fast growth, highly responsive company. However,
too little process will be equally damaging: employees won't
know what is expected of them, certain tasks will be done redundantly
by several people, other crucial tasks will slip through the
cracks, and the team will have different views of what needs
to be done next so efforts are not coordinated. The result is
inefficient use of precious resources and ultimately stagnation…or
worse.
MORE
>>
|
CONTENTS
|
