160 likes | 168 Views
A personal sounding board for CEOs to address issues and maximize their potential. Get help with team quality, board and investor issues, personal goals, and more.
E N D
Jay WurtsCEO Coaching A personal sounding board to help you be the best that you can be www.jwurts.com Jay@JWurts.com 617-549-1050
It is lonely at the top • CEOs often can’t talk openly with their team about certain issues • Quality of individual VP’s • Board issues • Investor issues • Exit strategy • Personal goals • Scary what-if scenarios
Nagging Questions • Should I take venture money? • Should I sell out? • Have I got the right team? • How much better could my team be?
Typical Unrecognized Problems • Weak or incomplete team • VC’s who will never get to yes • Inherent VC/Entrepreneur Goal Conflict • Failure to build a long term strategy to utilize competitive strengths and avoid or shore-up weaknesses. • Inadvertently building a company that buyers won’t pay much for • Personal loan or lease guarantees • Risk of being forced out
Is my management team as good as it needs to be? • How high should my standards be? • Can I help my team grow? • Can I delegate things to them that I don’t like to do or am not the best at? • Is it worth making a change? • How good a replacement can I attract?
Opportunities for Personal Development • What are my personal goals? • What am I the best at? • What skills do I need to develop? • How can I complement my weaknesses?
Perspective and Insights from Experience • I am tired of my job, does that mean I should sell the company? • What are the downsides of accepting venture capital? • What will life be like after I sell?
Help Improving Board Presentations • Help seeing the board’s point of view • Help keeping the credibility and confidence of the board so they don’t meddle. • Help to be perceived as the person driving the bus. • Help to increase focus and avoid distracting details
Advance Warning and Action Plans for long term threats • Technology change • Being forced out • Insolvency • Dangerous Customer or Supplier leverage
Where I have helped the most as a CEO Coach • Product Positioning and differentiation • Marketing – the perfect sound bite • Making corporate partnerships work • Executive Compensation • Management Style Coaching • Customer investment as an alternative to VC • Understanding the VC world • Negotiating corporate partnership deals • Exit Choices – merger/IPO/cash cow • Strategic Thinking and Process • Crisis management • Maximizing management team quality
The Role of a CEO Coach • Client and supporter of the CEO • As opposed to the Board or Investors • Personal and professional sounding board • Advisor and strategic analyst • Idea generator • Out-of-the box thinker • Network connection • Mentor
My CEO Experience • CEO of five high tech companies • Bootstrapped two companies by getting customers to fund product development • Joint Venture Partnerships • Public Company CEO • International Subsidiaries • 3 Turnarounds • Acquisitions/Mergers • 1 shutdown • $24 million in venture funding raised • Hired 10 VPs • Replaced 7 • Implemented 90 degree changes in strategic direction • CEO of Inc Magazine fastest growing private company • CEO of Inc Magazine 27th fastest growing public company
Board of Directors Experience • Management Decision Systems, Inc. • GreatWay Corporation • Symbolics Inc. (Chairman) • Open Data Corporation • Concurrent Logic (Chairman) • Mass High Tech Council • Outward Bound • Information Resources (Co-Vice Chairman) • OuterLink Corporation
Personal Experience • Pilot • Multiengine, Instrument, Helicopter, and Seaplane • Offshore sailor • Skier • 4 children
Some of My Typical Clients • A leading business magazine CEO • Supermarket chain CEO • Logistics software company President • Semiconductor gate array company CEO • Workflow software company CEO • IT application software services firm CEO • A greeting card manufacturer and retailer CEO
Other Organizational Roles • Young Presidents Organization • World Presidents Organization • Moderator Alpha CEO Forum • Moderator Insight CEO Forum • WPO / YEO Mentor Program • Mass High Tech Council Board • Massachusetts Software Council • Chairman MA Governors Council on Information Technology • VP Sigma Chi Fraternity at MIT • Keynote speaker MIT Enterprise Forum