Did you miss us?

We took some time off from these calls over the summer but now that it's practically fall, we're ready to get back to it!

What better way to start these up again than with a discussion about Founder’s Syndrome and how they can get in the way of their own company. We decided to cover this topic after our observing a common pattern in our practice with founders who contact us and how we advise them to get unstuck. Almost all founders experience this in one form or another and we’ll talk about how to identify that you are stuck and what we know will work to get you back on track.

This is going to be different. Tom co-founded Exotics at Redmond Town Center, the largest weekly, and longest running, gathering of rare and exotic cars in the US. He gets a lot of people who contact him about how they did it, and what are the components that go into creating a brand. This isn’t about car shows entirely. It’s also about how you identify a customer before you create the product and build something that appeals to them. This will be interesting and we anticipate a whole new audience attending this call. We changed the date and time so it doesn’t compete with existing car shows that morning.

This will be a bit of a celebration for us. It’s our one year of Zoom calls under our belt. We have a chance to make this one about all the legal documents you need in place to get your company off the ground. There are a whole list of things you need to get started and so we asked attorney Ross Meador who specializes in startups to join us for this one. While it may seem like a dry topic, you’d be amazed by how many startups don’t think about this and don’t think they need these documents until it’s too late and fixing the problem can get extremely expensive. We can name lots of examples, so join us for this. It won’t be boring!

Our last call was a lot of fun and this time we’re going to talk about how to form that highly-effective board of directors and how to also add a separate board of advisors. They are not one-in-the-same. We’re also going to talk about dysfunctional boards and how that happens and everything you can do to keep that from happening as you build your company. Some may think it’s too soon, or that a board doesn’t matter, but a good one can make all the difference between success and failure and we’ll explain why.

We’re going to have a lot of fun with this one because we come across so many good and bad CEOs. We’re going to talk about how to become a good one and some of the horrible habits that CEOs sometimes have that get in the way of their role. This is going to be a broader discussion with the group and we’re going to share some great stories. This is a good topic for anyone who wants to start and run a company. We hope you join us.

We’re very excited to have Stacy Able here from Tantrum Marketing to talk about how you get your product idea onto store shelves. She’s going to share some of what to do and not do, and she’s going to share some of her stories about what worked and what didn’t and why. This is a must-attend for anyone who’s serious about getting a product on a store shelf somewhere. Stacy has placed products with some of the most coveted retailers and we are eager to have her share how it’s done.

At Middlerock Partners, we believe that a strong team is absolutely foundational your organization's growth. The concept of an A Player has been brought up in some of our previous conversations, so we thought it would be worth setting aside time to discuss this concept. How do you look at your business strategy to identify A roles? What defines an A Player, and how do you identify who those people are? What about B Players and their role within your company? What do you do with C players?

We’re looking forward to having this discussion with you!

We will have Jennifer Gehrt from Communique PR as our guest for this very important Q&A. People often wonder how we built Open Interface and how we were able to gain so much market momentum. Jennifer played a key role in helping us build our roadmap strategy, including how to share it with key influencers. This strategy led to the establishment of our strong position in the marketplace. When I think of the elements that led to our successful exit and sale to Qualcomm, PR was central to that strategy. This is a topic you shouldn’t miss, regardless of size and type of company. This is especially important if you have no experience working with a PR firm. Even if you have, Jennifer can share some thoughts about how to get the most out of your relationship with your PR firm. Don’t miss this!

We asked Kenny to come and talk about a topic that comes up often. How do we find a manufacturing source to make our wonderful widget?

With over 30 years of leadership in product realization and sourcing, Kenny has a track record of exceeding business objectives through relationship building and implementation of best practices. He successfully built the Microsoft Asia-Pacific team to support product development and manufacturing, reaching a revenue of $110M. He then led Apple’s technical operations to develop multiple iPad generations and launched multiple iOS releases. Upon his return to Microsoft, he worked on the manufacturing of audio and video systems for Skype Devices. He went on to become the Director of Manufacturing at Echodyne, a radar company backed by Bill Gates and Vulcan Capital among others. With an established global network of subject-matter experts, Kenny founded Miratek, a consultancy retained by multinational companies for sourcing solutions and manufacturing of cutting-edge technologies.

This topic comes from a recent question on Quora about how you go about selling your company, and that it’s not a matter of just finding a business broker. Tom will talk about the bigger picture and how to think about extracting that strategic value that sets you apart from a simple EBITDA calculation. Tom sold five companies in his career, most notably the sale of Open Interface North America to Qualcomm.

Greg was employee #16 or #17 at Microsoft where he held the role as Chief Software Architect. Imagine that! He joined the company in 1979 as their first PhD and went on that wild ride with Bill Gates and Paul Allen when nobody knew the company would become the giant it is today. This is a very rare chance to hear directly from someone who was there to see a company explode from a small team where none of them were yet wealthy to becoming an industry giant. Greg left Microsoft in 1998 to form Numerix where he remains the Chairman today. This is a call you won’t want to miss. We may even get Greg to talk about cars at the end. After all, it was his Ferrari 250 GTO that fetched the highest price of any car ever sold at auction at $48 million dollars!

We’re thrilled to have Jeff Higashi talk about product design! He has also agreed to join Middlerock as an advisor where we could definitely benefit from his expertise. Jeff is also a faculty member at the very prestigious Art Center Pasadena that consistently turns out the best industrial designers in the world. Jeff will talk about his work and his thoughts on the process of turning an idea into something tangible and desired by consumers. This will be another outstanding conversation with one of the real rockstars of product design!

Joe was the former CEO of Cascade Design and SOG Specialty Knives and Tools. Recently joined us as an advisor and will talk about all the steps that go into launching a successful product into the consumer market place. We often hear from people who want to bring a new product to market, and Joe will explain how you need to think about turning that ideal into something that catches fire with consumers.

Nicci Valiquette, co-founder of Middlerock, will talk about what systems need to be in place as you grow from a tiny startup to a company with hundreds of employees. Nicci will share her thoughts on why a strong backbone matters regardless of the industry to best position a company for future growth. This is an important topic for anyone thinking about how to best build their organization.

Know your strengths and embrace your weaknesses.

Being a successful CEO means not only understanding what you’re good at, but it also means getting really comfortable with your shortcomings. It’s important to build a team around you that addresses your needs and, most importantly, the needs of the organization.

Dr. Keith Dunbar joins us on Saturday, November 28th at 8am PT to walk you through how to identify those weaknesses and how to not let them reflect negatively on your organization. 

Marketing is the one corner of an organization that’s grown in sophistication.

Times have changed in marketing and the marketing trends have taken an interesting turn. The importance of staying true to your authentic self, though, is one aspect that has not changed. Click here to watch the recording of this call.

Join us for a conversation with Grammy award winning recording artist, Anthony Ray, AKA, Sir Mix-a-Lot

Anthony developed a passion for music from a young age, but it wasn’t until he saw the behind-the-scenes at a Prince concert that he became enamored with the business side of the industry.