As a veteran of the
technology industry and the finance industry, Richard is a Chartered Financial
Analyst, and has been a fierce advocate of innovative, analytically deep and
thorough work. This work is fundamentally focused on answering the
question: “How do we improve this by making it more simple”?
As a former Wall St.
securities analyst in the USA and Canada, Richard achieved a #1 ranking for
Quality of Research and #1 ranking for New Ideas. He has 20+ years of
experience building, dissecting, and fine tuning valuation models and financial
statements of all kinds. His unique
knowledge and experience in multiple technology sectors includes: Wireless
telecom, Software (Social Media, Enterprise, Saas, Logistics, Supply Chain),
Semiconductors, RFID, and Networking. A s a result, Richard has interacted and
consulted with thousands of entrepreneurs, C-level executives, and finance
executives. This experience has been
gained working in the investment community on both sides of “Wall Street”, on “Bay
Street” (Canada), as well as on “Main
St.” as Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, as well as Chief
Salesperson and Evangelist.
Richard has covered
technology companies since the mid-1980s (when Microsoft went public), through
the emergence of the Internet in the mid-1990s, through the emergence of
wireless smartphones in the late 1990s, and more recently, as an operations
executive in the supply chain and business intelligence spaces.
His first company as
co-founder was called SnowsportID, a startup company that was focused on the
prevention of equipment theft in the ski and snowboarding industry using RFID
technology. This company was sold to a European based group.
As Chief Financial
Officer of a Logistics software and hardware company, he raised equity capital
from angels (tranches totaled $11.5mm over 4 years), authored subscription
agreements, offering memorandum, term sheets, Board presentations, authored and
presented to numerous venture capital investors. In the startup
environment, his critical eye for cutting operations costs, and balancing
working capital commitments ensured that the company continuously made payroll.
As a marketing
executive, he has been pioneering an innovative Sales 2.0 process in developing
tactical marketing messages focusing on ROI. Sales 2.0 is the use of
innovative sales practices focused on creating value for both buyer and seller
and combines the science of process-driven operations with the art of
collaborative relationships. This approach produces superior,
predictable, repeatable business results, including revenue, decreased sales
costs, and sustained competitive advantage.
The bottom line was that these messages significantly increased the
success rate of getting appointments with C-level executives, allowing sales
executives to quickly close that business.
Currently, he consults
independently with entrepreneurs. This consulting work is focused along
four paths: First, delivering an innovative assessment report about the company
that allows any prospective investor to obtain a quick review and understanding
of the company’s current operation; Second: ensuring that company presentations
strike the right chord with Angel and Venture Capital investors; Third: making
connections with angel and venture capital investors; and Fourth: as part-time
CFO to ensure that the startup operations are efficient and conserve precious
cash resources.
Richard is currently a
Board member on the Austin Society of Financial Analysts, takes an active role
on the audit committee, as well as the committees for the annual Forecast
Dinner and the monthly speaker luncheons.