Jay Wurts CEO Coaching A personal sounding board to help you be the best that you can be

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 27 th 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