Chuck Greens is Executive Director of The Cedars of Marin, which has both day and residential programs for adults with developmental disabilities. Chuck has more than 36 years of non-profit experience. He was co-founder and Administrative Vice President of World College West, Executive Director of the Volunteer Center of San Francisco, The Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund and the Goldman Environmental Prize. He also has served as interim executive director for nine Bay Area nonprofits, including at CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, and has had interim assignments working with Chinese for Affirmative Action, Angel Island Immigration Foundation, Zen Hospice Project and the Marin Institute. Chuck graduated from the University of Pittsburgh and Harvard Business School.

Joan Capurro is responsible for Community Relations for the Bank of Marin and has a long list of working with non-profit organizations. She currently serves on the board and advisory councils for a variety of non-profit organizations, including the American Red Cross, Dominican University, Marin City Development Advisory Board, Ross Rotary Club, Salvation Army, San Rafael Chamber of Commerce, SparkPoint, United Way of the Bay Area, and Workforce Investment Board to name only a few.

Space for the Marin Business Forum gathering is limited. Be sure to contact us to reserve a seat.

Directions to Marin Business Forum

In a session entitled, Business Vitality in Marin – Bay Area Is A Growth Market, Eyler outlined the findings from his research, and highlighted some of the trends that we will see in the future for Marin. While Marin County continues to be a robust business community and promises continued growth, there are factors that will dictate the type of growth we can expect.

For example, two of the biggest factors affecting Marin County are the labor force and traffic. Cost of living pressures are limiting the available workforce between the ages of 21 and 40 – they just can’t afford to live in the immediate area. And traffic congestions and road construction restrictions are making it harder for businesses and commuters.

What Eyler did point out is that, with the advent of telecommunications technology and the Internet, California and Marin County are becoming “the bedroom community for the world.” The number of self-employed entrepreneurs and telecommuters is on the rise, and local residents are working remotely for global companies, which is having a profound impact on Marin’s sense of community. Everyone is telecommuting and the sense of community is now limited to Starbucks of Peets.

What are the growth markets for Marin? According to Eyler, tourism will be on the rise as Marin continues to attract visitors who stop on their way to wine country or San Francisco. The upcoming America’s Cup race will be a big factor in boosting tourism. Technology and biotechnology will continue to grow, although Elyer notes this has been a quiet expansion since much of Marin is not zoned to accommodate technology so some of these start-ups stay below the radar; the zoning laws will have to change to see real growth. And there also will be growth in alternative medicine and finance. Other sectors that have seen a boom in the past, such as construction, will continue to struggle.

But no matter how you look at it, Marin County will continue to blossom as a business community because of the lifestyle it offers and its proximity to San Francisco. What will fuel that growth will be an influx of new talent, new capital, and new infrastructure such as broadband.

Here are just a few photos from our last gathering. Be sure to visit our web site again to see what’s coming in the next Marin Business Forum.

Professor Eylor is a Frank Howard Allen Research Scholar and the interim CEO of the Marin Economic Forum, a private-public partnership aimed at Marin County’s sustainable growth through business vitality, social equity and environmental balance. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis in 1998. He earned a B.A. in Economics at CSU, Chico in 1992. Robert is also Dr. Eyler specializes in research on macroeconomic and monetary policies, and is finalizing a textbook on monetary and banking topics. His academic work has focused on the economics of the wine industry, monetary policy and theory, derivative markets, and international finance.

Dr, Eylor is the author of two books: “Economic Sanctions: International Theory and Policy at Work” (2007), which investigates the efficacy of using economic sanctions as a political tool and his most recent text, “Money and Banking: An International Text” (2009), a college-level textbook for classes on central banking, financial institutions and markets, and banking as a business.

Dr. Eyler is often called up by the media for his expert input into the economic climate, acted as an expert witness in interstate trade litigation, and as a forensic economist. He also provides economic impact analyses for both private firms and public entities to help guide public policy at the local and state level and has been a visiting scholar at both the University of Bologna and Stanford University.

John is Director and Co-founder of Venture Greenhouse and Assistant Professor MBA in Sustainable Enterprise (Green MBA) for Dominican University of California, and he knows a lot about sustainable business and innovation. John took the title of his presentation from a book by former Haas School dean Raymond Miles entitled, “Collaborative Entrepreneurship: How Communities of Networked Firms Use Continuous Innovation to Create Economic Wealth.” His basic premise is that collaboration is vital to innovation, and innovation today is driven by small business. By their very nature, small businesses have fewer staff and less managerial hierarchy, and so each staff member is more accountable and therefore more creative. Since the end World War II, 95 percent of serious innovation was the product of small business, which typically get 24-times more output per R&D dollar.

What gives small business its innovative edge is collaboration. Clearly, smaller companies can’t outspend their bigger competitors, so they need to build networks of resources to fill in the gaps and expand operations. Technology has been a boon in this regard. Social innovation and breaking down walls to collaboration with new Internet and telecommunications technologies, and the new generation of Millennials raised on Facebook and Twitter are raising the collaborative bar as they bring social media practices into the workplace.

Examples of business collaboration are everywhere. John cited a few examples, such as Share Exchange in Santa Rosa, a business cooperative where local entrepreneurs can share a collaborative workspace which also allows them to share ideas and insights. Acer Computer is another interesting example of collaboration, which is made up of a series of independent companies operating under the same brand. Even those in the audience had their own collaboration stories. One printer in the group explained how he was working with a web design firm and a photography firm to create a virtual marketing agency.

As Darwin pointed out, survival of the fittest is really survival of the most adaptable. It’s not a matter of being the strongest or the smartest, but the most adaptable to change. Since no one operates in isolation, adaptability is interdependent, so adaptability often translates into those most successful at collaborating with their peers. Collaboration and innovation are the keys to business success; survival of the most adaptable. John also cited the Pareto Efficiency, which states that as businesses evolve they tend toward commoditization, which means lower profits. Innovation is the search for new profit sources and larger profits, and happier customers. And the cycle of innovation continue to accelerate, so the only way not to be left behind is to innovate with the aid of collaboration.

To demonstrate the power of collaborative entrepreneurship, John had the audience break up into small groups to discuss their common barriers to growth, and come up with their own collaborative solutions. There was a profound energy and buzz as a result, and a number of those in the room identified different means to collaborate to address their own business needs.

That’s the mission of the Marin Business Forum – to offer a networking venue that promotes collaboration. John’s presentation was not only informative, and it’s likely that many of those in attendance used the networking opportunity to forge some new professional relationships.

Thanks to John for an inspired presentation. We will keep you informed about our speaker for our December gathering. Be sure to watch this web site or join our group on LinkedIn – Marin Business Forum.  We hope to see you in December.

John teaches sustainable business, is a scholar of entrepreneurship and a practitioner of venture acceleration. After 15 years in high technology and industrial marketing, John decided to apply his business experience by developing a profession that would serve the environment and society. In 2000 he founded the GreenMBA at Dominican University of California, a two-year graduate program in sustainable business that shows students how to advance environment and social initiatives in any organization. In 2010, John co-founded the Venture Greenhouse, an early stage accelerator for scalable enterprises that address environmental and social issues. John also speaks and consults on venture creation, sustainable enterprise and organizational change.

Pete has a lot of expertise in building companies. This is the third company that he has sold as part of a successful exit strategy. Earlier this year, he sold Clairmail, which specializes in developing technology for mobile banking, to Monetise plc in the United Kingdom for $173 million. He also negotiated similar exit deals for companies he previously helped launch, including negotiating the acquisition of Purisma by Dun & Bradstreet in 2007, and the acquisition of AIM Technology.

As part of his Marin Business Forum presentation, Pete shared the lessons he has learned over the years. First of all, you need to hire people who are passionate about the company and willing to do whatever it takes to succeed. Look for a positive attitude and beware the naysayers. You don’t want to hire people who don’t share your passion, no matter how talented they may be, because ultimately they will drag the team down. Reassess your team on a regular basis because, as Pete says, “Everyone has a shelf life.”

All startups also require seed funding, but you need to be clear about the role of investors. Pete notes that the first round of funding is typically “angel” funding from small investors interested in the company or its technology. It’s later that you try to attract venture funding. As Pete notes, venture capitalists will claim they have the management and market expertise to help your venture succeed – they don’t. With a few exceptions, the only real benefit they bring is capital, so be clear on what their goals are and where they want to see a payout, whether it’s 10 or 100 times their initial investment. And there are strategic investors, such as strategic partners who may be interested in filling a gap in their own product or service offering. Strategic partners can be an asset, but make sure that getting into an agreement with a strategic partner doesn’t preclude other opportunities, such as a sale to a competing company, or locking your fledgling company into an arrangement that leads to a cheap buyout by a strategic partner looking to advance their own operation.

Once the company has started selling a product or service, the challenge is to remain innovative. Pete is a believer in Geoffrey Moore’s “Crossing the Chasm” approach and has used The Chasm Group to guide the future of Clairmail. At his company, Pete has adopted “chasm” market thinking and has defined his markets in terms of “horizons” to guide growth.

· Horizon 1 – typically your core technology or product, with an established market base (about 85 percent of sales)

· Horizon 2 – innovative technology that helps the company open new markets with early adopters and provides room for market expansion.

· Horizon 3 – truly leading edge products that are more visionary and forward-looking.

The pricing for these products scales with the degree of innovation – the more leading edge, the more expensive. That’s why fiscal growth is defined in terms of creating new sales with customers at each of these three horizons. You can expand by selling new products to existing customers, or by adapting existing products to reach new customers in new markets. The idea is to use expanding sales in Horizon 1 to drive innovations and development in Horizons 2 and 3. The key to success here is to use a holistic approach to your product strategy; review end-to-end service for your customer, including goals, sub goals, distribution, service, pricing – everything. That’s how you differentiate your company from the competition and stay ahead.

Finally, when you are positioning for your exit strategy, you need to determine if your best approach is an IPO or an acquisition. If you have a niche product or a narrow market, no matter how rich the niche, you might consider an acquisition. No matter how cool your niche or technology, if the market potential is too small then you want to find a bigger fish that can benefit from what you have built and determine your valuation accordingly. If you have bigger market potential, such as a company like Facebook, then an IPO may be the obvious strategy.

Hearing from a business leader who has “been there, done that” was quite inspiring. Pete shared a lot of insight and information that could be applied to any business at any stage of development. That’s what the Marin Business Forum is all about – bringing together fellow entrepreneurs and professionals to share their ideas and insights so we all can prosper. We hope to see you at the next gathering of the Marin Business Forum in September.

LARKSPUR, Calif. (June 6, 2012) – Every company should  have a growth strategy, whether it needs external funding to taker the business to the next level, or it wants to align internal resources to position the company for a merger or acquisition. To help companies struggling with positioning themselves for growth, the Marin Business Forum (www.marinbusinessforum.com) will asked Pete Daffern, CEO of Clairmail, to speak on “Strategizing for Growth” at its next meeting on Thursday, June 21. The networking event will take place at the Wood Island Office Complex, 80 East Sir Francis Drake Blvd. in Larkspur at 5:00 p.m., and will give  business owners and  professionals an opportunity to hear Pete’s presentation and network with other local business professionals. The event is open to all Bay Area residents.

During his presentation, Daffern will discuss various growth strategies that he has used during his years as a chief executive with technology companies such as Purisma and AIM Technology. During his career, Daffern has been responsible for finding venture capital and funding for start-up companies, as well as positioning companies for mergers and acquisitions. He also has been responsible for managing companies through strategic growth events, and hiring the experts needed to guide these companies along the way. Earlier this year, for example, Daffern negotiated the acquisition of Clairmail by Monitize plc for $173 million.

“Every company leader needs to have a strategic growth plan, including specific goals and milestones,” said TJ Van Voorhees, co-founder and general partner for Pacific Crest Group, host and co-founder of the Marin Business Forum. “Whether your plan includes an influx of capital, strategic hires, or an acquisition, you have to lay the foundation to achieve those goals. Pete clearly has ‘been there, done that,’ having successfully guided a number of technology firms successfully through watershed growth events, such as IPOs and acquisitions. We are delighted that he is willing to share his experience and knowledge with the Marin Business Forum.”

Pete Daffern has more than 20 years of experience helping technology companies grow. Before his tenure as CEO of Clairmail, Daffern was CEO of Purisma, where he directed operations with a focus on strategic growth with the help of customer service and business development initiatives. For example, Purisma was successfully acquired by Dun & Bradstreet in 2007. Daffern also has served as president of AIM Technology, Vice President of Worldwide Business Development, Alliances, and Corporate Development for Vitria Technology, and was a member of the management team at Seagate Software for 10 years. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Sheffield University in England.

In addition to the information presentation, the Marin Business Forum meeting will include wine and appetizers, as well as time to mingle with other local Marin professionals and entrepreneurs to exchange ideas and information.

Space is limited and an RSVP is required to attend. Interested parties can register at http://marinbusinessforum.com/event-registration or contact Franka Winchester at 415.461.2586, fwinchester@pcg-services.com.

About the Marin Business Forum

The Marin Business Forum was the brain child of Pacific Crest Group (www.pcg-services.com), Filice (www.filice.com), and Cypress Partners (www.cypresspart.com), who pooled their expertise to create a networking group to give local entrepreneurs and professionals a chance to meet one another and make new business connections. This event is to provide expert guidance, education and inspiration to take back to the office and concentrate on core business strategies for growth and expansion. For more information on the speaker and to keep abreast of future events, visit www.marinbusinessforum.com.

Contact:

Franka Winchester
Pacific Crest Group
(415) 461-2586
fwinchester@pcg-services.com

Tom Woolf
Woolf Media & Marketing
(415) 259-5638
tomw@woolfmedia.com

Posted on April 4, 2012 by twoolf

If you missed the Marin Business Forum in March, John Younger, CEO of Accolo, the Cloud Recruiting company, offered an insightful presentation on “How to Turn Your Company into a Hiring Machine.” We have been working with Accolo for a number of years, and have worked with our clients to adopt a number of John’s hiring best practices. A video of his talk is posted on the Accolo and Marin Business Forumweb sites, but a digested version of his presentation is offered here.In his presentation, John emphasized the importance of making the right hire. Only 50 percent of employees hired are considered “good” hires, and every top performer has the same productivity of three average employees. These figures dramatize how important it is to make the right hiring decision. John offers seven steps to turn your company into a hiring machine:

1. Find the emotional triggers – John says that rather than describing the position using terms every applicant will assume, write the job description as a love letter. The objective is to woo the perfect candidate. Ask yourself what the point of pain is, how to measure success, why would the perfect candidate want this job? Also ask yourself what are the common attributes of a top performer? Look for emotional appeal rather than simple qualifications.

2. Develop a compelling recruiting plan – This includes describing the position in a compelling way. For example, don’t put out a call for an “accountant”; try a different approach, such as “looking for someone who can count the beans and make them grow.” Make the recruiting message compelling and personal, and make it stand out. Add keywords at the bottom of the online job description to promote SEO. Create a short list of questions that get to the core of the position, and that promote a two-way dialogue that points to what success looks like for this position.

3. Include all candidate sources – Candidate referrals come from a wide range of sources so include them all. Use a pyramid approach starting with the easiest, least expensive means (e.g. Craigslist and online job boards) and work toward the more expensive approaches (e.g. retained recruiters).

4. Treat each applicant like a customer – Only 6 percent of all job applicants get any response to their application. That’s a shabby way to treat customers, and every job applicant can have an impact on the recruiting effort, either positive or negative. Even an unqualified applicant may be able to recommend someone who is perfect for the position. Be sure every applicant receives some form of closure, no matter the outcome.

5. Screen well and move quickly – The mistake many managers make is waiting to have a field of candidates to choose from. The right candidate may not wait and will get away. Identify the right candidate quickly by asking the right questions, e.g. don’t ask about the number of years of experience, but ask them how many times they achieved a specific goal or task, how recently, and how they achieved it.

6. Have the right interview team – Interviewing candidates takes skill, so find the right people to do it. Don’t use managers who will sell the company or ask the routine questions. Identify those resources in the company who understand the culture and can ask probing questions. Remember that it’s about cultural fit as much as qualifications so don’t be afraid to use interviewers who know the company even if they don’t know the specific job.

7. Leverage all your resources – Give each candidate a 360-degree inspection. Try using a serial approach to job history, starting with their earliest job. Ask how they landed their first job and why they left it. Then ask the same questions about their second job. Did they get a referral from their last job? Look for patterns and indicators as to whether they would be a good fit for the company and its culture. One acid test is what John calls “the airport test” – would you be comfortable spending a long layover with this person at an airport? That will reveal quite a bit.

All too often small business owners and managers don’t pay enough attention to adopting good hiring practices only to pay the price after they make a bad hiring decision. By spending more time and care up front and working with professionals who understand hiring in today’s web-driven world, companies can minimize lost productivity and increases in overhead due to poor hiring choices.

Pete Daffern, CEO of ClairMail, will be speaking at Marin Business Forum on Thursday, June 21 at 5 pm.  Pete Daffern will talk about positioning a company for acquisition, working with venture capitalists to raise funds, setting a strategy for growth and expansion, as well as strategically hiring the right talent for the job.

Pete Daffern leads Clairmail as CEO, bringing more than 20 years of operational and business leadership experience in the technology sector. Prior to joining Clairmail, Pete was CEO of technology company Purisma, where he directed the company’s strategy and operations with a focus on growth through valuable solutions, customer service and business development initiatives. D&B acquired Purisma in October 2007. Before Purisma, Pete was President of AIM Technology, a provider of applications for contact centers. Previously, Pete was Vice President, Worldwide Business Development, Alliances and Corporate Development for Vitria Technology. Pete also spent more than 10 years at Seagate Software, where he held numerous management and sales positions, including General Manager EMEA. Pete holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics (Honors) from Sheffield University in England.

Turn Your Company Into a Hiring Machine!

“Your best future hire could live down the street.”

Speaker

John Younger, President, CEO and Founder

John is the President & CEO of Accolo, the leading Cloud Recruiting company. His relentless pursuit of connecting the two people who matter has spanned over 24 years. He has started three successful recruitment related companies, holds five patents and let his most recent company to be #42 on the Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Companies list.

For over 23 years, John’s passion to dramatically improve how people and jobs find each other has drawn upon his deep understanding of technology, the recruitment process and a core belief that everyone deserves courtesy and respect. This idea is central to Accolo’s vision, methods, and communications which John founded in 2000.

Accolo, Inc. provides a revolutionary SaaS Cloud Recruiting® Platform with layered on-demand professional services. Accolo is recognized as a pioneer in Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) – winning numerous awards including: 2010 HRO’s Bakers Dozen as a Top On-Demand RPO company and #1 On-Demand Recruitment Process Outsourcing company in 2009 and 2008, one of the fastest growing companies in the United States (#42 on the 2007 Inc 500), the fastest growing private company in the San Francisco Bay Area (2006), won the 2005 Recruitment Process Outsourcer of the Year Award and is a founding member of the Recruitment Process Outsourcing Association.

Accolo is deeply committed to sustainable, charitable and non-profit organizations, and has made the identification of key talent for these organizations a corporate priority.

Applauded for his ability to accurately predict trends in the industry and deliver engaging presentations, he has been asked to speak at events in the United States, Australia, Belgium and United Kingdom. Some of these venues and organizations include Kennedy Events, OnRec, Entrepreneurs Organization, Net Impact, Torchiana, Experience Unlimited and Northern California Human Resource Association.