Executive Searches

Vice President of Sales

Company Overview:

The company is a market leader in wireless enterprise applications and was recently named by a major industry analyst as one of the Top Ten Emerging Companies in 2008. This is an exciting opportunity to join an organization that is on track to double their customer base this year, and has already created strategic relationships with Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T.

Position Overview:

The ideal candidate will have successfully led a significant sales organization of a wireless carrier or vendor focused on the B2B market. This experience should reflect an outstanding ability to engage at executive levels with carrier partners to improve penetration in the enterprise market.

The position will report directly to the CEO, and for the right person, this role has the potential to be a significant equity opportunity with a company that has already proven its ability to be successful in the market.

Key Evaluation Factors:

· A proven ability to develop and launch successful initiatives directly with the senior management team at a major wireless operating company. That could include a mechanism by which a carrier trained, developed, motivated, or compensated their enterprise sales organization

· A demonstrated ability to lead an entrepreneurial sales organization that met or exceeded plan without the benefit of a dominant market position or recognized brand name. Success within a venture backed company would be a plus.

· A proven ability to create a successful sales organization as evidenced by high morale, low turnover, and an approach that resulted in successful internal promotions of team members into leadership positions. Experience managing both activity metrics and the sales funnel such that the team was able to deliver reasonably accurate forecasts over the course of a year would also be very important.

· Experience successfully selling a similar product (Software as a Service) with a similar business model (Monthly Recurring Revenue).

· Personal characteristics should include; an intellectual curiosity that results in the evaluation of new and interesting ideas that can improve team performance, an ability to mentor the team in a way that allows the organization to scale over time, a reliance on a consultative sales approach at all levels of the organization, Strong character and personal ethos, and someone who would rather be a creator than a curator.

· Other considerations

o BS degree in relevant discipline

o 10+ years of leading high-performance sales teams

o 5+ years in officer level management roles (VP, GM, or SVP)

Please reference search assignment #1902

Board of Directors

Company overview:

Our client is a leading provider of Assisted GPS technology solutions that enable mobile operators to offer a wide range of Location Based Services. They have already established strategic relationships with a number of major wireless OEMs and semiconductor manufacturers and are quickly expanding their presence in the marketplace.

Position Overview:

This member of the Board of Directors will actively participate in quarterly Board meetings as well as advising key members of the leadership team as needed, typically around 2 hours per month.

Key Evaluation Factors:

Recent officer or chief officer level experience at an international company selling or licensing technology to mobile OEM, mobile semiconductor, or mobile operating companies. Candidates should not be directly affiliated with a major mobile OEM or mobile carrier to avoid potential conflicts of interest. Current or recent responsibilities can include: general management, product development, product management, sales, marketing, and or strategy.
A successful candidate should be able to share relevant experience in their background that will help our client craft and implement the best go to market strategy for their LBS service offering. Direct or indirect experience with either the GPS or LBS marketplaces would be very valuable.
It would also be very valuable to have a network of contacts throughout the industry that has been developed through networking, associations, and trade groups that would extend the company's circle of contacts within the industry.
Personal Attributes: The ability to participate in "Best Idea Wins" group discussions with a balanced combination of insightful input, thoughtful questions, and healthy skepticism that help the group to focus on the key aspects of selecting and implementing the right target market.

Vice President of Engineering

Company Overview:

This is a compelling equity opportunity to join a technology leader that has developed a wireless data platform that significantly enhances network QoS and is currently in trial with a major wireless operating company in Europe. Their first product on this platform provides a unique peer-to-peer video service that would allow two people to conduct a high quality video call on existing 3g networks.

This peer-to-peer application is simply a way of demonstrating the effectiveness of their platform and could potentially be used to improve the network efficiency of any wireless network that would benefit from IP packet priority scheduling. This solution is getting a lot of attention and two other major international carriers are in discussions to start trials this year. Their team is being told by a number of technical leaders at carriers that their solution is potentially the best solution to improving wireless data QoS that they have seen in the market.

Position Overview:

The VP of Engineering will become a significant equity stakeholder in the company, take over the entire engineering and product development team and will report directly to the CEO. They will manage a staff of team leaders and professional engineers responsible for wireless network communications, application design, and handset integration. Additionally, the VP of Engineering will work closely with counterparts at both national and international carriers such as Vodafone during the trial and evaluation phase of the sale process.

Key Evaluation Factors:

· A demonstrated ability to lead a successful engineering team through a complete development cycle for a mobile client/server product with responsibility for design, implementation, release management, and customer support. Broad development experience involving multiple layers of the IP stack would be very valuable. The use of a disciplined approach to scheduling and tracking tasks combined with an ability to successfully achieve expectations on all key deliverables will be very important. Experience with both EVDO Rev A and HSDPA would be a plus. Experience working embedded development in a Windows environment would also be very valuable.

· Successfully building an engineering organization from a small team to more than 100 talented engineers. Experience working with employees, contractors, and outsource vendors would be a plus. The company may outsource a portion of their handset customization work to outside support vendors. Candidates should be able to demonstrate strong people development skills.

· Successful experience working within a rapidly growing entrepreneurial environment with limited resources, but dramatic potential would be important. This VP will have a lot of interaction with the entire leadership team and the ability to understand what a startup is really about will be an important part of their success in the organization.

Please reference search assignment # 1887


	Executive Searches Vice President of Sales Company Overview: The company is a market leader in wireless enterprise applications and was recently named by a major industry analyst as one of the Top Ten Emerging Companies in 2008. This is an exciting opportunity to join an organization that is on track to double their customer base this year, and has already created strategic relationships with Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T. Position Overview: The ideal candidate will have successfully led a significant sales organization of a wireless carrier or vendor focused on the B2B market. This experience should reflect an outstanding ability to engage at executive levels with carrier partners to improve penetration in the enterprise market. The position will report directly to the CEO, and for the right person, this role has the potential to be a significant equity opportunity with a company that has already proven its ability to be successful in the market. Key Evaluation Factors: · A proven ability to develop and launch successful initiatives directly with the senior management team at a major wireless operating company. That could include a mechanism by which a carrier trained, developed, motivated, or compensated their enterprise sales organization · A demonstrated ability to lead an entrepreneurial sales organization that met or exceeded plan without the benefit of a dominant market position or recognized brand name. Success within a venture backed company would be a plus. · A proven ability to create a successful sales organization as evidenced by high morale, low turnover, and an approach that resulted in successful internal promotions of team members into leadership positions. Experience managing both activity metrics and the sales funnel such that the team was able to deliver reasonably accurate forecasts over the course of a year would also be very important. · Experience successfully selling a similar product (Software as a Service) with a similar business model (Monthly Recurring Revenue). · Personal characteristics should include; an intellectual curiosity that results in the evaluation of new and interesting ideas that can improve team performance, an ability to mentor the team in a way that allows the organization to scale over time, a reliance on a consultative sales approach at all levels of the organization, Strong character and personal ethos, and someone who would rather be a creator than a curator. · Other considerations o BS degree in relevant discipline o 10+ years of leading high-performance sales teams o 5+ years in officer level management roles (VP, GM, or SVP) Please reference search assignment #1902 Board of Directors Company overview: Our client is a leading provider of Assisted GPS technology solutions that enable mobile operators to offer a wide range of Location Based Services. They have already established strategic relationships with a number of major wireless OEMs and semiconductor manufacturers and are quickly expanding their presence in the marketplace. Position Overview: This member of the Board of Directors will actively participate in quarterly Board meetings as well as advising key members of the leadership team as needed, typically around 2 hours per month. Key Evaluation Factors: Recent officer or chief officer level experience at an international company selling or licensing technology to mobile OEM, mobile semiconductor, or mobile operating companies. Candidates should not be directly affiliated with a major mobile OEM or mobile carrier to avoid potential conflicts of interest. Current or recent responsibilities can include: general management, product development, product management, sales, marketing, and or strategy. A successful candidate should be able to share relevant experience in their background that will help our client craft and implement the best go to market strategy for their LBS service offering. Direct or indirect experience with either the GPS or LBS marketplaces would be very valuable. It would also be very valuable to have a network of contacts throughout the industry that has been developed through networking, associations, and trade groups that would extend the company's circle of contacts within the industry. Personal Attributes: The ability to participate in "Best Idea Wins" group discussions with a balanced combination of insightful input, thoughtful questions, and healthy skepticism that help the group to focus on the key aspects of selecting and implementing the right target market. Vice President of Engineering Company Overview: This is a compelling equity opportunity to join a technology leader that has developed a wireless data platform that significantly enhances network QoS and is currently in trial with a major wireless operating company in Europe. Their first product on this platform provides a unique peer-to-peer video service that would allow two people to conduct a high quality video call on existing 3g networks. This peer-to-peer application is simply a way of demonstrating the effectiveness of their platform and could potentially be used to improve the network efficiency of any wireless network that would benefit from IP packet priority scheduling. This solution is getting a lot of attention and two other major international carriers are in discussions to start trials this year. Their team is being told by a number of technical leaders at carriers that their solution is potentially the best solution to improving wireless data QoS that they have seen in the market. Position Overview: The VP of Engineering will become a significant equity stakeholder in the company, take over the entire engineering and product development team and will report directly to the CEO. They will manage a staff of team leaders and professional engineers responsible for wireless network communications, application design, and handset integration. Additionally, the VP of Engineering will work closely with counterparts at both national and international carriers such as Vodafone during the trial and evaluation phase of the sale process. Key Evaluation Factors: · A demonstrated ability to lead a successful engineering team through a complete development cycle for a mobile client/server product with responsibility for design, implementation, release management, and customer support. Broad development experience involving multiple layers of the IP stack would be very valuable. The use of a disciplined approach to scheduling and tracking tasks combined with an ability to successfully achieve expectations on all key deliverables will be very important. Experience with both EVDO Rev A and HSDPA would be a plus. Experience working embedded development in a Windows environment would also be very valuable. · Successfully building an engineering organization from a small team to more than 100 talented engineers. Experience working with employees, contractors, and outsource vendors would be a plus. The company may outsource a portion of their handset customization work to outside support vendors. Candidates should be able to demonstrate strong people development skills. · Successful experience working within a rapidly growing entrepreneurial environment with limited resources, but dramatic potential would be important. This VP will have a lot of interaction with the entire leadership team and the ability to understand what a startup is really about will be an important part of their success in the organization. Please reference search assignment # 1887