Bootstrapping A 130 Million VAR In The Midwest: Ahead CEO Dan Adamany (Part 2)

Sramana: How did you structure the beginning of Ahead? Did you do it alone, and did you need financial help starting the company?

Dan Adamany: One of my good friends at the time was Aaron Nack. We worked together at EMC for a while, and he had started a consulting business. He eventually sold his company, Fulcrum Consulting Group, and was working for the company that had acquired it. I talked to him some about my thoughts of leaving and starting a business. Since I had only done sales, I was seeking his advice about everything else involved in a business. He started walking me through the various processes. We talked about business strategy as well as everything else.

When I finally made the jump, he helped me tackle all of the administrative pieces of starting a business. He helped me to understand the financial requirements as well. I did fund the business myself, so I had no investors or outside money. There really was not much investment required because it was just me going out and selling a product. I was not trying to develop anything.

Sramana: What was the relationship with EMC like? Your goal coming out of EMC was to create an EMC channel. I am assuming that you would have been selling into the same accounts that you had developed as a direct EMC sales rep. How did you navigate the mechanics of that relationship?

Dan Adamany: Prior to my leaving, a lot of other people had left EMC and tried to do this. They did that at a time when EMC was not accepting of partners. When they left EMC did not want to partner with them and simply assigned a new rep to one’s old accounts. I had very good relationships with some of my customers. I also had a good relationship with my EMC managers. When I decided to leave I spoke with one of my managers, Steve, who did internal lobbying at EMC to help preserve my relationship with the company. He enabled me to maintain two of my EMC customers as a consultant outside of EMC. EMC gave me that opportunity which in turn allowed me to do a few deals and make some money.

Sramana: You said that EMC allowed you to act as a consultant to a few of your EMC accounts. What did the term “consultant” mean from their point of view, and how did that match up in terms of your viewpoint?

Dan Adamany: They allowed me to help sell their product. However, because the organizations I was covering were pretty significant, instead of me reselling the technology to the customer, EMC paid me as a consultant rather than as a sales rep on their own payroll. They essentially carried me on their payroll to have me to continue operating as a sales guy. From my point of view I was selling an EMC product but I did not have an EMC business card.

This segment is part 2 in the series : Bootstrapping A 130 Million VAR In The Midwest: Ahead CEO Dan Adamany
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