w3w3.com

Prepare for rejection when raising money, follow with fortitude!

602_ Prepare for rejection when raising money, follow with fortitude!
In this part 2 of 2, Profile of a Leader interview with Roy Dimoff, Chairman and CEO of ViaWest, Roy and Larry discuss raising money and venture capitalists; rejection; challenging your ego; fortitude; getting the right people; and many other points that entrepreneurs need to know. Roy's first company was a teleconferencing bridge in Canada and was presented with many opportunities. He is definitely a serial entrepreneur. Roy went onto say, "I like opportunity based entrepreneurs. You have to know what it’s like to write a business plan. If you have business people in your life who have been there, done that, then you should be attacking them as much as you can for their advice in terms of a business plan and how it should be written and presented. Then of course, starting out in your community, there are few things as challenging to your ego as raising money. You have to deal with that. You have to deal with rejection. But I tell you, if you have the fortitude, if you have the confidence, if you have the people around you that believe in you, that push you on, help you with the plan. You have to endure, make it happen. And there are days, even when I was funding ViaWest.. I mean here we had a successful line of companies behind us, but it wasn’t a good time to be raising money and we had a lot of rejection. You know, everything came together and we found the right people and we got the thing launched." He also gives some interesting advice about accountants and lawyers. Like all of the great leaders we have interviewed, a big driver for Roy is to help others be successful. Viawest is a leader in the business community.
Related Links: ViaWest || Economy Builders || Leader Profiles || Blog || Channels:Leader Profiles Bytes: 10701743 - 1/12/09 LISTEN

The word for the next two years is prudency," says Roy Dimoff

 600_ "The word for the next two years is prudency," says Roy Dimoff 
 "Knowing what you don't know is as important as knowing what you do know," said Roy Dimoff, Chairman and CEO of ViaWest during a Profile of a Leader interview with Larry. Before getting into the history and learning lessons, Roy gives an overview of where Viawest is today, and what they plan on doing during these shaky economic times. "Growth rate north of 35% and now stands as the largest privately held data center and managed service company in the US, you know it’s really a tremendous opportunity to look at your systems, look at your processes, look at your efficiencies, look at the number of times you touch the customer and really try to streamline some things. Really take this as an opportunity to look at your business as a whole – now is a good time to look on everything we do and see if we can do it better, how we can be more efficient, how we can bring more to the bottom line. A lot of our competitors back in 99-2000, they had raised hundreds of millions of dollars and of course ViaWest total equity investment back then was like $34 million – and we were one of the few survivors. So, it’s been very interesting. A lot of the lessons we learned back then are very applicable today even though the industry is different and ViaWest is in a much different position. But the key is Larry; we are still the very prudent group that we were back in 2000 and refusing to take things for granted." Roy started his first entrepreneurial effort at age 25. Years before that he worked in the produce department at a Canadian grocery store. Then after a couple of successes as an entrepreneur he was involved in an IPO. It was there he learned that when an expert advisor says that strategy could be 'problematic' he should listen. So you listen, there's more...
Related Links: ViaWest || Green Solutions || Leader Profiles || >> Channels:Leader Profiles Bytes: 11100476 > 1.5.09 LISTEN

Mentored by Bill Gates and Partner with John Malone

There are lessons that can be learned vicariously and others that can help us understand what it takes to be a winner. Sue Wyman, Chairman and Larry Polman, President of the Communications Technology Professionals (CTP) interview Gregory Maffei, the 2007 CTP Communications Executive of the Year. His business acumen was influenced by a major in religion. Greg is President & Chief Executive Officer, Liberty Media Corporation. Greg along with Chairman John Malone, lead the team transforming Liberty Media into an operating company to maximize shareholder value. He assumed the role of President and CEO of Liberty Media in March 2006, having joined the company in November 2005. Previously, Greg served as President and CFO of Oracle, Chairman and CEO of 360networks Corporation, a regional broadband carrier, SVP and CFO of Microsoft Corporation, and Chairman of Expedia. Liberty Media Corporation owns interests in a broad range of electronic retailing, media, communications and entertainment businesses. Those interests are attributed to two tracking stock groups: the Liberty Interactive group, which includes Liberty's interests in QVC, Provide Commerce, IAC/InterActiveCorp, and Expedia, and the Liberty Capital group, which includes Liberty's interests in Starz Entertainment, News Corporation, and Time Warner...and listen to what he says about Direct TV in this Profile of a Leader interview. LISTEN

Related Links: Liberty Media || CTP Home || CTP Communications Executive of the Year Award || CTP Channel > Bytes: 29939568 LISTEN

Life of the Entrepreneur: Controlling Your Destiny

A few keys for being a successful entrepreneur shared by Nancy Phillips were: maintain a good sense of humor; overcome the nay-sayers; and practice real-world economics. Nancy is the Co-Founder, Director, COO of ViaWest and shared her story and poignant points about building and growing a business even in the toughest of times to Lucy Sanders, CEO and Founder of the National Center for Women & Information Technology and NCWIT board member, Lee Kennedy along with Larry Nelson. Nancy loves technology and people and has a long history with the Telecom industry. She enjoys the challenges of being an entrepreneur for many reasons including her passion to control her destiny. Nancy says her husband claims, "Because I'm a control freak." Phillips has also been a principal, executive and consultant for numerous successful telecommunications companies including France Telecom, MCI and Qwest. Over 15 years ago, she began her career with Teleconferencing Systems Canada as Vice President of Sales and it was in this role that she met Roy Dimoff - the two have been loyal business partners ever since. Nancy shares some excellent advice for managers, leaders and entrepreneurs.
Related Links: ViaWest || NCWIT Heroes || NCWIT Blog || CO Coalition for Gender and IT || NCWIT Practice || > Bytes: 48124972  LISTEN

Don't Undervalue Luck: An Entrepreneurial Message

Dan Caruso was a founding executive member and officer of Level 3 Communications, Inc., where he was group vice president of Lines of Business and Marketing and group vice president of Network Services. Today, Dan is CEO and President of Zayo Bandwidth, Executive Chairman of Envysion and Chairman of VoicePipe. In this Profile of a Leader interview, Sue Wyman founder of the Jivaro Group and Chairman of the Communications Technology Professionals, CTP along with Gary Gaessler founder of DTP/CTP talked with Dan about the lessons learned on his path to becoming an entrepreneur. Dan was a founding executive member and officer of Level 3 Communications, Inc., where he was group vice president of Lines of Business and Marketing and group vice president of Network Services. Dan has 21 years of experience in the Telecommunications and Internet industries and was most recently the President and CEO of ICG Communications. They discussed mentors, values, turning point, and Dan said, "Don't undervalue Luck."
Related Links: Zayo || Envysion || CTP || CTP Channel || Jivaro Group || Trillion || Bytes: 11613730 LISTEN

Profile of a Leader: Here's the Rest of the Story Part 2 of 2

When you are lucky enough to have talented, creative, hard-working people on your team, it's critical that they are all on the same page and heading in the same direction. Scott Binder, Senior Vice President for the Colorado Market at Comcast, talks with Sue Wyman, Chairman of the revitalized Communication Technology Professionals, CTP formerly DTP and Larry Nelson about the steps (personally and professionally) that he has gone through in his changing professional career. If you would like a FREE copy of Scott's favorite book, "As a Man Thinketh" by James Allen, simply click here. Related Links: CTP Channel || Denver Tele Pros || Jivaro Group || Podcast Directory || Channel: News > Bytes: 6180470 > LISTEN. - If you missed Part 1 - LISTEN

Profile of a Leader: Jump from CPA to Sr. Vice President

What does it take to make a career shift from accounting to senior management? Words like focus, passion and wanting to do something bad enough were drivers for Scott Binder, Senior Vice President for the Colorado Market at Comcast. Scott had to pack up and move to many states in his experience and learning process which included Wisconsin, Kentucky, New Mexico and California before returning to Colorado. He shares insights, with Sue Wyman, Chairman of the revitalized Communication Technology Professionals, CTP formerly DTP. Scott got some great team training in high school and his favorite inspirational book is over 100 years old. You’ll get some great how-to pointers.

Related Links: CTP Channel || Denver Tele Pros || Jivaro Group || Podcast Directory || Bytes 3422566 > LISTEN

Lloyd Lewan - Leadership Beyond Management

We live in a time of great division. Nations against nations – religions against religions, complicated competition with foreign countries. We have a growing underclass in the world and we really don’t know what to do with it. And there are so many other moral, scientific and economic dilemmas we face. As Lincoln said, “A house divided cannot stand.”

We must find men and women who can face these challenges with a much wiser set of denominators and understandings. Lloyd Lewan was the keynote speaker at the annual Colorado Ethics in Business Awards (CEBA) and had hundreds of attendees on the edge of their seats as he detailed prescriptions for leadership and ethics.  Related Links: CEBA Home || Event Photos || 2005 Photos || Find It >> Channel: Ethics  Bytes:15883183 LISTEN

..and heroes walk among us!

Memorial Service to Celebrate Paul's Life Photos

Heroes are important to the rest of us mere mortals. By their example, they remind us of the high road, integrity, generosity, strength, and good will to all mankind, the "good life".

That describes our dear friend and hero, Paul Ray. Paul passed from our lives Thursday January 4th, 2007. We were fortunate to experience his spirit, his love and friendship. Memories of his great character will stay with us forever.

Among Paul's many talents, he was a great story teller. He made us laugh, he made us cry and he taught us so much. Larry and Paul were in the process of writing a book and we would like to include some of your comments and stories in the book. We invite you to join us and share your memories and stories. Comments are open.

RELATED Links:  Tribute to Paul Ray at w3w3.com

229 Mayor Hickenlooper Talks About the Future and the Past, June 2004

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, is the quintessential example of converting a challenge into an opportunity and then onto success. During this “Profile of a Leader” interview you’ll hear how he achieves and how he was motivated to be a winner. It’s a one-of-a-kind story you won’t hear somewhere else. Larry and Pat Nelson conducted this interview in the Mayor's office one year after he was elected and during a time he was throwing baseballs with Governor Owens. You'll hear the Mayor in his own words explain why he is the way he is. Related Links: John Hickenlooper Bio || City of Denver || Orange Friday || Profiles of Leaders || Find It || Keywords:John Hickenlooper, Mayor, Leader, Denver, Colorado, Motivated, Winners || Bytes: 8376218 > LISTEN 12.19.06