James Powers CEO iLinc keynote at Enterprise Network - Presentation Transcript
Welcome to Enterprise Network | 2.19.2009 James Powers Chairman, President & CEO SURVIVING AND THRIVING IN ANY ECONOMY When Agility, Adaptation and Focus Really Count
We stand in a time of challenge…
A Diverse Career:
Real Estate
Bottled Water
Restaurant Industry
Dental Practice Management
Web Conferencing Software
I wanna be a cowboy!
I wanna be President!
I wanna be a football player!
Nice game, son. Now grow up and get a real job!
Do dentists really lack business skills? Not me! Go get an MBA and find out!
Got MBA, Series 7 and 63 Securities Licenses.
Made a lot of money… Fast!!
Lost a lot of money… Fast!!!
Shopping Centers Subdivisions Apartments Homes $
Founded Clearidge
Nashville Tennessee-based Bottled
Water Company in 1990
We even got Crystal Gayle as our spokesperson! Too bad that didn’t really help us sell more water…
Me Lawyer Lawyer Lawyer Economist MBA / PhD MBA The Dream Team Crystal! Lawyer
Clearidge Bottled Water
Commercial and residential five-gallon delivery business
Grew rapidly:
Bought 13 other companies
Largest Independent Bottler in Southeast
Successfully sold in 2000, despite critical financing error by former Perrier exec
Founded Lovett’s Buffet
“ All You Can Eat”
Focus group told all
Bought Barnhill’s Country Buffet
Grew to more than 50 stores
Over $100 million company with 2,700 employees
Sold to former Shoney’s execs in 2005
Liberty Dental
Founded in 1997 – Nashville, Tenn.
Merged Liberty Dental with Pentegra in late 1998 and became Chairman, President & CEO
High-end fee-for-service Dental Practice Mgmt
$75+ Million Revenues
100+ Dental Practices in 31 states
1,000+ Employees
Market Conditions – Early 2000:
Stock = currency used to buy dental practices
Business sector collapsed or imploded
We had:
Disgruntled dentists who could turn off cash flow
1,000 employees, $1Million payroll every two weeks
Owed $15Million to bank for credit line
The Balancing Act
Give the Dentists Hope: Hold their stock while we drive to new business model (e-dentist.com)
Give Bank Little Hope (to get 50% discount): Dentists could turn off cash flow at anytime.
Give Shareholders Vision to Future: Raised $5.75 million to pay off bank.
The iLinc Story
EDT Learning acquired five companies
Changed name from EDT Learning to iLinc
Focused strictly on Web and Audio Conferencing
From 2003 to 2007 went from $2 - $15 million revenue
Loyal Customers – High Retention FINANCE/HEALTHCARE LEARNING TECHNOLOGY GOVERNMENT
The Opportunity
“ By 2011, worldwide sales for web conferencing will reach $11.5 billion.”
October 2007
iLinc Product Use Growing Fast
iLinc customers have saved over $75 million in travel and energy
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Focus
Tough Competitors
Cisco WebEx, Microsoft Live Meeting, Citrix
Low-cost providers (freeware) popping up
Early 2008 > Moved focus to SaaS, briefly pushing down revenues and creating losses
Summer 2008 > Sold audio conferencing for cash
Currently > Growing Direct/Channel SaaS sales
Market Conditions Have Changed!
iLinc has gone private or “Dark”
Now a non-reporting company
No quarterly audits, conference calls or filing Q’s
No IR efforts/expense
Reduces cost by $500,000/year
Allows more intense focus on growing SaaS revenues
Better positions iLinc for strategic options
Technology Access Has Changed Marketing
Geography used to be important
Now, the Internet eliminates geography
So use these tools to communicate:
WordPress, Facebook, LinkedIn, Ning, Meetup, Twitter, Squidoo and Basecamp
iLinc, Skype and Google
You can make a difference in your organization…
or a difference in the world by leveraging technology
My YouTube Debut
My YouTube Debut http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DM2Ll-_hFgo
7 Guiding Principles:
Cash flow – You gotta love it like your mama!
If it’s not measured, it’s not managed.
Capital structure is make or break.
Trust your instincts.
Make a decision!
Give back – individually and corporately.
Integrity starts at the top.
NEED VISUAL Questions / Comments? For info: www.iLinc.com
0 comments
Post a comment