Techies are from Venus, Salespeople are from Mars

Slide 2: Techies are from Venus, Salespeople are from Mars: Strategies for effective communication in a start-up environment Lance Laking, CEO April 3, 2008

Slide 3: Outline  Set the stage - the BTI context  Culture & communication style  Fostering teamwork  Challenges  Compensation / incentive programs  Q&A 3

Slide 4: Introduction Mission: A leading global supplier of Packet Optical Edge solutions for service provider & corporate networks  Gigabit Services for 4G Wireless, HD Video & Business Services  Packet + Optical + Edge Technology Metro Acces Core  Carrier Class quality and performance s  90 customers  Strategic partnership with Fujitsu Packet Optical Edge for Tier 1 Carriers  Global OEMs relationships  Global addressable market growing to $3.5B+ by 2010  180+ employees: Canada, US and Europe 4

Slide 5: A Gigabit World  Driven By Growth in Video 10000 20 min video Mb Data 1000 HD 30 fps 180 Mb Transport Movie 3min Vcast 6 Gb 15 fps Log Scale 100 10.8Mb iTunes 15 s Video 10 feature msg 15 fps movie iTunes 1500 Mb 0.9 Mb 3 min 1 Video MP3 38 Mb Photo 3 Mb share 0.1 30 Kb 0.01 Wireline Apps Wireless Apps Wireline Apps Wireless Apps Online Video: 7% traffic in 2005  18% in 2007 Metro IP Traffic Growth Forecast: 400% 2006  2011* *Source: Cisco Systems Global IP Traffic Forecast - 2007 5

Slide 6: BTI Systems’ Leadership Team & Investors Gregory Koss Exec Chairman (BTI 2007) • CEO of Internet Photonics sold to CIENA in 2004 • CEO of Sonoma Systems sold to Nortel in 2000 Lance Laking (BTI 2001)  President & CEO  HUBER+SUHNER, Dynasty Components Franca Marinelli (BTI 2007)  VP Organizational Development  Catena / DRS / Spar Aerospace John Haydon (BTI 2008) Paul Harrison (BTI 2005)  SVP Global Operations  VP Global Sales - Dallas  Breconridge, President &COO  Ekinops, Xtera,  Nortel, Chief Procurement  Alcatel US, Italy, Marconi UK Officer Glenn Thurston (BTI 2004) Jon Boocock (BTI 2007)  VP Marketing  VP Engineering  Nortel (VP Global Alliances)  VP/Co-Founder Catena (Ciena)  VP Cadence 6

Slide 7: Service Delivery Platform Mobile Video Business Wholesale Enterprise Internet Consumer Services Services Networks Services Extensive Protocol Suite to Deliver Today’s Services & Applications Data Storage SONET/SDH Video Full Packet + Optical Flexibility for Metro/Edge Applications 7

Slide 8: The take-away: our playing field:  A very technical product  A technical sales process  A long, complex, B2B sales cycle  High growth market dynamics  Very much a David & Goliath landscape 8

Slide 9: Functional view: 125% headcount growth 8 2007: 80 employees 29 28 4 9 16 6 6 45 109 Sales & Marketing Product Marketing 2008: 180 employees Development Mfg & Ops Finance, IT & HR 9

Slide 10: Venus & Mars Software Engineers + Sales & Marketing + Photonics research = ??? 10

Slide 11: Motivation & drive: different strokes for different folks  Peer recognition  Papers published, patent  “coin operated” applications  “show me the  Speaking at industry money” forums  Technical challenge 11

Slide 12: But wait a minute: we’re not that different Everyone needs recognition - the “feeling” that you are important, that you are contributing to the success of the business, and that your efforts are respected and appreciated by fellow employees  On budget / On time  Cracking a new customer  Selling on value  Customer testimonials – helping solve real problems Technical teams want to work on a successful products. Sales teams want to sell winning products. The common metric is real customers and market share. 12

Slide 13: Culture Every company has a culture, every company has politics • Perception is reality • Work with it Observations / my sandbox • Significant company restructuring in 2002 • Culture changes with company lifecycle: ― The $1M, 5M, 10M, 25M, 50M, 100M barriers • We’re trés multinational • Recruiting push to capture expanding market 13

Slide 14: Communication style • Not your `typical` Tech CEO • Be OPEN, honest, straightforward • Try to tie in the remote teams • Set 3, clear over-arching objectives, & repeat • Share the numbers, the good, the bad & the ugly • Regular informal updates • Semi-annual formal update • No problem with mistakes (but not repeat mistakes) 14

Slide 15: Challenges  The VC influence • The same vested interest or ?? • An exit and minimum 20% IRR is natural  As the company grows up… • Start-up excuses go away • Employment / HR expectations expand • Balancing formal (employee handbook) with informal (“just do it”) gets harder • Act BIG, be small gets harder 15

Slide 16: Fostering teamwork  Trade notes • Technical teams are starved for customer feedback • Sales teams are starved to technical innovation / uniqueness  Push decisions to where the expertise resides  Product marketing / product line management is the key linkage  On occasion…take a ‘software geek’ to a customer, and bring a ‘sales puke’ into the lab 16

Slide 17: Fostering teamwork – have fun If a man insisted always on being serious, and never allowed himself a bit of fun and relaxation, he would go mad or become unstable without knowing it Herodotus 17

Slide 18: Fostering teamwork – have fun  Organize events at least quarterly • beach volleyball • yoga • Skating on the canal, • curling (yes, curling) • picnics, ziplines, whatever • at least one party with spouses / guests  The leader sets the tone, but the activities are best when event coordination is spread around 18

Slide 19: Compensation & Incentives  Fair, transparent and equitable • People talk, especially engineers  Salaries (the “start-up” factor) • You have to be competitive – but not the highest • You have to pay a premium for “A” players – but it’s worth it • Challenge, responsibility, recognition and reward trump pure $$$ 19

Slide 20: Compensation & Incentives  Company-wide incentive plan • 10% “at plan” , 20% stretch • Metrics must be aggressive, but realistic • Combination of financial / market / product milestones • Always drive home the capital efficiency message (Cash Flow Positive…)  Stock Options • Still in vogue, but not Holy Grail  “Fun” and other rewards work • Create a friendly competition / bragging rights • Does not require big bags of $$$ • Examples: IP², a goofy award, employee referral bonus 20

Slide 21: Closing comments - Marrying Teams: Set a tone that is open, based on mutual respect, and interactive Don’t play favourites Communicate frequently – informally and formally Tie in customer and market touch wherever and whenever you can Structure rewards and incentives to reinforce the behaviour and culture that you are looking for 21

Slide 22: Thank-you 22