Building A Winning Team
A great team can be your best competitive advantage and Investors often bet heavily on solid teams. Your team is critical for financing as well as the proper development and execution of your business plan. Whether you are looking for financing or just looking to get the job done an entrepreneur needs to understand the challenges and the most effective Strategies and Techniques for assembling a winning team.
Topics covered will include:<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /?>
- Early stage management requirements
- Timing of team formation
- Finding the right talent
- How much do you need to give away for each position?
- The virtual company approach
- Common mistakes
- Most successful approaches
Joe Piper
Joseph Piper is the Managing Partner for Integra Ventures. In this capacity, he directs the overall investment strategy for Integra Ventures. Since 1983, he has been involved with corporate governance, formation, growth, senior management, mergers and acquisitions, and investment in the health care industry. He currently sits on the board of the following Integra Ventures portfolio companies: National Healing, HealthHelp, Physicians Edge, Blue Heron Biotechnology and Cara Vita, and is an observer on the board of Amnis Corp. He is also Chairman-elect of the National Multiplesclerosis Society.
Prior to founding Integra Ventures, Joseph co-founded and served as President of Capital Services for Diversified Health Services (DHS), the largest post acute care outsourcing management firm in the U.S. at the time, which was later sold to ServiceMaster (NYSE: SVM). Before moving to DHS, Joseph was Chief Corporate Counsel and Chief Operating Officer for the Voluntary Hospitals of America Long Term Care Group. His duties included integrating a post acute strategy into hospital delivery systems through acquisitions, leasing, development, financing and management of sub-acute facilities with hospitals.
Early in his career, Joseph served as Corporate Counsel for The Hillhaven Corporation, the nations second largest extended care company. As one of two staff attorneys, his responsibilities included acquiring, leasing, developing and financing 350 facilities over a 2 1/2-year period - a total capitalization of approximately $980 million.
Joseph holds a M.B.A. from the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /?>
University of Colorado as well as a Juris Doctor Degree from Seattle University. He earned his B.S. in Business from Arizona State University where he also played basketball.
Janis Machala
Janis Machala is the Managing Partner of Paladin Partners, a leading consulting firm working with emerging growth companies in the Pacific Northwest. Before founding Paladin Partners in 1995, Janis Machala served as President and Chief Executive Officer for Pinnacle Publishing, Inc. Under her leadership, Pinnacle Publishing became a leading provider of component software and technical newsletters for application developers, achieving profitability for seven straight quarters after seven years of operating losses. Prior to Pinnacle, Janis held a number of senior management positions in marketing and business development with a number of leading computer systems vendors, such as Microsoft Corporation, Sun Microsystems, and Wang Laboratories. In these various roles, she often worked in a startup or mentoring capacity, which led to her interest in helping emerging growth companies build quality management teams and grow their businesses profitably.
Janis helped form Seraph Capital Forum, a woman's angel investing group, and FWE Seattle, which supports women entrepreneurs. She also served on the board of the Washington Software Alliance from 1994 to 1998 and is currently on the board of the Northwest Entrepreneur Network, a nonprofit firm devoted to the advancement of entrepreneurship in the Pacific Northwest. She was one of the 1995 Pacific Northwest finalists for Inc. Magazine's and Ernst and Young's Entrepreneur of the Year award. Ms. Machala is active in the entrepreneurship programs at Seattle University and the University of Washington.
Janis received an M.B.A. in Marketing from the University of Iowa and a B.A. in English and Psychology from Augustana College in Illinois (in 3 years).
This Venture Lab sponsored by Dorsey & Whitney
About Dorsey & Whitney
Clients rely on Dorsey as a valued, cutting-edge business partner. With approximately 700 attorneys worldwide, 75 of whom are in Seattle, Dorsey regularly represents emerging technology companies from start-up to their ultimate sale or IPO and beyond. Dorsey's corporate finance and intellectual property experience spans the areas of business formation, seed and angel financing, venture capital, public offerings, mergers & acquisitions, patent prosecution, technology licensing and corporate governance.
