The first person you have to please in your business is yourself. Or to put it another way, “To thine own self be true.”
Everyone has a set of values they live by - and nobody's values are the same. When you start or take over the management of a business your values are the basis for the business strategy on which you will build. Those values also become the basis for the tactics you will employ to implement the strategy.
In the early eighties two partners came to Art looking for money to fund a new company. Their proposal was well done and the idea for the business was sound. They wanted to create computer software technology to secure personal computers (PCs.) Both men had strong backgrounds in information technology and the Beta tests had already been completed. The product would deny access to the PC, provide anti-virus protection and include a number of other security-focused features.
Even though he knew nothing about computer software technology Art was interested. One of the men was with IBM’s team that developed the BIOS (basic input/output system) in Boca Raton Florida. He then became head of the IBM Israel technical support team. The other had a similar background but was more interested in the business side. They were a good team, but three looked like a crowd so Art decided to pass.
Within a week or so, the ex IBMer came back and said he was now on his own with his partner's best wishes. Consoli verified this and the two made a deal. They would form a new company, Information Security Systems (ISS).
The business strategy was simple, Abe would do the engineering, Art would do everything else.
They were successful; in fact they created an international business with distributors in Italy, Portugal and Australia. But concerns about the future of the business arose. A competitor with an antivirus product was giving it away and banking on selling a license to the user after a year’s use. This company was financed with the proceeds from an IPO. There was little doubt it would succeed in capturing a large share of the market.
A decision was required; either go after serious investor money, which would result in less ownership and less control or sell to a company in the business. Consoli began talks on both possibilities. What he found out from those in the business made his decision easy.
Every potential buyer wanted to know how many improved versions were on the shelf ready to go to the market.
“If we had better computer software technology we would have it on the market now. Why would we hold it back?” Art asked.
The reason for his statement and his question stemmed from his background at Johnson & Johnson and could be found in that company’s credo. "You make the best you can and you offer it to the customer as soon as it’s available."
This was not the case in the software business; that industry foloowed a different business strategy and it troubled Consoli. Because things changed so quickly software companies felt they always needed a new version ready to go - but they only released it to the market when the business was threatened. This meant that the customers weren’t getting - in Art’s mind - their money’s worth. He felt they always deserved the best.
Another cause for concern was the practice of including a registration card with the product to capture the buyer’s information. This was really designed so the company could then offer the new version directly to the customer - and bypass the reseller. Keeping the reseller’s profit meant more money in the company’s account. But from Art’s perspective cutting out the reseller was a bad idea. He knew this would move the industry quickly from a relationship based business to one based only on transactions. This would put more pressure and expense on the company to handle all of the user’s needs. Such pressure would greatly increase every company’s start-up costs, as money was the only way to replace the middleman who served many companies.
Art sold the business. He had a belief in how business should be done and doing otherwise took him out of his comfort zone.
