What It Means to a Venture Capitalist

In today's very difficult technology market environment, your portfolio companies face critical operating issues that they are not always well equipped to deal with. Among the most prominent are:

• Running out of operating funds in a tight capital market
• Need to maximize revenue while preserving venture cash
• Critical need to leverage sales to new major customers
• Marketing vs sales focus with reduced marketing budgets
• Ad hoc sales efforts with little or no strategic basis
• Inadequate sales personnel to work on major deals

Sales optimization for most technology companies begins with how their best salespeople sell to their top-tier accounts. This selling situation sets the pace for the entire sales organization. The success of these companies is greatly enhanced when help is given to:

1»		Hire and position senior managers at the top of their sales teams.
2»		Help prove the product/market/customer opportunity through direct sales to major new visionary customers.
3»		Assist in formulating and executing the right strategies to help them win that business.
4»		Guide them to an in-depth understanding of different customer constituencies and the major issues and problems they face in the context of company product offerings.
5»		Provide company senior management with the knowledge, tools, and expertise to win business on a cost-effective and profitable basis.