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Executive
Coaching
Client: Excurro
Excurro was a communications start-up with unique business approach
in the growing wireless hub market. The company felt that it had
a distinct strategy for both equipment deployment and customer
service but had had trouble getting traction in the market and
support from investors. Lighthouse was introduced to them as a
resource to help them break through the barriers they had been
encountering.
- Though the company had many talented individuals with related
telecommunications experience, as a company and team, Excurro
was brand new. The company did not yet have customers, was working
with limited capital, and had limited products to offer.
- Excurro was attempting to address an existing and crowded
market with what they believed to be a new concept. This meant
that others were already in the market, with some customer base,
and with capital whether their business strategy was inferior
or not in Excurro's view.
- Excurro had been bootstrapping the company with capital from
its executives and a few individual investors but was quickly
approaching a point at which the owners would either have to
attract significant outside capital or add more of their own
capital.
- Though experienced in telecommunications, the company was
relatively new to the sector of telecommunications they were
pursuing, had limited in-house technical expertise or intellectual
property, and as a management team of a start-up was largely
inexperienced.
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Like it does with all its clients, Lighthouse began its interactions
with Excurro through a series of discussions and meetings to
better understand the company's status, goals, resources, and
challenges before formally contracting with the client.
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Because Lighthouse and the company faced limits in the depth
of their knowledge about the particular market that the company
was pursuing, Lighthouse conducted a series of informal interviews
within the industry and within Lighthouse's network to better
understand what the company was up against and how investors
were likely to perceive the company as it sought funds. These
steps were done pro bono by Lighthouse in an effort to better
assess the situation and estimate the value Lighthouse could
bring to Excurro.
- Lighthouse
evaluated the data it collected and concluded that the company
should consider abandoning its efforts to pursue its intended
line of business. This was based on a number of factors including
a crowded, well-financed marketplace, a lack of competitive
distinction for Excurro particularly in the area of unique technology,
the lack of direct experience of the management team, and the
reality of the need for management to fund itself for an extended
period of time before it could even hope to attract capital.
Following Lighthouse's assessment and based on a number of additional
factors, Excurro chose not to pursue their business further. Excurro's
CFO communicated that the information provided by Lighthouse confirmed
existing concerns and added key insights that would have taken
the company significant time and expensive to conclude without
Lighthouse. He also acknowledged that up to the point of meeting
Lighthouse the advice they had received had been circumspect,
irrelevant, and sometimes misleading. In many ways, no one had
wanted to dig deep enough or be frank with the company.
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Case Studies:
Executive Coaching...
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