I love working at TechColumbus! Here are just a few reasons:

• I see new ideas coming through every day.
  
• I meet with and help many people that are smart, creative, passionate, and driven.
  
• I work with a great team that is committed to doing the hard work required to grow the technology businesses here in Central Ohio.
  
• And, I get to go to all of the events we have here, and we have many of them. This means I get to learn and help provide valuable content - and get free food (I love free food!)

Today we held the monthly episode of our E-Track Luncheons. The subject today was on thriving in turbulent times, which is quite timely. Rick Coplin, our Business Development/Startup Guru for the western portion of Central Ohio was the moderator. Rick did a great job keeping the panel on track, moving along, and engaging the audience.

The panelists were John Bair, Larry Mead, Joe Munhall, and Brad Dunnington. More information can be found on these guys at the end of the blog.

Here are the things that I took from this great panel that I think were worthy of writing and sharing.

• In these times, it is important to get out and talk to your customers even more.
• Focus on and communicate your secret sauce.
• Communicate with your capital partners more. Let them know what is going on in the business so that you don't have to ask for help when it is too late.
• Be extra transparent with partners, customers, employees, etc. This builds trust.
  
• Focus on the basics of your business more.
• Be visceral and present. Be you, be open, be visible to your team and customers.
• Larry Mead commented that almost all of his clients had reduced salaries for now, including CEO's and founders.
• Be the leader. Be confident, which will work well to keep key employees.
• Paint the picture of what the future will look like. Be clear and make sure that the people who report to you can paint this same picture to their teams so that it trickles down.
• Many companies are using visible scoreboards to communicate progress.
• The farther you are away from the customer, the more at risk your position is. This bodes well for startups as normally everyone is close to the customer.
• Opportunities appear in times of turbulence. Make sure you sell a clear value proposition though.
• Companies are looking more for Partners, rather than simply Suppliers.
• Partners are usually more willing to put some skin in the game, which is important right now.
• Make sure you have your banking relationship in place now. It is too late if you start having a cash crunch.
• Focus on using other people's money. There are many creative ways to do this.
• Push your payables out as far as possible and get your receivables in as soon as possible.
• Balance sheet is more important than your P and L.
• Think through contingency plans because strange things are happening out of your control that will affect your business.
• Include your family in what is going on with the business. You need everyone on the same page as to what you are going through.
• The economy is de-leveraging. This means cash is king!
• There is no universal answer to how many months of cash to have on hand, but you better know what it is for your particular business and then have it on hand.
• Reduce the number of vendors you have and make sure you have only the best ones.
• If finances are new to you, get someone on board to help you ASAP.
• Spend strategically if you can. There are good deals to be had out there, especially on facilities and equipment.
• Get good minds focused on your business. Get a diverse advisory board.
• Advisory boards and advisers should advise. You have to make the decisions.
• You would be surprised how many people there are out there that are willing to help you, but you have to ask.
• Be wary of partners. Do your due diligence on them.
  

And my personal favorite of the day from Brad Dunnington:

"Lawyers don't make their money on your marriage. They make it on your divorce!" This means to make sure you put separation clauses (like a prenup agreement) in your contracts.

Check out our website for coming events. There are many events that add value to everyone out there trying to create a Central Ohio IT Startup, and those that will service them.

And, did I mention the free food (for employees only)...

Thanks, Kevin...

John Bair
Founder of Pinncacle Data Systems. Chairman since 1996. Chief Technology and Innovation Officer since 2006. Chief Executive Officer of the Company from 1996 to 2006. President of the Company from 1998 to 2006. Founder of this business in 1989. BS in Computer Science from the College of Engineering at Ohio State.

Larry Mead
An active member of OTAF, Mr. Mead is currently the principal of a management consulting company, Worthington Partners following a role at Sterling Commerce, where he was Vice President of Sales Administration and Operations. Prior to that Larry enjoyed an 18 year career at Bank One Corporation, where he served in multiple capacities in several Divisions and Companies.

Joe Munhall
Vice President and Senior Commercial Banker for the Columbus Region, joined CFBank in 2006. He brings eleven years of banking experience in the Columbus market, with a background in middle market commercial banking, commercial real estate lending and automobile floor plan lending. Munhall oversees all aspects of the bank’s commercial banking activities for the Columbus Region.

Brad Dunnington
Brad Dunnington is a principal with Lazear Capital Partners, Ltd. In his role as LCP’s portfolio principal, Mr. Dunnington servers as CEO of Avalinx LLC and Dismas Distribution Services LLC. He also manages an executive coaching practice providing advisory services to CEO’s of privately held companies. Prior to joining LCP, he held executive leadership roles with GE, Limited Brands and Eaton Corp.