From September 1996 to April 2002 I worked for Dynasty in France, the UK and Germany, ending up as VP Strategy and Marketing. A fantastic learning opportunity, Dynasty exposed me to diverse customer support, pre-sales, sales, marketing, strategy, VC and general management situations.
Joined Dynasty Technologies in Paris as head of customer service for the Dynasty Development Environment, a patented application framework used to build enterprise-class transactional applications.
Responsible for all customers worldwide (15 countries, not USA). Managed support team based in Paris, working closely with international resellers to increase customer satisfaction in Dynasty’s period of rapid growth. This role also involved an internal sales role within the company, as well as frequent customer interaction.
Performed cost-benefit analysis role in international sales opportunities and worked closely with leading customers, including CAD IT (Italy), BNP Paris (France), Hansabank (Estonia), Rabobank and Interpolis (Netherlands), Logica-CMG a global systems integrator and HPD (UK), Premiere, Deutsche Post and MSG (Germany), and Novo Group Oyj later acquired by Logica-CMG (Finland).
Took over the International CTO role to work with key customers and to advance relationships with major resellers and technology partners, including BEA (now Oracle), Oracle and Tandem/Compaq (now HP). Moved back to the UK for more flexibility when travelling. Stepped in at short notice in 2000 to manage the User Conference in Cannes. Presented on behalf of Dynasty at various customer events and industry conferences.
Took leadership role in partnership with IBM to bring DDE to IBM mainframe platform. Pitched new target to potential partners in Australia and South Africa; presented at industry events, including IBM partner events. Managed development partner project with Enterprise S.p.A. in Rome, which involved a lot of political skills to handle the differences in project planning between northern and southern Europeans.
Moved to Germany as closer to mainland European customers, and key projects at customers in Germany. Appointed Director of Strategic Projects and then VP of Strategy, which again mean more interaction with customers and prospects.
Deeply involved in strategic investment in web application development tools specialist ViewSoft, Inc. (Provo, Utah). Dynasty invested $2M in cash for 20%, plus a further 8% from swapping 2% of Dynasty for the 8% stake owned by HP in ViewSoft. Citrix Systems, Inc. acquired ViewSoft for $32M in July 1999.
Pitched Dynasty to VCs in Houston, Europe and Japan. Wrote business plans and supporting documents for a successful $5M funding round. This was my first direct involvement with the investment community the USA, Europe and Japan, and it was very enlightening to see first hand the difference in approaches.
Appointed VP Strategy and Marketing and drove strategic shift to promote applications developed using the DDE through Dynasty’s international sales channel. The main application partner was CAD IT (Italy) with SIBAC Core Banking, a product designed to target a large, profitable vertical market.
Managed relationship with key AI vendors Hugin Expert A/S and Dezide ApS (Denmark), and Hi-Flier (Italy). Presented AI-based solutions at industry conferences and to development partners. It was in this role that I presented at an AI event at the University of Montpellier with my PowerPoint slides project on the largest projection screen I have ever used (it was massive!)
