Once More with Feeling

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When the Yateses started to think about their next venture, Peter was clear on one issue: no way would he be CEO. For Hyper-Quest, the Yateses have divided up the responsibilities according to what they feel they are best at and by what charges them up. "There was no question I would be the 'designer' and he would be the 'executer," says Peter Yates. "I wouldn't want to do what he does. I did it with the first company. This is a much more elegant arrangement."

You can get someone else to do the stuff you hate
"I'm the CVO: chief vision officer. What? No, I don't do eye exams. . . . "
Most entrepreneurs view the day when professional management steps in with about as much enthusiasm as they do a visit from a Hard Copy film crew.

Marc Rochkind, on the other hand, actually looked forward to it. He never really wanted to be the CEO, anyway. Oh, sure, he enjoyed it for a while. Especially during the go-go start-up phase. When he founded Emerging Technology Consultants Inc. (ETC), a software-development company in Boulder, Colo., in 1981, he saw how exhilarating growing a company from scratch can be. "The excitement of starting a company and being independent was a real motivator," he explains. "Then once the company is up and running, the growth and progress keep you going." But he was really a techie at heart and derived more pleasure from designing the new product's user interface than from planning the yearly budget.

In 1987 Rochkind reexperienced the thrill of the start-up process when he founded XVT Software Inc., in Boulder. But he knew he didn't want to be the one running the company: "There were so many jobs I had to do -- finances, sales, marketing, and I still was clearly the person in charge of engineering -- and I was doing a mediocre job at all of them," he says. "The company was being shortchanged." And, Rochkind adds, so was he. "I felt very frenzied. I had the constant feeling of never being able to learn enough quickly enough. I was incredibly overtaxed."

Rochkind brought in the oft-dreaded hired suit to take his place as CEO, which, he says, has meant for him a big-time reduction in stress. "I completely trust the new CEO in all matters of finance and sales. I no longer have to worry about those things at all," he says. "Now I can be totally focused on product development, which is a major change for me. I used to have to worry about everything." He says that work for him is now energizing rather than draining. "When I was trying to run the company, I thrashed about," he admits. "It was very rare I could look at anything and say that it was done. Now I feel every day as though I've done something."

You can leave whenever you want
"Ten percent annual growth? See ya!"
John Overby knew exactly who was standing in the way of his company's progress, and he wasn't at all hesitant to name names. He was the culprit.

Overby stresses that that recognition on his part is hardly an admission of inadequacy. Quite the contrary, it represents an acknowledgment of what Overby sees as his true skill. "There are more people percentagewise who can take a company from $10 million to $50 million than who can take a company from zero to $10 million. I have a unique skill set, and I'm good at it." Some people say Overby's nuts; he does just the hard part. "But that's the part I like," he explains.

Overby left his first company, Advanced Input Devices, in 1988, partly because he believed no one person should run the same company for more than 10 years. Why 10? "If you think about it, you have to stick with it for 5 years to prove you can do it and to accomplish what you wanted to do," he reasons. "At 10 years you've certainly left your mark."

But it's more than just a theoretical viewpoint that compels Overby to plan his departure. He's fully willing to admit that his usefulness to any company may be finite. "Right now we have fast growth and a new technology, so, so far it's fun. As long as it keeps growing 50% a year I'll be happy. Growth of 20% a year is not exciting to me," he says. "That's when I get squirrelly."

Now at the 8-year mark of his tenure at AHA, Overby has started thinking about finding his successor. "I need to get somebody in to run the business for the next 5 to 10 years," he says, "more of a classical manager." Overby knows from his previous experience that passing the baton works best when it is planned well in advance. "We didn't spend enough time planning it the first time," he says. "It worked, but it could have worked better."

Although the actual search won't begin for at least a year, Overby plans to look first at his management team for possible candidates, but if the skills he seeks are not within the company, then the search for an outside manager will begin. Personally, he says, he has already begun the exit process. "I've been mentally preparing for it for most of the eight years we've been in business," he says.

Overby, of course, will move right on to his next venture. Not that he needs to; he claims that financially he's pretty much set for life. Yet he already has two or three ideas about what he's going to do next. "I'm probably not taking any time off in between," he confesses. "I really like working. I'd get bored." Although he's reluctant to specify exactly what he'll do, he does know it won't be in electronics. "I don't want it to be in the same field. That's not enough of a change," he explains. "I want it to be different enough to be challenging."

Which is, of course, exactly the point.

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