Ockham Technologies

The start-up problems Jim Triandiflou experienced when creating his new business venture, Ockham Technologies, are similar to those that many other start-ups have experienced or will soon encounter. When creating a new business, it is important that those involved in the process have clearly defined roles, and that they know where they stand in the hierarchal structure of directors. It is also important that when a business is deciding a board of directors, they are willing to fully commit to the organization. The early days of Ockham Technologies were slightly unsteady, and many of those who were involved in the beginning did not fully commit to the organization, or understand their exact role in the company. As Ockham Technologies began to gain traction, the cofounders, Jim Triandiflou and Mike Meisenheimer, began to make decisions without
involving the rest of the board. When Jim Triandiflou was creating his board of directors, he thought of the process in a logical and straightforward way. Triandiflou believed that in order to have a successful board, “you need someone to define the specifications and to build the product, then someone to sell the product, and then someone to implement the product.” Triandiflou attempted to implement this strategy to the best of his abilities, however, the real problems stemmed from the founders of the company.

When It comes to the assembly of Triandiflou’s board of directors, I believe that he deserves a grade of B.
Although Triandiflou created a technology company, he clearly stated that he was interested in, “the best overall athlete”. He was not necessarily interested in those who had a background in technology, rather, he wanted to have those on his team who were well rounded and able to succeed in a variety of different things. Things seemed to be working great with his board, up until the day they had to submit a prototype to a group of IBM executives at a conference in Florida. The lack of technology backgrounds with many of the directors made it difficult for them to fix flaws in their prototype, or even truly understand what was the prototype that they were trying to sell. Triandiflou was more interested with directors who had strong selling skills and could market items the company had produced. I believe that although he had a board of directors who had a strong variety of intangible skills, the lack of those who possessed strong technology backgrounds made it difficult for them to truly succeed as a technology
company.

Another problem that Triandiflou began to experience during his company’s rise was the power struggle between the Ockham Technology’s founders. The technology company began to finally gain traction, and began sought after by many investors. Triandiflou began to make decisions without the input of the other founders which caused Meisenheimer to feel left out of the decision process. In order to overcome these problems and keep all the founders happy, Triandiflou should create a contract in writing that states that all decisions will be made with input of all the founders. Although Triandiflou does hold the most equity in the company, it is important to keep everyone happy, and he can accomplish this by relinquishing some of his power to the other founders.