Organizational Change
Organizational Change
THE TECHTRON COMPUTERS "WANT TO SURVIVE, GO PUBLIC, AND THEN WHAT?" CASE
Investors (venture capitalists) knew the potential was good for Techtron Computers to challenge the dominant players in the high-speed computing market. They also knew the types of computers Techtron hoped to bring to market were a long shot for success even with their significant financial investment. The four founders of Techtron all had come from large international corporations known for their high-speed computing products designed for scientific and defense markets. To compete with their former employers was a formidable task.
The first eighteen months for Techtron had been intense. The founders had handpicked individuals from their former employers who had the potential to understand the development of new competitive products and who were willing to risk working in a start-up environment. The sixty individuals who had joined Techtron at the encouragement of the four founders all knew the risks were high, but if Techtron was successful the rewards would exceed anything they could hope for from their former employers. None of the initial employees, including the founders, had anticipated the pressure of working in a new organization or attempting to bring products to market with only a skeleton staff. All of their collective experience had been in established organizations. A culture of hard work, risk taking, and living on the edge quickly emerged.
Within twenty-four months, this hard-driving Techtron culture resulted in the release of two products to market. Significant initial orders indicated the products filled a market niche and need not met by their more expensive competitors. Based on this initial success, the founders began to think about taking Techtron "public" (converting a privately owned company to a publicly traded company listed on one of the stock exchanges), returning money to their investors, and raising resources to expand the company.
The
THE TECHTRON COMPUTERS "WANT TO SURVIVE, GO PUBLIC, AND THEN WHAT?" CASE
Investors (venture capitalists) knew the potential was good for Techtron Computers to challenge the dominant players in the high-speed computing market. They also knew the types of computers Techtron hoped to bring to market were a long shot for success even with their significant financial investment. The four founders of Techtron all had come from large international corporations known for their high-speed computing products designed for scientific and defense markets. To compete with their former employers was a formidable task.
The first eighteen months for Techtron had been intense. The founders had handpicked individuals from their former employers who had the potential to understand the development of new competitive products and who were willing to risk working in a start-up environment. The sixty individuals who had joined Techtron at the encouragement of the four founders all knew the risks were high, but if Techtron was successful the rewards would exceed anything they could hope for from their former employers. None of the initial employees, including the founders, had anticipated the pressure of working in a new organization or attempting to bring products to market with only a skeleton staff. All of their collective experience had been in established organizations. A culture of hard work, risk taking, and living on the edge quickly emerged.
Within twenty-four months, this hard-driving Techtron culture resulted in the release of two products to market. Significant initial orders indicated the products filled a market niche and need not met by their more expensive competitors. Based on this initial success, the founders began to think about taking Techtron "public" (converting a privately owned company to a publicly traded company listed on one of the stock exchanges), returning money to their investors, and raising resources to expand the company.
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