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"Experience is what you get right after you need it.” Hello! My name is Richard Leavitt. I started MarketWin, LLC. in 1994 after our software start up was acquired for a little over $7M. I know, doesn’t sound like much now, and in retrospect we undersold, but we felt great about it at the time.

That company was profitable from day one – we had to be – there was no funding. Even so, we grew rapidly to dominate an early segment of the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) market. I was VP of Sales & Marketing, which initially meant I did all the sales and marketing. But by the time we were acquired we had won many industry awards, analysts were trumpeting our vision, sales productivity was rocketing, and customers were telling their friends about the great job we did for them.

The goals of that first start-up were modest. I was thirty three, had earned my BSEE in the 80s, and had already worked years defining and launching products for Hewlett Packard. But growing up in a working-class Minnesota family meant I didn’t aspire to retire. No, I mostly wanted to learn how to grow businesses, and get enough cash to avoid suffering the financial pain of another bootstrap.

Since then, through MarketWin and three more full-time roles as a software executive, I’ve assisted technology companies of all sizes refine their business models, strike alliances, and launch literally dozens of products into new and emerging markets. I can point to winners and losers, and all the parables are true: you can learn more from the disappointments. You can check out more of the details by downloading my resume and skill summary.