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Technical
Seminar |
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Looking for Leverage: A Tale of Two Startups |
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DATE/TIME
Wednesday, February 28, 2007 (4:30pm to 5:30pm) |
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PLACE
AMD Fort Collins Campus (Fort
Collins, CO)
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DIRECTIONS
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From I-25, take Harmony Road Exit (Exit 265) westbound, and enter
AMD campus on right immediately following Harmony/Ziegler intersection.
AMD is located on the NW
corner of Harmony Road and Ziegler Road. Proceed to 3rd floor for
escort to seminar auditorium. Non-AMD
employees: please arrive at 4:15pm for security sign-in and escort.
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COST
Free. As always, food &
drinks will be provided. |
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RSVP
Send e-mail to Bruce Doyle at
bruce.doyle@amd.com. |
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ABSTRACT
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Product development is just part of
what it takes to build a high-growth, competitive company. The various
leverages employed by Cobalt Networks in the launch of the Cobalt Qube
and Cobalt RaQ products are discussed. The contributions of
Finance, Engineering, Operations, Marketing, Sales and Customer Service
are overviewed. Leverages each department employed are discussed and
compared to competing startup products and corporate structures
launching at the same time. Topics covered include an overview of the
challenges presented in the concurrent design, supply chain, and
worldwide shipment of Cobalt products. Feedback mechanisms from
Customer Service and Manufacturing to Design, Sales and Marketing prove
key in enabling rapid evolution to meet customer needs. Corporate
partnerships that enable further growth are examined. Interdepartmental
synergies and cultural effects in a startup are also discussed.
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PRESENTATION SLIDES
pdf |
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REFERENCES |
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ROBIN
PORTER (Venture Operations, Fort Collins, CO)
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Robin
Porter brings 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur,
business manager, and operations leader in a number of
network computing and systems companies. She currently
runs her own company, Venture Operations, providing
business and operational management to emerging
technology companies. Prior to founding Venture
Operations, Robin served as Vice President of Operations
at SonicWall, COO of Kavari Networks, COO of Scout
Electromedia, and VP of Operations at Cobalt Networks.
At Cobalt Networks, she developed the first successful
server appliance and grew Cobalt into a worldwide leader
in the category, culminating in a successful IPO and
acquisition by Sun Microsystems for $2B. Robin has
held a number of technical and management positions at
Fujitsu, Digital Equipment Corporation, and
Hewlett-Packard as well as successfully developed
numerous products including Networking gear, RISC
workstations, and high-performance graphics and video
subsystems. Robin received a BSEE from Colorado
University in Boulder. |
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PHOTOS Courtesy of Tin Tin Wee |
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