Advisor: David P. Weaver
The Objective: Put a plan in place to meet the publicly declared date for a total market shift.
THE CHALLENGES
The company was publicly traded and had announced a complete shift in its market focus in 12 months – yet no one was in charge and they had little market knowledge about the new market. They were to transition out of a highly competitive market for a new and growing new market using their core technology.
I was recruited to manage the entire project and direct the product definition, coordinate the R&D support (including outside vendor), oversee the data required for FDA submission, oversee the clinical trials, help create the marketing and sales data for a subsequent launch upon completion.
THE WORK:
After meeting with the senior management team and assessing their capabilities for the project – I requested a new hire for VP R&D. Everyone was accountable to me for project-related action items. This was done and a group meeting was set up for all senior management to meet and create a Gannt Chart with action items, personnel responsible and milestones and dependencies identified. We met every two weeks and dealt with issues and acceptable changes but not changing the deadline date.
THE RESULTS:
This was ~9-month onsite engagement. The client was able to have an FDA acceptable product and enter the market while transitioning out of the former product line in the timeline required for the engagement. They were later acquired by a larger company in the market with a profit for the shareholders.