Ann: Alexium Business Update, page-22

I agree, however, I look at Dirk's LinkedIn and don't see any significant experience in a high level leadership position. I have worked with clients where staff have been promoted to senior levels but retain an operational mindset because they have been working in an operational capacity for such a long time. One example comes to mind of a CIO that we deemed unfit for the role he was in. Spent all of his time putting out fires and addressing problems but no time spent figuring out the long-term direction.

I don't presume to understand Dirk's capability on a personal level, but I suspect that his line of thinking would have been very operational considering he was leading AJX's sales team. His point of view might have been:

1. Find all accounts where revenue < cost of goods sold.
2. Eliminate those accounts.

I would expect a quality strategic thinker to approach it in a different manner.

1. Find all accounts that do not align to strategic objectives (i.e. the three cornerstone initiatives).
2. Assess profitability of these accounts.
3. Assess the value in redirecting resources to strategic initiatives (money spent on sales staff, flights, conferences, wining and dining clients, creating industry contacts, etc.)
4. Determine the profitability benchmark wherein the cost of servicing those accounts is less than the net income of the account (e.g. 10% profitability).
5. Cull all accounts below the benchmark level (so even some minor profitable accounts would go).
6. Redirect resources and/or down-size staff.

Considering how many clients I've worked with that have a very poor level of strategic oversight into their operations, I wouldn't be surprised that the initial culling of accounts was not a holistic diagnosis of the business. I've worked with billion-dollar market cap companies that have been around for decades who don't even have this under control, let alone a messy startup.