Balanced Solutions from Auriga
Auriga is committed to being the international leader in designing and manufacturing innovative RF/microwave solutions. At Auriga, we push the limits of science and technology to surpass the performance goals of our customers.
Auriga is led by a team of entrepreneurs whose vision and expertise have transformed start-up companies into multi-million-dollar corporations.
President's Corner: Survival
In the fall of 2008, I had been on board as the President and CEO at Auriga for about a year and was excited about our prospects. We were losing money, but we were starting to do some technically innovative things and had developed interest from many, worldwide infrastructure vendors as well as our own Department of Defense. We had won a disproportionately large percentage of our Phase I SBIR proposals, five of six. In general we were bullish about our future.
At the time, on a trip to DC, I reached out to a friend, Lieutenant General (Ret) Kenneth Minihan, Managing Director at Paladin Capital Group. I just wanted to say, “Hello” and have a chat. We had worked together during my interim-CEO stint at ClearCube Technology. Ken was then the Chairman of the Board of ClearCube. He is a wise person whom I respect greatly.
After some catching-up and a brief review of Auriga’s accomplishments and plans, Ken asked, “When will you run out of money?” My answer didn’t even sound right to me. Ken simply said, “Bruce, you have to survive. Otherwise it’s all for naught!” And we left it there.
Before I left Ken’s building, I called Auriga’s management team and said we are meeting first thing in the morning to discuss our “Survival!” I asked each of my team to come to the meeting with ideas of what we needed to do become cash-flow positive…fast. Everything was on the table. I was clear; “If we don’t survive, all the promise is for naught!”
Well, we dropped some projects and a market space initiative, took pay cuts, and reduced benefits…and we survived. People in the Company actually thanked management for their decisiveness. Profitability did not appear instantly, but we got there. We now have been profitable for nine consecutive quarters, increased revenue by 50%, moved our D&B rating to the highest level, have a great set of supportive supply chain companies, and our prospects are bright! We have survived.
We were running off a pier. Ken’s message was pretty simple and pretty obvious. Thank you, Ken for your wisdom. Just missed it. Won’t again!