1) Lance Laking presented strategies for improving communication between technical and sales teams at BTI Photonics, a startup that develops optical networking equipment. 2) He emphasized the importance of open communication, sharing customer feedback, rewarding collaboration, and organizing social events to build camaraderie between different departments. 3) Laking also stressed setting clear objectives, transparent compensation, and incentives to motivate all employees and align their efforts with the company's goals.

1. Techies are from Venus, Salespeople are from Mars:
Strategies for effective communication in a
start-up environment
Lance Laking, CEO
April 3, 2007

2. Outline
! Set the stage - the BTI context
! Culture & communication style
! Fostering teamwork
! Challenges
! Compensation / incentive programs
! Q&A
2

3. What’s driving BTI’s business? VIDEO !
The Web will only get more
crowded as sites increase
video offerings.
Typical Music File
Top video on YouTube viewed 41,786,882 times
5 Mb
Size of video: 12Mb
Typical Movie File That’s 500,000 Gb of traffic for just one video…
it’s a Gigabit World!!
1,500 Mb
Total Video Streams, 2005
With BTI’s equipment deployed at
1.5 Billion the edge of service provider
networks, they are able to
Total Video Streams, 2011* dramatically improve the delivery of
broadband Internet, video and
6.7 Billion
wireless experiences.
Estimated. Data: Akamai, Yankee Group.
Source: BusinessWeek: September 25, 2006.
3

4. BTI Photonic Systems
Design & market optical systems for the
“metro edge” of service provider &
large corporate networks.
BTI 2060
Global addressable market: $400M/yr today,
growing to $900M/yr by 2010. Metro
Acces Core
s
64 Carrier, Cable & Utility customers
Metro Edge
Strategic partner with Fujitsu
4

5. Our Value: 10G optical transport Network
Incumbent
West Route
5X Cost reduction
20X Footprint improvement
12X Power saving
1/10th Provision time
East Route
5

6. Management Team & Investors:
• Broad experience with Tier 1 OEMs & start-ups developing
optical systems for carriers.
• Proven ability to set strategy, engage customers & channels,
develop & deliver product, build brand & market share, secure
financing, exercise capital efficiency, and scale revenues.
Paul Harrison (BTI 2005)
Lance Laking (BTI 2001) quot; VP, Sales - Dallas
quot; President & CEO quot; Ekinops, Xtera, Alcatel US
quot; HUBER+SUHNER, Dynasty & Italy, Marconi UK
Components
Jon Boocock (BTI Jan 2007)
quot; VP, Engineering
John Mills (BTI 2002)
quot; VP/Co-Founder Catena (Ciena)
quot; VP, Product Management quot; VP/ Co-Founder Cadence
quot; Nortel (Japan), BNR
quot; Scott Newport (BTI 2003)
quot; VP, Operations
Glenn Thurston (BTI 2004) quot; Accelight Networks, IBM,
quot; VP, Marketing Celestica, Nortel
quot; Nortel (Global Alliances)
quot; Dave Van Duynhoven (2005)
quot; VP, Finance. CPA, CMA
quot; HUBER+SUHNER, Auditor
General
6

7. The take-away – our playing field:
quot; A very technical product
quot; A technical sales process
quot; A long, complex, B2B sales cycle
quot; Very much a David & Goliath landscape
7

8. Functional view: ~80 employees
4
16
9
Sales & Marketing
Product Marketing
6 Development
Mfg & Ops
Finance, IT & HR
45
8

9. Venus & Mars
Photonics research Sales & Marketing
9

10. Motivation & drive:
different strokes for different folks
quot; Peer recognition
quot; “coin operated”
quot; Papers published, patent
quot; “show me the money”
applications
quot; Speaking at industry forums
quot; Technical challenge
10

11. But wait a minute:
we’re not that different
quot;Everyone needs recognition - the “feeling” that you are important,
!
that you are contributing to the success of the business, and that
your efforts are respected and appreciated by fellow employees
! On budget / On time
! Cracking a new customer
! Selling on value
! Customer testimonials – helping solve real problems
quot;Technical teams want to work on a successful products. Sales
#
teams want to sell winning products. The common metric is real
customers and market share.
11

12. Culture
Every company has a culture, every company has politics
quot; Perception is reality
quot; Work with it
Observations / my sandbox
quot; Not your “typical” Tech CEO
quot; Significant company restructuring in 2002
quot; Culture changes with company lifecycle:
quot; The 1-5-10-25-50-100M barriers
quot; Optical Engineers ! software engineers ! hardware engineers ! systems
engineers
quot; And we’re as multinational as it gets
12

13. Communication style
quot; Not your `typical` Tech CEO
quot; Be OPEN, honest, straightforward
quot; Try to tie in the remotes
quot; Set 3, clear over-arching objectives, & repeat
quot; Share the numbers, the good, the bad & the ugly
quot; Regular informal updates
quot; Semi-annual formal update
quot; No problem with mistakes (but not repeat mistakes)
13

14. Challenges
quot; The VC influence
quot; The same vested interest or ??
quot; An exit and minimum 20% IRR is natural
quot; As the company grows up…
quot; Start-up excuses go away
quot; Employment / HR expectations expand
quot; Act BIG, be small gets harder
14

15. Fostering teamwork
Trade notes
quot;
quot; Technical teams are starved for customer feedback
quot; Sales teams are starved to technical innovation / uniqueness
Push decisions to where the expertise resides
quot;
Product marketing / product line management is the key linkage
quot;
On occasion…take a ‘software geek’ to a customer,
quot;
and bring a ‘sales puke’ into the lab
15

16. Fostering teamwork – have fun
If a man insisted always on being serious,
and never allowed himself
a bit of fun and relaxation,
he would go mad or become unstable
without knowing it
Herodotus
16

17. Fostering teamwork – have fun
quot; Organize events at least quarterly
beach volleyball
quot;
yoga
quot;
Skating on the canal,
quot;
curling (yes, curling)
quot;
picnics, whatever
quot;
at least one party with spouses / guests
quot;
quot; The leader sets the tone, but the activities are
best when event coordination is spread around
17

18. Compensation & Incentives
quot; Fair, transparent and equitable
quot; People talk, especially engineers
quot; Salaries (the “start-up” factor)
quot; You have to be competitive – but not the highest
quot; You have to pay a premium for “A” players – but it’s worth it
quot; Challenge, responsibility, recognition and reward trump pure $$$
18

19. Compensation & Incentives
Company-wide incentive plan
quot;
quot; 10% “at plan” , 20% stretch
quot; Metrics must be aggressive, but realistic
quot; Combination of financial / market / product milestones
quot; Always drive home the capital efficiency message (Cash Flow
Positive…)
Stock Options
quot;
quot; Still in vogue, but not Holy Grail
“Fun” rewards work
quot;
quot; Create a friendly competition / bragging rights
quot; Does not require big bags of $$$
quot; Examples: IPquot;, a goofy award
19

20. Closing comments - Marrying Teams:
quot;Set a tone that is open, based on mutual respect, and interactive
!
quot;Don’t play favourites
#
quot;Communicate frequently – informally and formally
$
quot;Tie in customer and market touch wherever and whenever you can
%
quot;Structure rewards and incentives to reinforce the behaviour and
&
culture that you are looking for
20

21. Thank you
E-mail: lancelaking@btiphotonics.com