April 2005 - Hiring
I started with Riviera during the spring of 2005, in the month of April. But it wasn't a slamdunk.
Ron probably met with me for about three to four weeks before he hired me. Ask Kim, she was the receptionist then and can vouch for this.
When I first met Ron, he was rushing into the office from a measure. He had a black Greg Norman mesh hat on, Riviera shirt, his signature belt with big buckle and faded jeans.
We talked about a few different things, but what caught my attention was when Ron was describing the system he had developed.
I had spent three years of my life raising money for my DotCom in Silicon Valley. Part of this process involved comparing my business model to other business models for the sake of venture capitalists. The paradoxical logic in Silicon Valley where everybody is supposed find the best new thing is that a business model has to have some sort of successful precedent to compel a large seven to eight figure investment. As a result of this training, I can probably spot a dog or a gem of a business plan within a paragraph summary.
What Ron had built made instant sense to me. And I asked some friends their opinions as well, and they confirmed my impression. These are people who know business. One of my friends has walked away from two jobs that would pay him a million a year right now in straight salary. But don't feel badly for him, he's a CFO of a Raytheon subsidiary and doing fine, not one million dollars a year fine, but fine.
My friend Jikun is a smart guy, he's got a double E degree from Berkeley, a masters in Engineering from UCLA and a MBA from Columbia, my alma mater. When I met him in Hong Kong, he'd just told his boss to f-off at Morgan Stanley.
That boss got fired a few weeks after Jikun quit. If he hadn't quit his job, my friend would've taken over for his boss and stepped into a job paying a million dollars a year. But besides his work at Morgan Stanley assessing electronics companies, he's also worked as a management consultant at Booz Allen.
Booz Allen is a consultancy that rates among the top ten defense contractors in the US. They only hire MBAs from the top ten business schools in the country, schools like Harvard, Columbia, Stanford, U of Chicago, Wharton and so on.
Booz Allen doesn't make anything like toasters that can be manufactured and sold, they sell their expertise and their people and produce tons and tons of reports creating strategies and processes for huge multi-billion dollar companies. Companies hire Booz Allen when processes or strategies need work, they hire Booz to make the business make sense.
His said that Riviera Pools and what Ron was doing to sell pools is "really smart".
I was honestly surprised about Ron and Riviera Pools. I have met very few people with a really terrific idea. In three years in Silicon Valley, despite all the entrepreneurial fervor, most of the ideas I ran into were dogs. But every dog has its day, and even dogs can make it with a lot of hard work and good luck. However, if there's a really good idea combined with a will to market really well, like Ron says, it's the keys to the castle.
I was hooked, I probably would've bugged Ron for an entire year until he hired me.
Ron probably met with me for about three to four weeks before he hired me. Ask Kim, she was the receptionist then and can vouch for this.
When I first met Ron, he was rushing into the office from a measure. He had a black Greg Norman mesh hat on, Riviera shirt, his signature belt with big buckle and faded jeans.
We talked about a few different things, but what caught my attention was when Ron was describing the system he had developed.
I had spent three years of my life raising money for my DotCom in Silicon Valley. Part of this process involved comparing my business model to other business models for the sake of venture capitalists. The paradoxical logic in Silicon Valley where everybody is supposed find the best new thing is that a business model has to have some sort of successful precedent to compel a large seven to eight figure investment. As a result of this training, I can probably spot a dog or a gem of a business plan within a paragraph summary.
What Ron had built made instant sense to me. And I asked some friends their opinions as well, and they confirmed my impression. These are people who know business. One of my friends has walked away from two jobs that would pay him a million a year right now in straight salary. But don't feel badly for him, he's a CFO of a Raytheon subsidiary and doing fine, not one million dollars a year fine, but fine.
My friend Jikun is a smart guy, he's got a double E degree from Berkeley, a masters in Engineering from UCLA and a MBA from Columbia, my alma mater. When I met him in Hong Kong, he'd just told his boss to f-off at Morgan Stanley.
That boss got fired a few weeks after Jikun quit. If he hadn't quit his job, my friend would've taken over for his boss and stepped into a job paying a million dollars a year. But besides his work at Morgan Stanley assessing electronics companies, he's also worked as a management consultant at Booz Allen.
Booz Allen is a consultancy that rates among the top ten defense contractors in the US. They only hire MBAs from the top ten business schools in the country, schools like Harvard, Columbia, Stanford, U of Chicago, Wharton and so on.
Booz Allen doesn't make anything like toasters that can be manufactured and sold, they sell their expertise and their people and produce tons and tons of reports creating strategies and processes for huge multi-billion dollar companies. Companies hire Booz Allen when processes or strategies need work, they hire Booz to make the business make sense.
His said that Riviera Pools and what Ron was doing to sell pools is "really smart".
I was honestly surprised about Ron and Riviera Pools. I have met very few people with a really terrific idea. In three years in Silicon Valley, despite all the entrepreneurial fervor, most of the ideas I ran into were dogs. But every dog has its day, and even dogs can make it with a lot of hard work and good luck. However, if there's a really good idea combined with a will to market really well, like Ron says, it's the keys to the castle.
I was hooked, I probably would've bugged Ron for an entire year until he hired me.
posted by Don Sheu at 11:21 AM
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