"I spent a lot of time researching the market to build a case for our senior management team. That was probably the toughest part of the project: the pressure to stay on top of the market and make accurate predictions. Once I had won the confidence of my team and the rest of the company, I didn't want to make a mistake and lose that. I was asking my team to trust me to expand the company's brand, and that took a lot of relationship building.
"We created video cards that fit into the PC slot, and we also wrote the compression software. We developed the physical cards and the code itself, both of which were new processes for the company. I had to find distributors and suppliers outside of our network, and I had to sell the idea of the market potential at each level.
"The business was started in 1996, and we launched our product the following year. Adaptec was the first in the market to provide a complete hardware and software solution for FireWire. When the camcorder market took off and prices dropped below $1,000, we were well positioned to take advantage of it. Revenue-wise, that product didn't represent a huge share of Adaptec, but it did allow a new successful business to grow within the company.
"The best lesson for me was that, because I'd taken Rayona's class, I knew that it was time to leave Adaptec after the project was completed. I'd gotten the experience that I needed, and I was ready to take the next step."
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