Fear of failure is one of the biggest barriers to making a fresh start. But not for a moment did Elahian think about devising an escape plan in case CAE Systems crashed. If the startup flamed out, he figured, he would learn from the experience and become even more valuable to a big company like HP.
There was every reason for Elahian and his partners to whiff. They knew nothing about business. They had no idea how to solicit venture-capital firms. Elahian was equally clueless about writing a business plan. His pitch was rejected again and again before it was finally accepted by a rookie investment firm. After nine months of wandering in the wilderness, the founding team received $2 million in funding for CAE.
Elahian believes that in any new venture, whether you're embarking on a new job or a new career, you must zero in on your weakness -- and then adjust your plan so that it plays to your strengths. He learned this lesson the hard way at CAE. His partners voted him CEO, but he was less than successful. "I knew a little about technology and a little about people," he says. "But I knew nothing about sales or marketing."
Elahian worked hard to get up to speed. But he knew that a fresh start depends on teamwork. His willingness to surround himself with people whose strengths compensated for his weaknesses saved the company. He put his ego on hold, relinquished the top spot, and hired a new CEO -- "a salesman extraordinaire." The move paid off big time. Three years after the company's launch, the CEO sold it to Tektronix Inc. for $75 million.
Elahian brought that same attitude to Cirrus Logic. As plans for the company were hammered out, the founders decided that they had two options: Make Cirrus a next-generation software firm, or make it a semiconductor company. Elahian thought that the better choice was for Cirrus to become a chip company. He went on to help pioneer the fabless semiconductor model that is used by many chip makers today.
There was one drawback to that plan. Elahian's background was software. He came to a tough conclusion: He was ill prepared to lead a semiconductor company. Elahian stepped aside and hired a new CEO, Michael Hackworth. Elahian was prepared to sever his ties to Cirrus altogether, but Hackworth convinced him to stay on as executive vice president. "It was a great opportunity to learn from a pro about how to run a company," says Elahian. "Cirrus was my school of entrepreneurship."
For five years, Elahian dug into every aspect of the firm. He headed up sales for nine months, until he recruited a VP of sales. He put in two years as CFO. He also learned something about himself: Deep within his DNA, he was meant for a life of starting new ventures, then starting over. "Even though I spent five years at Cirrus, never for a moment did I think that I would stay there for the long run," he says. "When a company hits $200 million or $300 million in revenue, I go on to something else."
That's exactly what he did when Cirrus issued its IPO. This time, the Valley's high-tech elite were waiting for him. After scoring two big wins, Elahian seemed invincible. Investors rushed to sink money into his next company, Momenta. That's when he made his most perilous mistake: He let hubris cloud his ability to calculate his strengths, his weaknesses, and his prospects for success. "We set out to create a computer that would be incredibly easy to use," he says. "I was absolutely convinced that we would revolutionize the PC industry."
Elahian was shattered by Momenta's downfall. He retreated from the business world and watched as the company went under. Six months after he was fired, Momenta filed for bankruptcy. It was one of the biggest high-tech flops of its time. "You shed a lot of tears," says Elahian. "And then, after the grieving, you confront a frightening question -- frightening because you don't have an answer: What do I do with the rest of my life?"
Elahian was 38 years old. He had left Iran to become a free man; he had left HP to become a company builder. Now he was embarking on a new beginning that was not of his own choosing. He was convinced that because of Momenta's spectacular collapse, the Valley's business community would reject him. And so he began a yearlong exile from the world of work.
He took away some hard-won lessons. He realized that much of what had mattered to him in the past held little meaning now. Money? Having made his stake with Cirrus, he chose to live simply -- his one extravagance was his fire-red Ferrari. Fame? Momenta brought him all the notoriety he could handle. Independence? He'd been on his own since the age of 18.
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