Conceived in a VC firm and grown by a CEO recruited by Essential Solutions, Airespace realized a startup company dream when it was acquired by Cisco Systems for $450 million in the spring of 2005.

The Challenge

Incubated in the offices of Storm Ventures, Airespace (formerly Black Storm Networks) was a less than 10-person wireless local area network (WLAN) startup when its founding CEO and Board Member Tae Hea Nahm (also a partner at Storm Ventures) and Matt Howard, partner at Norwest Venture Partners, approached Essential Solutions for help with its CEO search in May 2002.

The search team was multi-dimensional, including company founders and three VC firms – Storm Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners and Battery Ventures.  The search specifications were demanding and the bar was very high: an experienced CEO with deep marketing lineage and a high-level of success in the domain.  The position required both startup company success and current experience in the wireless industry, specifically experience in enterprise networking. 

Exceptional CEO candidates in this domain were scarce.   For the five years prior to, and during the dot.com bubble, many of the highest valuations were achieved in the telco service provider market, leading to shift of many high-caliber executives away from enterprise networking and into the more lucrative service provider arena.    The Airespace search began just after the bubble burst.  “There were a lot of successful service provider oriented candidates during this post-bubble time period,” said Aaron Woo, founder and CEO of Essential Solutions, “But few had the required current domain experience in the enterprise networking space.”

The Solution

“The key was to find the right DNA for the size of team and what they wanted to accomplish,” said Woo.  Because of its focus in the wireless and communications markets, Essential Solutions was able to leverage its deep Rolodex and significant breadth of industry contacts to quickly begin the search. Finding a scarcity of high caliber resources in the enterprise networking space, Essential Solutions executed a multi-threaded search, examining multiple industry segments adjacent to enterprise networking sector.

Although the search was a difficult one, Essential Solutions used exhaustive diligence, and its refined search process, to locate and qualify capable candidates, including 60 interviews conducted personally by Woo.  Essential Solutions persisted in uncovering and presenting a solid mix of CEO candidates to meet the challenging specification.

Brett Galloway, the ultimate CEO, had been approached about the CEO position by one of the founders during an earlier stage of the company’s growth.  At the time, the product strategy and business model weren’t a good match for Brett.    Essential Solutions presented a current version of the business model and product plan to Brett and convinced him to “come back to the table” and take a deeper look at the opportunity.

Essential Solutions and the Board were convinced that Brett was the best candidate for the position and presented him with the opportunity to lead Airespace from a startup to industry leader.  Brett accepted the position. 

The Results

Under the leadership of CEO Brett Galloway and the guidance of its Board of Directors from Storm Ventures, Norwest Partners and Battery Ventures, Airespace grew to preeminence in WLAN for enterprise and commercial customers.  Cisco Systems acquired Airespace in March 2005 for US$ 450 million. Storm Ventures realized a $100M+ return. 

“Essential Solutions was instrumental in the recruitment of three key executives for Airespace, including the CEO, who drove its growth from an interesting WLAN infrastructure startup to the preeminent WLAN security solution for enterprise and commercial customers, and its subsequent acquisition by Cisco Systems for US$ 450 million in 2005.  Essential Solutions is a top tier search firm that utilizes its deep Rolodex, refined search process, and focused expertise to consistently succeed for its client companies.”

Tae Hea Nahm
General Partner of Storm Ventures

  Essential Solutions Value-Add

• Focused:  Essential Solutions’ deep focus in the enterprise networking space (as well as wireless, communications/net-working, semiconductor, Web 2.0, software, and related sectors) enables quick identification of highly qualified candidates
  
• Experienced:  Intuition and experience allowed Essential Solutions to identify great candidates – relevant to the company at the time
  
• Refined Search Process: Essential Solutions’ refined search process led to the discovery of quality candidates to meet the demanding job specifications
  
• Trusted:  Essential Solutions was trusted by the hiring team to source an exceptional candidate pool and deliver a highly qualified CEO. And, Essential Solutions was trusted by the best candidate, convincing him to “come back to the table” and managing a successfully strategy to complete the process
  
• Start-up zeal - Essential Solutions’ high-energy approach and tenacity yielded exceptional results

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