'Violent execution' of strategy works for Mindshare

Rich Hanks and John Sperry had an idea they believed in, and they refused to let it die because they had to please nervous investors.

Sperry and Hanks are, respectively, chief executive officer and president/chairman of Salt Lake City-based Mindshare Technologies Inc., a provider of Web-based customer feedback and insights.

In the company's early days, the two veteran entrepreneurs were still smarting from being burned when nervous post-9/11 investors pulled out of their previous firm.

That's why, in starting Mindshare, they took a harder, more old-fashioned road. Hanks and Sperry are fond of quoting legendary Gen. George Patton, who said, "Violent execution of a good strategy will beat good execution of a great strategy every time." So, they formed a strategy and stuck to it through thin — there was a lot of that at first — and thick.

When a financing crisis arose, Sperry sat down with Mindshare's employees and asked them to go without pay until the company could get on more solid footing. The employees agreed, and thus began a company culture that gives most employees equity in the business.

Hanks then acted as the company's sales force, "cold-calling" potential clients until he had gained enough business to bring stability to the firm. The partners also formed relationships with several short-term angel investors.

Soon, Mindshare was able to pay back both those investors and, most importantly, the employees who stuck by the company because they believed in Mindshare's innovative approach to intelligence-gathering of customer opinions.

Mindshare's software is completely Web-based and automated, so business clients can begin using customer feedback almost immediately, at a fraction of the cost of more traditional services.