Today I am pleased to announce that I have merged my consulting practice into Insyndia Corporation. Insyndia is led by two likeminded professionals, Lance Gaines and Kevin Casey, who I have the privilege to call business partners.
I met Lance in December of 2006 in the most unlikely manner; I was helping a new firm launch biometric secured USB devices and Lance, as CTO of his company, had purchased some USB products for a very strange purpose – to hold random numbers generated by another company I was helping ID Quantique. I was floored that in my back yard someone not only understood the security implications of using the properties of single photons for random numbers (Quantum Random Number Generators), but they were already basing new products on these properties. Lance was not only using my favorite two company’s products, he was doing it at the same time (something I hadn’t thought to do). I think I made it to Tacoma to visit Lance in record time.
What I found in Lance was an incredibly talented and approachable technologist who was both a dreamer and a realist. He had a firm grasp on the science, the applications, the market potential, and importantly the restrictions all at once. He gained my trust immediately and over the years that trust has grown.
I met Kevin a while later when he was brought in to launch Lance’s team’s resulting product. Kevin had the unmistakable military “can do” spirit and he immediately reminded me of another treasured partner of mine Rick Vaden (now with IBM). Rick and I saw many business battles; some we won and some we survived, barely. I recall taking note of Kevin and wondering if he was as good as Rick, he had the potential clearly, but that is a high bar to cross. I also recall leaving convinced that Kevin had an uncanny ability to know precisely what the next indicated thing to do was (everyone else was considering while Kevin was doing). He did this with enthusiastic humility which made a believer out of me; I knew Kevin was a man to be counted on.
I followed Lance and Kevin as they followed the dream at their former company, I watched them deal with business ethics as they were confronted with tests not of their making; and I witnessed bi-directional loyalty between them and a their team. The whole team has been tested, not just Lance and Kevin.
Lance and Kevin did the right thing and created Insyndia with trusted associates from past business ventures. Initially seen as a vehicle to survive, Insyndia, as an organization, quickly learned they had a viable growing business that was interesting in of itself. By providing large scale integration services in places that no others could or would go has proven to be of enormous benefit. Not only are these projects tough and profitable, they enabled Insyndia to enter into even more interesting business models. They spent last year growing the infrastructure of talent, equipment, customers, and experience that can now be leveraged.
Insyndia is not a simple systems integration company; Insyndia’s team has the imagination to ignite and inspire not only IT customers, but also IT vendors. The tag line is not a marketing throwaway line, it is meaningful; just ask a few clients who have experienced the ignition phase.
Earlier this year several conditions arose that made this union possible: a) I sat down to help Lance and Kevin to discuss launching one of their product ideas b) Kevin reached out to help me with one of my other clients, c) I found myself with yet another exciting new product launch, d) Insyndia received the SDVOSB badge (Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business) giving them, and their partners, access to large set aside pools of $$ and e) it became crystal clear that we not only could leverage our collective imaginations and assets, but we needed each other. The three of us bring unique non-overlapping skill and experience sets to the table - and we trust; the most important ingredient.
It should be noted that Ken McLarin is also a Managing Partner who is explicitly trusted by myself through his long history with Lance. I’ve met with Ken and he clearly brings to the team the ability to mobilize staffing for large Microsoft systems implementations. Ken gives us our expanding/contracting technical staff that enables us to engage customers quickly and efficiently. Not only can we engage Microsoft projects, but we can also staff up implementations of our partners’ products over time as well. Ken’s unit, Descry, makes sure we have the talent and the infrastructure to support their needs. Read the press release announcing Descry last week here.
I join the Insyndia team as Managing Partner and SVP of Strategy. My role is to further assist existing business units grow and mature, but more importantly to establish Insyndia as a global launch platform for new and emerging vendors who have exciting products to offer the world. In some cases, new products are being developed under Insyndia’s guidance and capital. In other cases, new products have already been developed by outside vendors and need to be launched in specific markets.
Within a few days we’ll be announcing the launch of an exciting new player into the world of strong authentication. The product is a game changer for One Time Password devices and our job is to tell the world. Insyndia will be compensated for launch coordination, but has a front row financial position to share in the success of the sales. We have numerous such ignitions ahead of us; it should be an inspiring year.
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