Editor’s Note: Help us welcome William Fisher, a new regular guest contributor to Silicon Prairie News! In his series kicking off today, View from the FishBowl, Fisher will be contributing articles aimed at helping entrepreneurs in our region. With potential titles such as “If you buy a bank, hire a banker” and “Three ways to run the company,” Fisher will be calling on his experience as a business executive and technology investor to lend his advice.

Fisher is currently a partner at Treetop Ventures and has previously served as a director for several prominent public companies and private firms. To read his full bio, including a listing of companies he has been involved with, visit treetopventures.com. (Photo courtesy of Treetop Ventures.)

– Danny Schreiber

Why me?

Recently, I was asked by Silicon Prairie News (SPN) to contribute articles on a frequent basis to their readers. In fact, they asked if it would be ok to “syndicate” me on SPN. Given my small town background, I was both honored (syndication…visions of Larry King, Stern or Oprah) and curious…what would I have to offer to readers that are mostly younger than my youngest child and involved with technology that clearly makes me wonder where the really descriptive names went (Ruby on Rails, Python, Perl, Mongrel)?

However, Dusty and crew convinced me that my “sage wisdom” (this is clearly another way to say I am old) would be valuable to their readers. I still wasn’t convinced; most of the groups I have met and read about in SPN are much younger. However, they explained that the need to change our modus operandi as it relates to creating an environment to support startups and that the “powers to be” (and the resources) might be held by those closer to my age than theirs. OK…got that going for me.

By way of introduction, I am old and have been in technology/business for over 35 years. Everybody calls me Fish; most other names won’t get my attention save the really special ones! I have been involved in companies in Omaha all my career having received my MBA from University of Nebraska in 1974 and then going to work for what was then Touche Ross (Big 8 accounting firm) ran by local legend Grant Gregory. I worked for United of Omaha in their Corporate Planning & Research area where I met a team of technologists from Boeing Computer Services. I worked for Boeing for four years until going to work for First Data Resources, or FDR (can’t make myself call it FDC; it is FDR – fidder for those familiar with the early years). After working for FDR for six years, I went to work for ACI Worldwide and was there for 14 years.

These companies all contributed in various ways to getting me to my current life: working at Treetop Ventures assisting startup companies navigate the world of funding and general business decisions. My partners and I have been involved with raising over $100 million locally to fund the acquisition of or seed capital for ACI, original Planet Group, ItsDeductible.com, Scooter’s Coffeehouse, Sojern, Lodo Software, FTNI, Eleos, Prairie Finance, Prism Technologies plus a few that aren’t located in Omaha.

I would say I am imprinted by the lessons I learned from the people I worked with over the years.

Tenacity – Did you ever have the pleasure of meeting or working with Bill Esping (founder of FDR)? Others in that category include Neal Hansen (founder of CSG Systems), Jack Weekly of Mutual of Omaha, Steve Idelman (founder of Solutionary), Tom Barker (CEO of West), Gordon Whitten of Sojern and Grant Gregory of Touche Ross. These are men that were driven with a sense of purpose; not easily distracted from the job at hand.

Street Smart – Lee Kuhn, Bob Masterson, Charlie Fote of FDR all ring a bell; these guys are sharp and schooled in reading people, a key element in business success. If you are playing poker and look around and see these guys are the table, might be smart to fold!

Work Ethic – Lots of positive role models here. Maybe it is the legacy that our Midwest upbringing instilled in us. Maybe it is the weather; I remember telling west coast venture capitalists that the best place to have development resources is in the Midwest because you will find that we aren’t easily distracted from working indoors from October to March. Lots of inspiration here from co-workers at ACI and FDC; putting in the extra effort to make sure their work product was the best it could be.

Infallible Logic – This one is special to me because I am fascinated with drawing tree diagrams and determining all the outcomes that can happen before making a decision. I am amazed how the human logic computer works for George Haddix (recent inductee into the Omaha Hall of Fame and second CEO of ACI), Gary West (co-founder of West), Ray Croghan (friend and success serial entrepreneur) and Mike Liddy (technical founder at FDR).

Legal – I have been influenced by various legal professionals where I have been involved in negotiations (be it to buy a company, sell a company, price an offering, hire someone, negotiate an employee contract) and use the lessons I learned daily. Virgil Johnson, Howard Kaslow, Jack Pogge and Dave Stokes have all taught me valuable lessons as it relates to how deals work and are negotiated (rather than the very obvious and important one that I picked up somewhere but author unknown: run them out of time!).

Venture Capital – I have enjoyed a good network of venture capitalists and it all started with the three firms that helped me accomplish a leveraged buyout of ACI. Promod Haque of Norwest Venture Capital served on my board and still runs NVP today; they also led the investment in Sojern locally some 15 years later. Don Hebb of ABS Capital and Charley Noell of JMI Equity were also investors in ACI and still remain close friends. Don Dixon of Trident Capital goes back to FDR and CSG in Omaha and he and I served on the board of one of Bank of America’s companies; he also became an investor in Sojern. They have taught me a number of lessons over the years which I will write about in the weeks to come.

So, I am going to try to write some articles that benefit local entrepreneurs.

Look for stories in the weeks/months to come titled:

• Now that you are promoted, you won’t need that beard anymore
• Smart is not only smart but dumb is always dumb
• Three out of Ten
• Do you need your own WSJ?
• You aren’t very good at this
• How to date the prettiest girl in high school
• Sometimes, it is the little things
• Cash is the ultimate commodity
• If you buy a bank, hire a banker
• Three ways to run the company

Not sure how it will turn out, but Grandma Fisher told me when I was real little to not be afraid to try anything new and that I should give my best effort to anything I tried. I will.