ANDREW ABOUCHAR

Partner, Tech Capital Partners; co-founder, The Revenue U

Without students, IIAD Global is just another business plan. It isn’t going anywhere and has little value.

When I first met company CEO Mark Weyers several years ago, he wanted to “boil the ocean.” His plan included launches in multiple countries simultaneously, a real estate development component and other tangentially related initiatives. It’s important to have a big picture for your vision, but your strategy must be more focused, and your tactical plan needs to be laser-focused. My recommendation to him years ago was to pick one target, generate success and grow from there. Whatever else IIAD Global does in the future, it needs to build from a position of strength. After five years of planning, the company is finally standing on the cusp of revenue. They are attempting to prove their hypothesis that someone (students and their parents) finds value in their offering.

IIAD’s deal with recruitment officer Kevin is a highly performance-based contract. He gets a base wage plus a percentage of every student he attracts. Let’s assume the company performed its due diligence, and Kevin is indeed capable and can attract students. If Kevin meets his targets, IIAD will generate revenue of US$1.4 million. Much more than merely generating revenue, IIAD can go forward with confidence that at least 100 students found value in its offering. Are there more? Likely. If Kevin can achieve something the company has been unable to do in five years, how can the company possibly begrudge him his pay?

There is a legitimate question regarding the sustainability of a 15% finder’s fee. It will be important to have that conversation once the business model has been proven and students are enrolling. Frankly, a more difficult problem will be if Kevin doesn’t make big bucks. Why is he failing to meet his targets? Is the issue with him or with the product offering?

Another question posed was whether the founders share their big vision with the rest of the company. As far as I am concerned, right now, high-level company vision and strategic planning is all noise. What mattes now is for IIAD to focus on finding students and delivering great courses. Early stage companies aren’t successful because they have great strategic planning, or because they raised a