Transitioning From a One-Person Consultancy to a Consulting Group / Annual CNSV Election
Location: KeyPoint Credit Union
About three years ago, CNSV member Mike Silverman changed his business model from a one-person consultancy to a consulting group. This change has led to many discoveries, some big benefits, as well as some eye-opening changes.
Mike’s talk will address the following areas:
- How to expand geographically
- How to increase the number of services to provide
- How to find good quality consultants
Mike’s new business model allows for billing at a higher rate, but there are numerous new costs with which to contend. If done properly, this model certainly allows for a higher profit, but not without risk. The experiences that Mike will share may help you decide whether a similar change would be beneficial for your own business model.
Mike’s talk will be preceded by the annual CNSV election, as well as a mixer with free food and light drinks.
About the speaker, Mike Silverman, Ops A La Carte, LLC, Saratoga, CA Mike Silverman is the founder and managing partner of Ops A La Carte, LLC, a 6-year old technical operations consulting firm that Silicon Valley Business Journal just named as the 9th fastest growing private company in the Bay Area.
Mike has over 20 years of experience in technical operations, including reliability, quality, test engineering, manufacturing, compliance and safety. He has had over 300 consulting clients, including Cisco, Microsoft, Apple, Abbott Labs, Applied Materials and many small high-tech companies. He has consulted in a variety of industries, including telecommunications, networking, medical, semiconductor equipment, consumer electronics, power and defense electronics.
Mike has authored and published eight papers on reliability techniques which he has presented domestically as well as in China, Germany and Canada. He has also developed teaching courses on reliability and technical operations techniques, and currently teaches 23 courses in these areas.
Mike has a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and is a Certified Reliability Engineer (CRE) through the American Society for Quality (ASQ). Mike is a member of IEEE, ASQ, SME, ASME, PATCA, ASPMFG, EPIC and IEEE CNSV, and is currently Chair of the Santa Clara Valley Chapter of the IEEE Reliability Society.
Location: KeyPoint Credit Union
