The Man Who Can Grow Your Business | Chris Kibarian

 

About Chris Kibarian

Chris is a proven business builder and global P&L leader with a strong track record of accelerating profitable growth across technology-driven B2B information, software and services businesses.

A performance-oriented leader, Chris is known for creating and executing winning growth strategies across Big Data, SaaS, mobile and analytic domains. Working across many geographies and industry verticals, his leadership style is energetic, growth-focused and operationally disciplined.

Chris has accelerated growth at progressively larger, global and increasingly complex organizations. He most recently led the Intellectual Property and Science division of Thomson Reuters – a global business of over 4000 people across 26 countries. In his role, he transformed a disparate portfolio of mature, low-growth assets (ranging from $25M – $250M) into a cohesive innovation solutions business delivering double-digit revenue growth approaching $1B.

Chris has led dozens of acquisitions throughout his career, including eight transactions between 2012-2013. Equally focused on organic growth and profit expansion, Chris has led impact initiatives in new product development, sales optimization, cost management, process automation and customer satisfaction.

Earlier in his career, Chris worked in strategic planning with Accenture, technology investment banking with Cowen and Co., and international development with the Eurasia Foundation.

 

Interview Transcript:

Alan
Welcome back. I’m here today with Chris Kibarian, and he’s a private equity adviser. Chris, welcome to today’s show.

Chris
Thank you.

Alan
So Chris, you know, for the listeners, can you give your background and what brought you to where you are today? Man, let’s, let’s start from the college years, you know your your aspirations to move in the direction that you did into private equity?

Chris
Sure. Well, you know, I took a year abroad in Argentina in 1990 and discovered a country that was in totally gone Macau. So when I came back, I decided I want to study economics study business. And that’s what led me into technology, investment banking, which led me to businesses. And so I see myself as a business builder, and I love building businesses, information, software, internet, it really doesn’t matter. I just liked the challenge of orchestrating growth, building products. And so I’ve been fortunate to have a lot of opportunities to run very different businesses.

Alan
And so when you, when you started your first job, though, you know, a lot of people go through, they come out of school, they got their degree, they’re probably going to do now. And was it what is that, that time when you had that degrees, I’m just going to build businesses, or did this the ball from the first jobs.

Chris
It was, it was a funny evolution, because I was actually waiting for my security clearance for the Foreign Service, because I loved international travel and languages. And my student loan started coming due and I just needed a job. And so the only job I could get was with a technology investment banking firm in Boston. And I started, you know, doing your, your typical, you know, seven day a week, you know, 80 hour work week, you know, type of, you know, job, you know, helping with IPOs, follow ons, private placements, and probably learn more in two years doing that than I didn’t 10 years after.

Alan
And so when you when you’re starting with these, these, you start with IPOs. That’s kind of unique. From the standpoint where what position were you in? Were you an analyst?

Chris
I was an analyst. And so I’d run the numbers, crunch the numbers, do the research, help create the marketing documents, and really kind of understand how, you know how an offering takes place? How do How are investors is assembled? How’s the book of business of institutional investors, retail investors assembled? And really, how do you how do you tell a story? How do you really explain the merits and attraction of a business in a market in a way that is so compelling, you just sort of dig in your pocket and put millions to work?

Alan
It’s interesting, when you’re looking at cup companies, would you consider yourself more on the process side of implementing processes, or the marketing, the marketing,

Chris
I’m a growth guy, I’m all about growth, and what really excites me is how you stimulate growth, and the orchestration of that from the very from the roots up from the product, from the marketing from the channel, from the positioning from the brand, it’s to me, what makes, you know, a lot of business really exciting. I don’t mind the process, because you really need good process to be able to drive growth, but I’m more of a growth guy.

Alan
When, when looking at growth and moving into that? How important is it to get everybody on the same page?

Chris
It’s, it’s vitally important. And it’s one of the things that I find, you know, most challenging, especially in the early part of my career, because, you know, I’d see great opportunities and want to run out them and, you know, oftentimes felt frustration while why it wasn’t everyone running at the same pace. Why aren’t we also excited about doing this, then you realize, in big organizations of 1000s of people, you’ve got all sorts of, you know, different personalities and things you got to deal with, in order to get people motivated. But I find, if you can express your strategy and vision with a clear purpose and a passion, you can excite the masses to really drive a business forward.

Alan
You know, Chris, part of your experience, not only is within this country, but also you’ve served abroad. And how How did other cultures play into that issue?

Chris
Yeah, well, you know, after my, you know, two years in investment banking, I went of all places to the former Soviet Union and built something called the Eurasia Small Business Loan Program, which was a actually a micro lending program for former Soviet republics, and I was all of 25 I didn’t necessarily know the language. I didn’t know the culture, it was really hard to do what we’re doing, which is basically collateralized lending for you know, a tomato paste, Canary bakery, you know, in a foreign environment. That’s culture shock. And ultimately, one of the things you realize is, you know, businesses business at the end of the day, it’s still you know, you know, money and money out, and so you can find a common ground. Look, the cultural gap between a former Soviet bank leader and a 25 year old former investment banking analyst was about as wide as you can Yeah, but it was a good learning experience to figure out how you bridge culture.

Alan
Yes, I’m running against a break time now. I’m visiting here today with Chris Kibarian, and he’s a private equity advisor. And we’ll be right back after these messages.

Alan
Welcome back, I’m visiting here today with Chris Kibarian. And he’s the private equity advisor and Chris we’re starting in the early days you your career. But one thing that happened in Russia that you didn’t pick up in the last second I want to cover this is you met somebody met my wife, your wife, and in so that that that truly was a blessing, I guess play the little time that she left spin over there and ration?

Chris
I just met the most beautiful woman in the world. And so she motivated me to learn her language and stay for a while. We stayed there for two years. And it’s where we ended up getting married. And, you know, we go back every year. And so I’m lucky I’ve got you know, I’ve got family, all over the world now.

Alan
So, and with that said, you’ve also have a lot of experience not not limited to the US, but you’re very cosmopolitan, working in several different countries and cultures. And I want to spend a little bit of time though, on one of your more recent ventures, you actually exited the corporate world and private equity, did a little bit of philanthropy. Can you tell us about the organization?

Chris
I’m in the middle of 2014, I was approached actually by a private equity firm about a company called YouCaring. And YouCaring was a crowdfunding platform for personal and charitable causes. And it was a free platform. And what they wanted to do is build it and expand it, but they only had one employee. So literally, it would be like doing a startup, which I thought was very different from my last job where I had about 4000 people and 26 countries, you know, rebuilding software and services for intellectual property and scientific research. So crowdfunding was was completely new. And with a single employee, you actually have to build a technology team, a marketing team, and, and really kind of stand on your own. In a digital marketplace where you have no brand, you have no identity, you have no Salesforce. But what you have is a very powerful tool for how people raise money to deal with medical expenses or funeral expenses or to fund educational expenses. It’s, it’s an interesting way for how people fundraise in the 21st century.

Alan
Wow, and how big was your organization when you started then?

Chris
It was literally one person, we had one customer service rep. And literally no employees, we had no office, we had literally nothing, no paper, no, you know, it was just a fledgling website that was started by a husband, wife team in their kitchen. And so the whole point was you have to, you know, to sustain and build and grow a platform that was driving 150 million in donations every year, had an audience of, you know, 50 million unique visitors a year, you actually had to build much stronger technological platforms, build out customer service, build out social media marketing, SEO, SEM, search engine optimization, Search Engine Marketing. And so you know, we did that in San Francisco in a span of about 18 months and doubled the business couple times over.

Alan
That’s amazing. And I say that you really are when it comes down to looking at your true strength, a business builder?

Chris
Well, that’s the funny thing. I thought, you know, it’s going to be so different moving from a billion dollar business to essentially a startup. But the reality is, the thought process is the same. It’s fundamentally What’s your way be doing right now to drive the growth and success of this business? It’s this constant mental prioritization and reprioritization about what needs to happen right now. And sometimes, right, what you need to write happen right now in a startup is assembling the furniture for the five employees that are about to walk in the door, you know, in a couple hours, but you know, ultimately, it’s it’s the same thing building as buildings building,

Alan
In the, in the experience with you, Karen, do you have any good stories or success stories that have come about as a result of working in that space?

Chris
Well, it was I mean, every day there are 1000s of stories about you know, people right at the end, it’s could be Hey, my aunt, who I love, who raised me just got diagnosed with cancer. There’s been a shooting someplace. What’s amazing is how people rally around a picture of Message. I mean, it’s not a lot of detail that people provide about what’s, you know, what’s occurred in their life. But it’s human drama played out, really on your on your mobile phone, because most of what happens in crowdfunding happens on a mobile device. So of those, you know, 50 million people 75% Are women on a mobile device. You know, it’s so it’s a really interesting, you know, dynamic about who’s driving the social media phenomenon on, you know, on the internet, and then the day people give millions of dollars to people they don’t even know necessarily, but what social media does is it connects people starting from friends from family, your former colleagues, your neighbors, and then you realize you actually do have a massive social network that’s, you know, much more easily connected via Facebook or Instagram. So you share you, you create a fundraiser, you share it with your, your, you know, 2050 100 friends, they share it, they share it, and all of a sudden, it’s getting hundreds of views 1000s of donations in a matter of days. It’s amazing phenomenon that’s occurring.

Alan
And visiting here today with Chris Kibarian and he’s a private equity advisor and we’ve been talking about your recent experiences in caring, Chris, I need to take a quick break. And we’ll be right back after these messages.

Alan
Welcome back, I’ve been visiting here today with Chris Kibarian. He’s a private equity advisor and also spent a recent experience in a social media project called YouCaring. It’s self funding for charitable causes. And, you know, as I listened to you, Chris, the what came to mind is one of my former guests, and your background for the listeners, you you have some heritage from Armenia, I had a guest also from Armenia, his name was Armen Berkeley. And he started what was called the experience project in social media, and grew that to 500 million individuals within 26 years old. And I thought, you know, there must be something within the culture that gives us a nerd drive to, to build and to grow and to connect, and I’m very impressed with what you’ve been able to do so far in your career, that you’re really a builder of businesses. I want to I want to change topics here though, and move off the YouCaring and a get onto the the private equity industry, okay, where you spend a period of time and, and and and where you hold out your yourself right now. So what exactly is a private equity adviser?

Chris
Well, you know, I’ve spent a lot of my career building very different kinds of businesses. And at the end of the day, when I was at Thomson Reuters, for example, I lead a new business almost every two years. And what that means is, you kind of get parachuted into a new situation, a new business, a new challenge, very regularly. So you really have to adapt and figure out what’s the strategy, what’s the path for going forward. And when you know, when what a private equity advisor does is help advise on what to buy, how to buy it, how to structure, an asset, so that you can build it grow at create value in a very short period of time, and then sell it to either another strategic buyer or another private equity buyer. But the whole point is, you got to make things better, you have to create value, profit growth, get the cost structure in, you know, in line in a relatively short period of time. So, so I think most of my career has been, you know, kind of got leading to this point where, you know, you’ve got a capital partner, private equity, essentially a capital partner, and what they oftentimes need is management. And so if you’ve got the management in the capital, you can take businesses that have oftentimes lost their way, lost their passion, lost their purpose, and really turn them into stellar performers.

Alan
So when we when you look at companies, again, I’m putting your advisory hat on right now as a private equity advisor. What are the key components you look for? Do I do I invest in them? Do I, you know, time and resources or not?

Chris
Well, you know, every business has a unique set of challenges. You know, whether it’s the competitive environment, but there’s a reason a business has lost its way. And oftentimes, it’s, you know, it’s intensifying competition, or it’s a bloated cost structure, or it’s poor asset allocation. I mean, I was looking at one business recently that put a ton of money into infrastructure that was probably not necessary, but they do Get out of product. And when you take money out of product, there’s less for the Salesforce to sell, there’s less for customers to buy, there’s less pricing power, and then it starts to create a little bit of a decline and a decay, very easy to turn around. But the point is, that’s it’s, it doesn’t take long for business to lose its way once it gets that asset allocation or that cost structure out of kilter with what the market and the customers demand.

Alan
How important is the leadership of that company, when you’re working with them?

Chris
Absolutely important. I mean, ultimately, you can’t be afraid to change leadership or to change structure or to change, you know, a strategic direction. But ultimately, you know, businesses is about people and people who’ve got the, you know, keen sense of the potential of a business, can rally others and rally the momentum that’s necessary to drive a business forward and do it quickly and effectively.

Alan
I want to talk about a word that often I hear that, you know, that that driving entrepreneurs have within them and that, is that a persistence? To push through adversity? How do you keep the spirits up? When things aren’t going right? You’re just getting everyone to push through the problems.

Chris
I think it’s either in you or it’s not. And so I don’t know where it comes from, necessarily, but there’s a win, you know, there’s nothing more exciting to me than then having my hands on a business where you can really drive the full potential of of that business and where you can bring your passion to it. And because painting a passion is infectious, right? When people realize, hey, look, we’re building something fantastic. I mean, ultimately, every, every business, every enterprise has a higher purpose, right. And that higher purpose sometimes is changing the world making the world a better place. And when you can find that nugget of truth and insight that really motivates a team of people, customers, stakeholders, investors, you can really move mountains, because it’s not so much about what what’s, you know, what the challenges are, that are coming at you, it’s about that vision, a vision about where you’re going what this business can do, that propels everyone forward.

Alan
You know, when you look at the world today, and then where we’re heading to the future, what do you see out there? And let’s, let’s go back to the staying with the private equity.

Chris
Yeah, you know, one of the things I’m seeing, I mean, I came from business to business, but I also just work recently in business to consumer. And one of the things I’m seeing is a convergence in business models where, you know, every individual uses a smartphone, to some degree and what their expectations are about how they’re communicated to, and what they expect in terms of product performance, is converging to a point where, you know, business to business models are converging with business to consumer in the sense that, you know, everyone expects an effective social media presence, everyone expects to be communicated to in a very timely and efficient manner. Everyone expects real speed in terms of search ability, a good visual design experience, and even some of the most arcane products. And I think there’s a kind of a higher standard that the consumer markets have brought to the b2b world.

Alan
You know, I think he just described PokemonGo. And isn’t that Isn’t that ironic, how quickly something like that the mindset just took off like wildfire?

Chris
I think you’re absolutely right. I mean, the ability to communicate and engage a global audience is so much more prevalent. Now, you can do that you can do that in a very powerful and effective way, with with design concepts and, and that are motivating across cultures, right? I mean, it’s a, it’s a unique phenomenon, when, you know, people all over the world are literally chasing these, these these objects. But the reality is, it’s what you can do now in a way that you just simply couldn’t do even, you know, 1020 years ago.

Alan
So visiting here today with Chris Kibarian, and he’s a private equity advisor and, you know, Chris, I have a lot of listeners are started companies and, you know, trying to get to the next level of person wants to contact you, and, and have you come in and help with your company, how would they do so?

Chris
Well, um, you know, on LinkedIn, probably the best place to reach out to me is on LinkedIn, you know, and so Chris Kibarian and I, you know, I get a lot of, you know, inquiries, you know, fair bit to, to advise and companies and to invest, and I love it.

Alan
It’s thanks for being in today’s show.

 

We hope you enjoyed this interview; “The Man Who Can Grow Your Business | Chris Kibarian”.

To receive our free newsletter, contact us here.

Subscribe our YouTube Channel for more updates.

This transcript was generated by software and may not accurately reflect exactly what was said.

Alan Olsen, is the Host of the American Dreams Show and the Managing Partner of GROCO.com.  GROCO is a premier family office and tax advisory firm located in the San Francisco Bay area serving clients all over the world.

Alan L. Olsen, CPA, Wikipedia Bio

 

 

GROCO.com is a proud sponsor of The American Dreams Show.

 

The American Dreams show was the brainchild of Alan Olsen, CPA, MBA. It was originally created to fill a specific need; often inexperienced entrepreneurs lacked basic information about raising capital and how to successfully start a business.

Alan sincerely wanted to respond to the many requests from aspiring entrepreneurs asking for the information and introductions they needed. But he had to find a way to help in which his venture capital clients and friends would not mind.

The American Dreams show became the solution, first as a radio show and now with YouTube videos as well. Always respectful of interview guest’s time, he’s able to give access to individuals information and inspiration previously inaccessible to the first-time entrepreneurs who need it most.

They can listen to venture capitalists and successful business people explain first-hand, how they got to where they are, how to start a company, how to overcome challenges, how they see the future evolving, opportunities, work-life balance and so much more.

MyPaths.com (Also sponsored by GROCO) provides free access to content and world-class entrepreneurs, influencers and thought leaders’ personal success stories. To help you find your path in life to true, sustainable success & happiness.  I’s mission statement:

In an increasingly complex and difficult world, we hope to help you find your personal path in life and build a strong foundation by learning how others found success and happiness. True and sustainable success and happiness are different for each one of us but possible, often despite significant challenges.

Our mission at MyPaths.com is to provide resources and firsthand accounts of how others found their paths in life, so you can do the same.