something to smile about? - Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC

MOVINGONTechnophile CFO turns toTippingPointAdam Chibib, recentlyappointed CFO ofTippingPoint Technologies,a provider of intrusionprevention technology -network securitymanagement to the ITilliterate - has made asuccessful career for himselfin technology all withoutleaving Austin, Texas, hishometown since age 10.Following a degree inbusiness administrationfrom the University of Texasat Austin, Chibib started hiscareer in accountancyworking for FranklinFederal Bancorp. But eventhen he had an inclinationtowards technology and wasresponsible for thecompany’s successfulconversion to newaccounting software.“Public accountancy wasa great starting point for mycareer,” says Chibib. “Ittaught me how toeffectively solve differenttypes of problems, atdifferent companies, indifferent industries. Fromthese collective experiencesI was able to learn the bestway to build operationalinfrastructure.”After stints at Coopers &Lybrand and PriceWaterhouse where he wasTechnology Industry groupmanager, Chibib made thejump to software companyTivoli Systems. He wascontroller and responsiblefor the worldwideaccounting functions of themulti-billion dollarcompany.“What attracted me totechnology companies wasthe chance to apply thetechniques I had learned inpublic accountancy to thetechnology start-upenvironment. Technologycompanies provided mewith the opportunity tobuild something from theground up and have theresponsibility for thesuccess or failure of thecompanies that I work for.”That entrepreneurialspirit was given full reinwhen Chibib co-foundedbroadband softwareprovider BroadJump in1998. There he shaped thecompany by creating andimplementing the businessmodel, product licensingstrategies and all internalpolicies and procedures.Under his guidance, thecompany maintainedsequential quarter afterquarter revenue growth,from its first revenuequarter in late 1999, andwas profitable for the lastthree quarters of 2002 – twoquarters ahead of schedule.BroadJump earned revenuesof $50 million in 2002 – a137% increase over 2001 – invery challenging economictimes.Those kind of resultsearned Chibib the 2002Ernst & Young Entrepreneurof the Year Award andhelped BroadJump achievemention in Deloitte &Touche’s “50 FastestGrowing Companies” list in2001. They also made itpossible for Chibib and histeam to sell the company inNovember 2002 to MotiveCommunications, in a stockfor stock transaction.Not one to take themoney and run, Chibib tookover as CFO at WaveSetTechnologies in May 2003.Seven months later WaveSetmerged with SunMicrosystems and he movedon again. So why the moveto TippingPoint which is,after all, a listed companyand not a start-up? It comesdown to his entrepreneurialpersonality, says Chibib.“The entrepreneurialspirit is alive and well atTippingPoint,” says Chibib.“The company is in agrowth phase so the keyfundamentals of my rolehave not really changed. Iam still focused onshareholder value, accurateand timely internal andexternal financial reporting,compliance with applicablelaws and smart growth. Theopportunity at TippingPointis as exciting andchallenging as any start-upthat I have worked for.”Chibib has spent most ofhis first four weeks atTippingPoint looking at thecompany’s internal controls– “making sure that we areable to grow the companyefficiently and effectively[by] having the right team inplace, operational readiness,streamlined businessprocesses and the right levelof infrastructure.”Looking ahead, Chibibsays that his financial goalfor the company is to create“What attracted me totechnology companies wasthe chance to apply thetechniques I learned inpublic accountancy to atechnology start-up.”shareholder value. He says:“Because we are an earlystage revenue company,shareholder value will mostlikely be created throughtop-line revenue growth anddriving the company toprofitability. Our focus willbe creating the rightbalance of investments toaccomplish this.”But can TippingPointever achieve the amazinggrowth that BroadJump did?“The extraordinary growthat BroadJump was certainlyatypical for the economicclimate at that time.[However] I do see severalsimilarities betweenBroadJump andTippingPoint that, coupledwith an improvingeconomy, may provideTippingPoint with growthopportunities.“TippingPoint has done atremendous job of definingthe intrusion preventionmarket and creating aworld-class product inUnityOne. [And] I think thatour sector will see bothvalidation and growth in2004. Corporations willbegin allocating budgetdollars to intrusionprevention solutions and wewill benefit from thematuration of our market,”says Chibib. MW16 cf March 2004 corporatefinancemag.com