Solar Company
Background A VC-backed chemical engineering company developing innovative approaches to recover valuable silicon from waste Founder/CEO was technically competent but lacked people- and operational-management skills, needed to stabilize and grow company Investors concerned that technical team might disperse and company would lose momentum Investors moved founder to CTO role and engaged KPCG to provide interim…
Background
- A VC-backed chemical engineering company developing innovative approaches to recover valuable silicon from waste
- Founder/CEO was technically competent but lacked people- and operational-management skills, needed to stabilize and grow company
- Investors concerned that technical team might disperse and company would lose momentum
- Investors moved founder to CTO role and engaged KPCG to provide interim CEO, providing business leadership, operational management and consistent leadership of staff
Mandate
- Culture change management and interim CEO role
Activity
- Provided leadership to technical team and interfaced with founder to maximize effectiveness in CTO role
- To allow CTO to focus on technical commitments made to investors, KPCG provided CEO outward-facing functions, including :
- investor communications and status reporting
- handling external legal issues
- interfacing with external business consultants
- Developed business plan to support upcoming new round of fundraising for next growth phase
- Provided hand-off to new (permanent) CEO
Results
- Investors happy to achieve a stabilizing influence resident at company laboratories
- One team member had resigned prior to engagement and another was very dissatisfied. Both staff members were retained and became supportive during KPCG’s involvement
- Founder had committed to meeting challenging goals for Si purificaton (6N purity from silicon kerf) that team had already failed to deliver on time – but met after engaging KPCG. The team has since produced product of 7N purity.
- Business planning and operational changes laid foundation for introduction of new CEO