{"id":10725,"date":"2020-10-30T16:37:52","date_gmt":"2020-10-30T23:37:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=10725"},"modified":"2020-10-30T16:37:52","modified_gmt":"2020-10-30T23:37:52","slug":"shades-of-silicon-valley-qa-with-michael-pfau","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=10725","title":{"rendered":"Shades of Silicon Valley: Q&A With Michael Pfau"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Michael<\/a>

Michael Pfau, photo by Daniel Dreifuss for Santa Barbara Independent.<\/p><\/div>\n

Representing tech-sector businesses\u00a0for more than 30 years, attorney\u00a0Michael Pfau<\/a>, who is a founding partner\u00a0of Reicker, Pfau, Pyle & McRoy LLP,<\/a>\u00a0provides a unique vantage point of the Santa\u00a0Barbara scene.<\/p>\n

HOW HAS OUR TECH SECTOR EVOLVED? <\/b>The\u00a0same way it did in Silicon Valley. What happened\u00a0was that the university attracted some\u00a0real national quality talent to its faculty.\u00a0Many of those people were entrepreneurially\u00a0inclined, and they exported technology\u00a0from the university and formed companies.\u00a0Some of those were sold off and were successful;\u00a0they put money into people\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n

Over time, you have a collection of technology, engineering,\u00a0and management talent that has some money\u00a0in its pocket and wants to do it again. One success\u00a0begets two successes and four successes, which beget\u00a0eight successes, and it just evolves naturally that way.<\/p>\n

In parallel with that, we had the build-up of infrastructure\u00a0to support these companies: angel investing,\u00a0like the Santa Barbara Angel Alliance<\/a>; venture\u00a0firms like Kevin O\u2019Connor\u2019s ScOp Venture Capital\u00a0and Entrada Ventures<\/a>; and law firms and CPAs that\u00a0are used to dealing with these things.\u00a0It becomes a self-perpetuating cycle.<\/p>\n

ARE TECH ENTREPRENEURS DIFFERENT FROM PEOPLE WHO\u00a0<\/b>START OTHER KINDS OF BUSINESSES? <\/b>Maybe, but the\u00a0answer is probably no.\u00a0The analysis for any opportunity is (a) what is\u00a0the problem you are trying to solve? (b) how do you\u00a0solve it? and (c) what is your sustainable competitive\u00a0advantage? In other words, why are you different from\u00a0everybody else?<\/p>\n

You have to be solving a real-world problem. What\u00a0they all have in common is they believe they can go\u00a0through brick walls, and they will do it to get to their\u00a0outcome.<\/p>\n

SO ENTREPRENEURS ARE ENTREPRENEURS THEN? <\/b>It\u2019s just\u00a0grit and gristle, and in the end, a disciplined approach\u00a0to business always pays off. The technology guys are\u00a0more successful because they\u2019re building companies\u00a0with what we call fatter revenues \u2014 lower expenses to\u00a0higher net revenue \u2014 so they are more profitable, and\u00a0that\u2019s why people think that maybe there is something\u00a0better about it. But no, I\u2019m just selling something or\u00a0creating something that can be sold as more valuable.<\/p>\n

reickerpfau.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Tech<\/a>

Tech Talk Special Issue for Santa Barbara Independent, published October 1, 2020.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tech Talk Special Issue<\/a> for the Santa Barbara Independent<\/em><\/a>, originally published on October 1, 2020.<\/p>\n

To read the issue as it appeared in print, please click here, Tech Talk 768_10_01_20<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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