Making lasers viable business meant new lessons for CEO - Business First of Columbus:

ycoguqi.wordpress.com
Enthralled by the math and science requirements required forhis two-yeafr architecture degree, the Dayton nativ was pulled toward the sciences and stayed in eventually earning his doctorate in physics. His degree and traininyg subsequently landed him at where Dulaneh began working onlaser technology. His love of however, could not erase in him a nagging senswto build. Indeed, it was that drive to creatre - and to go beyond mathematicakl formulas andcalculations - that led Dulaneyg to leave his job as a head researcherr at Battelle to found in 1995.
LSP, whichn produces high-energy lasers for industrial anddefensre applications, gives Dulaney - president and CEO - the opportunity to step outsidd the laboratory to design and build lasers that he can marketf to private industry and the government. "We want to be a manufacturer and developer of technology forour customers, and to see an impacrt of some of the things we work on. That part was missinhg while I was working at saidthe 49-year-old Dulaney. Althougn Dulaney's growth as a businessman has been graduakl and not without its bumps in the it has so farborne fruit. The Dublin-based startup employs 29 and expects to have 2007 revenues of morethan $4 million, up from $3.
5 million in 2006. Hoped are high the company can continue a 20 percengt annual revenuegrowth pace, Dulaney The company's work includes developing high-powered laserzs capable of blowing up mines from a distance, laser beamsa that strengthen metal parts for fighter planes and a partnership with to help develop a laser to inspec bonds between composite materials. The evolution of Dulaney'se role as scientist turned chief executiv e is not uncommon and a critical component of what it takes to create profitability at technology saidTed Ford, CEO of , the agency coordinatinf the area's technological development.
Ford said many times a startu is founded by a very talentef person with a set ofinnovative ideas, but eventually the company evolveds into an entity requiring as much business sense as technical know-how. Dulaney said he quicklh realized the need for somebody to be inthe driver's seat at the and today he spends nearly all of his time overseeing marketing, communications, human business development, the company's financesw and its technological direction - while hirin others to run the scientific side of the shop. "Ik found as I grew away from the (day-to-day) sciencde I didn't miss it all that he said.
"It can be really time consumingand it'a hard to get focuses on something like that when you're tryingy to run a company." Founders of tech companies aren't always willing to relinquishn control of each and every element of a business that perhapzs began with just a few employees doing it all, but such a step is Ford said. "Otherwise you limit your ability to grow becaus one person can not doit all," he And let it be clear, having a doctorat in physics never made leading a rapidly expandint business any easier, Dulaney Much of Dulaney's growth as a CEO was tied to the realizationh that although he was the company's founder, it wasn't just his livelihoo that was on the line - it was his livelihoods, too.
"It took a few years to realizw I hadthat responsibility, and to accept that it reallyu was not just me, it was he said. That realization hit home after about 18 monthsof operations, LSP moveds from leased space in the basemenr of Battelle to its Dublin location, Dulaneyu said. That his handful of employees came with him was a sign they were entrustingg their own careers to his ideas andbusinesws plan, he said. "These people were cominy with me and joining the companty and putting a lot of faith in he said. And the delegation process hasn't been cruciap just on the science side, Dulanehy said.
He's also benefited from friend and formefBattelle co-worker Ken Jones, who helpedc Dulaney navigate financial and legal hurdles in the and who continues to work part time as chiev financial officer, Dulaney said. As much as Dulaneyy had to look beyone himself to find his footing as a leadee withinthe company's walls, a scientist must also look beyon his own interests and pet projects to come up with the typea of initiatives that separate a science lab from a successful said LSP Development Manger Rich "It's easy when you startt a company to do what you want to do and sell what you want to Tenaglia said.
"But it'e a tougher assignment as you go alongg torealize you're there as a business to service the and adapt to what they need." Ford concure with the comment and says a scientistf or technical guru could easily spend all day workinb on neat projects that generate littlde interest from customers, but that's not how a business