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RED CLOUD PRESIDENT, MIKE LEKSAN, IS PROFILED IN THE SAN FRANCISCO BUSINESS TIMES

San Francisco Business Times - March 2, 2007

Title: Chief.

Company: Sells, rents, and services Motorola two-way radios. Recently branched into distributing wireless broadband and data.

HQ: Emeryville.

2006 revenue: $2.2 million.

Number of employees: 13.

Year founded: 2001

Source of startup capital: Self-funded

Background: Worked for BearCom, a national competitor from 1989-2001 before founding Red Cloud.

Age: 44

Residence: Moraga.

Web site: Red Cloud Inc.

Big picture:

Reason for starting business: We saw an opportunity to serve our industry better than it was being served by any of our competitors.

Most difficult part of decision: Seperating from our friends. The principals from our company took it pretty bad. Also putting my family's income in jeopardy-that was tough.

Biggest plus of ownership: The ability to control and minimize my business travel, allowing me much more time at home with my family.

Biggest drawback: It's a lot of bureaucratic processes-taxes, certifications, insurance, all those things. It's a lot of little stuff. We outsource a lot of that, but a s a principal you have to know what's going on.

Biggest misconception:That the cellular telephone industry is what we do. We work with wireless data and wireless broadband and two-way radios. Wireless communication is a much broader category than just cellular.

Biggest business strength: Being small allows us to respond to changes in the industry and to our clients needs faster.

Biggest business weakness: IT is a pretty significant challenge. We're too small for enterprise solutions, but we're too big for out-of-the-box solutions. Right now we milk everything we can out of QuickBooks.

Biggest risk: We've become a wireless Internet service provider at a couple of locations in the East Bay. It's a stretch outside our business. It's been about 9 months so far and it's going slow. We're learning.

Biggest mistake: Not having asked for professional financial advice sooner. We did recently and now we've learned about cash flow management.

Smartest move: Locating in Emeryville. It's perfectly central.

Biggest worry: Managing for growth. We should double this year, so making sure we do everything properly step by step is my biggest worry.

Top source of inspiration: Sports. You see people put into pressure situations and performing. I'm a big rugby fan. I played in college and now I coach kids' rugby.

Daily routine

Most challenging task: Dealing with problem employees.

Favorite task: Coming to work and seeing everyone. I like building our customer list and seeing our numbers grow.

Least favorite task: Reporting functions. We need to provide our main vendor, Motorola, with sales reports.

Biggest frustration: People taking short cuts and thinking they're getting away with something.

Source of support in a business crisis: Always my wife.

Dreams

Key goal to achieve: I want to hit the $10 million mark in revenue by 2011.

First move with capital windfall: Buy our office space rather than leasing

Five-year plan: We want to be over the $10 million mark and have branched out into a couple tangential industries.

Inducement to sell: Being able to achieve the vision that we started with, which is owning this marketplace.

First choice for new career or venture: Teaching high school math and coaching.

Personals

Most-admires entrepreneur: Steve Jobs.

Most interested in meeting: Abraham Lincoln.

Stress reducers: Reading and golf.

Favorite pastimes: Golf.

Most influential book: "The World According to Garp." I liked "The Fountainhead" too.