TWC Group :: Press Archive

TWC Spearheads New Approach to VCs/Incubators/Accelerators: Strategic Staffing to Build Emerging Growth Start-ups

Collegeville, PA (February 5, 2001) – Sizeable investments warrant expert support, according to T. Williams Consulting (TWC), a management consulting firm that has partnered with several Mid-Atlantic venture capitalists and incubators to provide strategic staffing to their start-up companies. These staffing services help fast-growth companies find the talent they need to build their businesses successfully.

The initiative is being pioneered by Terry Williams, President and CEO of TWC, who approached several area VCs, incubators, and accelerators with the idea. TWC offers on-site strategic staffing services for Internet Capital Group (Wayne, PA), Lucent New Ventures (Murray Hill, NJ), Hawk Holdings (Woodcliff Lake, NJ), the Port of Technology (Philadelphia), and PenNetworks/Redleaf (Philadelphia). TWC is currently working for 27 startups in the Mid-Atlantic area.

“Venture capital is no longer just about money; it is about the expert resources (not service providers) that venture capitalists can bring to companies,” said Williams. “It makes sense that they should want to protect such significant investments. The companies we’re working with are not experts in the acquisition and retention of human capital. . We’re giving them the edge they need to succeed—by managing and building out their entire organizations for them with world-class talent. That means that start-ups can grow intelligently, while they grow quickly. Our presence lessens the risk that their investors have to take.”

The TWC partnerships in the Mid-Atlantic region are being mirrored in other parts of the nation as well. According to the New York Times, the nation's venture capital firms are bolstering companies
in which they already have stakes—at the expense of financing
new ventures.

TWC is working with a wireless Internet company, Flarion Technologies, funded by Lucent New Ventures. To get Flarion ready for market, TWC experts were literally recruiting top management and engineers as the technology was being developed. Today, the company is more than 80 strong and is conducting testing so that they can go to market in the next two years.

In a similar capacity, TWC supports several other Lucent New Ventures, including Aralight and savaJe Technologies. Dedicated to the development of a revolutionary new microchip that uses lasers – rather than wires - to communicate from chip to chip, Aralight is well positioned to become a market leader in the optical networking industry. savaJe Technologies, on the other hand, is a highly innovative company focused on providing the best possible Java solution for the Information Appliance revolution.

At the Port of Technology, TWC is consultant to a dozen or more start-ups in an entrepreneurial and state-of-the-art growth center. Instrumental in setting up this international incubator, TWC is designated as part of the value-added service package. Entrepreneurs pay a monthly fee, plus give an equity percentage in their company. In exchange, they receive fully equipped offices and expert management advice. Because of the Port’s strategic location, they also can tap into more than 100,000 students, professors, researchers and technology professionals at University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University, and the University of Sciences.

At PenNetworks, TWC joins the ranks of Arthur Andersen and Hewlett Packard to provide management consulting to a variety of high tech firms. PenNetworks is an on-campus high-tech accelerator formed by the University of Pennsylvania and Redleaf Group, Inc., a technology operating company. TWC is in the initial stages here, helping PenNetworks to select the companies to be funded and offering gratis management consulting to PenNetworks’ newest ventures.

TWC also is working with Hawk Holdings, an aggressive, “intrusive” capital management firm. Hawk Holdings sends their top executives into a start-up to manage the company, if they believe it will benefit the business. Currently, TWC is assisting them with strategic staffing for their two core investments: Teoma Technologies and Vesta Technologies.

Founded in 1996, T. Williams Consulting (TWC) is a world-class management consulting firm specializing in strategic staffing. With headquarters in Collegeville, PA and offices in Washington, DC; Chicago, IL; and Phoenix, AZ, TWC provides staffing assessments, on-site project staffing, mission critical retained staffing, and staffing process and systems consulting to high technology companies in a variety of industries, including eBusiness, Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals, Telecommunications, and Finance. Additional information about TWC may be found at www.twcgroup.com.