astro posted on May 10, 2010 08:15
Former Microsoft executive Bill Veghte has re-emerged as a leader in HP’s enterprise software area. Veghte ended his long Microsoft career this past as one of the executives overseeing the Windows 7 program. But I have a different tale to tell. It's about the $40 million NOT spent on Small Business Server (SBS) advertising.
First – Bill needs to update his LinkedIn profile to reflect his new position at HP. I know he's a busy man - but seriously. Read it HERE
Second, Veghte has played by the rules on the way up. The kid went to Harvard and was the honorary board chairman at a cool not-for-profit called nPower. This NFP provides technology services to other not-for-profits and was the recipient of our fund raising giving (“Charity of the Year”) at the SMB Nation 2007 Fall Conference on “Magic Night.” That is one link SMB Nation has with Veghte.
But there is a much earlier link.
Veghte impacted the early life of SBS in ways you might not know. Let me tell you how. At the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in 2002 (at the time – it was known as “Fusion” and held at the downtown LA Convention Center), myself and other leading early SBSers were in a private meeting with Bill. Attendees included SBS MVP Roger Otterson and leading SBSers Curt Hicks and Joe Moore.
The infamous Katy Hunter (Microsoft SBS marketing manager) led the meeting (shown here launching SBS 200 in Atlantic City, NJ in February 2001). She was joined by staffers such as Tom Moen, Victoria Grady and I believe Jerome Stewart. Meeting Veghte was the purpose of the meeting and I found him to be engaged and smart. However – myself and several in the room respectfully disagreed with Veghte on one major point: SBS advertising. Myself and the other early SBS thought leaders implored Microsoft to promote SBS to generate demand for its partners. We were just coming out of the recession of 2001 (dot gone). Everyone believed that SBS was the best product that “no one had never heard of.” Veghte flat out said that to gain mindshare for SBS, it’d cost over $40 million USD in a Madison Avenue-like advertising campaign. We agreed that the $40 million sounded about right. He disagreed saying he couldn’t spend that much promoting SBS. It was a major milestone moment in the life of SBS. This was the SBS 200 time frame with SBS 2003 still over 15+ months from release in October 2003. This was 14+ months before the original SMB Nation Fall conference in Indianapolis, IN held in late September 2003.
But wouldn’t you agree that it was the worst $40 million never spent? Life as a SBSer would be very different today if that year’s Super Bowl game (early 2003 where the New England Patriots defeated the St. Louis Rams 20-17) had a SBS advertisement instead of Microsoft Office.
Thoughts?
You can also read more about Veghte at RCP Magazine HERE.