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Pete Privateer, Product Manager in Atlanta, GA, United States
Pete Privateer

Product Manager in Atlanta, GA, United States

Member since May 3, 2019
Pete is a veteran product management professional who provided the strategy, vision, and product leadership that has taken four companies from startups to successful exits including two IPOs. He is a strategic marketer with the proven capability to transform established businesses—enabling them to create innovative products, exploit new markets, and achieve rapid growth and profitability.
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Project Highlights

Expertise

Education

Employment

  • Principal Consultant

    2011 - PRESENT
    Tech Mark Partners LLC
    • Provided product management, sales, and marketing strategies for high-growth businesses—helping companies create innovative products, capture new markets, and expand existing ones.
    • Conducted market research and collaborated with customers, industry influencers, and sales teams to establish product vision, define product requirements, and generate compelling user stories.
    • Worked with product development and company stakeholders to manage the product direction, groom the feature backlog, and effectively manage change.
    • Wrote high impact content for web and mobile platforms, brochures, magazines, press releases, white papers, blogs, social media posts, business plans, and kick-ass presentations.
    • Advised clients on the best way to reach their customer base and helps them develop go-to-market strategies, compensation plans, sales presentations, and demos.

  • President | Chief Executive Officer

    2008 - 2011
    Reflex Systems LLC
    • Transformed a struggling information security business into a market-leading cloud management software and services company.
    • Reported and was accountable to the board of directors for the full P&L.
    • Raised $8.5 million in new venture money and recapitalized the company.
    • Conceived, developed, and launched a new line of system management tools for cloud computing platforms. The new products won "Best of Show" at VMworld.
    • Grew the new product revenue from $0 to over $6 million in just two years.
    • Recruited new sales, product management, marketing, and business development teams.
    • Set up strategic OEM partnerships with VMware, Dell, HP, McAfee, Savvis, and CSC.

  • Vice President of Sales, Americas

    2006 - 2008
    IBM
    • Led a 300-person sales organization for a newly acquired cybersecurity division of IBM. The organization included direct sales, small and medium business sales (SMB), channel sales, presales, field marketing, and sales operations.
    • Delivered over $250 million in annual product and service revenue.
    • Grew product revenue 20% and managed service bookings by 40% while reducing overall headcount and operating budget by 20%.
    • Formed a dedicated sales channel to target the SMB market.
    • Restructured the acquired company's sales organization to better align with IBM's go-to-market strategy.

  • Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing and Corporate Development

    2003 - 2006
    Internet Security Systems (ISS), Inc. (acquired by IBM)
    • Oversaw domestic and international marketing operations and product management for a $330 million, publicly traded, cybersecurity product and services company.
    • Developed the ISS cybersecurity appliance product strategy which grew to almost 50% of the company's revenue and restarted ISS's growth.
    • Led the largest product launch in ISS history (ISS's Proventia appliance product line) and expanded awareness of the ISS brand to mainstream networking and IT professionals.
    • Transformed ISS into a more market-driven (rather than engineering focused) organization by reorganizing the marketing and product management teams.
    • Oversaw all business development, mergers, and acquisitions, and investor relations activity.
    • Directed over a dozen company and technology acquisitions.
    • Developed a key relationship with several large strategic partners including IBM—ultimately this resulted in IBM acquiring ISS for $1.4 billion.

  • Senior Vice President of Services

    2001 - 2003
    Internet Security Systems (ISS)
    • Responsible for managed security services (MSS), professional services, X-Force research, and security subscriptions which represented over 50% of ISS's revenue.
    • Turned around the Managed Security Services (MSS), a SaaS business from a $10 million loss in 2001 to break even by Q2 of 2002 and exceeded 50% gross margins and 20% net operating margins by Q1 2003.
    • Created the Managed Protection services' product strategy which enabled the MSS division to become the fastest growing product line inside ISS.

  • President | Chief Operating Officer

    1999 - 2001
    Pelican Security, Inc. (acquired by Microsoft)
    • Accountable for the overall P&L, corporate strategy, product management, marketing, sales, pre-sales, customer support, business development, and finance operations for an Israeli founded startup.
    • Defined the product, marketing, sales and corporate strategy for a startup company.
    • Raised $7.5 million in venture capital to fund the company.
    • Came up with the "Next Generation Anti-Virus" product strategy which resulted in Pelican's Safe-T-Net product being named "Best Internet Security Product."
    • Sold the company to Microsoft and the Pelican technology is now an integral part of Windows.

  • Senior Vice President of Operations

    1993 - 1999
    AXENT Technologies, Inc. (Acquired by Symantec)
    • Co-founded one of the first internet security companies.
    • Oversaw all operations including research and development, product management, product marketing, customer support, corporate marketing, M&A, and corporate development.
    • Formulated the AXENT business plan, and internet security product strategy which took the company from start-up to a successful IPO in less than two years.
    • Raised $8 million in venture capital to fund the business.
    • Delivered 12 new products across 25 different platforms which resulted in 100% year over year growth for four straight years.
    • Presented the "Road Show" pitch to investors which resulted in the IPO being 15 times oversold.
    • Orchestrated the acquisition of three companies (two private and one public).
    • Sold the company to Symantec for $400 million.

  • Vice President of Marketing | Vice President of Strategy

    1984 - 1992
    KnowledgeWare, Inc. (Acquired by Computer Associates)
    • Defined the product and market strategy that enabled a software development tools company to grow from start-up to over $140 million in sales.
    • Ran product management, product marketing, corporate marketing, and M&A.
    • Raised $7 million in capital to fund operations.
    • Delivered the "Road Show" presentation to investors that resulted in an oversold IPO.
    • Sold the company to Computer Associates.

Project History

  • Google Cloud Enterprise Partner
    Advised a startup client on defining product and market strategy and helped launch a successful Google services business.

    I conducted market research, defined product requirements, documented user stories, helped shape product offerings, wrote web, brochure, press release, white paper, and blog content, and assisted in the company launch.

    The company was named "Google Partner of the Year" for Google Apps and was also approved as a ServiceNow partner.

  • Early-stage Cloud Management Company
    Transitioned the company from a failed intrusion prevention appliance business to a new, cloud-based management solution.

    I was brought in to a struggling cybersecurity software company with flat to declining growth. I conducted market research, identified opportunities in the emerging cloud computing market, documented user requirements, and created the product strategy for a set of tools to manage virtualized cloud infrastructure.

    I raised $8.5 million in venture capital based on the new product strategy. The new products won the coveted "Best of Show" and "Gold" award at VMworld, "Product of the Year," Red Herring "Top 100", and named to the Network Products Guide "Hot Companies" list.

    I grew the cloud management software revenue from $0 to over $6 million in just two years.

  • Cybersecurity Network Appliances
    Led the product management and marketing effort to redesign the company's cybersecurity software offerings.

    I conducted market research, interviewed customers, worked with analysts and industry influencers, and conceived and developed a line of cybersecurity appliances (integrated software and hardware) which revitalized the company's flagging security software business.

    The new appliance business reenergized the company's growth and quickly became the bulk of the product business.

  • Managed Security Services (MSS) Business
    Reorganized and made profitable the company's security SaaS business.

    I took over the company's MSS business which was losing money and had flat to negative growth. I conducted market research, interviewed existing and potential customers, consulted with analysts and industry influencers, and launched the "Managed Protection Services" strategy which turned the business around.

    The MSS business went from a $10 million loss to in excess of 50% gross margins and 20% net operating profit in less than a year.

Education

  • Master's degree (incomplete) in Business Administration
    2001 - 2003
    University of Toledo - Toledo, OH, USA
  • Master's degree (incomplete) in Physics
    1976 - 1978
    University of Florida - Gainesville, FL, USA
  • Bachelor's degree in Physics
    1972 - 1976
    University of Florida - Gainesville, FL, USA

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