CASE 13 Network Collie In June 2010, William Casey had just finished his last day at a national conference for IT and software companies He was attending on behalf of his current employer but was also there to promote Network Collie, a data man- agement company he had started a little more than two years earlier with three college friends. Launching the new company had been hard work but also exciting for Casey and his three co-founders: Dallena Nguyen, Cody Rose, and John Dalton. Today was no different. Through- out the conference, they had received positive feedback from potential customers about their new service. How- ever, Casey was still questioning whether Network Collie would be a long-term success. He definitely had a passion to be an entrepreneur and believed that Network Collie had potential for success. However, the team was having difficulty closing larger sales orders, and he questioned the commitment from the founding team, including his own. He knew that these two areas needed to be addressed and a firm direction for the company needed to be established before he would begin to feel comfortable with the com- pany's future. After dinner, the team began to share stories about conversations they had had with potential customers dur- ing the conference. The discussion quickly turned to how they should move forward. They talked about continuing down the same path, but everyone agreed that something C13.1 different needed to happen if they were going to achieve success. Their conversation focused on the long-term pros pects and the potential value of Network Collie, as well- as the individual needs and circumstances of the found- ers. Each of the founders had different ideas about how to. move forward, but the final choices were to (1) quit their jobs and commit to Network Collie on a full-time basis, (2) hire someone to run the company, (3) try to sell the company, or (4) walk away. The team debated the pros and cons of each idea They still believed their service was the best among their competition. At the same time, all of them were concerned about the risk of leaving their current jobs. Another con- cern was that the first two options would require the com- pany to obtain capital from outside investors, which was something they had never attempted before. Casey knew that the time for a decision about the future of Network Collie was now. He just wasn't sure which choice was the right choice. Background If ever there was a fast-rising and potentially sustainable growth market, social networking certainly was in 2009. Its foreseeable future is truly exciting based on long-term projections. As shown in Exhibit C13.1, the social network U.S. Social Network Users and Penetration, 2009-2013 EXHIBIT 670 180 160 1642 157.8 1478 134.6 140 113 120 100 801 60.1 63.7 66 67 523 60 40 20 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Case 23 Network Colle Social network users 1% Internet Users 213