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Sean Cunningham Founder, CEO, Coach and Consultant.

Seattle, WA
Sean Cunningham is Managing Director of Onyva, a Seattle private equity firm that helps companies overcome the challenges that keep them from operating at their full potential. Sean’s career has focused on leading companies through transformation, first as a technology leader, then as co-founder of a growing management consulting firm. He started Onyva to leverage his decades of business and technology strategy experience to orchestrate the growth or turnaround of companies challenged by operating among a variety of constraints. Sean’s career started in the technology industry, where he led MSI Consulting’s infrastructure and business application development team. He found early success monetizing MSI’s internal IT operations and added…
  • Reviews 19
  • Answers 5

As Interim CEO, Sean quickly simplified our pricing and service delivery, which dramatically increased our close rate and improved our relationship with customers. I've found him to be disciplined and rigorous, but at the same time flexible, empathetic and kind with both employees and vendors. He took over during a challenging time, and ensured the transition in (and out) of his role was smooth. I trust him implicitly, and would work with him again in an instant.

Source: LinkedIn Yoram Bernet Jan 6, 2015

Sean did an excellent job in helping to develop and manage our software and services business. He was creative and responsive, and demonstrated strong strategic thinking capabilities. I strongly recommend Sean as valuable partner in any business endeavor.

Source: LinkedIn Bruce Watterson Jan 6, 2015

OK, we all take these writings with a grain of salt, as well we should. I have never worked with Sean as a client, or a vendor, or a competitor. I wasn't his best friend in grade or high school, nor his best man at his wedding. I'm someone who met Sean because we both live in Seattle, have an avid interest in ham radio (nerd alert!) and like a certain antenna system. So with that grain of salt, here's what I say about Sean: I've met few fast-track business people who value his business success on a par with his family, employees, and clients like Sean. He has a genuine deep interest in learning and helping others. His passion is work and not work, so he's really well balanced. He seems to be incredibly devoted to the success of his clients, not only in the projects his firm is involved in, but overall to boot. As I've said, I'm not a client, best friend forever, or paid shill. Just another marketer who thinks amateur radio is still pretty cool and found another guy who doesn't wear a belt AND suspenders. Sean is one good guy!

Source: LinkedIn Chris Altwegg Jan 6, 2015

Sean is one of the brightest and most focused people that I know. What is best about this is that he is one of those few individuals who is bright, focused, and clearly for the good. With these attributes you know you can count on him to solve problems, cover your back, and (quite likely when appropriate) become your friend.

Source: LinkedIn Todd Hollow-Bist, Psy.D. Jan 6, 2015

There are very few C-Level entrepreneurs in the hi-tech space that may have
been able to build Microsoft better than Gates did. Sean is on that list. Sean has a keen
sense of intuition that enables him to see beyond the surface, accurately diagnose core issues,
clearly communicate his thoughts, and creatively offer and deliver effective solutions. I've personally seen
him do this dozens of times.
Tod Fiscus 206.226.4311

Source: LinkedIn Tod Fiscus Jan 6, 2015

I highly recommend Sean for a quick and successful impact on a company's development culture, development capabilities and ability to roll out technology initiatives. He brings the strategy and vision, finds the right people who can deliver, and then lets them deliver the goods. Feel free to contact me for examples of the work we accomplished at Watterson~Prime.

Source: LinkedIn Brett Bowton-Meade Jan 6, 2015

Sean offers to his clients a unique combination of his pleasant personality, consummate professionalism, deep and broad technical expertise and enterprise level project management experience. Having worked with IT professionals and IT consultants around the world for 3 decades, I have a sincere appreciation for the value of Sean's professional and personal attributes.

Source: LinkedIn Pat Murphy Jan 6, 2015

Sean is a very talented IT leader capable of analyzing and solving complex business and technology problems. Sean combines excellent business, analytical and managerial skills with as serious as it gets hands-on IT experience. He is resourceful and efficient, comfortable working with local and global teams, which allows him to tap into best talent and to deliver the best value to the customer.

Source: LinkedIn Sergei Dobroshinsky Jan 6, 2015

Sean is truly one of the most talented people I have ever met. He combines an extraordinary understanding of technology with a remarkable ability to apply that knowledge in practical, results-oriented ways. He has a genuine facility at very quickly assessing the business needs of a company and developing and implementing solutions that work. Most highly recommended.

Source: LinkedIn John Bailey Jan 6, 2015

Sean is among the five smartest people I know and trust. He is an outstanding individual with an exemplary disposition and dazzling wit. Combining a high degree of ethical responsibility with the skill of influence, Sean stays true to the idea of positive success for all. Sean thrives on challenge and constantly seeks improvement. I confidently endorse Sean in any role - he will succeed at all.

Source: LinkedIn Patrick O'Brien Jan 6, 2015
Sean Cunningham, Founder, CEO, Coach and Consultant. answered:

I think you've really answered your question pretty well! The common options are:

1) Deferred compensation. Find someone that will agree to take a note in lieu of payment, with an enticing arrangement to pay them for their work when you get revenue.

2) Partial cash, partial equity. Equity doesn't have to mean a share in the company today. It could take the form of options (with vesting over time), or vesting that is dependent on certain milestones (perhaps revenue) being met.

3) All equity - Again with the vesting possibilities in #2 above.

Unless you have no other choice, you might want to avoid anything related to equity due to complexity, legal expense, and other reasons.

A good option might be to see if you can find a good but inexperienced UX designer who needs to build a portfolio, and would see this as an opportunity to get a case study and build credibility, in exchange for a reduced compensation rate.

Lastly, consider hiring a UX designer on a site like Odesk. Many offer services at low hourly rates, and some of them are probably really good.

Sean Cunningham, Founder, CEO, Coach and Consultant. answered:

One approach to consider is seeing if you can find a specific project type that you can replicate with many like clients. It's harder to sell 'web design' than a very specific 'great website for homeowners wanting to sell for-sale-by-owner', for example.

One of the keys to profitable scale is to be able to get additional revenue at the same or increasing per-project profitability. If you're doing something different in each project, it takes longer to figure out how to make really good money at it.

Sean Cunningham, Founder, CEO, Coach and Consultant. answered:

You could also try to establish a group of analysts that would meet with you (virtually or in-person) that would act as an advisory group, in exchange for seeing their product inputs considered, or possibly a period of free use of the app.

The best way to find out their motivations for signing up is to ask a bunch of them. If you approach them by saying you want to pick their brains as subject-matter experts, you might find they are interested in providing input, which is exactly what you're looking for.

You could also look for a local or online association of analysts or researchers, and see if you can give a presentation to them on what you think the top app needs are, and see what feedback you get.

Sean Cunningham, Founder, CEO, Coach and Consultant. answered:

I have established off-shore development relationships with individuals and firms in India, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and Korea going back to 1996.

You might find it a lot smoother to have them work through an established firm in India that is already set up with all appropriate licenses, tax-reporting, payment systems, and so on.

It can be tricky enough to communicate the software requirements and other specifics of your project without you and them also learning and implementing processes to respect domestic and foreign regulations.

If you'd like more information, feel free to set up a call.

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