Daniel Curran

Current

Sr. Tech Industry Analyst & Leader [Top 4%] at Gerson Lehrman Group
Managing Director at DC CyberCom

Past

Vista Research Subsidiary / Sr. Tech Analyst at Standard & Poor's
Founder, Instructor, & Moderator, UCLA’s Tech Innovators’ Forum at UCLA Extension & School of Eng. & Applied Science
CEO at Alastor Networks [Stanford Startup]

Acting COO, and VP, Marketing, Sales, & Strategic Planning at WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION – CONNEX & SANAVIGATOR DIVISIONS, San Jose, CA
President & CEO at US LAB, INC.,
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, MARKETING, SALES, & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT at 4LINK NETWORKS, INC
Environmental Engineer / Project Manager at NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORPORATION

see less...

4 more...

Education

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Southern California
Pennsylvania State University

California State University-Dominguez Hills
University of Rhode Island

see less...

2 more...

Recommended

24 people have recommended Daniel

Connections

122 connections

Industry

Internet

Websites

Daniel Curran’s Summary

email: svexec at hotmail dot com

Note my 24 LinkedIn recommendations out of 122 connections: a very high integrity ratio relative to others.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Team-player experienced in ramping up or turning around companies using innate ability to quickly size up a company’s position and execute pro-customer decisive action with positive cash-flow results. Experience in strategy, operations, corporate business development, marketing, channel development, alliances, sales, new product development, mergers, and acquisitions in startups and the Fortune 100. Began career at large companies as a software engineer and morphed into a business entrepreneur/CXO at startups with responsibility for 150 teammates with over $180M in liquidity to shareholders.

Improved every company listed below, evidenced by explosive sales increases up to 4000%, including a sales ramp from $2M to $80M in 8 months as COO of Western Digital’s Connex Unit using hedging strategy. Possess top engineering school degrees (Illinois, USC, & Penn State), a distinguished high tech network, prestigious institutional investor consulting clients, and an expansive Rolodex that includes leaders at Amazon, Cisco, IBM, Sun, StorageTek, Symantec/Veritas, Microsoft, Oracle, HDS, NetApp, LSI, Brocade, WSGR, TCA, LAVA, vc’s, UC-Berkeley, UCLA, and USC.

Daniel Curran’s Specialties:

Skills:
 Innovation
 Customer Acquisition
 Corporate Systems & Strategic Planning
 Outsourcing & Cost Reduction
 Product, Technical, & Corporate Marketing
 Business Turnarounds/Margin Improvement
 Software Product Innovation
 Liquidity Event Planning
 Executive Coaching
 Change Management

Daniel Curran’s Experience

Sr. Tech Industry Analyst & Leader [Top 4%]

Gerson Lehrman Group

(Privately Held; Financial Services industry)

January 2000 — Present (9 years 7 months)

Dan’s inside operations experience makes him a favored, very effective consultant to top money managers, institutions, hedge & mutual funds, startup firms, and vc's on the entire computer storage sector. Dan addresses issues of pricing, COGS, channel supply & end user demand, supply chain, manufacturing, valuation, acquisition analysis, strategy, market share, margins, and technology.
Managing Director

DC CyberCom

(Management Consulting industry)

June 1995 — Present (14 years 2 months)

Dan successfully advises and has begun various startups that usually accelerate growth without outside cash infusions using his innovative “CURRANTS” pull business model, taught at UCLA, emphasizing customers’ pre-payment of new product orders to provide positive cash flow.
Vista Research Subsidiary / Sr. Tech Analyst

Standard & Poor's

(Public Company; MHP; Financial Services industry)

January 2000 — October 2008 (8 years 10 months)

Years of inside operations experience as CEO, COO, & VP makes Dan a favored consultant on the entire technology sector to hundreds of top money managers, institutions, hedge & mutual funds, startup firms, and vc's.
Founder, Instructor, & Moderator, UCLA’s Tech Innovators’ Forum

UCLA Extension & School of Eng. & Applied Science

(Educational Institution; Research industry)

April 2005 — April 2007 (2 years 1 month)

Intended for working engineers, the course showed how to start a high-tech company based on a demand for a unique product or service. The focus is on starting this company with little-to-no funds while fully employed elsewhere. The course features presentations by a different guest founder each week who discuss their businesses. Topics include competitive market sizing, business profit model, product roadmap, experienced management team, advisors, strategic alliances, go-to-market channels, strategic planning, engineering, IT, finance, shareholder relations, patents, legal format, and funding options (cash flow, private equity). Highest ratings for teaching in Extension history, with students starting two $1M businesses from the forum.

& Speaker, UCLA Samueli School of Engineering & Applied Science, High School Smarts Program
Spoke to a group of High School Students in a summer program at UCLA that targets women and minorities interested in Engineering and Technology as a career. Highlighted my personal education and experience in large companies and many startups, with an emphasis on the personal traits that make a successful and happy entrepreneur, a talk well-received by students.
CEO

Alastor Networks [Stanford Startup]

(Computer Hardware industry)

2001 — 2003 (2 years)

Startup with 30 employees, targeted supplying i-SCSI/FC storage switching blades to Cisco's Andiamo Storage Unit and other IP giants: Lucent, Nortel, Juniper, Sycamore, Foundry, and Extreme Networks. Secured Adaptec Founder/SCSI author Larry Boucher on board of advisors. Developed working prototype working with Cisco Systems Catalyst Managers.
Acting COO, and VP, Marketing, Sales, & Strategic Planning

WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION – CONNEX & SANAVIGATOR DIVISIONS, San Jose, CA

(Public Company; WDC; Computer Hardware industry)

2000 — 2001 (1 year)

Number-two executive responsible for revenue growth and management of P & L for Connex and SANavigator subsidiaries. Started with a high burn-rate combined company in need of immediate traction and divestiture from parent Western Digital. Decision made to split company in two, pare back burn-rate, and deploy mostly VAR and distributor go-to-market channels while seeking VC funding or sale of companies. *** Resulted in premium CASH sale of both companies to major competitors for over $40M, while producing a competing bid from IBM over $110M. *** Connex developed NAS data storage systems and SANavigator Division develops SAN management software. Products were sold through system integrators, OEM's, VAR's, and via an online e-business unit.
President & CEO

US LAB, INC.,

(Information Technology and Services industry)

1998 — 2000 (2 years)

Tech incubator company to startup companies that I founded in 1995, such as financial portal Stockpicks.com. Led successful US Lab 1998 IPO as CEO with first-day market capitalization of over $130M. Charted business strategy, alliances & business development, network infrastructure, data storage, knowledge management intranet, e-business, ASP applications, SEC filings, PR, IR, and professional / client services.
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, MARKETING, SALES, & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

4LINK NETWORKS, INC

(Internet industry)

1995 — 1998 (3 years)

Company started as a local ISP. Decision made to focus company mostly on higher margin SAN storage systems hosting services to entertainment and prepress clients. Built company to 4th largest Corporate Data Storage Center in Los Angeles. Services included network implementations, application & e-business strategy.
• Sales: Landed over 180 corporate accounts providing web hosting/data storage/web services, electronic commerce, and printing industry applications. Promoted from Director, to VP, then Exec. VP. Produced 8000% increase in gross revenues in 36 months from $0.5M to $34M. Developed sales organization consisting of 18 Professional Services, and Telemarketing, and Client Services staff.
• Business Development: Established alliances with Danka, Paramount, Oracle, Sun Microsystems, Cisco, Microsoft, Rockwell, Netopia, Broadcast.com, Yahoo, and Citrix Systems.
• Balance Sheet/P&L Improvement/Turnaround: Number-two executive responsible for revenue growth and management of P & L.
Environmental Engineer / Project Manager

NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORPORATION

(Public Company; NOC; Defense & Space industry)

1987 — 1995 (8 years)

Deployed Malcom Baldridge business process re-engineering effort worldwide, resulting in environmental intranet system to increase productivity. Prepared environmental reports for air, water, and waste agencies based on streamlined system. Promoted from Software Structural Engineer to Senior Technical Specialist to Environmental Project Manager, with New Business Development contributions and awards over 8 years. Was last hired in Environmental Group of 25, but next to last to go, due to outstanding productivity, when Division was downsized.
• Cost Management: Introduced business process software re-engineering, which saved $18M/year in a $100M program.
• HR Management Training: Completed Northrop Management Development Program.
• Industry Leadership: As designated Industry representative, saved over $30M/year curbing detrimental environmental regulations costing $150M/year.

Daniel Curran’s Education

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

MS , TAM [completed all Ph.D. TAM program Math & Computer Science courses] , 1998 — 1998
University of Southern California

MS - level NSPE Certificate , Environmental & Civil Engineering , 1997 — 1997
Pennsylvania State University

MS , ESM/Ceramic Materials Engineering , 1996 — 1996
California State University-Dominguez Hills

MBA [program audit] , Marketing & Finance , 1995 — 1995
University of Rhode Island

BS , Mechanical Engineering , 1994 — 1994

Additional Information

Daniel Curran’s Websites:

Daniel Curran’s Interests:

Innovation, SOFTWARE & INTERNET STARTUPS. DATA STORAGE, ALTERNATIVE ENERGY, ANGEL & VENTURE CAPITAL, PRIVATE EQUITY, HEDGE FUNDS.

Daniel Curran’s Groups:

Founder, Instructor, & Moderator, UCLA’s Tech Innovators’ Forum, which fosters low-risk, cash-flow positive high-tech startups, 2005-2007.
Contributor, Corporate Investing & Strategic Alliance Conferences (CISA) 2003-2006