Journelism

Entrepreneur, Family Man and Disciplined Success Story: Barry Owen, the Founder of Red Dog Software Speaks About the Aha Moment and his Passion for a Start-up Environment

Barry Owen recently sold his start-up business, “Red Dog Software,” and now enjoys consulting work and spending time with his family. He pushed through adversity and began his business at an awkward stage in life, but his accomplishments speak for themselves. He built the Internet portal and web-solutions company from the ashes of an unsuccessful business, bringing its revenue from virtually nothing to $1 million in five years.

Barry’s aha moment occurred at Arizona State University. “I woke up one day and said, ‘I need to do something with my life.” He transferred to Colorado State halfway through his undergraduate career and changed his major to Computer Science. His life has followed a fairly straight track ever since. He landed a job doing computer coding for a small company in Boulder; when a job opened up in San Diego, he took it despite having to leave friends and family behind. Given his hard work and willingness to push through difficult times, he survived several company buyouts and eventually joined Adobe Systems in San Francisco.

In 1999, inspired by his success at Adobe, Barry chose to wade into the world of start-ups. “At Adobe, we were always the underdogs; we were just starting the Adobe Consumer Group. It was almost like we were working on a start-up within a much larger company. We had to fight our way to the top and prove ourselves before we got any respect. It was a lot of fun, and piqued my interest to work with start-up businesses.” He worked for several small businesses before Wego Systems, the intranet-portal company that gave rise to Red Dog Software, and had several negative managerial experiences along the way, “Once I left Adobe, I realized how good their management team really was.” This proved helpful in the long run; seeing both the best and the worst of management developed Barry’s own style of leadership.

In 2003, after watching Wego Systems flounder under poor planning and mismanagement, Barry decided to try his own hand at the helm by buying the rights to the company and redesigning it from the ground up. It had been suffering from a top-heavy sales and marketing department that diluted their assets and dulled their competitive edge. As with most young businesses, things were difficult in the first few years. In retrospect, Barry would have asked for credit instead of trying to come up with everything himself and “scratching around for money.” In addition to the woes of too much work and too little capital, he struggled through divorce, remarriage and the birth of a child, acknowledging that “it was a really weird time to start a business.” The influence of his father helped. “He was a civil engineer who was well-respected and loved by everyone under him. I learned a lot from him. He was always self-educating. Whether it had to do with his specific job or not, he was always willing to learn something new.”

Barry’s aha moment never wavered, and he began to appreciate the freedom that came with being the man in charge. “I got to run the show and set my own hours. Sometimes I worked 80-hour weeks, others only 30, and I liked the freedom to spend time with my wife and children.” He sold the company to one of his partners in 2008, and now has more time to do so, while occasionally consulting for the company. “I am lucky to be around for my kids. Not many people get to do that.” He also derives satisfaction from the fact that he built a great product. “We did a good job keeping most of the customers we had before the company changed hands. I enjoy that I have made something to add value to people’s lives, which they trust enough to stay with for years at a time.”

From 2003 to 2008, Barry was able to increase annual revenue from zero to over $1 million. He points to understanding his strengths as his chief asset, and offers direct advice to other entrepreneurs: “You need to bring in people who offset your weaknesses. I’m not the kind of guy who can walk into a room and remember everybody’s name, so I brought in someone who was-one of the best decisions I ever made.”

Barry has created a product that people enjoy, and is able to spend time with his family every day. From that single moment of clarity, has succeeded both entrepreneurially and personally in finding true meaning within his life.