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Richard Melmon has lived in and around Silicon Valley his entire life. He graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in Physics in 1961.
His early career was spent doing research into the physics of electrostatic printing systems at Monsanto Corporation. His work was a precursor to what ultimately became ink-jet printing. Moving from the laboratory into business development, he joined Hewlett Packard in 1970 to develop new businesses out of their silicon-on-sapphire microwave semiconductor technology. Choosing to emphasize business over research, he received his M.B.A. from Stanford University in 1973.
He joined Intel Corporation in January, 1974, as the company's first strategic planner. In that role he participated in the early market development of the microprocessor. He was later asked by Intel management to market the first LCD digital watch (driven by an Intel microprocessor) for an Intel subsidiary (Microma), which required adopting consumer electronic sales techniques and channels within the context of a high technology company. Participating in the technical evolution of microprocessors for advanced consumer products, and in their marketing through consumer electronics channels, Melmon became convinced small computers could be built and sold to consumers at low enough cost to create a mass market. Excited that this was an important future possibility, and one which Intel would not (at that early time) pursue, he left Intel to follow this vision of personal computing.
Melmon joined with Regis McKenna, Chairman of Regis McKenna, Inc., then the premier Silicon Valley advertising agency, to become the firm's general manager. He was hired primarily to leverage his consumer electronics expertise built launching the digital watch category to help a small new client of RMI called Apple Computer. McKenna and Melmon, friends from working together at Intel, both were convinced that personal computing would become a major new product category, and that Apple had a legitimate chance to be a very large player in that category. In supporting Apple at RMI, Melmon was responsible for the launch of the world's first personal computer, the Apple II. His counsel formed the basis for Apple's channel and marketing strategies in the early years of the company's growth. His selection of Dick Cavett as Apple's spokesperson led to the company’s first famous and successful radio and TV campaigns that made Apple a household word, and contributed directly to the company's successful IPO, the largest Silicon Valley had ever seen.
Later, Melmon was asked by Regis McKenna to manage, organize, and build a new PR division within RMI, which grew to become the pre-eminent public relations firm in Silicon Valley. Early public relations clients Melmon managed through both company and product launches included Intel, Apple, Genentech, 3Com, and many other well known Silicon Valley companies. Melmon also introduced and explained Silicon Valley to European business publications, which led to the growing reputation of the Valley across the world.
In early 1979, while at RMI, Melmon was approached for his opinion about the merit of a new software product that was destined to change the world. It was called VisiCalc, and it was the world's first personal computer spreadsheet. After viewing a demo for less than a minute, his immediate comment was, "this changes everything!" He instantly saw that VisiCalc had the power to transform the personal computer from a curiosity and hobby machine into a machine that would be hungrily sought for business use. The company, initially called Personal Software, asked to have Melmon help with its marketing strategy, advertising and public relations.
Eventually, unable to resist the attraction of associating more closely with VisiCalc and its power to change the world, he left RMI to join Personal Software. Under his guidance, VisiCalc became the product that demonstrated the power of personal computing as a business tool, and it single-handedly drove widespread acceptance of the personal computer. It was the single largest factor in Apple Computer's early success, and in the growth of the entire personal computer category at that time. During Melmon's tenure at VisiCorp, VisiCalc’s penetration of personal computers grew to become many times higher than any other software product. VisiCalc was the first software product in history to be successfully mass marketed, and its success not only dominated the early years of the PC, it led the way for all PC software products to be marketed in similar ways. The success of VisiCalc drove Melmon to suggest renaming the company after its premier product, and so Personal Software became VisiCorp. The company was considered then the most important software company in the industry, outranking even Microsoft in those heady early years.
The fame associated with marketing such a successful product gave Melmon both the visibility and credibility within the venture community to start his own software firm. Seeking the satisfaction of running his own company, and with the encouragement of several major VC's, Melmon left VisiCorp to begin the work that would lead to the founding of Electronic Arts.
Melmon had felt there was a growing opportunity for computer software use in the home. Raising money for this idea, he was put in touch with Trip Hawkins, who had similar ideas. Melmon and Hawkins agreed to found Electronic Arts together. The company, begun in September, 1982, in a single room in Sequoia Capital's suite of offices, has grown to be the largest independent producer of entertainment software in the world today, with a market capitalization well in excess of $50 billion. The co-founders split responsibilities. Hawkins, the CEO, was responsible for product. Melmon, Executive VP for sales and marketing, built out the channel. To this day, the company is as widely admired for its unique and dominating approach to sales and distribution as it is for its excellent products.
A personality dispute with Hawkins forced Melmon out of EA prematurely. Frustrated, but realistic, Melmon joined with Tom Tawa, a well known and highly respected advertising creative talent, to form Melmon Tawa & Partners in 1986. Based in Palo Alto, this advertising and marketing firm specialized in helping high technology companies launch themselves and their products. Sun Microsystems, Adobe, Frame Technology, Xilinx, Chips & Technologies, Stratacom, and many other prominent firms became their clients. The agency thrived and enjoyed rapid growth. By late 1989, it had become a $20 million agency, large for an agency devoted to technology marketing. In 1990, Livingston & Company, a large regional advertising agency based in Seattle, wishing to expand into a Bay Area location, approached the firm, and a merger was quickly consummated.
Melmon had conceived, funded and incubated a small software venture called Objective Software within the offices of his advertising agency. The product was called SpreadBase. With his agency sold, Melmon turned his full time attention to Objective Software. SpreadBase was the first client-server based data analysis tool that could be used with a spreadsheet-like user interface to analyze the structured data found in corporate databases. Massive amounts of such data are generated by corporate transaction processing systems. This data was particularly difficult to efficiently analyze using the crude spreadsheets of that era (it continues to be a problem, even today). Melmon raised a total of $10 million in venture capital. The first version of SpreadBase shipped in late 1992, and the company was bought by Asymetrix, a Paul Allen company, in June, 1993.
After selling Objective Software, Melmon developed a boutique growth strategy consulting practice. Among his clients were Creative Technologies Ltd.; Creative Insights (a multimedia start-up financed by CTL), Komag; and Compaq.
In September, 1995 he agreed to join The McKenna Group, a new partnership formed by his old friend, Regis McKenna, and other senior industry people, as a partner. The new firm specialized in developing corporate strategies for growth in the Internet age, and in bringing to market a discipline the firm called, "Real Time Marketing", which leveraged IT and the Internet to build deeper, more intensive, and more timely relationships with customers. Melmon's clients included IBM, Ameritech, Procter & Gamble, Sony, Matsushita, Fujitsu, Toshiba, and many smaller start-up companies. His focus was helping these firms deal with the overwhelming impact the early beginnings of "IP-ization" were having on business processes, customer relationships, and the very nature of how business was to be done in the coming new era.
Wishing to take advantage of his insights regarding the coming IP revolution gained from the consulting practice, Melmon founded NetService Ventures, a small venture fund, in 1999. Though most funds starting in this time frame (during the height of the "bubble" period) had very bad results, NSV has already delivered a positive return to its investors, and still has several investments awaiting potential liquidation events. The Fund's focus on "IP-ization" was ahead of its time, but it was Melmon's opinion that the IP transformation was real, and would emerge from the mania of the bubble, notwithstanding all of the baggage of the failed start-ups of that era, as the most important growth trend ever to hit the high tech industry, by far.
In 2002, casting about for a more robust mechanism to tap into the expected coming tectonic shift driven by the IP revolution, and as a direct outgrowth of the experiences of NSV, Melmon formed a new partnership, NetService Ventures Group, with Hiroshi Menjo, a friend and former partner from The McKenna Group. From the beginning, this partnership had the long term plan to work with important Japanese companies in a new way which would blend aspects of venture investing and entrepreneurial action. The partnership has thrived, and counts among its clients firms such as MEI, Sony, NTT Data, and NTT.
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