The Goal: Minimally Viable Product Offering (MVP)
Services Provided: Technology Assessment, Fundraising, Requirements, Architecture, Development, and Staffing

In 2021, we engaged a startup payment processor that was combining credit card and cash transfer payments for merchants. The owner and CEO of the company hired us to analyze their existing systems and present findings. In an effort to keep costs down, we recommended a rewrite of the system. We presented the resolution to the CEO and an investor and helped secure seed capital.

We reverse engineered the system and extracted additional requirements from the business that were not documented previously. In addition, we drove the final requirements for the product not originally anticipated by the client. The goal was a minimally viable product offering (MVP).

We began architecting the system and created the cloud environment for the product launch. In addition, security controls were put into place for access. We helped the client obtain development resources both through our network, alternative networks, and by hiring talent directly. We staffed a team made up of contract and full-time employees to develop and support the product. The system went live in four months from the start and the company was able to capitalize on the product during an acquisition.

The documentation we provide is not documentation for documentation’s sake – it is a succinct, yet clearly written definition of product needs.

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The Goal: Commercialization of Company’s Technology
Services Provided: Strategic Assessment, Technology Gaps Identified, and Entity Structure

Ambit Energy is a retail energy company headquartered in Dallas, Texas that served over 98 markets in the U.S, Canada and Japan between 2006 and 2021. Ambit’s success was largely attributed to the enterprise software systems developed in-house and patented by Ambit. The system included CIS, transaction, and billing platforms. Ambit was formed in 2006 and at the time there were not many off-the-shelf software systems available in the market for energy retailers. After conducting market research, Ambit decided to spin out their own technology platform into a separate organization called Landmark Technology LLC to focus primarily on the Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) industry in California. Ultimately, Landmark closed two deals with smaller competitors and was working on two deals in the California CCA market when Vistra Energy purchased both Ambit Energy and Landmark Technology in 2019.

A few take aways from spinning out a technology platform into a separate company:

1. Time Sink – At Ambit, the founders were keen on “keeping the main thing the main thing”. Landmark passed this test: technical efforts towards Landmark benefited the parent, Ambit; the cost of entry to the market was low and the potential payoff was largely all upside. Landmark created a positive glow back to Ambit and, the initiative helped Ambit retain and attract top technology talent.


2. Market Research – Ambit requested up front and clear data points; we delivered:
   1. A short list of warm leads to approach with the system offering
   2. Market comparison pricing from similar niches
   3. An introduction to two of the warm lead candidates
   4. A meaningful gap list assessment of the product to meet market readiness


3. Distance with Prudence – For the spin off marketability of Landmark, distancing from the parent company (Ambit) reduced the threat clients may have perceived, and it improved the appearance of self-sustainability. After careful consideration, we achieved a hybrid – separate office space within the same building to allow resources to be shuffled as needed, and budgetary separation of payroll rather than true separate systems.


4. Valuation – Landmark created a glow of value back onto Ambit as the parent company. Having created the spin off technology, Ambit proved it was a company with competitive innovation. The spin off was a success without the massive risk of a pure startup, which proved to be a significant benefit for talent retention.

Finally, a key driver of success was the multi-tenant software platform that involved continuous integration and segmentation of concerns across clients utilizing the platform. At Ambit, this was the majority of the investment to spin off Landmark. While re-architecting the core platform to reside on a multi-tenant system, the tech team addressed some additional architectural initiatives that boosted the performance of the system and reduced the cost of ownership.

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The Goal: Capitalize on Market Opportunities & Scale at a Rapid Pace
Services Provided: Requirements, Hiring & IT Direction, Planning & Delivery, Vendor Negotiations

Working out of an abandoned factory space in downtown Dallas, John Burke joined as a partner with co-founders Jere Thompson, CEO, and Chris Chambless, CMO, to form Ambit Energy in 2006. Ambit was chasing a competitor in the retail energy market who had a 2-year head start, so speed to market was a must.

Burke was tasked with finding a system service provider to support Ambit’s growth, and after multiple discussions, he settled on a vendor and completed the contract and down payment. Shortly after, during a requirements session, Burke realized that the vendor’s actual development efforts to integrate the system would take months, not “weeks” as presented in sales pitches. Burke had to move fast – Ambit’s viral sales channel had already begun to line up customers. He decided to fire the system vendor and build the system himself in-house.

Starting with two contract developers and his own development skills, Burke began defining, architecting, and developing the system in line with the most essential aspects of the system. He had weekly prioritization meetings with the other co-founders and managers to succinctly define needs and get them implemented. The next 6 months involved turning up 5 markets in the Texas deregulated retail energy market – with EDI transaction management, customer support, and order management. This was followed closely by pre-billing / billing, presentation, and aging / accounts receivables. After that, a customer self-care website and a power forecasting system was developed.

In the first 6 months, a major competitor announced they were launching markets in New York. This was a big deal – however, our competitor failed to launch on the date they had mentioned. Ambit saw this as a pivotal moment. Even though Burke was not familiar with the New York retail energy market structure, he knew he could augment the in-house system he had developed to enter New York. The team at Ambit announced entry into the New York market, starting with Con Edison and hit the launch date in just under eight months.

Ambit’s sales took off, not only in New York, but also in Texas with even better margins. Ambit found its groove for the next 10 years – it was “launch markets”. This ultimately led to Ambit being named as the #1 fastest growing, privately held company in the U.S. by INC. magazine in 2010.

Challenges met and addressed:

1. Requirements created for developers when no clear requirements existed.
2. A “nothing falls through the cracks” mentality to ensure the accuracy of system actions in critical areas while launching markets at a very rapid pace. Including monthly billing systems, power disconnects, payment processing, and regulatory mandates.
3. Hiring and directing IT talent, including designing plans for effective interviews, onboarding, employee reviews, career growth plans, cross training, continued education, etc.
4. Strategic project planning tied to actual project delivery.
5. Vendor negotiations and performance evaluation.

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