Hero Partners’ Rob Ryan ($24B Ascend Communications) On The Sunflower Model For Business

This week I learned the story of Hero Partners’ http://www.heropartners.com/ Rob Ryan, founder of Ascend Communications, the Internet company Lucent Technologies purchased for about $24 billion in 1999. Fifteen years later, the Ascend deal still holds the record for top venture backed technology acquisitions (to put it in perspective, Facebook’s recent acquisition of WhatsApp netted $19 billion). From a discussion with Rob at the Stein Eriksen resort in Park City last week, I learned the firsthand story about the day he invented the Sunflower Model he used to grow Ascend and other billion-dollar companies since.

David K. Williams

Full Story: http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidkwilliams/2014/06/20/hero-partners-rob-ryan-24b-ascend-communications-on-the-sunflower-model-for-business/

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Smartups: Lessons from Rob Ryan’s Entrepreneur America Boot Camp for Start-Ups http://www.amazon.com/Smartups-Lessons-Entrepreneur-America-Start-Ups/dp/0801488311