Could your startup use some help getting ready for early stage funding. By definition you, as a Founder, are likely overloaded and understaffed. I can provide an overview and focus as to what tasks need to be prioritized, then help produce all kinds of deliverables, as well as coaching. Think of me as a very hands-on, interim member of your team, a freelance professional.

I have the breadth of business experience that can best be put to use in a startup environment where so many areas of expertise must be addressed simultaneously. Founders must develop their business model, critical relationships, business plan, finances, IP and co-founder team. I worked in management, marketing and sales in two Fortune 500 corporations and spent the rest of my professional years freelancing, and in consulting roles with groups as diverse as tech startups, consumer products and non-profits. I served as Executive Director for a Los Angeles based research group where I managed projects ranging from national psychological surveys to archaeological field studies, and employed analysts, data labs and research scientists. I managed project teams ranging from two-twenty-six.

Working on the cusp of science and business is a comfortable zone for me, and creative thinking always fascinates me. I remember feeling a rush of delight, and awe when I first witnessed a particularly bright high school classmate make an intellectual leap to unravel a geometric puzzle our instructor had prepared especially to challenge him. I knew he was even smarter than me, and that I wasn’t at all sure I would have come up with the solution. Later at Purdue it was more of the same with my pals  who were computer scientists, chemical engineers, mechanical engineers, electronics engineers… you get the picture. I don't roll my eyes at idiosyncratic creative geniuses or quirky-technologists because I respect their insight and share some traits (e.g. I love getting completely immersed in tasks.) I have strong communication skills, however, and can appreciate and happily work with visionaries, nerd geniuses, dogmatic managers and everyone in between.

Maybe you know someone else who can write a business plan and formulate an experimental Protocol & Hypothesis, translate techno-speak into clear language, diplomatically manage conflict, create marketing materials, wield financial spreadsheets, and comfortably make a formal group presentation, but I doubt it. Each of us, of course, has a "unique" set of experiences, but some experiences are more applicable to business success than others. I do know it has taken me a professional lifetime to gain my uniquely-broad and well-suited background in order to support entrepreneurial ventures such as yours. Do you think I might strengthen a soft spot or two within your startup team's expertise?

I have served as interim General Manager for a San Diego software venture, as Executive Director and President for two California non-profits, a VP Marketing in a decision of a Fortune 500 company, and have delivered on schedule a myriad of professional writing projects from business plans and grant applications to marketing materials and branding strategies. I worked as a U.S. Government contractor with a medical research group (cardiology) for years and was Certified: Background Investigation Completed, Eligible to handle “CRITICAL SENSITIVE” information as a “Public Trust/High Risk Contractor” by Chief, Security and Investigations Center, Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Security and Law Enforcement.

These days I am more interested in "doing" than "consulting" and seek to take on various roles and create deliverables in support of startup ventures. My business plan and grant application documents have earned high praise from financial professionals and editors. I author cogent business spreadsheet analyses and have consistently and successfully reduced complicated concepts into clear writing.

I offer you support services as you might expect from a Co-founder, professional contractor, Board Member, Advisor, Mentor or friend who has some of the expertise you need to succeed. I am becoming a San Diego startup-ecosphere specialist — garnering access to resources for ventures like yours from all over San Diego County and beyond. My experience should serve to shortcut your startup learning curve, provide temporary cover for missing components of your startup, and help guide and/or create for you the requisite documents and presentations for planning and funding.

I once served as the Business Manager & Co-owner of Doors Real Estate Management, Inc. Carlsbad, California. I performed most of the general business start-up tasks… set up as a sole-proprietorship • Made legally required announcements e.g. "doing business as" (DBA) • Named the company, designed its logo, stationary, business cards, and forms • Authored DoorsREM.com's website • As Business Manager, helped reorganize the company's financial systems and transition from the company's Sole Proprietorship structure to incorporating Doors Real Estate Management, Inc. I set up its filings with the state and tax boards, generated minutes and stock shares, upgraded communications contracts, analyzed the company's products, generated business ratios, and devised a business plan.

It was also during that period that I got involved in a business owner’s discovery of theft. That eventually led to the successful prosecution of the business’s prior bookkeeper-turned-embezzler on twenty-three felony counts. (See my ”Embezzlement Blues" story.) The owner had simply never considered the possibility of a trusted employee embezzling her to ruin. You should give it a thought. While you must give trust and confidence to your startup team, it is simply most prudent to have a couple of procedures in place to preclude one person from mortally wounding your venture through too much financial access.

De Mattei Consulting was born after my work at McGraw-Hill Publications and The Mobius Society and reorganized after my divisional Vice Presidency with Chiquita Brands International. As an independent, I consulted and contracted to a myriad of clients with business, medical and educational interests. I worked with startup efforts and established operations.

My products included: writing business plans, grant applications, marketing plans, strategies, general advice, business modeling, ad copy, brochures, website text, on-screen and software user instructions, product descriptions, presentations, video scripts, press releases, business correspondence, as well as databases to organize critical data and support company processes.

I operated primarily down two tracks: business plan creation and database application development. My clients include(d):  the Cardiology Department of the Jerry L. Pettis Veterans Medical Center, Loma Linda; the Lake Elsinore Unified School District; Insta-Heat, Inc., Poway; Solar Aquafarms, Sun City, The Diamond Source, San Diego; The Chip Merchant, San Diego; The Children’s Center for Hearing and Talking, Encinitas; Vital Statistics Analyses, Redondo Beach; Helix Technologies, Inc., San Diego; Brain.com, Irvine; DevTech, Inc., Irvine; Doors Real Estate Management, Carlsbad; ProScape, Inc., Escondido, and NAD Clinic Management, LLC, San Diego.

I worked with Steve Serfling (Founder) at Solar Aquafarms in Riverside County on their business plan and presentation. Prior investors had provided $4M to get Solar AquaFarms to an early production stage. They were ready to attract a corporate buyer, and to that end I wrote and produced a corporate video describing the innovative farm. Chiquita Brands International, Cincinnati purchased the farm for $10 M, and I was offered a position on the management team.

For even more about my background and history, use the Deep Background link directly above.