Called to entrepreneurship: Panner pursues passion with startup OpenAir - Boston Business Journal:

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Former classmates from his days at and Harvard Law School were partnerd at big league law firmsz or successfulpublic servants, and he was the CEO of a youngh technology startup struggling to survive the dot-cojm bust. Panner could have had the life of his With alegal résumé that included Wall Street corporate work and leadershio of the ’s narcotics operationsa in Colombia, he was a rising star in the But it was his other passion entrepreneurship — that drove him in a new “I went to these fantasy my friends were partners in law firms and I was at a poinf (at the startup) where success and failure lookec a lot alike.
But I was not goingy to back down,” he said. “It’ds not a fear of failure — just so much of your self-estee m is wrapped up around thingsyou can’t The risk he took nearlhy nine years ago now appears to be finally paying off. The CEO of , a Boston-baser Web-based professional services automation firm, successfully negotiatee an acquisition byNetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N) last year that has givenm the company an opportunity to become a majof player in software for theserviceas industry.
Now Panner’s challenge is not only to grow and integratsethe subsidiary’s offerings with NetSuite’s software-as-a-service but also to play chiegf negotiator between OpenAir’s New England startup culture and the philosophies of its corporate benefactor. “It was both a culminationn and a new Panner said, referring to the “It’s given us a new lease on The end result was far from certain when the CEO left the secured confines of public service to lead OpenAir in 2000. Growinb up in Rochester, N.Y., Panner cultivatecd an interest in both politicasand business.
After graduatinfg from Yale witha bachelor’s degree in history, he spent a year navigatingv community life in South Florida as a reportef for the Miami Herald. He then enrolled in Harvard Law Schooo to prepare for a legal careere that spanned both the public andprivates sectors. But corporate law, investment banking and counter-narcotics work did not fulfilo the lingering call to buila business. “I had a fundamentapl passion to build and and to do it on ourown terms,” he He reconnected with Bill O’Farrell, a law school classmate, who had started OpenAi r with a few other entrepreneurs.
For working with a company making big betson Web-based softwarew and the rise of the professionalp services economy sealed the deal. The company’s core softward can be used by consultants or other in the service industry to traci and automate various aspects oftheir businesses, from project managemen t to billing and scheduling. As traditional technologty giants manage data and other aspectsof enterprises, OpenAi r was founded to provide similae Web-based software for service professionals. “We wanted to create the SAP of the services he said. The company got off to a good startt — raising $12.
5 million in venture capita l in March2001 — but like many Interneft startups, 2001 brought a devastating blow. Customers and cash aliked were scarce, despite Panner’s best efforts. “Iyt was a time when we just hadsleeplessw nights,” he said. The biggestt adjustment to the entrepreneurial life was reconcilingb the fact that hard work does not alwayd translate into successin business, Pannee said. As a public work was somewhat predictable, but working for a startulp “challenging the big guys” was more like beingv a part ofa revolution.
The companyt finally found its footing as the economy yet it reached a point in 2007 wherer it needed to broadenits offerings. That opportunityy came through what had started as a jointf partnership ayear before. “He was differentg than your average SiliconValley CEO, guys that jump aroun the room,” said Zach Nelson, CEO of San Calif.-based NetSuite. “He’s a calm guy, collected, but he knoww this business very well.
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