Mike Schmidt, founder

I've spent 40 years in business, and most of it running them. I started two companies from the ground up, bought two more, and merged the acquisitions into a single manufacturing and distribution group. Over seven years that group grew significantly before I sold my interest.

Along the way I also set up a holding company to own the property the businesses operated from. My businesses covered contract packaging, lubricant manufacturing and distribution, industrial distribution, and automotive and motorcycle fabrication. After that, I spent eight years as president of a US distributor owned by a much larger German industrial company, answering for the setup, the accounting, the sales numbers, the marketing and the people.

So when I sit down with an owner, I've usually been in their chair. I know what it's like to make payroll, to buy a company and figure out how to fold it in, and to build something worth selling.

What I've learned is that most small organizations don't struggle for lack of effort. They struggle because nobody has time to set up the right systems, or the tools they have don't fit how they work. Viper Consulting gives them an experienced operator without the cost of a full-time executive. I help set things up properly, and I build the custom tools that close the gaps. Modern tools let one experienced person build in weeks what used to take a software team months, and I use them every day on my own projects.

I live in Bristol, Tennessee, and work with organizations across the Tri-Cities region and beyond.