Hitting the Big Time. Landmark Graphics calls.

Landmark Graphics is one of the big success stories in Houston High Tech history. They were founded in 1982, went public in 1988, and sold out to Halliburton in 1996. I was fortunate enough to be part of that ride. I will break this portion of my story into five parts - I had five separate roles while there - and talk about each.

As I mentioned before, Landmark resold some of the software that Terra-Mar wrote (or acquired). I had developed a pretty good relationship with the LGC guys, even interviewing them for a Product Manager position for one of their new products.

That didn't pan out, but in 1989 they made me an offer I could not refuse. I was hired by Laura Capper to become one of a select group - a Landmark Salesman. Now, this was a plumb position back in those days. They give you lots of flexibility, and if you sold the stuff (not an easy job, but very sell-able) you could make good money. As a matter of fact, the Sales VP- Richard Barren (Laura's Boss) told me that ALL the North American salesmen made over six figures. That was big scratch for a 32 year old who was equity heavy but liquidity light. I took the job and it was the best decision I have ever made.

I sold the products for about 18 months, and in that time got to know the entire management team, all the developers, and most of the company. When I joined there were 135 people and we had about $35 million in sales. You had access to everyone at the Company, and most every oil company executive as well.

Our main competition had some good software, but it was not as good as ours. They had some good people, but they were incented differently. We were paid a very low base and an aggressive commission. The competition was paid a high base and not much of a commission at all. They were prone to using discounts to get sales, we scorned discounts. It was sort of a free-for-all, as we were plowing virgin ground.

Landmark not only had to sell the software used to interpret 3D seismic, but frequently had to convince the oil companies to use 3D seismic at all. The oil industry is sometimes reluctant to use new technologies, and even something as obviously beneficial as 3D seismic took a long time to gain acceptance.

But we had the right people at the top (selling to oil companies, and perhaps more importantly - banks) in the middle (managers who knew how to get things done) and at the bottom (the salesmen, support people, and developers - all who had a passion for the company and the product).

Not that we didn't have some very debilitating personnel issues! We all drank too much, fought too hard, and played too rough. I don't think that we (any of us) could get away with what we did back then.

But that is where many of us grew up. Every ex-Landmarker wears that title like a badge of honor. And for me, it started in the field, carrying a bag.