Danny Teal, Managing Partner at Art Confidential SPV and United Technologies (Russia)

The business world doesn’t have a lack of self-professed “experts”, many of these guys I’d categorize more as authors who develop a program for others to follow to become successful but Danny is in a whole other league of his own. He has been incredibly successful across a variety of fields and once you start reading what he’s done… wow!

It’s one thing to talk international business and brand marketing in one field, but imagine doing it in totally unrelated fields across a variety countries – he’s living my ultimate dream brokering deals from million dollar art collections to plasma gasification plants! I love his passion and drive!

I honestly don’t know many people where their resume should just be a published book… it’s well worth the read! You can contact him by visiting http://www.intota.com/expert-consultant.asp?bioID=775062&perID=724618 and his twitter account can read at https://twitter.com/dannyteal.

You’ve been incredibly successful across a host of endeavors from marketing and business leadership to IP and financing. Which projects do you enjoy doing the most?

Any and all that challenge and involve making deals and solving problems.

It would be difficult to say which I enjoyed the most because I enjoy the process and the enjoyment of doing.

Each has been rewarding in its own way and each displaced by the one following it…

I enjoy the one I am doing now, whatever that is, the most!

Examples:

1) I enjoy the analysis and definition parts especially and have so since I was a Claims Manager for Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. (LMI) in workers compensation law in Kentucky. My job was to investigate a claim and settle / close it. I was authorized make a determination to pay up to $10K on the spot in 1975.

So, accomplishment is a great part of my reward.

For LMI I closed more outstanding (new and old) claims than anyone ever in the company’s history. I solved all claims that were reported at such a rate that to keep me working HQ decided to let me close long-standing claims that were considered ‘unsolvable.’

I loved the strategic part as well whereby I devised a way to tactically resolve the claim and explain to the client or their lawyer how it best benefited them and LMI.

2) Hallmark Cards

I sold more cards in the first year and brought in more customers in the shortest time than anyone ever had in the company’s history, while branding their spin-off Ambassador Cards and opening a new territory (Eastern Kentucky).

3) At Chevron, I was given a “shoebox of information”* and asked to design a solution to a question attached to the information given.

As an example, CREMCO (Chevron Real Estate Management Company) asked, “How do we protect our employees from a variety of safety concerns ranging from accident prevention on the job to employee conduct in times of civil unrest?”

First I defined what areas of concern they had, which were numerous, e.g. bomb threats, fire, earthquakes, emergency preparedness, etc. Then I researched and wrote an emergency preparedness manual that instructed employees on proper conduct and procedures (compliance) during these situations that matched Corporate standards and City (San Francisco and San Mateo were the first) ordnances, fire, Downtown (Central Business District [CBD] Merchants Association, Chamber of Commerce, Better Business Bureau, etc.

One thing led to another and I authored an emergency prepared plan that was adopted worldwide; it was also requisitioned by the SFFD, American Red Cross and many others for standard use.

Following, I designed, sourced, equipped and supplied Emergency Preparedness Cabinets, which utilized all supplies necessary to effectively carry out the plan. Thirdly, I designed and built/produced all demonstrations, displays, media programs, etc. to get the word out and measure compliance and feedback, which included the SF Unified School District complete with an animated cartoon entitled “EarthQuack” [sic], and Rap song featuring Duck-‘n’-Cover.

*(You may know that the “shoebox” comparison is to how one does their receipt filing for tax accounting. When the deadline comes to file taxes, they must go through the various receipts and come to a conclusion as to what is deductible and what is not, ending with a simplified report that will serve to lower their taxable income).

4) Recently, I have concluded a number of deals in Russia for oil and gas [LNG] for US/UK and Greek buyers, plasma waste management solutions for Hungary, carbon fiber for Latvia and bio-remediation products for Morocco, et al.

Please understand that one project often gives a referral to the next.

It has become the way that I work, i.e. by referral.

Meeting people opens the door to others who have a need to solve their own particular problems. That should explain the variety of projects in part.

As an example, meeting a Swiss money manager in Cyprus at a Russian Business Forum leads to an operating company in Geneva that administers deals with alternative energy and high net worth individuals (HNWI) that collect and sell high-end art.

Moscow clients in automation and applied physics within RosAtom (Russian Atomic Energy Commission) developed applied Plasma technology and wish to contract services for waste management, i.e. commercialize IP. I deployed this technology to Thailand and Myanmar through assigning field personnel.

American energy people, who have demands for oil/gas, notice and ask if they can use Russian tech for 19 projects they have in Eastern Europe.

Because of the nature of Russian business (employees are moonlighters in an emerging economy), scientists offer me a plethora of other technologies (presently carbon fiber manufacturing is a hot item as is bio-remediation “oil eating fertilizers”, etc.) to commercialize. I take the most attractive applied technologies to EEU Big Four Accounting agencies who conduct due diligence and feasibility studies and arrange for financing.

I hope you begin to see the inter-relatedness of projects and how one supports the other.

5) I do not mean to exclude Hollywood Spatializer, NYC MTV, Taiwan Pega/Pegatron/Asus, St Petersburg 2003, and all the rest. I enjoy everything I do.

How do you find the time to get so much done! It’s incredibly motivating and impressive!

The time seems to find itself, meaning I never consider the time element as (philosophically speaking) time is an ever-present moment constantly unfolding and therefore not measurable – not for my needs at least.

As projects have a certain interrelatedness (as I mentioned) I use one project or resource to support the other. It has become an unconscious ability that defines itself in a practical manner.

People have skills that I do not, so they become useful; when the mix is right, I plug them in and since we have worked together before I do not have to reinvent the wheel.

I simply manage their output to make sure it serves to push the project along.

Ancillary people like accountants and lawyers and financiers are managers of different expertise and I use their abilities to create a virtual network much like a company without the corporate structural confines.

This method is flexible and because I have the plan in my mind, I twist and turn things to make them all fit knowing all the while what needs to be accomplished. Performance method proves a model.

Once that is done, I am ready to move on to the next project and it just keeps getting easier and easier and my appetite grows to find my limitations and to learn and accomplish more and more.

This company of trusted people can help to realize multiple projects and ease my burden while allowing me to better conceive and achieve more within my own agency. I depend utterly on those people’s input, analysis and results. I keep no one on the payroll and thus avoid that expense, it is a project by project basis.

You’ve worked with MTV, Pixar, SKC, Chevron etc. and also started your own businesses along the way. How do you go about finding clients to work with (they come to me now) – what’s your secret at being so successful attracting top tier enterprises to your endeavors?

I do good work, maintain a good reputation, don’t ask too much, keep the client involved and, much of what you ask, I answered above.

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Attracting Top Tier enterprises is as easy as having something to say to people who are interested in hearing it. I do not focus on obstacles and find something positive in everything.

I have always sought to deal with decision makers. I am wasting my time if I am not. I learned that I need to know what I want and have the ability to express it in 10 seconds. That is extremely helpful.

I ask for what I want and wait. “No,” is extremely difficult for most people to say.

If I do not know something I will say so. I am not afraid to be honest or ask for help.

Plus, people talk.

Plus, with a great deal of theatrical experience I know about performance and what is essential to get and keep the audience’ attention and capture their feedback.

This includes knowing about such things as motivation, drive, study, practice and rehearsal, never-say-die, determination, thoroughness, comfort, expertise and what I like to call a “three word definition.”

This is boiling down a definition into 10 words first and then ultimately three. For example, let’s consider “love” and what it is. For me, I define it as the “urge towards unification,” or “art” – as “anything created [by] people.”

Such clarity allows me to skate through a definition as easily as saying lines in a play whereby the focus is not on the words anymore but what they say and what they aim to accomplish (intention).

People respond to confident people. Many think these people know something they don’t, but want to, so they listen. With that in mind, I say, “Remember to ask for the sale and then shut up and wait for the answer.”

How has the economic downturn affected your ability to finance projects? Have your other businesses suffered over this period of time as well?

What economic downturn? There is always money. People just sit on it when they don’t know where to put it. It didn’t disappear, it is just more discerning. I don’t immerse myself in businesses that suffer; I choose the high road.

What are some of the biggest negotiation mistakes that companies make and when it comes to financing, how do you go about getting the most favorable deals?

Mistakes result from impulsiveness and lack of reliable information. It is easy to make a decision when we have enough information.

Good decisions come from good information and the ability to integrate them into your business. They also necessitate people who have a history of clear-headedness, experience, good manners, ability to listen, determination, resourcefulness, and a few other virtues imbedded in people who know that repeat business is good business.

Getting the most favorable deals involves experience, reputation, shopping around and dealing with people I can trust. Everybody looks out for number one and it means sifting through a lot of people. It also involves what I call the Hollywood model: make someone money and they are yours.

I am very popular when I make money for people. They welcome me back every time and listen when I bring new ideas to the table.

I also bring some good analytical skills and look for what motivates people, it is usually easy to see and is measured in their sliminess and fast-talking manner.

I think plasma gasification technology has incredible potential once the costs associated with setting up a plant and maintenance drop significantly relative to the costs of landfills. YES, about 20%+ IRR Even America’s newest aircraft carrier uses a modified version of this to handle waste. YES, A PROCESS THAT GENERATES ELECTRICITY, CAPTURES CO2, SYNGAS, HAS NO POLLUTANTS AND PRODUCES A SLAG THAT IS USABLE IN CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS. It has so many incredible benefits from power generation and metal rich slag to complete destruction of anything harmful to the environment. YES. Other than cost, what are some other factors that are limiting the use of this incredible technology?

Ignorance. (Successful sales is turning ignorance into bias).

You mentioned the start-up costs, then there is the “trash poor” countries that want it but offer no return on investment in the long-run. There is always graft and knowing who controls the business, which is organized crime more often than not.

In Russia the problem is equity investment. Nobody trusts Russians, not me especially. Getting them to put up front money is near impossible, so we must require them to invest in their own initiative. Licensing is an issue as well as is maintenance and a working example that is not classified.

Americans want to build in EEU and surrounds, which is Ruskie territory and would better facilitate Russian technology, but (for example) the Ukraine is as bad as Russia business wise and so working with monstrously poor people who see everything as their only opportunity to get rich is a touch-and-go business.

Lack of experience, inability to negotiate cross-borders, Government instability are also another problems with post-communist countries and the CIS.

Gov funding/approval of 15% in a PPA (power purchase agreement) is usually a deterrent. Who gets paid (off) vs. who can make it easy to do business is always about money.

Cooperating between E & W is a bigger bear.

Then corp. espionage and info sharing. Getting a contract that will work, people, leasing, absence of a power grid, labor, social impact, continuance.

I put together a grand deal with CH, CERN, Russia et al, to solve almost all of these problems by branding it “Swiss Made” and have Big Four examining the international implications, but that is taking months and to get the job done I will need a different kind of Angel, one I have not found yet-

Environmental concerns are also sensitive and need to be proven, export agency challenges, and on and on.

If you could go back in time and give yourself some advice that would have saved you a lot of grief, what would that advice be?

Do not mix business and pleasure, i.e. women (personal relationships) and business do not mix. Not for me. Both will suffer. Avoid it.

Anything else you’d like to add?

Leadership is by example.

Thank you for the opportunity to express myself. I think your questions are a good outline for a book.