About Diablo Management Group

DMG Business Overview

Testimonials

"We are extremely proud to count Richard Couch as an alum and friend of the Simon School. He has had an immensely successful professional career, first at Xerox — rising to senior management ranks in record time — and more recently as one of the country 's most highly regarded turn-around/workout specialists. Richard also has given back in so many meaningful ways to our School: as a long-standing member of our Executive Advisory Committee; a mentor to our current students; a regular speaker, including giving our Commencement Address a few years ago; and a consistently prolific recruiter of Simon talent."

Mark Zupan
Dean
Simon Graduate School of Business
University of Rochester, NY.

"My company, Jetstream Communications, engaged Diablo Management in 2002 when the "telecom downturn" turned our business plan upside-down. We had a buyer for our product line, but still faced a host of issues with customers, suppliers, landlords, lenders, ex-employees and other stakeholders. Richard and his team ran an orderly process to get the major issues resolved in a timely fashion, and then went in to a maintenance mode to deal with the "long tail" of items that took many months to work out.

"As the founder of Jetstream, I appreciated that Richard shared my sensitivity to the plight of the numerous individuals and organizations that were impacted by our circumstances. I also found very helpful Richard's ability to lay out alternatives and his willingness to explain the merits and risks of each. His deep history with "special situations" similar to ours meant he could bring best practices and resources to the task at hand, removing the guesswork from the process.

"Executing an orderly transition of Jetstream's business could have been a drawn-out and expensive affair,. But Richard's pragmatic approach, combined with his experience and perspective, meant that it was carried out efficiently, in terms of both time and money.

David Frankel
Telethought

"I have worked with Richard Couch for as long as I've been in the venture capital business starting in 1988. Over that time Richard and his company, Diablo Managment Group, have provided an unmatched record of quality and engagement with our portfolio of companies. He has always been my "go-to guy" and if there's anything that I've appreciated most about Richard, it's his loyalty, responsiveness, professionalism and, for anyone who knows him, his directness. He does things for us that no one else can do. I also have relate this to his naval career as well since it's so appropriate as to how I view Richard. When the going gets tough with some of our situations, I never have to doubt who's by my side."

Kevin Fong
Managing Director
Mayfield Fund
Mayfield China/GSR Ventures

Richard truly has an extraordinary talent for restructuring companies in duress. When my company experienced it's darkest hour, Richard came in and created a plan to avert bankruptcy and gain the trust of our debt and equity investors. His experience in understanding the motivation of all parties was simply invaluable!

Art Zeile, CEO
www.32points.com

I have worked with Richard on several mutual clients over the past 15 years. He is generally acknowledged in Silicon Valley to be the very best at what he does. Every venture capital firm that has worked with him wants him involved with their troubled portfolio companies. Some of them conclude that they can't afford to hire someone with Richard's horsepower, but the reality is that they can't afford not to.

Since Richard is generally retained by the venture capitalist, there can be an assumption that he might favor the investors' interest over that of the management or creditors. My experience has been quite to the contrary. In fact, Richard's great strength is that he is always a straight shooter and treats all constituencies fairly and even handedly. This gives him great credibility with and cooperation from all of the stakeholders in what tend to be very complex situations and contributes greatly to his effectiveness.

Robert P. Latta
Partner, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C.

I have worked with Richard Couch many times over the last 15 years. Each and every time I have worked with Richard I have been impressed by his professionalism, directness, integrity, determination, sense of mission, insight, ability to solve problems, and his ability to complete projects and bring closure. I first met Richard as an adversary in a difficult work out. While I did not like the result of Richard's tough minded negotiations, I was extremely impressed with his grasp of the issues, his calm demeanor, his skillful communication, and his ability to close. I have since hired him many times to represent our firm's interest. Richard has consistently delivered more than he has promised.

Rick Stubblefield
Founder and Managing Director
Lighthouse Capital Partners

About DMG

Since our founding in 1986, Diablo Management Group (DMG) has provided more than 400 troubled corporations with hands-on management and advisory services with the sole mission to increase the value of its clients' assets. For more than 20 years we have effectively conducted a variety of interim management and consulting assignments with companies seeking operational improvements or requiring business expansion.

As a group of senior executives and associate professionals representing more than 75 years of total corporate experience, we use the application of sound, objective business practices to navigate domestic and international expansions, complete turnarounds and manage wind downs and asset recoveries in a variety of business sectors.

DMG activities have included:

• Assuming executive management responsibility;
• Arranging equity or debt financing;
• Providing interim management;
• Executing specific company projects;
• Managing a company through formal or informal business reorganization; and
• Managing the sale of intellectual property.

Our willingness and ability to work in a wide variety of situations, assume fiduciary responsibility when required and respond quickly to client needs has earned us a solid reputation for accomplishment. Our ability to develop and implement solutions has brought praise from virtually all of our clients by saving them significant time and money.

In 65% of its assignments, DMG has assumed fiduciary responsibility. In 25% of DMG's deals, some type of fund-raising has been required. Bankruptcy re-organizations, sale or closure has been necessary in 15% of the DMG deals.

At DMG we understand that each situation is unique and we are focused on providing choices for businesses to gain control of their difficult situations. In every business cycle and environment, rapid change in technology, competition and personnel continues to challenge even the most seasoned executives. We remain focused on providing the optimal choices and solutions to each business.

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