Lesson #2: “You can’t cut grass when it’s covered with snow”

When Matthews and friend Mike Cowpland first formed Mitel back in 1973, they had high hopes. They thought that their imported cordless electric lawnmowers would revolutionize Canadian lawns. What they did not realize at the time, however, was that in business as in life, nothing ever goes as planned.

Their problems began when the lawnmowers failed to arrive on time from their transatlantic voyage. "Our shipment of mowers was lost at sea and while we waited, winter descended and covered our green lawns with snow," recalls Matthews.

Once the lawnmowers finally arrived in Canada, they proved to be no match against Canadian winters. "That taught me a key lesson," says Matthews, "the importance of timing. The shipping company lost the lawnmowers! By the time they showed up no one wanted them, as you can't cut grass when it's covered with snow."

For Matthews, there was little point in placing the blame on either himself or Cowpland. What was important was to learn from the experience and move on. And that is exactly what he did.

The lesson would prove to be a valuable one later in his career, especially with the deregulation of the U.S. telephone company AT&T. Seeing the demand for telephone equipment, Matthews immediately quit his job with Microsystems International and worked with Cowpland to introduce both the touch town receiver and the PBX routing system. He raised $4,000 in seed capital and worked around the clock to get the systems to market faster and cheaper than anyone else. Matthews had seen the opportunity and seized it before anyone else could, and it was a strategy that paid off.
"And that's the secret," says Matthews. "Timing, hard work, smarts and partners. Using that formula, I've either founded or funded over 80 companies, and none have gone bankrupt. Most have done very well."
In 2000, Matthews would again take advantage of timing with the buying back of Mitel. "I proceeded to increase our spending on IP solutions. I more than doubled R&D," he says. "Now, I am pleased to say, I got the timing right."

Two years before he bought the company back, Matthews noticed that IP sales were between five and seven percent of its total sales. When he decided to buy Mitel, those numbers jumped to over 50 percent.

"That tells you I'm doing the right thing," he says, "and it also means that if we hadn't spent the money on IP solutions for enterprises the company would be in decline so rapidly that I would probably be selling it now. Instead, I am taking market share from everyone else...so I feel pretty good about that."

Matthews learned early on in his career the importance of timing, and it was a lesson he would not soon forget.