Rod Georgiu
2001- present
Private Investor and advisor to several start-ups
Rod Georgiu has advised a number of start-ups in the Sacramento
area, including Ignite Logic (sold to Google in 2004), Revionics, Scope
It, MechanicNet and CVV.
1998- 2001 AUTOVIA Corporation
Rod Georgiu was founder and chief executive officer of AUTOVIA.
AUTOVIA provided the infrastructure, services and information to
improve the efficiency of buying and selling automotive replacement
parts.
It connected parts distributors, car dealers, fleets and repair shops, in
local markets using the Internet.
AUTOVIA was founded in late 1998 and raised $32.5 MM in capital
from venture firms and a strategic investor.
In March 2001, AUTOVIA closed due to inability to raise additional
financing.
1986-1998 ALLDATA Corporation
Prior to AUTOVIA, Mr. Georgiu was the founder and CEO of ALLDATA,
which he made an industry leader in the sale of automotive diagnostic
and repair information on CD ROM and Internet. ALLDATA raised over
$20 MM in capital from venture capital firms and strategic investors.
ALLDATA pioneered the entire industry of automotive repair
information on CD ROM.
It had two competitors, both established firms that initially sold repair
manuals to the automotive industry. ALLDATA established such a
commanding lead that eventually one of its two competitors exited the
business and was sold at a substantial loss.
Mr. Georgiu was responsible for ALLDATA’s exceptional growth and
when sold in 1996 to AutoZone, ALLDATA was providing diagnostic
information to 30,000 automotive repair shop subscribers.
Today, ALLDATA, a successful division of AutoZone (AZO) has over 800
employees, revenuies of well over $100MM and enjoys the leading
market share, with only one competitor.
1974-1985 Alltest, Inc
Mr. Georgiu also founded Alltest, a manufacturer of automotive
diagnostic equipment. Alltest pioneered direct selling in the
automotive industry, while also selling its products through
distributors, such as Snap-on Tools, Mac Tools and others. Alltest had
a significant portion of its sales from exports to Europe.
Alltest pioneered many innovative, microprocessor based testers for
the automotive market. In most instances, the products were first to
market, which enabled Alltest to capture a large market share.
Alltest was started with capital provided by Rod Georgiu. Alltest was
sold to Penril Corporation, a public company, in 1985.
Education
Mr. Georgiu has an MBA from the University of Chicago (1977). He also
attended the Polytechnical Institute in Bucharest, Romania for two
years (1968-1969), where he received a scholarship to study in
Moscow. He then studied at the Institute of Energy in Moscow, until
1972.
In 1972, Mr. Georgiu escaped from Romania (communist at the time)
and immigrated to the US.
He speaks French fluently and has working knowledge of a number of
European languages.
Strengths:
Entrepreneurial background
Innovative marketer, familiar with direct marketing, direct selling,
indirect selling, advertising and direct mail, as well as Internet
marketing.
Hands on knowledge of best techniques for customer acquisition and
customer retention.
Strategic thinker, able to conceptualize and develop new markets and
new products.
Technology background in computer software, Internet applications,
and electronic and mechanical hardware.
Solid financial skills, able to understand the financial impact of
marketing, product decisions.
Understands the value of strategic partnerships, and how to make
them work.
Understands how to solve channel conflicts in distribution.
Background
