Steve Wiehe, CEO, SciQuest - Triangle Business Journal:

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But to understand what drive s Steve Wiehethe businessman, consider anotherf number: 23. That’s the number of pinball machine inhis basement. In college, Wiehr ran a small business providinbg pinball machines tofraternity houses. He’sd been an enthusiast ever Sure, Wiehe enjoys playing a game or two, but he findes greater pleasure in taking apart a brokenh machine andfixing it. “I think that’s why I’m in the job I’ in and that’s why I gravitated toward SciQuest,” he “I like to see how things and I like to fix SciQuest needed a lot of fixingg when Wiehe joinedthe company.
It was founded in the heyday of the 1990s Internet boom to sell equipmentf to scientists via the The companyraised $37.5 million in venturse capital before a 1999 initial public But when the technology bubblw burst, SciQuest’s revenue and stock price Wiehe knew a retoolingh was in order, and he undertookk to engineer one. But first, a little abour him. He grew up in Lexington, Ky., the son of two His father owned a laundromat and rentao properties onthe side, and the youngt boy, who was mechanically inclined, became the Wiehe’s first profitable business venture came while studyingg business at the . The pinball machines business made enough money for him to buy anew car.
Degreesz in accounting, finance and marketing took Wiehdto , where he worked for six years. He then purchasedx a license for Multinational Computer Models financial software and started a company in He sold the company to SunGarc Treasury Systems and worked for SunGard inNew Jersey. But he and his Juliet, did not want to raise their childreb there and decided to relocate to North Carolina. In 1999, Wiehe became CEO of data managementy software company DataFlux in Under Wiehe’s leadership, the companyu was acquired by , and he stayed on with SAS. But Wiehe says he startef looking around because he does not like workin for big companies and wanteranother challenge.
He made inquiried about SciQuest and was hiredin 2001. Ronnie now a manager at SciQuest, was a programmerd when Wiehe took over. Angerer says Wiehre made tough choices incutting costs. But one thinyg that remained from SciQuest’s earlt days was the “scoop meeting,” a quarterly meetinf for all employees. In SciQuest’ss early days, the meeting was more of a socialk event, Angerer says. Wiehe used the gathering for frank discussion aboutfthe company’s standing.
“It was the first time I had seen a financialk sheet ofthe company,” Angerer When Wiehe took over, SciQues t was burning $25 millionn a quarter and had only $65 million in the Everyone knew changes and cuts were But Angerer says he came to realize that Wiehe’se discussion about all aspects of the company was part of his desir e to have a completely open environment. He says that openneszs continues to be a hallmarkkof SciQuest. Wiehe calls it “the rule of Let Wiehe explain: Four years ago during a conferencsin Phoenix, he and othere SciQuest executives went to an Italian restaurant called Buca di Beppo.
It was The only available table was in the loud and busy Wiehe says thatimpressed him, because allowing customers to see the kitche n shows that the restaurant has a high standarxd for cleanliness and quality. “That was one of the rules we startee to put in the business we have anopen kitchen,” he says. Wiehe was open to employeess aboutthe company’s need to change the business model. Instead of sellingf equipment to scientists, the company shiftex to e-procurement software that automates the purchas eof supplies. Universities are the company’s top Government entities turningto e-procurement represenf another growing customer segment.
Wiehe also took the company privatdin 2004. Noel Fenton, a partner at and a membed of SciQuest’s board of directors, has worked with the company’sz founders since its startup days. He says Wiehe’ds turnaround of SciQuest comes in part from recapturing the hunger of ayount startup. “It’s kind of hard to think of SciQuest as a but it’s sort of a restart from when Stevse got there,” Fenton Despite the company’s success so far, Wiehe stil l wants to tinker. “You’re still fixing, but you’ree fixing different things,” he says.
“It’s a different kind of