Consulting Experience
Steve Tennant is the founder and Managing Director of Tennant Consulting, a strategic marketing firm dedicated to helping software, Internet and technology executives:
a) define, align and execute strategy;
b) improve new product and service success rates; and
c) grow revenues through sales enablement, marketing operations and partner ecosystems.

Steve has more than 20 years of consulting experience in a variety of industries, including technology, financial services, manufacturing, and government. Within the technology, he has worked in the software-as-a-service (SaaS), enterprise software, Internet, networking, storage, mobile device, security, and systems integration sectors. Consulting clients include companies of all sizes, including Cisco Systems, Ford Motor, Visa, Calypso Technologies, Vendavo, MedeFinance, Ninth House Network (a leadership development e-learning company), and over 25 startups.

Steve held multiple executive roles at PeopleSoft during its high growth years. Steve was the director of product strategy for the financial products, where he created a team of 10 product managers, and VP of Business Development, where he managed a team of 50 who grew more than 300 alliances with the world’s leading consulting and technology companies. Before PeopleSoft, he was a senior client project manager on over 15 systems integration projects at Andersen Consulting (now Accenture), supervising over $2M in project fees per year.

Steve has helped develop scores of business plans for large companies and startups, investor presentations and raised venture capital. He led an entrepreneur education series with Technology Ventures Corporation, chaired the East Bay IT Group’s Venture Capital and Startups networking and education group, and founded the PeopleSoft Alumni Network, a non-profit corporate alumni association.

Consulting Philosophy
In addition to fundamental values around integrity, trust, and customer-centricity, Steve’s philosophy borrows the Japanese concept to “go to the Gemba” which means, to go to “where the work happens”. Steve is very hands-on. Clients frequently use him to work directly with their customers and partners to provide an objective perspective for how things are working and how to improve products, sales processes, marketing messages, and competitive differentiation. Steve’s ideal clients are transformed by focusing their whole company on understanding customer needs, and aligning the entire company’s products and services to meet those needs better than anyone else. This approach increases customer value, and as a result, increases revenues and margins for Steve’s clients.

Steve increases project success rates through his use of the Collaborative Operating System, the Pragmatic Marketing and Lean Startup frameworks. He has managed global teams and worked with client teams in Asia and Europe. Steve has been an active participant in Avista’s learning circles since 2005 and co-developer with Avista of the Vital Signs, a company-wide diagnostic framework to assess and improve corporate performance.

Background and Education
Since 2001, Steve has run his own strategic marketing consulting firm, assisting over 25 clients in customer development, innovating new products, developing collaborative business and project plans, and raising venture capital. Clients include Calypso Technology, Cisco Systems, Emagia, MedeFinance, and over 20 early-stage startups.

Steve is the first technology consultant using the Collaborative Operating System, a structured method for facilitating groups to solve important problems. Steve is highly organized, analytical with strong interpersonal, communication and leadership skills.

Steve received a BBA with honors from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, the #2 undergraduate business program in the U.S. in Ann Arbor in 1983, with a concentration in marketing and information systems. Steve began his career as a programmer, systems analyst and project manager at Andersen Consulting, where he received over 1,000 additional hours of consulting training in 11 years.

Steve lives in Orinda, California, with his wife of 20+ years, Laurie. They have three children, and Steve enjoys skiing, golf, and Michigan football in his spare time.

Return to the Who We Are page