Tom Starnes

The principal analyst and advisor for Strategy Sanity is Tom Starnes.  After graduating from the University of Texas with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering he joined the semiconductor operations of Motorola in Austin to work on the new category of chips called microprocessors (MPU).  He was an active member of the team that marketed the 68000 microprocessor family, first as the state-of-the-art brains of engineering workstations, and later as the dominant processor in embedded applications -- those other than servers and PCs.  He later helped market Motorola's new digital signal processors (DSP).  Mr. Starnes was intimately involved in virtually every aspect of marketing in his 17 years at Motorola (which is now Freescale Semiconductors). 

In 1995, Mr. Starnes joined Dataquest (which later became part of Gartner, Inc.) as an industry analyst following the embedded microprocessor (MPU), microcontroller (MCU), and digital signal processor (DSP) semiconductor industries, worldwide.  Here he expanded his understanding of the motivations, abilities, and dynamics of major vendors and significant applications of these pivotal chips, in the context of a constantly-changing global marketplace.  Intellectual property (IP), core processors in customized chips, and consumerization of applications have become major issues since Mr. Starnes has been analyzing the ever-growing market. 

In 2006, Mr. Starnes left Gartner to become an independent analyst and consultant, creating Strategy Sanity and working with Objective Analysis and other small market research firms.  Working on more specific issues with clients by contract and advising financial clients regarding semiconductor companies, products, and markets, he has made use of his extensive knowledge of the industry, marketing, strategies, applications, and people, to help clients in a more focused way.  

Relevant Qualifications of Tom Starnes
  - Tech-savvy Industry Analyst and Marketing professional  
  - Highly-respected, well-connected industry insider
  - Expertise in engineering, marketing, market research, strategy, and analysis
  - Broad knowledge of the fast-growing semiconductor business with specialization in the dynamic embedded processor industry (MPU, MCU, DSP, cores) and the application of embedded processors
  - Demonstrated ability to analyze the interdependencies of technology, markets, and business and identify trends, assess winners, and forecast growth  
  - Perform and manage virtually all forms of marketing: strategic, technical, tactical, product management, and market communications  
  - Advises executives, managers, marketers, and analysts of large companies and startups, third-party suppliers, and the finance community  
  - Strong team leadership, employee management, and international experience
  - Excellent customer/client/partner management skills and expertise, able to nurture mutually-beneficial relationships 
  - Excellent writer, experienced presenter 
  - Extremely creative, very participative                                       Contact us

References from those who have worked with us . . .

"Tom Starnes was hired as a Technical Co-Chair for our annual ARM Techcon3 conference this past year.  Tom managed the MCU & Tools and the Internet Everywhere segments.  Tom brought a hard working, passionate element to our technical team.  He is very knowledgeable about the subject matter in both categories which was very much appreciated by the RTC Group as well as the potential speakers.  He was able to converse with them at their level and assist with guiding their topics to fit our conference.  Tom also moderated several panel sessions and MC'd several others and did a great job for us.

"I enjoyed working with Tom and especially enjoyed his unique point of view.  I look forward to hiring him again for future projects. "

                                      Cindy Hickson
                                      Senior Vice President
                                      The RTC Group
                                      January 2010

Our abilities:

Strategies, Programs, and even presentations can be analyzed and developed.

Traditional Market Research is performed in conjunction with Objective Analysis.

Numerous Marketing-oriented and writing services are available. 

Extensive experience is the basis of many More abilities as well.