Paul Johnston (Entellium)

Paul Johnston is an entrepreneur, software executive and recently quit his position of president and CEO of Entellium, a Seattle, WA-based developer of on-demand Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. Entellium software helps sales, marketing and support teams capture more leads and streamline sales processes.

Charged With Wire Fraud

According to Seattle Times on October 8th, 2008, Paul Johnston was arrested by the FBI for wire fraud. [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008240530_webentellium08.html]

History and current status

Johnston founded Entellium in May, 2000, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The company moved its headquarters to Seattle, WA, in January, 2003. During Johnston’s tenure at Entellium, the company has developed a variety of software applications designed to help small businesses sell more effectively. These include:
* Rave - A smart client CRM application built on the Windows Presentation Foundation.
* eSalesForce - A web-based CRM application built on the ASP.NET Framework.
* eCustomerCenter - A web-based issue tracking system.

Corporate priorities

Johnston set an early goal to provide choices and options for "Partners" (the named used at Entellium to describe employees). He has been responsible for setting the company’s corporate priorities as:

* 100% Partner satisfaction.
* 100% Customer satisfaction.
* 100% CFO satisfaction.

Gamer Influenced Design

Johnston was an early advocate of Gamer Influenced Design (GID), a concept that incorporates video-game mechanics into business software. Entellium's Rave CRM product includes several GID features, including an interactive user interface, animated effects and star rankings associated with prospects and opportunities. "The gamers are getting it right," Johnston has written. "In today's business software, boring doesn't work anymore. Slow doesn't work. Unintuitive doesn't work. Fast, simple and fun do work."

Early life

Born on April 5, 1968, in Luton, England, Johnston attended public schools and played semi-professional football (soccer) from 1984 to 1986.

Pre-Entellium

Johnston worked at Apple in various sales roles from 1989 to 1991. Later, he moved to Singapore, where he co-founded IPRS Asia. Following this, he moved to Malaysia, where he co-founded Optika Technologies.

Personal

Johnston is married and has two sons, Jordan and Jared. He met his wife, Faith, in Singapore. He remains an enthusiastic soccer player, and plays the center-forward position on his company soccer team, the Entellium Ants.

"Executive Insight"

Johnston speaks and writes on small-business and technology topics. His column, "Executive Insight," is published on smbBACKTALK. "My columns focus on building successful businesses—the kind people will love to work for and customers will love to buy from," he said. [ [http://www.entellium.com/blog/?cat=129 smbBACKTALK: A resource for small & midsize businesses ] ]

Recognition

Under Johnston, Entellium has received numerous awards, including:

* A bronze 2007 IDEA award co-sponsored by BusinessWeek magazine.
* CRM Magazine's 2004, 2005 and 2006 Market Leader Award for Sales Force Automation (SFA).

In 2007, the company was rated one of the best companies to work for by Seattle Business Monthly Magazine, Washington CEO magazine and the Puget Sound Business Journal.

Notes

ee also

* Entellium