Jun 13, 2006
Entrepreneurial Spirit:
Stuart John Butts,
Chairman and CEO
Xenos
Part 1 of 3: Searching for Success
Stuart John Butts, a founding member and director of Xenos Group Inc., is a visionary entrepreneur and a respected leader in the high volume transaction output (HVTO) industry. Butts has been instrumental in carrying Xenos forward to its present position as a premier provider of data and document management solutions, and has founded a number of leading edge technology companies in both Canada and the U.S.
Path to success
The road leading to his entrepreneurial success has been a circuitous one, however, with each change in direction bringing with it a new vista. “My liberal arts education opened my mind to diversity in thought and experience, and taught me the value and rarity of reason and open-mindedness,” says Stu.
In the late 1960s Butts attended Trent University in Ontario, Canada and was active in university student government. He was president of the college cabinet and chairman of the university publications committee. And while he graduated with a honors degree in political science and economics, Butts eventually rejected the notion of entering a career in politics. “I took from my education in political science that a political life, in general, was full of pain and to be avoided.”
After graduating in 1969, Butts worked as assistant to the college principal and high school liaison officer, while also working as a political science tutor. “I learned that an academic life was not for me,” says Stu. "Change and challenge were more satisfying than specialization and focused expertise. He applied to Harvard to pursue an MBA---“Not knowing what else to do,” he says--- but withdrew his application because he couldn’t see how to afford it. Eventually, Butts decided on law school.
Lawyer to entrepreneur
By 1975, Stu had his law degree from the University of Toronto and began practicing with the law firm of Harries Houser in Toronto. “I didn’t enjoy the law school experience,” says Butts. “A legal education sharpens the mind by narrowing it.” Butts found, however, that the practice of law gave him access to dramatic events in the moments of lives and corporations. The result was a rare opportunity to learn some important lessons. “My proclivity for change saw me test out my interest in corporate and securities law, wills and trusts, real estate, taxation, commercial law and intellectual property.”
Despite these academic and professional successes, Butts continued to search for his entrepreneurial calling before gaining success. “Nothing could hold my attention for a lifetime,” says Butts. As we will see in the next part of this series, however, Butts eventually found footing as founder and chief executive at Xenos, and as a leader in the HVTO industry.
Click here to view the Xenos History.
Part 2 of the Entrepreneurial Spirit series on Stuart Butts: Finding Opportunity
Headquartered in Toronto, Xenos has provided data and document management solutions for more than 20 years. Its products are embraced worldwide across a wide variety of industries by organizations concerned with improving the efficiency of information and data management while preserving investments in existing IT infrastructure, systems, applications and procedures.
This success has come about under the leadership of Stuart John Butts, the chairman and CEO of Xenos. As we learned in part one of this series, Butts found his way to entrepreneurial success via a nontraditional route that included stints as an economics major, a political science tutor and practicing attorney. Indeed, Butts continues to be a member in good standing of the Law Society of Upper Canada.
In 1981, however, Stu found that his inquisitive nature was again luring him into unknown waters as he decided to leave the practice of law. Patty, his wife, who he met while practicing law, was upset on learning that he was leaving his lucrative and high status profession against her advice and that of most of his close friends. Patty sobbed “But I married a lawyer”. “A number of my classmates later commented that they were surprised I had continued to practice law so long,” says Butts. “I came to recognize that my leadership skills and vision, while recognized and appreciated by some, were not sufficient to overcome the reality that for the most part law firms are large collections of lawyers sharing space and expenses.”
Despite his convictions, Stu admits that the 1980s were a financially difficult decade for his family. Regarding Patty’s concerns, Stu says “She and they were right to be concerned. Only on coming through it successfully can I look back on this period of my life as being the course correction that lead to my life as I now know it.”
A new direction
For Butts, his new direction started with software developed during the time of the first system interface between a Xerox 9700 and IBM 360 architecture. The product (which later was productized by Xerox as XJCF) was a series of JES modifications that allowed mainframes to drive 9700 printers without operator intervention. The system was created by a predecessor company to Xenos. “Presto,” says Butts. “Xerox had a data center product they apparently had not envisioned when they built the 9700 as a programmable stand-alone device.” It became clear that other companies would want this innovation so Butts raised $50,000 and became chairman of Xenos Computer Systems, Inc.
Despite the steady revenue from XJCF, Stu feels the company could have been a bigger player at the time. “We didn’t get properly focused until the early nineties when we came out with our Corridor Vision: “Print, View, Anything Anywhere.” To make this happen we had to acquire new skills and technology outside our MVS/JES expertise.” As a result, Xenos acquired Gentext, Inc., Rush Creek Software, and the XML assets of XML Global. “Our acquisition strategy has been a uniquely great strength in Xenos history and future.”
Of course, Butts says there have been detours along the way. “What do you expect in a 20-year start-up,” he says. “I’m an optimist and continue to behave like an entrepreneur.”
In the final part of this series we’ll look at how Xenos survived the Internet bubble and how Butts feels that Internet technologies have the potential to “change everything.”
Next issue: Part 3 of this Entrepreneurial Spirit series on Stuart Butts.
Click here to view the Xenos History.
Entrepreneurial Spirit:
Stuart John Butts,
Chairman and CEO
Xenos
Part 3 of 3: Discovering New Directions
“I did not intend to get into the high volume output industry,” says Stu Butts, chairman and CEO of Xenos. “I thought initially that we were helping move the world towards a paperless office. We now know that when you create new forms of information you tend to create the need to print that information.”
As we have seen in parts one and two of this series, the Xenos chief executive has found entrepreneurial success via an unusual combination of inquisitive exploration, innovative product development and deft acquisitions. Xenos products have enhanced the high volume transaction output (HVTO) operations of countless organizations, and yet Butts has not given up on the notion of paperless operations. “Our largest customer claims we are moving them towards the paperless office in some 15 operating divisions through their adoption of Infoweb. This gives me a belated sense of satisfaction, although I am concerned that the environmental cost of the digital age is not fully understood.”
The building of Xenos was briefly affected by the Internet bubble. While Stu and Xenos were able to raise significant capital during this period, it took them for an exciting ride. “Technology adoption takes place in a series of waves. The 1999 – 2000 wave and bubble was about recognizing that the Internet technologies had the potential to change everything,” says Butts. “The creative destruction would give rise to many new enterprises and forms of interaction. I recognized that this was not our wave---and I said so publicly---and we were certainly not ready to execute on what has become our Powering Information Supply strategy.”
From Butt’s perspective, the genius of the Internet is that it has brought forth a cluster of standards that everyone has coalesced around. “These visible, published and battle-tested technologies are now ready for adoption by the mainstream,” he says. “I look forward to the current, fairly gentle but sustainable wave, as enterprises of all types embrace the Internet enabling technologies in conjunction with their existing infrastructure. The epoch of multi-channel communications is upon us and Xenos is playing an important role.”
Advice and looking ahead
As a respected leader in the HVTO field, Stu Butts provides valuable perspective for industry newcomers. “Through my career as an entrepreneur I have developed a favorite saying: ‘Don’t look back, don’t look down,’ thinking of the tight rope artist crossing the chasm at Niagara Falls. It helps keep your future focused and optimistic,” explains Butts.
When looking to the future, what does Butts see as important challenges facing HVTO professionals? “I think the principal challenge facing all of the electronic output and digital worlds is inefficient and wasteful power consumption. If there is a fly in the ointment it is the heavy load that the Internet and other digital media place on power systems. I anticipate nanotechnology will play an important role in resolving this challenge.”
For newcomers to the HVTO industry, what does Butts feel are the right ingredients for career success? “What I look for in my business associates is competence, mutual trust and the natural inclination to act as a team member---a readiness to take the ball as required. Trouble starts when some of these qualities are absent.”
Entrepreneur, environmentalist or both?
As we can see from this series, Stuart John Butts is a shining example of the entrepreneurial spirit at work in the HVTO industry, but he also has a “green” side. “When I got involved in the start-up of Xenos as an entrepreneur, I saw myself as an environmental technology entrepreneur. I have been involved with a number of projects both successful and unsuccessful. My challenge was to create a viable business entity that was an improvement over current methodologies from an environmental perspective,” Stu says.
As a part of his environmental efforts, Butts was the chairman of a paper-based packaging company that focused on reducing, reusing and recycling. He helped launched Total Containment, which helps to eliminate the problems of leaking underground storage tanks. He also worked for 10 years with an inventor trying to build an efficient compressed air motor to power an automobile. And of course, Xenos was his paperless office project.
As an entrepreneur, environmentalist, HVTO expert and family man, Stuart John Butts will surely continue to thrive, providing a shining example of success for others to follow.
Recently, Stu celebrated his 25th wedding anniversary with wife Patty and their two grown daughters, Lindsey and Kelly.
Click here to view the Xenos History.