Biography of Tim Berry, President of Palo Alto Software

"I wanted it to be right."

Tim Berry, president of Palo Alto Software, says he started creating his own software for business planning and forecasting to bridge what he calls "the know-how gap" that exists between what personal computers can potentially do for business people and what they are actually doing.

"At Stanford University in the late 1970s, we took an entire course to learn how to do a business plan," he recalls. "Nowadays personal computers have made all of that much easier, but only when people know how to use them. I don't mean simple computer or software training, but the management techniques like cash flows, financial analysis and forecasting models. What we do is share and explain the thinking tools as well as the technical tools."

Berry, former vice president at Creative Strategies International, is the author of Business Plan Pro and Marketing Plan Pro. He is a Stanford MBA, author of three books on business planning with spreadsheets (published in the mid-1980s by Hayden Books, McGraw-Hill Microtext and Dow Jones-Irwin) and a former wire service news and business magazine foreign correspondent.

Palo Alto Software, located in Eugene, Oregon, U.S.A. calls upon Berry's diverse background as a writer, international business consultant and software author. For most of the 1970s he worked in Latin America as a correspondent with United Press International, Business Week, and other publications. He also wrote published fiction (not including market research) and freelance articles for the London Financial Times and Clipper, the Pan American Airlines magazine, among others.

"News journalism taught me that the reader is always right. If a piece isn't understood, then the writer blew it," Berry says. That straightforward writing style shows up in the Palo Alto Software product manuals."I still write some of the most important elements of the documentation," he says. The process now involves a team of contributors,"and if it isn't clear and simple, we won't accept it. Clarity is doubly important to us because we deal with the fusion of two confusing topics: computers and business techniques. Our manuals have to be exceptionally good."

Berry returned to the United States in 1979 to enter Stanford's business school and to work as a consultant with Creative Strategies International. After completing his MBA in 1981, he became a vice president at Creative Strategies, where he started a group to focus on market analysis of the personal computer software market.
"I was one of those who was too optimistic about the personal computer market of the early 1980s," he says."I was in good company. All of the market research firms said roughly the same thing, which says a lot about why those mistakes were made. The whole thing taught me a lot about common sense and forecasting, and that is now reflected in our business products."

In 1983 Berry met Philippe Kahn, who had arrived in the San Jose area to start a company. Berry revised Kahn's business plan for Borland International and took stock and a position on the board of directors. Borland struggled for months before sales took off with the favorable market reception of Turbo Pascal in late 1983.

Berry began developing market forecasts for Apple Computer's Latin American group in 1982 while still with Creative Strategies, and continued with Apple after starting his own company. He was the consultant for Apple Latin America's annual business plan from 1983 through 1987, as sales increased sixfold. He was the consultant to Apple Japan's business planning process from 1991 to 1993, as sales quadrupled.

Technology Work History

Berry's work history in business planning includes:

  • 1988-present.....President and principal product author, Palo Alto Software, Inc.
  • 1990-present.....Adjunct professor Lundquist School of Business, University of Oregon
  • 1991-1993.....Consultant, Apple Computing Japan
  • 1988.....InfoPlan dissolved; Palo Alto Software incorporated
  • 1984.....Publishes first business software product, consultant to computer and software clients
  • 1980s.....Author of books on business planning and spreadsheets
  • 1983.....Founding of InfoPlan, predecessor of Palo Alto Software
  • 1983.....Consultant, Borland International
  • 1982-1987.....Consultant, Apple Computing Latin America
  • 1981-1983.....Vice-president, Creative Strategies
  • 1979-1981.....MBA program,Stanford University and consultant for Creative Strategies International

Education

  • MBA, Stanford University
  • MA (Journalism), University of Oregon
  • Undergraduate degree (magna cum laude), University of Notre Dame

He has also consulted on business planning and forecasting for IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Ashton-Tate, Lotus Development Corporation, DataQuest and others.

Berry's first business plan software product was published in 1985. Since 1993 he has concentrated mainly on building Palo Alto Software's product business.