Chapter 4: Godot Arrives
The core team that formed CapTrade had worked at ICF Consulting for three years. During the entire ICF era, we were in talks with a major DC law firm (the “Dream Team” – some of you will know which law firm I am referring to) to assist them on a massive new set of cases on flat-rolled steel products. A simultaneous filing of this scale involved dozens of countries and many different products, producers, and hundreds of individual questionnaire responses (including electronic pricing and production cost data) that would have to be analyzed, critiqued, and reviewed for impact. Every few months, the partner overseeing these potential new cases would call to update us on the current status of the potential cases. In those conversations, he would always ask us to be ready for a ton of new work, in the event that the cases were filed. Internally, we began to refer to this promised, mega project-to-come as the “Waiting for Godot” project.
A recurring theme in the CapTrade origins story is that luck is an important element that distinguishes successful from failed start-ups. Luckily for us, luck was on our side. The day after we made the decision to form Capital Trade, “Godot’s” lawyer called and told us the mass case filings had finally been green-lighted and would be filed in a few short months. What perfect timing: our start-up firm would be able to start up with a huge project!
But it also meant that we would have to ramp up much more quickly than we had imagined.
The next day, after coming up with what we thought was a bold ask, we called Godot’s lawyer back. We told him of our decision just a few days ago to go out on our own. The only way that we could take on these cases was if his law firm provided us with up-front money to buy a networkable mini-computer system, a reel-to-reel data tape drive, and other necessary hardware and software. The attorney asked us how much the equipment would cost. We thought of the highest number we could, offered it up, and immediately heard a “no problem.” Clearly, we had not asked for enough. We got the check and nervously walked it over to the bank for our first deposit.
The deal was a bit more involved, however. In exchange for getting the massive project and the up-front payments, the law firm wanted us to help set up a parallel in-house “numbers crunching” operation for them. We would work side-by-side with the law firm during the initial investigations phase, but their in-house practice would take over all of the work after the first year. As part of the offer, they agreed to waive any conflicts if we worked on future proceedings involving other parties to these proceedings. We agreed to the deal and never looked back. The large-scale project provided us with a steady source of business in our first year. The pre-payments greatly reduced our cash flow needs. And in exchange for helping us set up CapTrade, the law firm got a first-rate antidumping analytical team for the critical investigation phase.
So, in our first few days, we had gotten our first new client along with some much-needed seed money. Now came the hard part: doing the work. How were we going to do the analytical work on dozens of cases simultaneously? We could not hire enough temps to write bespoke analytical programs for a number of individual respondents that might hit three figures. Out of desperation, we came up with the idea of developing a standardized Commerce Department pricing and cost data templates for steel products, and writing standardized analytical and margin calculation programs. We could leverage the program by having multiple people actually running it, instead of spending lengthy times writing their own programs. We drafted the templates, wrote the programs and then, prior to filing the petitions, presented the idea to Commerce. Faced with the same challenge of processing an enormous of amount of data that these cases would create, Commerce readily adopted the standardized template and dumping program. Thus was born the concept of a standardized antidumping questionnaire and antidumping margin programs. While both the questionnaire and the programs have changed much since 1992, the basic concept has stayed the same,
We were off to a great start. But our barter deal with ICF for space and equipment (see Chapter 3) was coming to a close. In the midst of preparing for these new cases, as well as keeping up with our existing work load, we’d have to find our first “permanent” home. Our new office manager, Viviene, was already working on it . . . . .
Next up: Chapter 5: The Lady at the Office Helm
