About Us

Paul Mush – CEO

Paul has an extensive track record of success in sales and marketing. He launched Sales Team 1 in 1987 to build teams for clients that did not know how or were too busy to do it themselves. He has built 145 sales teams with over 20,000 reps recruited, trained and managed.

Paul learned sales as a commission-only rep selling high-tech systems to automotive markets. At Allen Testproducts he ranked 9 of 325 in his first year selling diagnostic systems. At Alldata Corp, a technical information systems startup, Paul achieved Sales Rep of the Year status out of over 300 reps. He was then promoted to Strategic Alliance Director and National Sales Trainer implementing programs that vastly increased revenues.

Paul’s first online venture was to launch BBS Services in 1992. He asked the Denver Yellow pages to add the category with his being the only listing. He attended an early BBS conference in 1994 and watched as most vendors switched to Internet products.

He attended the first Internet conference in San Francisco in 1994 and moved to the Bay Area later that year to be at ground zero of the revolution. He has built sales teams for over 100 Internet startups. Paul has helped take companies from start-up to acquisition.

Paul did sales for Industry Net in 1994, one of the first profitable Internet ventures with $30M in sales. Paul then contracted with JD Powers Consumer Car Club to launch an automotive repair referral program to complement their online auto sales service. The program was a huge success but the company, which was funded with over $500 Million, managed to squander it and die, like many in the era with too much money and not enough common sense. Live and learn (if you’re lucky).

At LegalMatch, an Internet lawyer referral startup launched in 2000, Paul implemented his proven successful referral business model in the legal space. He quickly created a sales team that grew from zero in a 2-bedroom apartment to over 160 reps and support staff in offices across the U.S. Cash flow positive status was reached in 6 weeks for a total investment under $2K. Revenues went from zero to $25 Million. All without any VC or bank loans, and during an era of extreme financial and social insecurity. A major factor in this success story was his unique approach to recruiting and his sales training program.

Paul then did other contracts in the online legal space including launching an online lawyer directory for Nolo Press, the premier consumer legal book publisher. Nolo had a unique position of dominating consumer awareness and attracting 1 Million site visitors each month. Paul proposed the program and collaborated with in-house marketing, technical, legal, and administrative staff to develop it for launch. He also did initial test sales and then recruited, trained, and managed an in-house sales team. Sales were an immediate success and the project is growing fast helping to extend the Nolo brand. Sales are estimated to be over $50 Million a year now after being bought out by Martindale Hubbell.

Paul took his referral model (based on helping consumers find trustworthy competent service providers) and founded CertiCard, a consumer referral program for automotive services. He successfully implemented the marketing program and sales launch strategy enrolling hundreds of shops all over California. The key model elements – prioritization for early adopters, limited allocation for providers, extremely high standards and integrity, a psychologically engineered sales process, and more – were tested and perfected. It sold in the real-world which is all that matters. MBNA bank provided a co-branded Visa and MasterCard for this venture. The business was sold after 2 years.

Paul’s previous career was in engineering included a two-year stint in Saudi Arabia and numerous positions in medical and automotive technology applications. Paul worked at the Kellogg Eye Center at the University of Michigan, while a graduate student, developing research instrumentation systems.

Paul earned an M.S. in the Bioengineering at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI., an M.A. in the Philosophy, Cosmology and Consciousness program at the California Institute for Integral Studies in San Francisco, a B.S. in Physics with a minor in Computer Science (high distinction) from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO, an A.S. in Electronics Technology, A.S. in Automotive Technology and A.A. in Liberal Arts at Henry Ford College in Dearborn, MI (all summa cum laude) and an ABA in Business Administration from Oakland Community College in Farmington Hills, MI (summa cum laude).

Paul grew up in Detroit, spent 30 years in The Bay Area, is an avid ebike rider (lately on the Poudre River Trail in Fort Collins, Colorado), earned a black belt in Shorin Ryu karate, served in the U.S. Army and plays a killer surf guitar (to take a break from computers and phones).