Tech engineer sails into a new career

Each month "Transitions" profiles an individual who has made significant changes in his or her work life and highlights the techniques used to make the changes.

Douglyss Giuliana

Born: Boston
Raised: Auburn, Mass.
Age: 35
Education: BS, human factors engineering, Tufts University, 1994; MBA, Babson College, 2005
Was: Program manager, Choicestream
Is: President, Advantage Yacht Sales and SailTime Boston

'It's all my wife's fault," joked Douglyss Giuliana, founder and president of Advantage Yacht Sales and SailTime Boston, when asked how he got involved in boating.

Giuliana had never sailed before when his then-girlfriend and future wife, Michelle, took him sailing at Community Boating on the Charles River in downtown Boston in 1998. "I was instantly hooked," he said.

But little did Giuliana realize at the time that this would lead to a new livelihood.

Giuliana's education and early career had taken him in a very different direction. He had enrolled in Tufts University in 1990 seeking to combine a strong liberal arts education with a good engineering program. After trying out several majors he settled on human factors engineering, which he "saw as a valuable mix, combining computer science, English, and psychology."

In 1994, with a BS degree in hand, he was scooped up by local technology firm Edgewater Technologies, which was attracted by Giuliana's ability to understand both the back-end coding and front-end user interface aspects of a software project.

With the Web heating up, in late 1999 Giuliana made the move to promising start-up Essential.com, then moved to another young Web firm, Shelflink, founded by Tom Scott and Tom First of Nantucket Nectars, that was later renamed Eleven Technology. Giuliana loved the small start-up of 12 employees. "It was fast-paced. We built it from the ground up," he said, "I wore a lot of hats."

In his role as product manager he had extensive conversations with his clients, high ranking executives at top retail firms. And it was then that Giuliana realized, "I had a gap in my education. I couldn't talk the language of my clients - business," he said.

Researching MBA programs, he was immediately attracted by Babson's "brand new Fast Track program," which would allow him to keep working while he went to school. He discovered he could get his degree in 27 months through the flexible combination of online courses and monthly on-campus sessions.

Meanwhile, firmly bitten by the sailing bug, Giuliana wanted his own boat. But unable to afford the hefty price, he searched the Web for information on time shares. His attention was caught by a Google ad for an outfit called SailTime. He called the Austin, Texas-based firm and learned it ran a fractional-ownership business for boats - just what he was looking for. Even more to his liking, the firm had not yet licensed the Boston territory.

"I decided to test my MBA on this venture," Giuliana said. He presented it as a business case in his program at Babson where he asked dozens of questions about the potential venture.

The idea passed muster, and in 2004 Giuliana and his wife opened SailTime Boston, which they run "virtually" out of their home. The company has several part-time employees to maintain the boats and oversee daily operations.

When Giuliana earned his MBA in 2005, he left Eleven Technology and moved to Choicestream, another area Web firm. But now, with MBA in hand and SailTime Boston underway - plus a new baby added to the mix - Giuliana had a powerful urge to run his own business, one with greater potential than the part-time gig at SailTime Boston.

"I love boating," Giuliana said. "It's very different from the software world. When people step off one of our boats, they are happy and thank me. It's a great feeling."

He spread the word that he was looking for a new venture in the industry. Then, in January of this year, he got a call from a sales manager at a boatyard in Newburyport that was going out of business. Would Giuliana be interested in picking up the business?

" 'Do you really want to make your dream come true?,' " Giuliana recalled his future business partner challenging him. Over several dinners and much back-of-the-napkin figuring, Giuliana and his partner discussed a business plan

At one point in the process, Giuliana got cold feet. "Talk me out of it," he said to his wife, who then made him justify the rationale and plan all over again, in detail. He also sought advice from several advisers who knew the yachting business thoroughly. "You definitely cannot do this on your own," Giuliana cautioned.

Finally, after six months of due diligence, with the plan in place and the money in the bank, Giuliana left Choicestream and opened Advantage Yacht Sales, a new and used boat dealer, with partner Jack Wasson in June.

The business has two locations, Newburyport and Seabrook, N.H., and has three full-time and two part-time employees. It also has strong synergy with SailTime Boston, which purchases boats through its membership.

Initial summer sales were good for the seasonal operation and went "according to plan," said Giuliana.

Giuliana said his income is "dramatically different" from before, currently about half the $100,000-plus he used to make. But the boating entrepreneur is happy and committed.

"I still work very hard," he said. "But my view is different. I am much less stressed now because I have control. It makes getting up every day very easy."

If you have a career transition story you would be willing to share, send e-mail to transitions@bostonworks.com. Please include your name, phone number, and a brief description of your career change.