It doesn't take a numbers bookie to bet that peaceful obscurity wouldn't suit high-tech -- and at times high-profile -- marketing guru Mark Juliano for long.

	Annie O'Neill/Post-Gazette
	Paul Haley, founder of The Haley Enterprise, left, and new CEO Mark Juliano. View larger image.

Sure, the entrepreneur enjoyed running his four children around to their appointments, pursuing the writing life -- he wrote at least two plays and a memoir -- and moonlighting as a professor at Carnegie Mellon University.

But as any techster will tell you, there's nothing like the rush of growing a company. So, after more than three years out of the frenzied world of toiling in tech, Juliano laid down his writing pen and jumped back into the fray.

The 45-year-old was named chief executive officer of The Haley Enterprise Inc. in May, putting him at the helm of a 15-year-old Sewickley-based business software developer that's retooling its mission. It has a product and even some customers; now it wants to grow -- substantially.

It was felt by Haley's executives as well as its financiers that Juliano, who has demonstrated success in turning small companies into bigger companies, was their man. Already, Juliano hopes to double the work force to 40 within a year, and grow annual revenues by even more, to a range of $10 million and $20 million over the next two years.

Juliano's appointment coincided with Haley's landing its first outside capital -- $5.5 million in financing from a trio of venture capital investors including Menlo Park, Calif.-based Pequot Ventures, Downtown-based Draper Triangle Ventures and Wayne, Delaware County-based PA Early Stage. Before that, it had bootstrapped itself throughout its existence.

Founded in 1989 by computer scientist Paul Haley, the firm's software quickly analyzes parameters, such as individual credit and health histories, used by insurers, banks and other businesses to weed out risky customers and better serve promising ones. AT&T, Adobe and Medco Health Solutions are among its customers.

But it never has really grown all that much, in part because founder Haley was comfortable staying small -- and because the one time he did try to reach out to venture capitalists, it didn't work out. But while the boutique software firm stuck with a word-of-mouth marketing strategy and a sales team of usually less than two, its inaugural outside financiers reinforced Haley's growing conviction that it was time to do more.

"[Juliano] was a crucial part of the puzzle," said Rob McCord, a partner at PA Early Stage and Haley board member. "They already built a proven product, and they already had brand building customers. All they needed was money and staffing."

Haley, who relinquished the CEO post to Juliano and now serves as executive vice president and chief technology officer, was introduced to Juliano by Pequot executives and knew almost instantly Juliano was the guy for the job. On the day of the interview, "Mark came in and ran the meeting. He got the job on the spot."

For years, Juliano was well known as an adopted Pittsburgher and local tech community celebrity.

He'd been well-worn in the start-up world in Silicon Valley and later as part of the executive team at the former Fore Systems, the region's first true high-tech star that eventually was bought by Marconi.

He later served as CEO at MediaSite, an Internet video start-up that hit the dot.com skids and was sold to a Wisconsin company. He also spearheaded an effort to launch a "New Economy Club" Downtown, but it went flat when the tech bubble popped.

"People wanted to know what I was going to do next," Juliano said. "I said, 'That's the point. I don't know what I'm doing next.' "

Juliano had been casually looking for a job for months but hadn't found anything remotely tantalizing when Pequot asked if he'd want to meet with Haley. Juliano, who lives in Sewickley, thought, "What's the chance of finding a company in Sewickley?"

Despite Haley's enthusiasm at the meeting, Juliano felt he first needed to do some homework on Haley's company. He accepted the job only after phone calls to some of Haley's 60 customers, who confirmed the strength of the software.

Juliano said he didn't want to base his decision on luck and timing. "I have to believe there's a high probability for success."

Haley's software is based on artificial intelligence: computers with the understanding and knowledge that can rival humans in intellectual tasks. It's an arena that, for years, only an elite group of programmers understood, which undermined its commercial popularity.

That began to change in the late '90s, when companies began demanding faster, better ways of changing the way they did business -- without waiting weeks or even days for the IT departments to update the software.

Haley's software offers a way for company personnel to change their business rules at their desktop by simply typing it in -- in plain English. That's an advantage Haley and Juliano hope to exploit now that the market for "business rule engines," as they are called, has spiked.

Haley estimates that the market for such business rule software is about $400 million and growing -- another factor in his decision to push for growth and outside financing. Haley also is developing a voice-activated version that will allow users to simply tell the computer what they want.

Once the product is ready, Haley will rely upon Juliano to tell people about it. "We see eye to eye; we trust each other," added Juliano.