Career

1994-2008 - Coded and Promoted the DP Software Suite* 

Scanlon Associates was a sole-proprietorship in State College, PA serving the Pennsylvania trucking industry. It provided computer hardware and Novell networking, H/W installation and maintenance, OTS business software, but particularly, TRUCK-PAK: a DOS-based software suite, providing the trucking companies with customer management, vendor management, logistics, billing, payroll, fuel-tax, driver-log auditing, and random-drug testing program management solutions.


I was hired in 1994 as a documentarian, technical writer, copywriter, and editor, and l Iater served as ghost-writer for the owner's monthly newsletter. I was quickly drafted into the support department, where I learned Workstation BASIC and rudimentary debugging skills. 


I learned Delphi, then and now still a boutique OOP. In 1995 I independently rewrote company's DOS software, DP II, as a networked Windows application, with new features targeting the relatively-new cottage industry of drug testing program Third-Party Administrators (TPAs).


Soon the company was mostly focused on DP, and support of the legacy TRUCK-PAK customers was handled by the owner, who spent 90% of his time on the road. I managed the product development as well as sales & marketing efforts, building the software’s reputation.


I developed a SEO-supercharged webpage generator codenamed FlyPaper. It was quantifiably effective at attracting traffic to our web site (and it provided a valuable learning experience, but that's a whole 'nother story).


I leveraged opportunities to create add-on modules serving market-segments and generally an increasing number of business function.


MRO Management: For physicians to import, review, and release test results.

Billing: To calculate invoices

Informer: To report via secure e-mail attachment, claiming the .EEA (Encrypted EMail Attachment) file extension.

Document Manager: To scan and link documents to database records.

DP Live: An ISAPI web application which our customers used to run their customer portals.

Facts-on-Demand: An IVR application, later mothballed.

DP Architect: The GUI for my custom ORM, allowing customers to declare complex custom rules and automatically generate GUIs in DP.


I created some pretty cool code, including an embedded scripting language that is still in use by a handful of legacy customers today, 20 years later. 


I gained responsibilities and employees.  Eventually I managed a team of ten. 


DP became a dominant force in the drug testing software market.  I spoke at industry conferences as a technical and subject matter expert. I was a member of a technical subcommittee of a Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) committee concerned with security and data standards in the drug testing industry.


In 2008, six partners and I acquired Scanlon Associates’ DP assets and formed a new company, with the goal of building a SaaS version of DP.

TL/DR: The DP drug testing program management software product base grew from a dozen Pennsylvanian trucking companies to over 500 program administrators nationwide, collectively serving over 50K employers and covering testing programs for over a million employees.  


In 2008, six partners and I incorporated and purchased the DP assets.

2008 - Present - Developed the DP SaaS*

Reporting to and strategizing with the company CEO, often including the CFO or other senior staff, I am ultimately responsible for execution of our product development plans. 


2020-2024


In response to increased interest from larger entities, and having learned important lessons from our on-premise Enterprise pilot, I overhauled the program. Now our DP Enterprise SaaS channel is a multi-million-dollar book of business with customers in the public and private spheres.


I am currently in the process of turning what might have been a couple one-time custom programming jobs into a brand new revenue stream. This revenue stream is also the mechanism by which we are entering into drug-testing-adjacent markets of occupational medicine and background checks. The rollout will be complete by the end of Q3.

 

We are started harvesting the fruit of our vendor-agnosticism, the strategy I championed 20 years ago.  Increasingly, customers are using multiple labs and switching to DP because our biggest competitors work exclusively with individual labs.


Hired revered industry consultants Current Consulting Group, and began working with them weekly to manage our marketing campaign.


Show and Tell: I created a small library of videos to play on a loop at trade shows. We also play one or another before our webinars. A trained media specialist could certainly do better but I think they are  passably good. Here are my favorites


2016 - 2020


Continued to oversee the desktop>SaaS gap-analysis punch list until the system was ready for most DP Desktop customers to migrate.


Wrote a bid-winning RFP response to provide an on-premise Enterprise DP implementation, slightly a quarter-million-dollar contract.


Enabled Google Analytics and began Google AdWords campaigns.


Ended free estimates for custom programming, now charging $175/hr to discuss and develop a project estimate.



2011 - 2015


Identified MVP features for DP SaaS, and built it. 


Updated web site to start promoting the new "cloud-version."


Began accepting new customers on DP Web.


New competitors entered the marketplace. Some established competitors partners with or sold to individual laboratories, as laboratories sought to provide complete systems to satisfy and retain customers.  Somewhat nervously, we maintained our vendor-agnostic posture.



2008 - 2010


Met with and queried customers and trading partners to discuss SaaS visions.


Transitioned desktop software from perpetual licensing to subscription licensing.


Modified desktop software license to allow for data aggregation by DP. Instituted a client-side service to run on server, managing system license, and slowly transmitting data home. 


Implemented a 30% price increase; lost some customers but made more money for less work.

TL/DR: Today, DP is the #1 recognized brand of HIPAA-compliant Drug Testing Program management software, covering over 100k employers, millions of employees, and 10-15 million test results annually. We are presently branching into into occupational medicine and background checks.


Today, just a few of DP's customers include:

Los Angeles Metro

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

NASA Shared Services

...and hundreds more. 

What's next For David Gonçalves?

My DP work remains very meaningful. I know I am helping to keep our transportation system safe for the public, but lately I have been wondering if my work here might be done.  Today, DP is the #1 recognized brand in its narrow field, and its story has not just been a long arc, but a steady ascent. The entire product engine is running smoothly, and while I still see opportunities for growth, I am feeling the itch to move to find a job that more deeply satisfies my affinity for service.  


When I say "service," I'm not just talking SaaS, I'm talking about serving people: social justice, health & wellness,  self-improvement, education, I'm not sure what it will be. I just know that I want my work to feed my soul as much as it feeds my family. 


If you are aware of that kind of job in a small-to-medium sized company, please reach out


I can help with:



Let's talk!

*My contemplation of alternate employment opportunities might be alarming to some in my company.  For the full company name, see my résumé or my LinkedIn profile.