Our very first V2MOM, written...

Our very first V2MOM, written in 1999, revealed to us that ourbiggest obstacle was a talent deficit. We needed more developersand new product managers to help us build our service.
However, the first hire I made based on that intelligence was not anotherdeveloper. It was an HR manager. Although most start-ups don‘t hire a dedicated HR person right away, doing so made sense tome because acquiring the right talent is the most important keyto growth.

Think Three Years Out What y...

Think Three Years Out

What you do this year drives success for next year and the year after. You must make investments for the future.

Years ago, we received criticism for spending "too much" on marketing for a $250 million company, but when we were a $250million company, we weren‘t thinking like a $250 million company. Wewere trying to build a bigger company, and the only way to do thatwas to act like one.

Later, as we neared the $1 billion in revenue mark, we didn‘t focus on $1 billion in revenue, but what we needed to do to get to $10 billion in revenue.

There was a major attitude sh...

There was a major attitude shift we had to adopt as a public company, and this, perhaps, was the biggest change of all. At each level of growth, adjustments are required; it‘s the process of maturing. That said, growing up isn‘t always fun. It can be tough for a fast-moving entrepreneurial culture to adopt more structure, but bringing outside talent into the organization can make it easier to see what changes are necessary to ensure a smooth transition.

Whereas our earlier history h...

Whereas our earlier history had been defined by figuring out how to survive, an entirely different set of standards applies to managing a public company. Overnight, there were vastly more shareholders and a different level of responsibility.

Our new focus was on maintaining rapid growth for our investors, while at the same time complying with an alphabet soup of procedures (GAAP, SOX, SEC rules) and corporate policies, local laws, and business values and ethics.

We determined to measure ever...

We determined to measure everyone on revenue—not profitability. Most accountants would disagree with this philosophy.

"Revenue is vanity; profit is sanity, they often say. I‘m suggesting that profits aren‘t necessary, pivotal, and even beautiful. It‘s just not appropriate to stress profits over revenue in the beginning when you are starting out and building a company.