Guest Speaker Series at Care.com: Stephen Kaufer, George Bell, and Jonathan Kraft

Earlier this year, I decided it would be incredibly fun and rewarding (not to mention cool) for the team at Care.com to meet and learn firsthand from some of the start-up superstars with whom I've had the pleasure of working and networking over the years.

I've been fortunate to connect (and reconnect) with such amazing people, and wanted my team (and now you) to be similarly inspired by their shared experiences and learned wisdom.

Over the past few months, as part of the Care.com Guest Speaker Series, we've been lucky enough to host: Stephen Kaufer, CEO of TripAdvisor.com; George Bell, former CEO at Upromise.com and Excite@Home; and Jonathan Kraft, president of the organization behind the three-time SuperBowl Champion New England Patriots.

Suffice to say, the team was impressed (and, I hope, inspired.)

Here are some of the top business tips these prominent executives passed along:

• On building a great, long-lasting product:

"Create a product—be it a web site or a tangible thing—that you know people will actually use," Stephen Kaufer said. "It's not enough to make something glitzy or trendy. Your customers have to find real value in the product or service you're offering in order for them to remain engaged, loyal, and evangelistic."

After Excite@Home and Upromise.com, George Bell has shifted his focus to conservation causes and mentoring entrepreneurs through venture capital involvement. But he was nostalgic about the rush of producing media programming and e-commerce products.

"I miss making something," Bell said. "I loved the companies that made things. Although, I can’t complain about the benefits of taking a heap of money and turning it into a bigger heap of money, there is a long lasting sense of pride when you make something of value to the general public."

The bottom line: Create something you're proud of, and create a lasting connection with your customers, and your hard work will not only pay dividends--it will feel more rewarding.

• On creating culture:

Jonathan Kraft talked about the difference between having egos and having leaders, and on creating a welcoming and inspiring environment. What makes the Patriots different than other sports teams is the focus on a strong and united team versus a handful of individual superstars.

"Forty three guys get on the field each week, and each play has 11 guys on the field at once," Kraft said. "Each guy has to do what they're scripted to do, and understand the importance of teamwork. That all of them together are stronger than any one individual."

Both George Bell and Jonathan Kraft also talked about the responsibility of management to create cultures where honesty and integrity win.

"Be open and don't have artificial bravery, [even as a CEO]," Bell said. "Own up to the fact that you might not have the right skill set, expertise, or mentality for the job at hand. Feel no shame about it, no heartache, no sweat. Talk about hope and talk about fear all the time. Think about it as an ongoing shrink session to strengthen your culture."

Kraft echoed that sentiment.

"Don't pretend to know what you don't know," he said. "It's important to have options, and to bring in the right resources and find or surround yourselves with the right talent."

• On transparency, resources, and hiring practices:

George Bell talked about the business philosophy of A, B, and C levels of talent.

"A's hire A's, B's hire C's, and C's hire D's," Bell said. "It's a slippery slope of hiring. Outside of the A talent, there's a devolution to mediocrity, borne of feeling threatened by others (when they started out at a B level). I believe hiring is high touch, and I think that's very important. But, be humble. Have the ability to understand that there are people out there who are smarter and better than you."

He pointed out practical examples of what he looks for in the interview process, when meeting a candidate face-to-face.

"Test for consistency," Bell said. "Be a good listener. People sometimes have the ability to even fool themselves. Ask about their personal interests and you can find out about their personal accountability."

The bottom line:

"When you meet someone who's capable and confident, bag them," Kraft said.

• On measuring and setting realistic goals:

At TripAdvisor.com, Stephen Kaufer has built his online travel empire on strong metrics and testing. When they first founded the company, he was trying to sell software to Yahoo, but then shifted to leads, and the current TripAdvisor.com business model was born. Two of the main areas where Trip Advisor has won respect and admiration from the startup community are their agility and their SEO strategy--their ability to keep up with the Joneses, so to speak.

"You have to be willing to throw the business model out the window if it doesn't work," Kaufer said. "Your roadmaps should only be three to six months out, depending on whom you ask in the company. Have releases with new functionality every week, and rarely give your new product feature more than one week of QA testing."

"In a start-up environment...you can't let missed goals get you down," Bell said. "Have graduated measurement beliefs. We never had a goal that was more than two weeks long at Excite. Don't accept the artificial as the metric of hope. Take things in very small increments and you won't die of a broken heart."

• On taking risks:

Kaufer has a sign taped to his office door at Trip Advisor, emblazoned with just two words: "SPEED WINS." He explained this mantra, along with how it became a company philosophy:

"In the internet space, the cost of failure is really not that bad at all, when you think about it," Kaufer said. " Hire people who are fantastic at what they do, but ask them to put out something that's not necessarily their best in the interest of time. Get the product out there, see if it's what people want, test it, and then go back and fully develop it if it's working for you.

Speed never wins, however, when it comes to privacy, credit cards, and people's personal information.

The bottom line: don't wait too long to create something perfect. It is better to get continuous learning. Be smart, play close attention to the current task at hand, be careful about whom you hire, and keep both your employees and your customers happy and loyal.

What are your thoughts on the key ingredients to making start-ups successful?

Cheers,
Sheila

Comments

[Mark]

Hi Sheila,
I'd be ever so grateful if you could give me some advice, or direct me to some resources.

For about a year now I've had an idea for an Internet business. I don't mean to celebrate myself, but it's one of the best business ideas I've ever heard of. It's almost perfect. Unfortunately, I have no business experience, and it's a bit late for an MBA.
(I'm a novelist with two boys).

I wouldn't want to try to start the business "from my basement," because it seems inevitable that as soon as I start the company, another company (with more experience and more capital) will "box" me out with a bigger and better version of my own idea. I've asked my sister about this (she's an IP lawyer), and she's told me it would be almost impossible to protect the idea.

Anyhow, it seems that the only way to avoid being trodden would be to get a great deal of capital from a VC and have a full business ready before going public. I have these visions of going to a VC, explaining the idea, explaining that I know how little I know, and that my first priority is to partner up with someone who knows what they're doing. But would it be better to partner up with someone first? What do you think about all this? Where might I find someone like that?

Thank you so much,

Mark

[Sheila]

Hi Mark,

Thanks for your email. To answer your question, I would suggest partnering with someone first since you do not have experience building an Internet business. VCs typically like backing teams who have gone through the process before. In evaluating potential partners, consider your business plan and where there may be gaps in your experience. If you are targeting a B-C business, it would be great to partner with a person that has consumer marketing experience, as well as a tech guy. If you are going for a B-B business, I would suggest someone with sales experience in the industry you are exploring, and again a tech guy. VCs can help in rounding out a great team. But to catch their attention, you either have to boot strap it and prove out the model or partner with someone with proven experience that they feel comfortable backing. I would suggest going on Linked-In and finding professionals that have the experience/background needed for your company. Check out their profiles to see if they have had experienced with VC-backed companies. I hope that information is helpful!

Cheers,
Sheila

[brian halligan]

Thanks for this great post!