WP Engine

“The idea that you can become an expert in something important, something that's an entire career for someone else in a few months and then hire an A player. That's, of course, not true. So you're actually a C player at best.”

“I founded WP Engine in 2010, and like I said, we now, ah, we're, we've passed a hundred million annual revenue, we just got a two hundred and fifty million dollar investment from Silver Lake, and, ah, we're worth more than SmartBear, right?”

“And now I have zero direct reports, just like Dharmesh at HubSpot.”

“What if they get violent, and you have to take out a restraining order? I've had to do that. What if they get depressed afterwards and kill themselves, and you have to explain it to everybody? That has happened to me.”

“Our executive team is majority female, for example. We have diversity in many areas in the business. Half of our engineering management are women, for example.”

“You don't have to hold onto these things like CEO or C whatever or blah, blah, blah for ego because you'll still get the credit. Your ego is going to be fine. You're going to get the ego stuff anyway, which is cool.”

“Delaying only hurts everybody, everybody, you, the team, the person. Be decisive. Our CEO, Heather Bruner, has a terrific phrase about this, which is, General Patton on the decision, Mother Teresa on the exit. Be decisive, and then be kind.”

“Part of that is invest in work permits. Invest in expat packages. Take one or two of your top people and send them over to that international office. If you don't do that, it's going to cost you so much more money in the long run because it's going to take so …”

“We're backed by Silverlake. Last year they made an investment of two hundred and fifty million into our business, and now we are doing about a hundred and thirty two million in revenue.”

“The other way to go and build trust across time zones is when you hire that first managing director or country manager, whoever that is, have them write the business plan. Don't write the business plan for themselves. Have them write it. Have them do the study…”

“But for my SDRs, my commitment to them is if they come in and overachieve, exceed expectations, I will promote them in nine months.”

“We now have about 90,000 customers in a 140 different countries.”

“The definition that I utilize is the difference between showing up for work and volunteering your best.”