Growing Demand Blog

I’m what you might call Demand Media’s voice of reason.  Think of the movie characters that support the big personalities – like Ving Rhames’s “Luther Stickell” with Tom Cruise’s “Ethan Hunt” in Mission Impossible.  Okay, Ving is a lot cooler than me, but you get the point.  The unflappable partner who sees things for what they ARE while the hero is seeing things for what they CAN BE. 

At Demand Media, we have a lot of heroes on our senior team.   In fact, we're lucky enough to employ half a dozen former entrepreneur CEOs who:
- Built their own businesses from the ground up
- Took big risks that translated into success
- Were acquired by Demand Media
- Stayed with us to continue to grow the business

They are a powerful group of brilliant visionaries who thrive on disruptive and innovative ideas that we believe will blow out the future of the Internet.   They have earned and deserve huge respect for their track records and, most importantly, their opinions.

As President and CFO, my job is to understand and, at times, help shape the vision and pull together the data, operating resources and capital needed to make the vision REAL.  I try very hard to find a sweet spot between this support and still managing boundaries to help ensure long term success, profitability and a happy Board of Directors.  Balancing passion, persistence, patience and powerful personalities can sometimes feel like walking a tightrope. 

From its first day, Demand Media has been financially viable.  Despite being called a start up in 2006, we have always generated substantial revenues and cash flows from operations.  To be sure, managing large existing businesses while making venture capital type bets has increased our complexity of execution, but the strategy has also helped us raise significant capital – $355 million in equity alone.   The powerful combination of financial and operating resources has enabled us invest to heavily in our vision, accelerate its execution, and grow to nearly 500 employees in less than three years. 

All along we have been accountable to a Board of Directors who represents some of the most prestigious investment institutions in the world.  From day one they have encouraged entrepreneurial creativity and supported our vision, but have wisely required us to demonstrate results.   They too are savvy visionaries who have worked with some of the most successful technology companies of all-time.  Their views also command tremendous respect.

Back to the tightrope.  Do you know when someone is telling you that they just KNOW something is going to be successful? They just KNOW it?? That is the gut of an entrepreneur.  They are like ship captains with incredible instinct that can navigate uncharted waters due to some greater understanding of the universe.  A hunch that can discover treasure.  Possibly a billion dollar hunch that can change an industry.  How do we make sure it doesn’t run aground instead?