When I spoke with Bo Fishback, CEO and co-founder of Zaarly, on Monday to receive the announcement of his startup’s latest round of funding, he was equally excited to share another item of news: current Hewlett-Packard CEO and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman was joining Zaarly’s board of directors.
“We have about 30 people, she joined [eBay] when it was at 30,” Fishback said, referring to Whitman’s 10 years with the online auction giant, during which she led it from 30 employees and $4 million in annual revenue to more than 15,000 employees and $8 billion in annual revenue (via Wikipedia).
Fishback added: “She’s going to make me a better CEO.”
Though I’m familiar with Whitman, especially as she hit the national spotlight with her run for Governor of California in 2010, I haven’t looked into the details the of how she grew eBay into what it is today – what were her strategies, vital decisions and best practices?
BECOME A SPONSOR
Join us in championing the narrative of success, resilience, and ingenuity that defines Nebraska’s startup community. Learn more »
Digging through interviews on YouTube of Whitman, most of which revolved around politics, I was hoping to find one to gain insight and share with our audience today, and I think I found a gem.
Broadcast by NBC News in the early days of eBay (it appears to be 2000), the video below takes a look at Whitman’s decision to join the online auction startup and her management style.
“Meg Whitman, CEO,” the reporter says, “a job she first considered a big risk.”
“No one had ever heard of eBay,” Whitman says, “and I left a terrific job at a well-known company and moved my husband and two boys 3,000 miles across the country.”
This reminded me of Fishback – when he decided to pursue Zaarrly, he left what he called his “dream job” at a time when his wife was pregnant (they’ve since had their first child).
The end of the video also has a parallel to Zaarly, check it out for yourself:
