Founders at Work.pdf

Stephen Kaufer 375
Kaufer: I couldn’t figure out what a receptionist would do. And executive assistants,
we don’t have those either. So on the subject of hiring, I don’t look at a
head count budget when I think of hiring people. I wait until I see the need for
someone—when I can carve out a job description that’s 80 percent full on the
day someone starts—and that’s when I’ll open up a new req.
For receptionists and executive assistants, it’s something of a running joke
because, well, what are they going to do? Make travel plans for us? We already
know how to do that. Answer the phones? Well, I can answer my own phone; it’s
not too much of a bother. Schedule meetings? Well, we try not to have too
many meetings to schedule. So if we were to hire one, I’m sure they would be
busy all the time, but perhaps not doing anything that really needed to be done
at TripAdvisor. With engineering, there’s usually more development that I want
done, but I can look and say, “Am I willing to fund that project?” With marketing,
with customer acquisition, with accounting, I first look and say, “Hey,
what’s taking people’s time? What can we automate?” If I can’t automate it, do
I really need it to be done? If I do need it to be done, all right, then we’ll open
a req.
We’re 70 people now, which is pretty small, given the revenues and profits
that we’re producing. Nobody in corporate would blink if I said, “Hey, I want to
have 20 more people on board.” Our margins would still be terrific and I could
afford it, but I’m not sure it would speed things up or slow things down.
Livingston: It sounds like you’re really maintaining a good atmosphere, and
one where innovation can happen rather than just saying, “We’ve been bought.
I’m leaving now. It’s 5 o’clock.”
Kaufer: Chapter one is starting up the company, getting anyone interested in
what we do. Chapter two was hitting that profitability mark so we could break
even. Chapter three is growing, and if it so happens, as it did with us, a great liquidity
event. Chapter four is, “OK, are you done with the business? Do you
already have a commanding number one market share and no competitors?”
Well, that’s pretty rare. Certainly it isn’t true for us. We may be ahead of our
competitors, or tied with our competitors, but how close am I to being the
number one travel site in the world? Well, I’m pretty far away from that. I have
some sister companies that have that spot. But I look at it and say, “Why
wouldn’t everyone want to start on TripAdvisor when planning a trip?” So if I
have 20 million uniques a month now, why don’t I have 50 million? My definition
of chapter four is being the most popular travel site in the world.