Interlude - Index of

56 | Beginnings
survived the crash of 2000, when so many other companies of
our era did not. Our first CEO, Mike, had a saying: “Profitability
is habit forming.” Our second CEO, Dan, had another
saying: “Profit is like oxygen. It shouldn’t be the reason you
exist, but you need it in order to accomplish anything else.” In
this case, both were right.
When we first started, our main challenge was to define
NetApp. What should our products be? Who should our
customers be? How should we reach them? In that domain,
working with a small group of people, Mike was great. As we
resolved those questions, the main challenges became growth,
management, and execution. Both Tom and Dan brought us
great skill in those areas, which was fortunate, because for the
next few years at NetApp, the good news was that everything
was broken.