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4<br />
Hypergrowth<br />
On Goals, Doubling,<br />
Ancestors, and Pain<br />
A company is most vulnerable when it has completed one<br />
major goal and not yet signed up for another: this was our position<br />
after going public. Dan said that an IPO is like graduating<br />
from college. For years you focus on getting that diploma, but<br />
then you leave school and it’s time to go out and show the world<br />
what you can do. Dan was warning us not to be too pleased with<br />
ourselves. By some measures, NetApp was remarkably successful,<br />
but in the computer industry, we were something else: small<br />
and weak, with much larger competitors hellbent on killing<br />
us, and customers who weren’t big enough to sustain us. Going<br />
public is the beginning <strong>of</strong> a tough fight, not the end <strong>of</strong> one.<br />
To survive, we needed new goals that were bold, pr<strong>of</strong>itable,<br />
and achievable. Dan held a threeday <strong>of</strong>fsite for his staff, a meeting<br />
away from our <strong>of</strong>fices where we could focus on planning the<br />
future without the interruptions <strong>of</strong> the present. The outcome<br />
was three goals that guided our growth for the next five years:<br />
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