BoSUSA24 | Shawn Anderson | From Bootstrapped to a Billion – Five BoS Talks That Changed My World

Shawn, with his twin brother Shane Corellian, founded PDQ in 2001. He’ll share the 2 decade evolution of PDQ from unfundable startup to small giant. He will highlight five BoS talks he heard as they struggled to reach milestone after milestone that led to transformational changes for the company. Today, PDQ has: over 45,000 customers; PE funding; a valuation over $1billion.

From understanding how customers really want to be treated, through rethinking how PDQ builds software, and more, you’ll learn how you can put new ideas to work in your company and build towards long term and sustainable success.

1. $Billion. 99 of BOS Shawn Anderson co-Founder, PDQ.com #BoS24

2. A busy three years Fired myself and hired a new CEO & Exec team Moved into our new building Sold PDQ Assumed Board positions with minority holdings Moved to Puerto Rico Currently living happily ever after

3. New building 2021

4. Mark Littlewood Auditorium

5. Why did we sell?

6. Attended BOS

7. … and it continued Jason Fried – 2008 Eric Sink – 2010 Kathy Sierra – 2013 Mikey Trafton – 2013 Peldi Guilizzoni – 2017

8. Let’s dive in

9. Interruption is not collaboration Red flag words Intellectual property reigns supreme Making badass users Interviewing (gauntlet) Inbox Zero CNN moment How to break a founder CEO

10. Interruption

11. Interruption is not collaboration Anything that pulls someone from their train of thought is interruption.

12. Interruption is not collaboration

13. Interruption is not collaboration Can your employees choose when to read & respond?

14. Productivity apps aren’t the only offenders The shoulder tap Most tech companies don’t have office doors. Get creative on how you limit interruption.

15. Red Flag Words

16. Easy easy adjective ē-zē a: involving little difficulty b: job description of other people

17. Need need noun nēd a: necessary duty : obligation b: a silver bullet that will make us successful

18. Can’t can’t contraction kant a: as task deemed as impossible b: the reason you’re stuck in your lame-ass job

19. Everybody everybody pronoun ev-rē -(ˌ) bə-dē a: everyone b: any person luckier than you

20. Nobody nobody pronoun nō -(ˌ) bə-dē a: no person : not anybody b: morons who did something that you don’t want to do

21. Why so dangerous? Does it shutdown discussion?

22. Bad-asses People will do what feels good or what makes them look good Our products should make them bad asses, not just appear to be bad asses.

23. Interviewing

24. Resume submission is step 3 (not step 1) Don’t accept resumes until the homework assignment is received and approved.

25. Candidates need to earn sending a resume Homework assignment Homework review Submit Resume

26. Candidates need to earn sending a resume Homework assignment Receive specs Write and submit code Code Review looking for: Followed specs Achieved desired results Comments Error Handling Submit Resume

27. Run the gauntlet Time to interview (gauntlet) All candidates must run the gauntlet Several hours Includes lunch (very important)

28. What about non-developers? Find something that they must submit that correlates to their job duties. Solve a problem (written instructions) Write a press release Tell you about your company (did they do any research)

29. Are they teachable? “It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.” ~Epictetus

30. Are they teachable? Do they interrupt Do they attempt to one up Can they admit THEIR mistakes Do they welcome or shutdown discussion

31. What’s your biggest mistake If a candidate can’t tell you mistakes that they’ve made, then either they are lying, or they don’t have enough experience to help your company.

32. Can they teach? “If you can’t explain something to an eight-year old, you don’t really understand it yourself”. ~Henry Eyring – Professor Chemistry, Princeton – Author Quantum Chemistry

33. Can they teach? Have them explain something to you that you don’t know

34. Intellectual Property

35. Why care about IP? Seller cares more about the money Buyer cares more about the IP

36. Types of IP Patents Copyright (One of the easiest to obtain) Trademarks Open Source Software / Creative Commons Software

37. Get an IP Attorney

38. Who’s in charge of IP One person is in charge This person works with law firm on copyright and other IP

39. Everything Changes at 25

40. Everything changes at 25 CEO responsibilities change Difficult to remain a flat organization No one person knows everything that’s happening Employees who can’t scale with the company need to go (for their own good and for yours)

41. Non-BOS Bonus: Inbox Zero Inbox Zero – changed my life

42. Post BOS – notes review

43. Post BOS – notes review

44. How it actually went

45. What did I learn after 14 BOS conferences? You don’t need to become a billion dollar company to achieve success But hitting that mark doesn’t suck

46. Post Mortem

47. Watch over 400 great BoS talks and stay up to date with new events at www.businessofsoftware.org