TAPE SUCKS: Inside Data Domain, A Silicon Valley Growth Story

strong references (who voluntarily become your "promoters") are priceless marketing collateral.

Fslootman@me.com

Like art being 99% perspiration (versus inspiration), business is 99% execution (versus strategy). A company can go a long way with an average strategy and superior execution, but they will not go far without great execution, no matter how brilliant the strategy.

Somebody once asked me how he or she would know whether they were a driver, and I answered, "you better find out before we do." In other words, be more demanding of yourself. Are you increasing the company's speed or not?

no strategy is better than its execution. When you get better at execution, the strategic issues will crystallize more as well.

They don't "work for you"—we all work for the company. As a manager, you are there to help them succeed.

Startup CEOs are more like plow horses than racehorses. A racehorse gets pampered all week, to be taken out of the barn for a few minutes to race on Saturday afternoon; startup CEOs live 12+ hours a day behind the plow. It doesn't feel so glamorous when you get home at 11 at night and you need to get up at 5 am to catch a flight out of town.

Early on, when employee candidates asked us what our culture was like, we invariably said "blue collar." Not a lot of flash—if it doesn't directly aid our cause, we don't spend money on it. Extravagance was frowned upon, and becoming self-congratulatory was avoided; these things weaken the focus and muscle of the company. Setting the tone

Newly hired salespeople were stunned that they could pose a question online, and responses started piling up within minutes.