GE 227: How Blake Irving Propelled GoDaddy’s Revenue from $1B to $2.5B in Just 4 Years (podcast)

Hey everyone! Today I share the mic with Blake Irving, CEO of GoDaddy, an Internet domain registrar and web hosting company.

Tune in to hear Blake share how he helped propel GoDaddy’s revenue from a billion dollars to two and a half billion dollars in four years, how GoDaddy has transitioned from being a US-centric company to a global organization, and why recruiting top-quality leaders was instrumental in scaling up the business.

Download podcast transcript [PDF] here: How Blake Irving Propelled GoDaddy’s Revenue from $1B to $2.5B in Just 4 Years TRANSCRIPT

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

• 00:36 – Leave a review and rating and subscribe to the Growth Everywhere Podcast
• 00:53 – Eric welcomes Blake Irving
• 01:19 – Insights into Blake’s entrepreneurial journey
  • 01:19 – Grew up in the Bay Area and studied typography at Cal State; Xerox had him do typography for workstations and laser printers
  • 02:17 – Got a master’s degree and then proceeded to work for Compaq computers
  • 02:31 – Moved on to work for Microsoft from 1992-2007
  • 03:07 – Took a brief sabbatical to travel around the world and teach at the Pepperdine University
  • 03:25 – Worked as a Chief Product Officer for Yahoo for a brief period
  • 03:43 – Was a customer for GoDaddy when he received a call from Headhunters asking him to join them
  • 04:45 – The equity companies that acquired GoDaddy wanted a product-focused CEO
  • 05:14 – GoDaddy’s astounding performance metrics convinced Blake to join the company
  • 06:14 – Had a conversation with board members and expressed his intention of taking the company global
  • 08:13 – Over the past four and half years, they have entered new markets, introduced new products and have grown revenues to 2 and a half billion dollars!
• 09:57 – Being surrounded by the right people made the transition from CTO to CEO a smooth one
• 10:30 – Recruited top quality leaders who were instrumental in scaling up the business
• 11:47 – Having worked with companies of similar scale, Blake felt comfortable with the magnitude of operations
• 12:20 – The typical customer of GoDaddy’s is a solo-entrepreneur who runs a tiny business and wants to grow it
• 13:46 – Company was perceived as an aggressive marketing company due to the ads that they ran
• 14:31 – Wanted to show GoDaddy as a company that provided great value to a customer
  • 15:37 – People in the company were happy and proud of the way the company was portrayed
• 16:03 – Lessons learned from going global
  • 16:03 – Hard to take a codebase written specifically for the U.S. market and transition to the global market; the function of the code, language of the code and the market changes as you make this transition
  • 17:29 – Once you enter a market, you have to determine how you’ll set up your tiers
• 18:37 – More time and dollars were spent on tier one and two markets than originally expected
  • 18:59 – Possible to accelerate growth by acquiring a company that is in a similar market as you
  • 20:40 – Continuously scan the environment to zero-in on companies that are running a good business
  • 21:11 – Do a “build, buy, partner” analysis to determine the best course
  • 22:16 – Before acquiring a business, it is important to be likeminded about what the business will look like going forward
• 22:42 – Attributes their success to their strong BRAND and their CUSTOMER CARE
  • 24:00 – Their strong, customer care organization contributes 25% of revenue
  • 25:15 – Well-trained customer care reps understand how they can dissect the needs of the customer
  • 26:13 – Customer care reps are trained to be emphatic to a customer’s needs
• 26:35 – What is one new tool that you have added in the last one year that you have really enjoyed, like Evernote? – Smartline, an app that enables you to add a second phone number to your smartphone
  • 28:18 – GoCentral, a DIY website builder
• 28:40 – What’s one must-read book do you recommend? – The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
• 29:10 – Connect with Blake via Facebook, Twitter or email
• 29:28 – Head back to Growth Everywhere for show notes and additional resources; leave a review and rating and subscribe to the Growth Everywhere Podcast

3 Key Points:

1. Recruiting top-quality leaders is the right way to SCALE your business.
2. Acquiring another company is a great way to ACCELERATE your growth; critical to do a proper “build, buy, partner” analysis to decide the best course of action.
3. A well-trained customer care team that is emphatic to a customer’s problems helps you find success in the marketplace.

Resources From This Interview:

• GoDaddy
• Smartline
• GoCentral
• Must-read book: The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg
• Blake on Facebook
• Blake on Twitter
• Blake’s e-mail

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