Pioneering SaaS In Business Process Optimization: Ariba’s Kevin Costello (Part 2)

SM: So your strategy to stabilize the business after the dot-com crash was to continue development of your software product and then conduct acquisitions to increase your core product offering? KC: Yes, and at the same time we continued to add capabilities into the technology stack to cover a broader area in the sourcing and

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Pioneering SaaS In Business Process Optimization: Ariba’s Kevin Costello (Part 1)

SM: Kevin, let’s start with some historical perspective of Ariba. You joined the company after it went public, correct? KC: Ariba was a company that was one of the founding members of the dot-com explosion that occurred in the mid to late 1990s. It was focused on helping organizations optimize a business process. The process

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From Zero To One Hundred Million: TheLadders.com CEO Marc Cenedella (Part 7)

SM: How do you view LinkedIn? I have seen your ads there. MC: We are one of the largest advertisers on LinkedIn, and we have a great relationship with them. I have a profile there. I think that LinkedIn and TheLadders are absolutely complementary.

From Zero To One Hundred Million: TheLadders.com CEO Marc Cenedella (Part 6)

SM: How has the online industry impacted the traditional executive search firms? Do you work with recruiters, or do you replace them? MC: Once a company has decided to hire $100,000 talent, they have made a decision that they need a professional to handle it. There are certain things your in-house HR staff is equipped

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From Zero To One Hundred Million: TheLadders.com CEO Marc Cenedella (Part 5)

SM: Once people get a new job, don’t they cancel their membership? MC: The base level of membership is free. With a free membership people can do some basic searches on the site, which essentially satisfies their curiosity. If they wanted to get serious, then they pay to see details about the job listing.

From Zero To One Hundred Million: TheLadders.com CEO Marc Cenedella (Part 4)

SM: That does not sound like a long-term sustainable operation. MC: It was exhausting, but it worked enough to prove the concept. After we had been doing that for about nine weeks, I missed the 9 a.m. Monday deadline. I had already pulled several all-nighters that week, including that Sunday night, and I could not

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From Zero To One Hundred Million: TheLadders.com CEO Marc Cenedella (Part 3)

SM: What did you do after you left HotJobs? MC: I took some time off and traveled around the world. That time was good because it let me refocus. That was when I made the decision to come back as an entrepreneur and do something in the online recruitment industry.

From Zero To One Hundred Million: TheLadders.com CEO Marc Cenedella (Part 2)

SM: Were you able to have the entrepreneurial finance role you had hoped for? MC: I had some good experiences but overall, it was not what I wanted. I was there for two years and I realized that in private equity you are really just a finance guy. Private equity definitely has its function, it

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