The Secrets to Scaling a Business with Evan Goldberg: An EOFire Classic from 2021

0:02Who's ready to rock today, Fire Nation? JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on fire brought Brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like the Ops Authority. Today, we're pulling a classic episode from the archives and we'll be breaking down the secrets to scaling a business. To drop these value bombs, I brought Evan Goldberg into EO Fire Studios. Evan is responsible for product strategy and development at Oracle NetSuite Global Business Units. And Fire Nation, today we talk about a lot of great stuff, how to stay true to your vision, stay focused up to the degree that you can, how people are settling into new routines.

0:38There's a lot of opportunities live right now that haven't been served by companies in the past. Find that niche, Fire Nation. Expose it. Utilize it. And oh, so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Evan and our sponsors. DTC Pod, hosted by Ramon Berrios and Blaine Bolas, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. DTC Pod is a podcast about all things direct to consumer. Ramon and Blaine cover everything from starting, growing, and optimizing e-commerce stores and DTC brands. If you're interested in the stories behind your favorite consumer brands, this podcast is for you.

1:15One recent episode on how the best brands are built is a must listen. Listen to DTC Pod wherever you get your podcasts. Evan, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. You know, I don't know if most people disagree with this, but I think the conventional wisdom is that when you're making a product or a service that you pretty much entirely go from talking to those customers and, you know, finding out what problems they want to solve and just thinking sort of in a linear fashion about what the best way is to solve them.

1:56and um you know i think that you'll a lot of you know your competitors will come up with very similar answers and so um if you follow that sort of conventional route i think you end up doing to a large degree whatever what else is doing now i'm not going to minimize the importance of user testing and of course empathy but you know what's interesting is that if there are two ways to do something and one is preferred by 60 % of the people and another is preferred by 40 % of the people, if you have a lot of competitors that are all sort of going the conventional route, they'll do the thing that's preferred by 60 % of the people.

2:36And those 60 % of the people will choose among those various products. If you do the thing that 40 % of the people like, and you're the only one that does that, you might end up being the most successful. So I just think sometimes you have to think a little bit outside the box and figure out about how are you actually going to differentiate, even if that differentiation is not through conventional thinking thought of as the most obvious way to solve a problem. Blue Ocean, Fire Nation, where is yours? And Evan, I want to dive right in because we have a lot to talk about today. The show that you're on right now is called Entrepreneurs on Fire.

3:15So I would love to know what motivated you to become an entrepreneur on fire and start NetSuite. The minute I got my hands on a computer, I saw the power of it and wanted to figure out how it could be used to sort of improve people's daily lives. That's what I was always interested in from sort of day one. It's things that people use on a day-to-day basis to help them in whatever they're doing. And people spend an enormous amount of time. obviously if you're an entrepreneur yourself building your company or if you're working in an entrepreneurial organization or company building your company and what can I do to make that easier and that was the impetus for NetSuite.

3:57Now one thing that you talked about a little bit already and I talk about often on Entrepreneurs on Fire is the importance of solving people's real problems. In fact, I'm a big believer that people will beat a path to your doorstep if you're the number one solution to their real problem. And they're going to ignore the second best solution onto infinity because, of course, you want the best solution to your problem. So get detailed with us here. How does NetSuite actually solve entrepreneurs' problems? There's no one solution to any particular problem. And one of the things that NetSuite does is strive to be really flexible.

4:35And we've built into our product, you know, which is, you know, on the surface, a product to help you track your finances and your sales and all those sort of nitty-gritty details and then give you a nice dashboard with all that information. But the way you do that from company to company really does differ because every company is different. And so what we built under the covers beneath those sort of surface functionality is a platform that allows partners, our developers, but probably most importantly, the sort of people implementing the solution within a company itself to modify the solution and tailor it, not just for what industry you're in, for example, but the details of how you run your business.

5:26As I said, every business is different. They all have a differentiating way of running their business. And so it's important that their business software be able to adapt to that. Now, what would you say your number one differentiator is? We really have a complete solution for a fast-growing entrepreneurial business where, you know, everything is in the box, so to speak. You know, not just your accounting and finance, but your customer relationship management, your people management, you know, HR, your web store, if you sell on the web, and it's all built, you know, to work together. It's really one single application, and it's not a bunch of different applications bolted together.

6:10It's one single application to sort of solve all those problems for all your users and all the different roles within your company. And that's really a unique value proposition for the fast-growing company. Now, speaking of fast-growing, I want to talk about growth opportunities. How can founders like our listeners here today best identify growth opportunities for their specific business? kind of like you've been able to do so well during NetSuite's, let's just call it high octane growth. Your best source of both feedback as well as new sales is really from your existing customer base. What can you do for them better?

6:48And so as they sort of, you know, typically you'll have an entry point to your system. For us, it's generally the accounting and finance. people initially purchase NetSuite to help them as they grow with their accounting and books and they outgrow their initial accounting software. But then we go in and talk to the customers, what else can we help you with? And that's where we find that there's all these other capabilities that they're interested in across their business. And I think that's similar for many companies. you have a beachhead and then you sort of land and expand and so you know going in and actually watching your customers use your product or service and seeing where they struggle and also seeing just their business or you know if you're selling b2b or if you're selling b2c seeing you know the customer or the business in their place where they use it in their home in their workplace and seeing what does it look like to use your product within that context.

7:51And that, I think, is a huge source of inspiration for how you can expand your product or service and provide more value to your existing customer. So Fire Nation, we're going to be talking about advice for companies who are hungry for growth. We're going to talk about company culture, which is something that I think Evan's been able to do a great job with. And then also some unique opportunities that you have in front of you today that are special. and so much more when we get back from thanking our sponsors. Marketers have never been spread so thin. Trust me, I feel it too. Between creating content, launching campaigns, generating leads, nurturing your prospects, and more, you barely have a second to breathe, let alone do your best marketing.

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9:13Stop spreading yourself thin and start making major moves with HubSpot. Visit HubSpot.com slash marketers to learn more. So Evan, we're back and our listeners are small companies, large companies, medium-sized companies. I mean, it really is across the spectrum. So share some advice that you have for companies, regardless of their size, that right now today are hungry for growth. How specific can you get? I work with companies across so many different industries from companies that do retail, to internet services, to wholesale distribution. And again, the commonalities that I see right now is just that there's sort of a lot of churn everywhere.

9:59People are sort of figuring out what the new normal is. They're taking some of the habits they've perhaps developed during the pandemic and saying which of these things I'm gonna bring into the new normal. and so I think for you know pretty much for every business right now again it's it's going back to your customers and seeing how their lives have changed since March of 2020 and and you know obviously there's a lot of churn yet to come and a lot of change yet to come but I think people are settling into new routines and that's where all the opportunities you know a large amount of the opportunities live right now is in that new normal that has not yet been adequately served by companies of the past.

10:46And by the way, Fire Nation, a lot of people haven't accepted this new normal. They are refusing to accept the world that we live in as it is today. But if you are going to be one of the first movers accepting this and just living in this new normal, taking advantage of this new normal, you are going to have that advantage. So let's talk about company culture. Evan, you've done a great job at NetSuite. So share how other startups can grow and scale without losing what makes them both special and unique. Yeah, that's a great question. And I mean, at NetSuite, we've grown from four people to, you know, well over 10 ,000.

11:25And that's always the challenge is how do you make your company feel small still in the ways that you need it to, while obviously still scaling in the ways that you needed to. I think, you know, sort of constant communication is really important and embedding in that communication sort of the rich history of your company. Every company has a rich history. For us, it was that we were started above a hair salon next to a liquor store. And everybody that comes to NetSuite hears that story of, you know, us pounding on the floor because the music in the hair salon was too loud and we were trying to program.

12:02But, you know, I think, you know, keeping that history alive and and, you know, people look towards your, you know, the new people that come into your organization look towards the sort of ambassadors, those people that have been, you know, the veterans that have been there for so long, sort of for guidance. And then ultimately, I'd say that all culture comes from the top. And an organization will reflect the values that are espoused and lived and acted on by its leaders. And so making sure that at the highest levels of your company, you're maintaining those traditions, promoting those traditions, promoting that history, and also promoting the elements of the culture, the values that you want to have, which they may be diversity and inclusion and they may be, you know, hard work and listening, you know, the customer and empathy.

12:58I think empathy is across the board, incredibly important for culture. You know, the organization wants to see the leadership, you know, living those values. And Fire Nation, do you want your company to be living these values? And I think the answer is yes. If you're going to put them out there, don't just have them out there on a board somewhere, Have them be a part of the daily life. Have them be a part of the daily engine that runs your business. And we've kind of touched about this new normal a little bit. We've touched upon it. And there's a lot of unique opportunities that come with this new normal.

13:35So let's really dive into these opportunities that you see as unique that current founders have in this new normal. I mean, what opportunities are present right now that may not have been present previously? The ability to sort of multitask is, and by that I mean you sort of have a multitask as an organization. I mean, what we've seen in a lot of industries is that people are delivering their product and service in new ways because of the constraints that were put on us during the pandemic. And I think obviously people liked a lot of that. People like getting their food delivered. People like exercising at home and those sorts of things.

14:16And yet they also crave togetherness and they want to, you know, be able to dine with other people and exercise with other people sometimes. You know, it really comes down to flexibility. The customer or the business needs more needs and wants more flexibility than ever before. Businesses need flexibility in their supply chain, just like consumers do. You know, sometimes you get it from Instacart. Sometimes you drive to, you know, Whole Foods or whatever. I mean, the same thing is true for businesses. They've needed to really adapt to where they don't necessarily know where their supplies are going to come from next week.

14:53And so I think flexibility is the name of the game and that companies that can sort of multitask in that way and operate in this new sort of hybrid world, those are the ones that are going to be most successful. So what I want to do now, Evan, is kind of give you the mic because we've talked about a lot of really cool things that are going on in this world, the opportunities, the new normals, how to create culture, you know, how to high octane your own personal growth, Fire Nation, and a lot of other things. What is the one key takeaway that you really want to make sure Fire Nation gets from our entire conversation today?

15:32Tell us a little bit more about how we can utilize potentially NetSuite for our business and what you have going on there and how we can connect with your company. And then we'll say goodbye. At a very, very high level, I think the most important element of success is staying true to your vision, staying focused to the degree that you can. There's always going to be opportunities. some of them are going to move you closer to your North Star some of them are going to move you away and you have to you know every single day make judgments about which of these opportunities am I going to take on and and that don't sort of drift me too far away from where I want to go but then you know that's really at the high level at the low level you know companies are successful really because because they have this vision because they have great people but ultimately also because they're incredibly good stewards of their resources and that comes down to really knowing what's going on in your business and being able to react quickly and that's where NetSuite you know sort of provides this dashboard of all the information you need on a day-to-day basis to help you grow and that's across you know all your channels of sales that's across all your people that's across obviously all of your finances and and sort of putting that all in one place is what we're all about.

16:52So, you know, we make it easier for you to handle that aspect of your business, which is so critical to your success. So you can focus on the vision and the people, which ultimately are going to propel you to greater heights. Vision, people, that's your focus, Fire Nation, because at the end of the day, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. You've been hanging out with EG and JLD today, So keep up the heat. Head over to eofire.com, type Evan in the search bar, and his show notes page will pop up today with everything that we've been talking about. And Evan, I just want to say thank you, brother, for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation today.

17:29For that, we salute you, and we'll catch you on the flip side. Thanks a lot for having me. Hey, Fire Nation. Today's value-bomb content was brought to you by Evan and Fire Nation. Over the last decade, I've interviewed more than 3 ,000 of the world's most successful entrepreneurs, and I've created a revolutionary 17-step roadmap to your financial freedom and fulfillment. I put it all into my first traditionally published book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, personally endorsed by Seth Godin, Gary Vaynerchuk, and others. The Common Path to Uncommon Success is the step-by-step guidance that you need to achieve the lifestyle of your dreams.

18:07Visit uncommonsuccessbook.com to order your copy today, and I'll catch you there or on the flip side. DTC Pod, hosted by Ramon Berrios and Blaine Bolas, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. DTC Pod is a podcast about all things direct to consumer. Ramon and Blaine cover everything from starting, growing, and optimizing e-commerce stores in DTC brands. If you're interested in the stories behind your favorite consumer brands, this podcast is for you. One recent episode on how the best brands are built is a must listen. Listen to DTC pod wherever you get your podcasts.