Plaxo's Personal Card: Thoughts After Two Months as CEO

[03.25.05] Thoughts After Two Months as CEO

Before I started the job, my wife gave me a book written specifically for new CEOs. I forget the exact title (the book itself is now in the seat pocket of an airplane somewhere over the Midwest), but it was something like, �How to Avoid Screwing Up in Your First 90 Days.� One of the book�s primary recommendations was to spend as much of the first few months as possible listening. In particular, the authors recommended that new leaders exploit the temporary luxury of uncluttered calendars and unbiased ears to speak with as many customers, employees, fans, and critics as possible.

I have tried to take that lesson to heart. Here�s what I�ve learned after two months of listening:

Plaxo�s members are an incredibly diverse group. They represent over 85 countries, and they span the gamut from college students to senior citizens.

While we have a heavy concentration of subscribers in �client-centric� positions (e.g. sales executives, small business people, financial planners, and real estate agents), we�ve also attracted loyal followings among brides-to-be, administrative assistants, ministers, and large numbers of non-profit organizations. Our members have�not surprisingly�quite different requirements for the service.

People who have been using Plaxo for a month or more tend to be happy with the product. Our mean customers satisfaction ratings are above 4.2�out of a maximum score of 5.0�on all major criteria.

However, we have a long way to go to make the initial experience better for our users. In particular, we need to do a better job of explaining the service to first time users.

Die-hard Mac users want a Mac version. Die-hard Mozilla fans want a Thunderbird Version. (We�re working on it�more in a subsequent posting.)

About 40% of Plaxo subscribers leverage the service to access their address books and calendars from multiple different e-mail accounts, and now want to use Plaxo to access their address books and calendars on their mobile phones.

We haven�t done a particularly good job of letting our subscribers know about some of our newer features (e.g. calendar synchronization, Plaxo signatures, "Click-to-Connect," etc.) Over 25% of our subscribers were unaware that these capabilities existed.

Our birthday reminder service has been extremely useful in promoting domestic tranquility. Every day, we get a number of e-mails from people who say that we have �helped them stay out of hot water� by reminding them of a colleague, friend, significant other, mother-in-law, etc. who was about to have a birthday.

An increasing number of people who are not Plaxo members are frustrated by the volume of Update Requests that they are receiving from Plaxo members. Rightly or wrongly, they perceive these requests as spam or�at best�an unwanted intrusion. We need to do a better job in enhancing their experience.

In relation to the point above, we need to establish �Plaxo Manners.� Some of our members have gotten especially enthusiastic about using our product�to the point that they will send update requests to everyone for whom they have an e-mail address, including people that they met three years ago at a conference and haven�t spoken to since. We need to do a better job of encouraging our subscribers to be thoughtful about their update requests.

In relation to the point above, there are certain categories of people (celebrities, well-known journalists) who already feel too connected, and are not looking to let even more people connect to them. For those people, we offer the ability to block Plaxo requests, but could probably do more. While I know that we could keep Paris Hilton�s address book secure, she might nevertheless find herself receiving lots of requests from people who want to be in her address book and/or felt offended that they didn�t rate as high as Ashlee Simpson or Eminem.

In short, we�ve made some great progress. However, we still have a lot of work to do. Whether you are a satisfied customer, a skeptical non-user, or something in between�I�d love to hear from you and get your suggestions.

The final two things that I�ve learned in the past two months:

I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the three people who ran the company before I got here (Rikk Carey, Todd Masonis, and Cameron Ring). They�and the whole team�got the foundations of the company right.

It takes far fewer than 90 days for a new CEO to mess up.

Ben Golub
CEO
Plaxo, Inc.

Discuss this post on our forums

Posted by Ben Golub at March 25, 2005 @ 05:28 PM | permalink

It has been a little more than two months since I joined the talented team at Plaxo as their new CEO. Not surprisingly, it�s been something of a whirlwind. I feel as if I�m already at least two years behind on my e-mail. Before I started the job, my wife gave me a book written specifically for new CEOs. I forget the exact title (the book itself is now in the seat pocket of an airplane somewhere over the Midwest), but it was something like, �How to Avoid Screwing Up in Your First 90 Days.� One of the book�s primary recommendations was to spend as much of the first few months as possible listening. In particular, the authors recommended that new leaders exploit the temporary luxury of uncluttered calendars and unbiased ears to speak with as many customers, employees, fans, and critics as possible. I have tried to take that lesson to heart. Here�s what I�ve learned after two months of listening:

Plaxo�s members are an incredibly diverse group. They represent over 85 countries, and they span the gamut from college students to senior citizens.
While we have a heavy concentration of subscribers in �client-centric� positions (e.g. sales executives, small business people, financial planners, and real estate agents), we�ve also attracted loyal followings among brides-to-be, administrative assistants, ministers, and large numbers of non-profit organizations. Our members have�not surprisingly�quite different requirements for the service.
People who have been using Plaxo for a month or more tend to be happy with the product. Our mean customers satisfaction ratings are above 4.2�out of a maximum score of 5.0�on all major criteria.
However, we have a long way to go to make the initial experience better for our users. In particular, we need to do a better job of explaining the service to first time users.
Die-hard Mac users want a Mac version. Die-hard Mozilla fans want a Thunderbird Version. (We�re working on it�more in a subsequent posting.)
About 40% of Plaxo subscribers leverage the service to access their address books and calendars from multiple different e-mail accounts, and now want to use Plaxo to access their address books and calendars on their mobile phones.
We haven�t done a particularly good job of letting our subscribers know about some of our newer features (e.g. calendar synchronization, Plaxo signatures, "Click-to-Connect," etc.) Over 25% of our subscribers were unaware that these capabilities existed.
Our birthday reminder service has been extremely useful in promoting domestic tranquility. Every day, we get a number of e-mails from people who say that we have �helped them stay out of hot water� by reminding them of a colleague, friend, significant other, mother-in-law, etc. who was about to have a birthday.
An increasing number of people who are not Plaxo members are frustrated by the volume of Update Requests that they are receiving from Plaxo members. Rightly or wrongly, they perceive these requests as spam or�at best�an unwanted intrusion. We need to do a better job in enhancing their experience.
In relation to the point above, we need to establish �Plaxo Manners.� Some of our members have gotten especially enthusiastic about using our product�to the point that they will send update requests to everyone for whom they have an e-mail address, including people that they met three years ago at a conference and haven�t spoken to since. We need to do a better job of encouraging our subscribers to be thoughtful about their update requests.
In relation to the point above, there are certain categories of people (celebrities, well-known journalists) who already feel too connected, and are not looking to let even more people connect to them. For those people, we offer the ability to block Plaxo requests, but could probably do more. While I know that we could keep Paris Hilton�s address book secure, she might nevertheless find herself receiving lots of requests from people who want to be in her address book and/or felt offended that they didn�t rate as high as Ashlee Simpson or Eminem.

Beyond the practical applications of Plaxo, it appears to serve some very basic social needs as well. One subscriber wrote that Plaxo �helped fulfill a New Year�s Resolution to stay organized and do a better job of staying in touch with the people [they] cared about.� We�re thrilled about this. On the other hand, this same person wanted us to come up with a solution to help with their other New Year�s Resolution�to lose 5 pounds. We�re not quite sure how to help with that. In short, we�ve made some great progress. However, we still have a lot of work to do. Whether you are a satisfied customer, a skeptical non-user, or something in between�I�d love to hear from you and get your suggestions. The final two things that I�ve learned in the past two months:

I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the three people who ran the company before I got here (Rikk Carey, Todd Masonis, and Cameron Ring). They�and the whole team�got the foundations of the company right.
It takes far fewer than 90 days for a new CEO to mess up.

Ben Golub CEO Plaxo, Inc. Discuss this post on our forums