Conference Presentation, Fireside Chat, Interview
Selina Tobaccowala at the Female Founders Conference 2016
- Selina Teece is departing SurveyMonkey after six and a half years as CTO and President to co-found a new venture with her original Evite co-founder, Al, 19 years after launching Evite at age 21.
- SurveyMonkey's scale under Teece's leadership grew from 20 employees to approximately 600, with revenue increasing six-fold to $200 million and EBITDA reaching $70 million.
- Teece advises founders to consider global expansion and localization (languages, currencies, and Android vs. iOS ecosystems) from the very first day of design to avoid costly retrofitting.
- She emphasizes embedding a culture of A/B testing and quantitative/qualitative data analysis into the product and organizational DNA, citing Evite's viral coefficient improvements through simple UX changes.
- Her advice on board composition stresses recruiting independent members early to provide mentorship and balance the influence of venture capitalists who control funding and potential termination.
- To effectively lead scaling technical teams, she recommends embedding business analysts on engineering teams and providing regular readouts on the business impact of specific features to maintain engineer engagement.
- Teece selected SurveyMonkey based on four criteria: the people (specifically CEO Dave Goldberg), the product mission, personal learning goals, and life stage; she accepted the offer despite being pregnant at the time due to the company's family-first culture.
- Following the death of Dave Goldberg 11 months prior to the interview, she notes the critical role of leadership in navigating grief, attributing the successful transition to a philosophy of promoting from within and hiring those who believe in the mission.
- Regarding capital markets, Teece views current tightening as a positive signal that funding is reserved for well-vetted ideas, and she advises founders to avoid the "stealth" mindset, advocating for early customer validation and market sizing.
- Her process for vetting new ideas involves rapid prototyping and speaking with a high volume of consumers or business partners to achieve product-market fit before building a full product.
- She defines company culture through granular operational details, including compensation structures (market-based vs. performance-based), vacation policies, and behavioral interview questions designed to filter out toxic personalities ("no assholes").
- Building a family-friendly startup requires setting clear quarterly milestones and goals while trusting employees to manage their own schedules, a model she exemplified by working late hours to ensure morning family time.
- Reflecting on her time at Evite, she identifies the decision to raise $37 million for online invitations as a missed opportunity to focus on revenue generation and maintaining control, urging founders to prioritize positive gross margins.