They were convinced a grown up company had to have a balanced scorecard, arguably the worst idea to ever come out of academia. There is performance upside everywhere. We need to sort out what is truly important, and what isn’t, and when. But this whole Snowflake exercise … Each quarter we would fund the pool, depending how well we did that period. And think nothing of it. It is easy to differentiate yourself by changing cycle times because few bother to do it. But no CEO has a better track record of turning the ideas of others into jackpots. (Bloomberg) -- Blackstone Group Inc. named Snowflake Inc. Chief Executive Officer Frank Slootman as a senior adviser.Slootman, who’s retaining his post at the software maker, … People say they want focus, but their actions do not bear it out, quite the opposite. Frank Slootman is Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Snowflake, Inc. Snowflake CEO Frank Slootman is the toast of the big data community, and following the $3.4 billion IPO, a favorite on Wall Street too. Forbes reports that Slootman became a billionaire with a net worth of $1.8 billion in September 2020 as Snowflake shares soared 115% in the IPO. When it came time to separate with a person, it was a lot easier, cheaper and quicker when there was a below-average bonus history. It is a performance ‘triad’ because they amplify each other. Sure sign of an entitlement culture. I also did not make public statements about anything that did not relate directly to what we do. They asked, and we told them. I've often felt that providence moves, too, when you un-clutter priorities. They are the ultimate passengers. Not everybody will come along. ServiceNow had a relentless ‘get shit done’ culture and they were proud of it. Everybody knows who they are, and performance eventually is addressed. It is breathtaking how slow, substandard and unfocused many companies out there get through the day. Most teams are not focused enough. The point was to change people’s sense of urgency. You will find out who your keepers are, and some who are not. These were in lieu of written performance reviews. The question is how you go about amping up your organization. “It’s really going to reduce the real estate footprint that … Investors were obviously in violent agreement. Data Domain and ServiceNow hired you on merit, not because you checked a box. What are you not going to do? Culturally, they hung together and were like-minded. Performance-centric thinking like this doesn't trend well with prevailing attitudes. The lack of energy is palatable. After a slight summer lull, Covid-19 was resurgent, which meant that rather … Each employee had a money conversation each quarter with their manager relating to performance. You simply can't move very fast when you are pushing on too many fronts at the same time. They coddle their people. It is not easy because you will drive people out of their comfort zones. We insisted on a bell shaped distribution. Bill and Melinda Gates — Largest Private Farmland Owners in the U.S. For example, at Pure Storage, Slootman met Mike Speiser of Sutter Hill Ventures. The shock to the system will be profound, or you are perhaps not taking it far enough. Therein lies a problem: people can typically tell you after some deliberation what their top three priorities are, but they struggle to decide on just one. Anybody can dial into this, but not many do. When stepping up the pace, inevitably excuses are made about quality. It was an easy call when spending proposals came forward that had no discernible relationship with the mission. Too big a shock to their system. Slootman admits that he wasn't seeking new opportunities after retiring. B players need to be pared: they either become A players, or they become C players and get flushed out. "It's really going to reduce the real estate footprint that companies have," Snowflake CEO Frank Slootman … ... More from Frank Slootman … At the end of the month? B y Labor Day, it had become clear that Frank Slootman's third initial public offering would not be like the other two. They start doing things differently. You do it in every single conversation, meeting, and encounter. My job as a CEO was to increase the value of the franchise. Our companies were built and run for performance, full stop. It goes against our human grain. We are not a university or a non-profit, this is a business. That’s because I was appointed to work for the investors (which included our employees). We did not always pay full bonuses and I would personally explain why in our quarterly all hands meetings. How much higher are your standards? If you have ever worked in or with government, you have seen extreme examples of this. Still, I am also seeing leaders swarm to this, dramatically amp up their org, produce amazing results and never look back. Ask yourself at the end of a work week: did it really, really matter that I was there? There was a mixture of being intrigued but fearing the perceived fall out. We can’t possibly move this fast, and maintain quality? He’s thrifty. Data Domain took in $28M of net capital and 6 years later returned $2.4B to shareholders. Most everybody subscribes to the notion of a so-called 'performance culture', even claim to have one, but few appreciate what that means, what that takes, and what you have to give up. In 2009, he helped facilitate the Data Domain acquisition to EMC worth $2.4 billion. Leaders are the energy bunnies and pacemakers of the organization. It can’t be a surprise when they progress at snails pace. You need an energetic cast that wants to let it rip. Do less, at a time. It struck them as unduly hard-assed and they feared backlash, people walking out the door, and so on. As the former CEO of both Data Domain and ServiceNow, two successful tech companies in recent years, I am often confronted with questions: what did you guys do? I have nothing against 'diversity and inclusion' as long as it results from our goal-oriented modes of execution. Don’t we all want to be insanely great? Many people and organizations are focused a mile wide and an inch deep. There was nothing more important than making customers successful. Call it what you want, the X factor, whatever, it is real. “Data Domain is still the proudest set of moments in my career because we just built something out of nothing.” Frank … Frank Slootman was born on October 3, 1958, and is 61 years old as of September 2020. It’s not defying gravity, it’s beating reams of slack out of the system. We procrastinate on that by declaring multiple priorities. When you narrow focus, you are increasing the resourcing on the remaining priority. A leader can ignite a culture, but the management ranks need to embrace it, or the energy will not reverberate through the org. Similarly, we ran the companies for attracting and retaining talent, regardless of gender, race or ethnic origin. From what we have known, Frank Slootman is married to his wife Brenda Lynne Slootman. Our companies were all Marine Corps, not much Peace Corps. On the surface, the book covers the Silicon Valley's history. Now the 3x IPO veteran is exclusively sharing his … Work from home is the new norm!! Frank Slootman speaking about WFH and how companies can recruit new employees from a larger geographic region. Channel your inner Steve Jobs. Our board fought me on this. Emerging companies like ours fought giant incumbents for their existence every single day. We had some new hires quit in a matter of weeks, confessing they could not handle the pace and intensity at ServiceNow. What is the secret sauce? Until the pressure is on, we don’t even know how much better and faster we can be. In the October quarter, we saw improving unit economics, operating efficiency, and cash flow. Somebody would ask me if he could get back to me about something next week, and I would reply ‘how about tomorrow morning? We valued people for their contribution to our goal, not because they had a preferred skin color, gender or ethnic background. Select Accept cookies to consent to this use or Manage preferences to make your cookie choices. Makes us sound thoughtful and comprehensive, but it completely lacks punch and impact. Source: Snowflake, Snowflake Inc. Facebook, How to Invest in Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin Spaceflight Company, How Bill Ackman's Stock Portfolio Scored a 70 Percent Return in 2020, Amazon Stock Split in 2021 Might Help Bezos Beat Musk. High performance organizations exhibit leadership coming from all directions, it is not an exclusively top-down phenomenon. With hindsight and reflection, there are observations worth making that may benefit others. In fact, he helped coin the very term "data cloud." When Mr. Slootman, now aged 61, saw Data Domain Corp. through its public debut in 2007, the data-storage company’s shares opened with a 33% premium to their IPO price. Frank has over 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur and executive in the enterprise software industry. It has a compound effect on productivity. ServiceNow internally advocated employees being drivers, not passengers. We were singleminded in our pursuit of goals, and drove our people to become the best version of themselves. We were in a shit fight all the time. It is just a different mode of getting up and going to work in the morning. You don’t have to work at it as much anymore as everybody operates at a cadence the organization generally expects. Only the second cloud software company, after Salesforce, to hit a billion dollars in revenues, ServiceNow reached two billion dollars in revenue just two years later. You will be immensely popular when good results come in. Anybody, anytime can decide to be a leader. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. As a leader, your opportunity is to reset in each of these dimensions. Then, you relentlessly follow up and prosecute at every turn. It is not that we worried about bonuses for substandard performers, but that we were under-bonusing our A players. And the best people do. It's tough for a manager to have performance compensation conversations which each employee every quarter. A polite way of saying that it was total shit. “The period was marked by continued … They exude energy. The workflow software company relies on a cloud computing platform to function. As founder and CEO of Snowflake, Frank Slootman, has had a first-hand look at the rise of the data cloud. In our case, the company had to earn it first, so that the bonus pool could be funded. Prior to his role with Snowflake, Slootman was an executive for a company called ServiceNow. We could sometimes hear a pin drop as people internalized these modes of execution. We would agree, because we are going to move faster and raise quality. Customers had to sing our praises, really feel we had their backs. Sounds simple? How much faster do you run? However, the details of his conjugal life are known to few. Also, his fresh billionaire status doesn't mean much to him. If you want to be popular as a leader, this may not be for you. The fastest way to move a dial is narrow the focus. Snowflake is the third CEO gig for the Dutch-born Slootman in less than 20 years. By using this site, you agree to this use. Slootman was born in Holland and attended Erasmus University Rotterdam. One place where we stood out was our commitment to the customer. Employees have grown up in companies where bonuses are not really earned, they are counted on so much they may as well be part of the base pay. Now, Speiser owns one-fifth of Snowflake. We did not come in peace. Bottom line: There is room up in organizations to boost performance by amping up the pace and intensity. How did you do it? He has also been on various companies' boards. Up to this point, I have talked about 'leaders' driving these modes of execution. Slootman, formerly chief executive of ServiceNow (), expects the Covid-19 crisis to throw light on cloud projects.Many companies are scrambling to set up work-from-home arrangements for … Another one of his passions (besides software) is sailing. Few things drive home a performance culture like the compensation philosophy. It made them uneasy. There is no urgency about anything, other than quitting time. Might be completely unreasonable, did not matter. Mr. Slootman is currently the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of … Frank’s wife, Brenda, who is also 61 years old, is the Vice President and Secretary of the Slootman … We made a lot of money for our people, and we delivered more social justice this way than we ever could have, pursuing other people's ideas of that. Snowflake’s Frank Slootman doesn’t start companies. It was a storage business with software margins. Our companies ran at higher velocity, with higher standards and a narrower focus than most. Log jams get broken when you sift through the reams of activities and you create fewer and clearer objectives. There is no middle ground, Steve took it away. “This whole notion that the office is your workday home, we realize that is nonsense,” Snowflake CEO Frank Slootman told CNBC. It is hard to maintain such standards, but our culture had it deeply ingrained. I'm a huge bull on the opportunity in this country, I just can't help it because I've lived that.". 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