Oct 29 2007
More ISPCON Notes: Douglas J. Erwin Day Two Keynote
Technically, ISPCON ended 10 days ago. However, since that 10-day period includes two weekends and five days of very enjoyable vacationing, I would prefer if you considered the interval between my accounts of the event something more like one day.
One of the standout presentations in a session that included two out-of-the-ordinary keynotes was the day-two keynote delivered by Douglas J. Erwin, CEO of The Planet.
Erwin’s stint as head of the company coincided with the investment by GI Partners that led to the merger between The Planet and EV1 Servers, and the injection of a little bit more big-business culture at The Planet.
That is not to say that the company was poorly run before GI Partners, or before Erwin, but to address the common occurrence that Web hosting companies built by tech specialists are often built around that special expertise first and foremost, rather than according to more old-fashioned business principles.
This is the are a mostly addressed by Erwin, who skipped the standard esoteric hosting theorizing and sales pitch and instead offered quite a candid discussion of what he intends to accomplish with The Planet.
Like the previous days keynote (given by Cogent’s Dave Schaeffer), Erwin’s address had that sort of impact that had attendees nodding thoughtfully. He described a world of “geeks” and “suits,” differing –but not necessarily conflicting – backgrounds that have to be reconciled in moving a Web hosting business forward.
He willingly described himself as a “suit,” and somebody who has been working to learn about Web hosting since he became the head of one of the business’s biggest players. Fortunately, he says, he’s surrounded by people who really understand Web hosting. Maybe that’s where those old-fashioned business principles begin to kick in.
One of the challenges facing Web hosts, says Erwin, is a limited talent pool in which to find employees, and a circumstance that sees those employees following new opportunities from job to job. Among the more interesting projects he described at The Planet was an effort to create a company where employees would be excited about coming to work in the morning and that they would think of as a place to build a career.
Rarely did he talk about technology. He talked about dealing with customers. Asking them if the company is doing a good job, or for suggestions on what the company could do differently, and how. One of the points he tried to drive home is The Planet’s determination to watch whether it is succeeding using tangible metrics, which enable the company to improve.
Those points of focus, customers and employees, were visible in the examples he used, showing the company’s new facilities, and the customer service practices being put in place.
The folks I talked to seemed to feel like they’d left the keynote with something to think about, which is probably the mark of a good presentation. It will be interesting to see if they can identify the places where the old-fashioned business principles fit into their businesses.
