#QuotableMoment with Ryan Smith of Qualtrics on Building Brand

Name: #QuotableMoment with Ryan Smith of Qualtrics on Building Brand
Uploaded: 2019-02-26T17:28:44+00:00
Duration: 1 min 27 s
Channel: Jason M. Lemkin
Description: In this #QuotableMoment clip, Ryan Smith, co‑founder of Qualtrics, recounts the company’s early growth philosophy and later media strategy. He explains…

26 Feb 2019 · 1 min

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1:27

In this #QuotableMoment clip, Ryan Smith, co‑founder of Qualtrics, recounts the company’s early growth philosophy and later media strategy. He explains that for the first decade Qualtrics focused solely on building a product and scaling revenue, reaching $50 million in sales without a single media interview. After establishing solid traction, the company deliberately entered the media spotlight, appearing on CNBC, Forbes, Fortune, and other outlets to support recruiting, fundraising, and market positioning. Smith shares an anecdote about closing a major deal with SAP shortly after the IPO, noting that despite extensive press coverage, many people still hadn’t heard of Qualtrics. He concludes with advice for founders: prioritize building a strong, sustainable business before relying on publicity, as marketing alone won’t make the company known.

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Everything we ever wanted to do or pivot the company or get away from surveys, which, you know, in 2007 we're like, whoa, this is way bigger, we could do it under the Qualtrics umbrella. And so everyone would get after us and say, well, it's not descriptive, I don't know what it is. And, you know, reality is people don't know what anything anyone's creating is. For the first 10 years, we didn't do one media interview and we got to $50 million in sales. Think about that. Then we— I feel like we put on a clinic the last 6 years. You know, I've been on CNBC 13 times, been in Forbes, Fortune, you name it. Yeah. And what was the goal of it? Just you were supposed to do it, right? You were supposed to get out there. You could recruit, you could do fundraising rounds, you could do all this stuff, and then you would arrive We close a deal with SAP. I get on the phone that night. It's myself and Bill and all the investors. First phone call, hey Bill, you spent $8 billion on a company that no one's heard of. And I was like, what the hell? 300 articles about our IPO out there. Yeah. And no one's heard of us. And so I think that as founders, and it might be helpful You know, there's this whole rationale of fundraising and marketing that you're going out there so people will know who you are. They're not going to know who you are. So just go build a good business.