Episode 415: The Tech Business is the People Business with Bill Richter

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I'm Larry Weddell. And before we get started, if you.

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Of Million Dollar Mastermind. Hey, I'm here talking, having a ball, talking with Bill Richter, and we're talking about life, we're talking about winning and his lessons on winning and being successful in the tech world, the big data storage. But it's a company, you got a service, and all of these things fall into a pattern. So, Bill, thanks for taking the time and sharing, giving us some insight behind the scene in the big weird tech business.

It's great to be here, Larry. Thanks for having me.

Now, you said something early on. I want to make a statement. I don't know if this is absolutely true, but it's kind of true. And that is, you could really say the tech business is the people business. You know, to win in the tech business. And pretty much you need to those of you all thinking about building a company and getting big, sure, you're going to start with a unique skill set and you're going to have a niche that you want work to and services you, you know, like Elon Musk, you know, high tech, you know, spaceships and electrical cars. But basically he's got to have people doing that for him. And Elon Musk is in the people business, Jeff Bezos is in the people business, and Bill Richter's in the people business. And you know how I know that? Because he told me right off the bat when they went out there to, to raise that $300 million. He said most of that goes for talent. And so it's one thing to get the talent, but it's another thing to get the talent excited and productive and then to get the talent to stay with you because they're having fun, they're accomplishing things, and all of that relates up to the leader, the enthusiasm. You say data is electricity, the new electricity. But in leadership, the electricity flows from the top.

And.

So talk about talent being what you've learned about people skills and the people working with talent and how important that is and kind of expand on that. Because I don't think people really, when they get into a business, they're thinking about all the technical stuff, you know, like I've talked to people that they come up with a new food product, you know, a new snack or a New take vegetables and you know, like veggie burgers and stuff like that. And it's, it's a lot of technical things and FDA approvals and stuff like that. But comes down to if you're going to be big, you're not going to be doing that. You're going to be working with the people that are doing that, you know, and so you got to treat people right. You've got to be able to enjoy being around people. You know the thing that you talk about how on your past thing you talked about how you got from out of your wife's, you know, reorganizing her spice cabinet, how you got into venture capitalist. It's just like by talking to people and being curious about what they're doing. You know me and I've always believed, I heard this a long time ago when people, when people talk, magic can happen. But if you're not talking, magic can't happen. But if you're talking with, especially if you're talking with motivated gung ho people and you're talking about, you know, interesting things, the sparks can fly. And that's how you really got sucked into this whole new way of life. When you started those coffees, you probably had no idea where that was going to lead you.

That's right. And you know, it's interesting because I spend my career in tech and venture capital. All my friends, at one point or another, family members will call and say, hey, I've got an amazing idea. And then they'll say, I don't want you to tell anyone around about this. It's very. Because I'm really worried. This idea, it came to me, no.

One'S ever thought of it.

And then I'll say, well, what's the idea? And they'll tell me it's something or another. And they go, what do you think.

Make you sign a non disclosure agreement before they even tell you?

Well, and I always laugh at this because, you know, some of these ideas I might think are good or sometimes I think they're done, but it doesn't really matter. What I always tell them back is, well, what are you going to do with it? And then they go, well no, no, I'm going to find somebody that's going to go build that idea. And I go, let me just be clear. Ideas are cheap. I mean we could, Larry, you and I could dream up five ideas in the next five minutes. Ideas are cheap. Execution is the hard part. And execution comes down to the people. To get back to your question, I mean it is simple as that. And I will tell you, it's the most important thing that I can do in my job. It's the most important place for me to spend my time. It's about, you got to find the right talent. And that's hard, especially in a competitive market. You got to be able to bring them into the business. You got to be able to empower them and let them do their best work. And then this is the tricky part, got to align them. Everyone has to be marching down the same direction because even really talented people that are empowered, that aren't aligned, that's a lot of turbulence over a wing. And you won't fly very high or very fast. And you're right. That is the job of a CEO or a leadership team. Team. And it's not something you just do one day and you get right. Then you put in the drawer and you say, okay, that's done. Let's get on to my next task. It is an everyday job and you got it. You will make mistakes along the way. That's kind of like tricky. Part two, you, especially people like me, you hire someone and you go, okay, this is the one. And it doesn't work out. You go, okay, that's fine. I'll deal with my mistake. But we all want to learn from it. And I want to build an organization where people kind of accept that they know we're not going to, we're not going to get everything right, but we have to get most things right. That's the way we want to think because we want folks to be able to take some risk. I tell folks it's okay to make a mistake. If you never make a mistake, you're probably not trying hard enough. So it's okay. Just learn from it. And that's going to allow us to be risk tolerant and risk taking and move quickly. But all those things, all those concepts around how ideas turn into companies and the requirement of execution and what execution really means is people. And people is all about talent and alignment, is. It's hard work. And it's the difference between what we all think of as absolutely great companies and then companies that have come with great ideas. And then you wonder, why didn't you know, why? How come I don't have a BlackBerry in my pocket? That's weird. That was a great product, but the execution wasn't there in the end.

Well, it's hard because it's fluid and, and it's, you know, every day, people, it's like, you know, I rode horses, competed for 16 years and show jumping and you know, every day the horse is a different horse. You know, it's like they say, the snow in the mountain, every day it's a different snow on the mountain. And you show up and you gotta, you gotta adapt to the horse and you show up and your people are not necessarily, they're not robots and you got to be tuned in to where they are and get them that flexibility. But it does come down to the people. And I know you'll find this as interesting as I do, is that how this has never changed and how it applies across the board. And so for example, I was in startup financial services company way back in 1975 and 78, the first expansion. We were in a couple of states and he said, okay, we're going to start expanding. So I was one of the first to expand out of Atlanta, Georgia, went up to North Carolina. And let me tell you how well funded I was. I had a yard sale two weekends in a row to raise 780 bucks to get the rental truck to pay for my move to North Carolina. Okay, So I was obviously a financial genius the way I, you know, had my finances in order and all of that.

But well, you cleaned up the balance sheet, you got liquid and yeah, that's good.

And I laugh that I say that was two of the most successful sales I ever had in my life. And I almost gave up financial services and went into the yard sale business, you know, but anyway, what. In the process of moving, we had a three year old and a five year old boy and you know, we're so stupid as parents, we're thinking, oh, move them in the school year. And you know, because we were thinking about moving in November, we're thinking, oh, this could be disruptive to their, you know, their psyche and everything. Maybe we should wait to the end of the year and do it like that. And this when we talked to their, the principal of the school or something like that, he said, look, if the parents are happy, the kids are going to be happy. You know, they'll adjust. You know, they said, but when you're looking for a school up in North Carolina, because we were asking what kind of schools look for private, public, this or the other with a. And they said, here's the thing about a school, the school doesn't really matter. What matters is the teacher who will be teaching them inside the school. And that's what we're talking about here, right? I mean, because you can start, you know, you can spend the millions of dollars you got the service you got the equipment, you got this, you have the marketing campaign, but then you got somebody in charge of running that thing and they're a dude. Your business is going to be a dud. It all comes down to the people at the end of the day on the execution standpoint. And execution is the key to making any idea work. And I'm sure you've seen that time and time again.

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Oh, yeah, absolutely. And you know, I think a misconception is as a CEO, you're like, okay, well my job is to hire really good people, then tell them all what to do. And you know, that that doesn't quite work. In fact, you know, I'll tell you a little story. Like my VP of engineering here at Cumulo, the great Molly Brown, when I joined the company, was kind of a mid level manager and I got to Cumulo and I, and I started rattling off all of my, you know, brilliant ideas. And she goes, you know, she pulled me aside and said, you know, what you're saying is idiotic and here's why. And I just like looked at her and I thought, that is a future leader of this company. And so you got to be willing to surround you when you, that's the thing. When you hire really smart, passionate people, you got to listen to them too. And, and that takes a little bit of vulnerability, right? Because when you first become CEO, I go, well, I have to, I got to know what I'm saying and be right a lot and all that. And you go, kinda, you gotta know how to listen too. And look, this is, I'd like to say all that. Well, there's a framework and some rows and columns and just tick off all these things. It's a lot of art to this. And like you said, Larry, it's always changing the slopes, the snow and the slopes are different every day. You overlay a global pandemic. People change where they are in their lives and their personal situations. And you know, the thing is, and you got to be able to adjust.

Yeah. And well run companies grow. You know, a well run company is going to grow and growth creates problems. You got to get new people, you got new facilities, you got to get new every pretty. In fact, that's the job of a leader, to outgrow what you've got now because you're so incredibly successful. But what's unsaid about that is that you're going to create all kind of new challenges or you're going to, you know, you're going to stall out. And so the, that's, you know, that's why people look at successful people like yourself and they say, you know, Bill, why, you know, okay, not retire, but why don't you find something else to do? Take a hobby. You know, why are you pushing so hard? Why are you working so long? Why are you putting yourself through this? And what they don't, you know, because they don't understand how much fun it is to make things happen and to go where no one's gone before. You know, you're competing against the Goliaths out there. You know, you're competing against the guys who fund American cup sailboats, Oracle, you know. Yeah, you're out there competing against Oracle. And it's fun, you know, and to do those things where people don't expect it never been done before. What part of the country are you in?

I'm based in Seattle, Washington. I grew up in Los Angeles.

Okay. And so it's just fun to be able to do this because the satisfaction is as long as you don't have to. And as long as you, you know what, people retire from things that are bad. They've got bad situations, they've got a bunch of bad things that they can't control. They got bad people that they can't get rid of. Pressure that won't go away, you can't live up to it. But they don't retire from things that are fun. And that's growing. And part of that is making more money. The company's making more money, you're making more money. Everybody's growing. Because when you grow, you can get promotions, you can get pay raises and this, that and the other. And so when they say, why are you so driven, you lunatic? Why don't you back off? And you say, well, yeah, my people are really going to love it when I back off. And all of a sudden we can't get pay raises next year or we have to lay off some people, all because you gave me that crappy advice about why Don't I back off. Because what Also speak to this, you can't grow unless you're giving it everything you've got. I used to tell people, you cannot. I said, I don't know how good you could be, but I'll tell you this, you can't piddle your way to the top. You can't just piddle along and all of a sudden, hey, I did something great. If you're going to do something great, it's because you locked in on it and you made every effort you could think of and got all the help you could get to pull it off. Because greatness requires all the leverage you can muster to make it happen. And that's why it's great. Otherwise it'd just be average, you know. And so speak about that.

Well, first of all, I think, I mean, absolutely, Larry. I mean, if you're going to ask people to give 150% to the business you got as their leader, you got to be given 250%. And. And by the way they look, every little thing you do gets amplified a lot, much more than you might think, actually, you know, oh, you yawned in that meeting. I go, I'm sorry, I was up late. No, but when you yawned, I didn't know. So, like, I've become cognizant of that over the years. And yeah, you got to be in first, out last. You got to be willing to do, get into it with them, get into the details. Like I tell our salesforce, I go, hey, you're going to go on a brand new first time prospecting call with a customer. Let's get down there and do that together. They go, no, no, I want to come in when there's this CEO kind of executive, you know, real formal, high level thing. I go, well, that's nice, that would be fun, but actually be kind of boring for me. I want to see what it's like to do your job. I tell our customer success, we have unbelievably strong customer success scores. Like customer satisfaction scores, they're off the charts. But I tell our customer success team, I go, hey, give me a really hairy escalation where a customer, for whatever reason might be real upset. They go, no, you don't want to listen. I go, no, I do, I do. I want to see how you manage that. I'm going to learn something from that customer that is upset and then that's going to influence the decisions I get to make. But you got to be willing to do that as a leader. I see some folks that sort of ride high, kind of high altitude over their organizations and sort of look down from the ivory tower. And I think either you got a really unbelievable organization that runs itself or you're just not doing your job. And. And even if you have that great organization, I wonder how long it's going to last if that's the way you operate. And then you think to yourself, well, how. But what about for the CEO? When do they kind of run out of gas? But people like me, that's what that is our fuel. That's what we live for. I just, I can't. I mean, this job is not a charity. I'd like to make money, but honestly, I don't even think about it. I come from just the love of building stuff, and that's a unique beast. And it's weird and it's probably a bit dysfunctional and I'll probably spend some later years in therapy over it, but that's who I am.

Fantastic. Well said, Bill. Thanks so much for your time. It's flown by. Before we do it, let me ask you how. How about the name? How did you find out the name Cumulo? You said there's an interesting story behind the name of the company.

Well, one of our founders, the great Pete Godman, is a brilliant scientist, an MIT grad, and studied Latin in high school. And he was thinking about starting this company and it had to do with data and data storage in the cloud. And if you parse that name Cumulo, that. That's. There's a cumulus cloud. That's a type of cloud. It's kind of a stacked cloud that has many layers to it. That's right. Of Latin and so. And cumulus. That type of cloud is a stacking of things. It's kind of like where the word accumulate comes from. So if you kind of parse it all apart as data accumulates and it reaches up to the cloud, you put all that together and the name Cumulo came out. And everything at Cumulo inside the company now is branded Q. We have a cloud Q product and the server queue and we have cumulons and we have kudos with a queue. Everything is always with a queue.

And that's perfect for branding. I mean, that's brilliant. Unbelievable. And thankful I'll remember it. Easier for me to remember now. And it didn't take you 30 seconds to tell the story.

And now you or I didn't take Latin in high school and I'm just guessing that, but I'm speaking for myself. But now we know a little.

I did it, but of course I forgot everything quickly and along with all the Spanish. But would you like to leave with the last word for everybody?

Yeah, I'll just leave with a word just about sort of people and humanity. You know, I've, I've, I've watched our. I am enormously optimistic about our community here in Seattle, about our country, and it's been a really tough time. And what I see, though, is a lot of people starting to be optimistic about the future and kind of working together more and kind of taking care of each other more. We've just had so many people that have struggled either because of the pandemic or because of economic stuff. And I see people sort of getting past that together, and I like it. I don't think we're doing enough of it, but I see really good green shoots. And so as everyone listen to this podcast and I just encourage everybody to kind of think about how you can help somebody else today. I think we'll be better off as a, as a result.

And of course, you have certainly done that with, by being so open and taking the time to share today. And look, I'm going to look forward to checking in with you down the road and hearing about the incredible success that you're getting ready to have. And I want to thank you for your example of entrepreneurship, which in leadership, which goes beyond just words. And I know there is a vast army of families and people that you are impacting in a positive way. And it's going to go on for, you know, the thing is that, you know, there's so many people that look at us when we're in a leadership position, Bill, and you got eyes on you everywhere you go, just like you said. And so to be able to stand for something solid is a big darn deal and you're doing a great job of it. Thank you so much. Appreciate you sharing.

I look already looking for the next time and maybe we'll hit the slopes one day up there in your neck of the woods.

If you enjoyed what you've heard and are dead serious about finding out for yourself exactly how this works you in the real world. I've taken the most valuable business lessons I've learned over 40 years and put them into something for you to watch. Go to Whiteellumwinning.com webinar now in order to move up as fast as possible. I'm Larry Wydell and I run the Million Dollar Mastermind. Go, go, go.