Josh James, Domo's CEO, says founding a second company isn't easier. Selling Omniture was straightforward because web analytics sold itself. Domo requires consultative selling and retraining customers who confuse it with BI tools, plus higher investor expectations and pressure to recapture early-stage energy with new hires.
And any things that you thought having had a huge first success that you thought would be easier the second time that actually weren't.
Well, I thought it was easier. Easier. And you guys all know for starting companies it's not easy. And I think you just get older and more tired and still like no one's picking up the ball and running with it. You still. There's things you have to do. Yeah, I think there's higher expectations. So there's a different type of stress the first time around. No one has expectations. Everyone thinks you're gonna fail. And so it's just kind of like.
It'S comforting in the early days.
Yeah, it is. If you do, it's not a big deal. You get a badge of monitor this time around. People have expectations and they throw money at you and that's definitely nerve wracking. And I think the other big lesson or big difference is I figured if let's go get some of those same people that we worked with last time.
Yeah, getting the band back in, get.
The people that have been there, done that, and we'll upgrade in other places and get more people that have been there, done that. And then you lose that. Wonderful thing that happens in a brand new startup with brand new founders is everyone's like trying to make a name for themselves. Everyone's putting everything on the line and it's all been there, done that, and it all kind of ends at 6, 7 o' clock. And there's not the 11:30 text messages. And so we had to make sure we pulled some of those. I mean, generally speaking, younger people in and promoting them and making it their life and having that kind of energy is extremely important.
So there's the energy and then also sometimes everyone wants to get the band back together. Right. It's the easiest way to repeat lightning.
Sure.
But do you find that sometimes they only want to do things sort of the way where they were successful? Was that an issue as well? Yeah, that's what we want to do. We know how to crush it one way and the world evolves.
Well, I mean, even with me, I mean, there's things that I was sure were gonna work the same way. Yeah, there were some things I knew that we screwed up and I'm like, we've gotta improve those things. And you definitely shoot people in the head a lot faster because you've learned that lesson a million times. But there's things like we at Omniture, it was really easy to sell. It's like, do you have a website? Okay, here you need a web analytics. Yeah. And Domo's not as easy. People don't understand. They're like, well, it's bi. We're like, no, no, no, no, that's. And they're like, oh, it's BI 2.0. And I'm like, no, that's kind of like, this sucks 2.0. Because bi kind of sucked. And so it's understanding how to be much more consultative in the selling process and training the whole organization on that process is something we had to completely relearn. So that was different.
And you need different DNA in the team.
You think some DNA difference? Yes. And I think I'm really comfortable. I mean, if people come into my office, which they often do, to come and complain about somebody else on the team.
Yeah.
First thing I do is call that person, say, hey, come in here. Okay. Say it again. And, you know, it makes people uncomfortable, but they learn real quick. Like, we're not gonna walk around and complain about each other. We're gonna get in a room, we're gonna figure it out, we're gonna fight, and we're not gonna make it personal. But if you're going to come in here and say something about somebody, then that person is going to be walking in here two minutes later. But I think that's what's fun. Fighting and trying to make things win and beating the heck out of competition, and that's fun.
