#806: How Rich Barton Built Expedia and Zillow from $0 to $35B — Audacious Goals, Provocation Marketing, Scrabble for Naming, and Powerful Daily Rituals
Rich Barton is the co-founder and co-executive chairman of Zillow, a company transforming how people buy, sell, rent, and finance homes. Before Zillow, Rich founded Expedia within Microsoft in 1994 and successfully spun the company off as a public company in 1999. He served as president, CEO, and board director of Expedia and later co-founded and served as non-executive chairman of Glassdoor.
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Timestamps:
[00:00:00] Start.
[00:05:30] Eddy Cue magic.
[00:06:14] Rich’s morning routine and workout philosophy.
[00:13:38] How Brad Chase at Microsoft taught Rich to swing big.
[00:15:46] The failed DOS for Dummies book bundle project.
[00:18:52] Steering a company toward a culture of innovation.
[00:20:26] Rich’s journey from management consulting to Microsoft.
[00:24:34] How Expedia came to be.
[00:32:32] Pitching and recruiting team talent.
[00:37:18] Degree design at Stanford.
[00:39:45] Realizing the value of real work as a youth.
[00:41:44] A fascination with Italy.
[00:43:01] Selling Expedia to Barry Diller/IAC.
[00:43:51] Dara Khosrowshahi’s role in Expedia’s acquisition.
[00:45:23] From a post-Expedia sale sabbatical in Italy to the birth of Zillow with Lloyd Frink.
[00:55:41] “Big pond, good fishermen” as business criteria.
[00:56:50] Early Zillow mistakes.
[01:00:05] The Zestimate: Zillow’s killer feature.
[01:01:29] Making lemonade from the lemons of Zillow’s launch day server crash.
[01:03:49] Rich’s provocation marketing playbook.
[01:05:30] Regulatory battles and resistance to industry disruption.
[01:10:44] Founding Glassdoor and its “give to get” data collection model.
[01:12:58] Avvo and rating attorneys — legal challenges as marketing.
[01:16:11] Digital marketplaces and Google disintermediation concerns.
[01:19:52] How Rich names companies to be memorable.
[01:25:28] Why Rich recommends leaving fear out of the provocation marketing equation.
[01:26:48] Working with Benchmark Capital.
[01:30:37] What serving on a board looks like and Rich’s membership criteria: “Is it local? Is it fun? Is it lucrative?”
[01:39:00] Rich’s motivation and regimen for staying healthy in his 50s.
[01:47:13] Cultivating leadership through absence — the two-week disconnected trip.
[01:49:34] Building a good company by keeping good company.
[01:51:42] Developing the skill to fire people as a win/win proposition.
[01:54:41] Rich’s family tattoo design and symbolism.
[01:57:29] Advice for balancing family and professional life.
[02:01:08] The benefits of distributed workforces post-pandemic.
[02:03:23] Recommended reading.
[02:12:17] Rich’s billboard.
[02:14:25] The importance of sabbaticals and disconnecting from digital devices.
[02:17:41] Taking up Procreate digital art during COVID.
[02:19:05] Parting thoughts.
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Zillow CEO Rich Barton on branding, building in provocative industries, and more! | E1791
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Today’s show:
Rich Barton joins Jason to give a masterclass on his thought process behind creating evocative top-tier brands like Zillow, Expedia, and Glassdoor. (22:02) Rich also discusses the lessons he learned from Bill Gates during his time at Microsoft (49:22), how tech management has evolved (57:04), and more!
Rich's blog on branding: https://www.hopperanddropper.com/syllables-scrabble-letters-and-picking-brand-names
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Time stamps:
(0:00) Zillow CEO Rich Barton joins Jason
(1:58) The creation of Zillow’s Zestimate
(7:03) “Tension and Importance” and empowering people in the workplace
(13:24) Crowdbotics - Get a free scoping session for your next big app idea at crowdbotics.com/twist
(14:53) Branding and creating iconic company names
(16:53) Navigating major layoffs
(22:02) Back to building top-tier brands, “What got us here, won’t get us there”
(27:54) OpenPhone - Get 20% off your first six months at https://openphone.com/twist
(29:25) Steering the complex dynamics of startup-attorney interactions
(33:22) Defying convention to create stellar products and the effects digital currency
(37:54) Fitbod - Get 25% off at https://fitbod.me/twist
(39:23) Innovating in the real estate industry
(49:22) Lessons Rich learned from Bill Gates during his time at Microsoft
(57:04) How tech management has evolved
(1:01:27) How Covid-19 and remote work changed the landscape
(1:07:02) The concept of “iBuying”
(1:10:31) Continuous high-interest rates, “zoom towns”, and the “great reshuffling”
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Brad Gerstner and Rich Barton – Thriving in Changing Markets - [Invest Like the Best, EP.197]
My guests today are Rich Barton and Brad Gerstner. Brad is the founder of Altimeter Capital and is one of my favorite active investors. Brad and Altimeter were one of the largest investors in Snowflake in its earlier days and continue to invest in iconic modern businesses with an extreme focus. Rich has one of the most impressive resumes in the business world. He founded Expedia, Glassdoor, and Zillow; He’s a longtime Netflix board member, since before they went public; he’s a venture partner at Benchmark Capital; and he give back through the Barton family foundation. Our conversation covers Rich’s “power to the people,” strategy, Brad and Rich’s perspectives on taking companies public through SPACs vs. IPOs, and their perspectives on how to build a great company. This one is so fun, we even discuss how to come up with company names, talk about the importance Wizard of Oz, and explore the importance of big hairy audacious goals. I really enjoyed this conversation with two of the smartest people I know, and I hope you will too.
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Show Notes
(2:59) – (First question) – How Brad and Rich met
(5:57) – The instant click between them
(7:21) – The power to the people perspective
(7:29) – Brad Gerstner Podcast Episode
(10:21) – Delivering information to consumers
(11:31) – The investing perception of data-delivery businesses
(13:54) – How they use SPACs
(17:38) – How entrepreneurs view SPACs
(20:17) – Lessons from their involvement in Altimeter Growth Corp
(23:57) – Defining value add investor in the public and private markets
(26:36) – The Wizard of OZ and Pygmalions
(30:41) – Leadership mold at businesses and big audacious goals
(30:44) – No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention
(36:05) – Frank Slootman’s leadership style
(36:12) – Amp It Up
(46:13) – TAPE SUCKS: Inside Data Domain, A Silicon Valley Growth Story
(38:11) – Courage in leadership
(41:33) – Physical businesses vs digital only businesses
(43:34) – Getting companies fit
(45:39) – Lessons around talent density
(48:28) – State of the world and markets today since the inception of the pandemic
(53:46) – Making up words for companies and fertile ground
(56:45) – Go to market model vs business model
(58:50) – Early days of product market sales
(1:03:03) – Advice to early investors and entrepreneurs for the future of their careers
(1:08:10) – The board challenge
(1:12:06) – What question are they working hard to answer right now
(1:16:09) – Kindest thing anyone has done for Rich
Learn More
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club and new email newsletter called “Inside the Episode” at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag
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