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Pets.com CEO: The Five Big Mistakes That Changed My Life and How I Moved Past Them

90 points by jkopelman 18y ago

mixmax 18y ago
How unique and courageous to see someone that has had a very public failure talk so honestly about it. I wish there were more people with that kind of guts. Lots of respect to Julie Wainwright...
- jackchristopher 18y ago
  There's a temptation to resist talking about failure. It's easy to think that you'll retain your self-image (or tribal status), but that's not usually the case. Openness actually helps when you fail publicly. You gain status, so to speak. But how do you strike a balance? It's probably better to err towards openness. But I do find that revealing too much feels draining.
Eliezer 18y ago
"Mystics might say I am entering a new seven-year cycle. I kind of think that's true because I believe there are universal laws and truths. I do know I have been on a journey." Well, she hasn't learned any lessons about trying to get away with sloppy thinking whenever she thinks she won't get called on it.
- mechanical_fish 18y ago
  You don't think your way out of crushing depression. It's not about logic.
  - stcredzero 18y ago
    You can think your way deeper into one, though.
tonystubblebine 18y ago
Read her bio at the bottom. If that's failure, sign me up!
- pchristensen 18y ago
  Funny that with all that (decades of success and one public fiasco), she still wasn't happy. That's a great lesson that all the success in the world made her overweight and with a crumbling marriage, but a humiliating public crash caused her to find herself and joy in life. I wish her the best, and it sounds like she's going to get it.
t0pj 18y ago
"I had people laugh in my face when I introduced myself for years after the company closed." Julie, On behalf of everyone here at HN, you are welcome here anytime. You will have the last laugh, I'm sure. :)
aswanson 18y ago
Pets.com pulled its Sock out of the pack, created an enduring brand and achieved over revenue of $46M in just nine months in 2000. Amazing.
- nostrademons 18y ago
  It's pretty easy to make $46M by spending $110M, which is what Pets.com did. The rest of Julie's career is pretty impressive - I remember playing with You Don't Know Jack in high school and finding it pretty entertaining. But Pets.com was basically an ill-conceived disaster.
Fuca 18y ago
It is amazing how the crowd thinks in waves good or bad, everybody kills for an ipod, everybody hates or loves the same things, we belive more in general opinion than in our own opinions.
- dangoldin 18y ago
  True. Maybe it's some survival instinct. When everyone is running from the tiger maybe you should start running too.
- azharcs 18y ago
  Its called "Wisdom of the Crowds".
  - brianr 18y ago
    Going with the flow could hardly be called "wisdom".
ojbyrne 18y ago
Frankly I found the narcissism a little off-putting. Lately It seems to be the main requirement for being a CEO. Among other things: - She couldn't check the spelling of "Visacalc"(sic)? - Titling every second paragraph with "How I moved on" - just asks to have the phrase ", leaving wreckage in my wake" after it. - "feed my soul" - "I rented funny movies" So now you're basically competing with every stay at home mom for work at home plans. - "And I lived in that space for too long" Space? If it was that difficult, couldn't you have learned to talk like a real person, rather than an executive drone. - "I respond to visual goals, so I did a vision board: I took white poster board and I pasted pictures and phrases that represented my goals." - so now you're competing with elementary school students. - "I mean, I wasn’t crying every day nor did I drive to the Golden Gate Bridge and contemplate jumping." - so she actually lives in the Bay Area - which has massive support systems for failed entrepreneurs and giant egos. Boo fucking hoo. Now if she goes on and actually does something great with smartnow.com I'll eat my words. Till then I'll repeat "Boo fucking hoo." And I'll pose a question - when pets.com was crashing down around her ears, how much money did she walk away with? Apparently enough to not work till several years later, for starters.
- bprater 18y ago
  Having a bad day? There are many lessons to be learned in life. You may not resonate with her but the lessons she has learned are universal.
  - nostrademons 18y ago
    I dunno - I also found the article to be really heavy on platitudes and light on real advice. It basically boiled down to one mistake - "I took it personally and started wallowing in self-pity" - and one piece of advice - "Get over it." And ironically, her advice almost makes it seem like she hasn't taken her own advice, because the article is all about her. I was kinda hoping for some mistakes she made running the business and what she's learned from them.
    - pchristensen 18y ago
ars 18y ago
From wikipedia: [after the company shut down], CEO Julie Wainwright received $235,000 in severance on top of a $225,000 "retention payment" while overseeing the closure. At least she felt bad about what happened.
- fallentimes 18y ago
  There's no way ~$450,000 is worth going through what she did.
  - astine 18y ago
    Money can't buy happiness, but it helps. (It certainly gives you the freedom to pursue happiness and do so comfortably.) I suppose that by the time you reach that level of seniority, it ceases being your primary concern, or even a real source of comfort.
    - azharcs 18y ago
      Like Stephen Colbert says - Money can't buy you happiness, but it can buy you stuff which makes you happy. ;)
ltbarcly 18y ago
What qualifies her to be CEO of any company? It's like executives have a career ratchet, they can only go up, and once they are CEO of one company, they sortof just refuse to do anything they are actually qualified for. This woman is an idiot, and running companies into the ground is not a qualification to get another shot at doing it.

90 points by jkopelman 18y ago

How unique and courageous to see someone that has had a very public failure talk so honestly about it. I wish there were more people with that kind of guts. Lots of respect to Julie Wainwright...

jackchristopher 18y ago
There's a temptation to resist talking about failure. It's easy to think that you'll retain your self-image (or tribal status), but that's not usually the case. Openness actually helps when you fail publicly. You gain status, so to speak. But how do you strike a balance? It's probably better to err towards openness. But I do find that revealing too much feels draining.

Eliezer 18y ago

"Mystics might say I am entering a new seven-year cycle. I kind of think that's true because I believe there are universal laws and truths. I do know I have been on a journey." Well, she hasn't learned any lessons about trying to get away with sloppy thinking whenever she thinks she won't get called on it.

mechanical_fish 18y ago
You don't think your way out of crushing depression. It's not about logic.
- stcredzero 18y ago
  You can think your way deeper into one, though.

tonystubblebine 18y ago

Read her bio at the bottom. If that's failure, sign me up!

pchristensen 18y ago
Funny that with all that (decades of success and one public fiasco), she still wasn't happy. That's a great lesson that all the success in the world made her overweight and with a crumbling marriage, but a humiliating public crash caused her to find herself and joy in life. I wish her the best, and it sounds like she's going to get it.

t0pj 18y ago

"I had people laugh in my face when I introduced myself for years after the company closed." Julie, On behalf of everyone here at HN, you are welcome here anytime. You will have the last laugh, I'm sure. :)

aswanson 18y ago

Pets.com pulled its Sock out of the pack, created an enduring brand and achieved over revenue of $46M in just nine months in 2000. Amazing.

nostrademons 18y ago
It's pretty easy to make $46M by spending $110M, which is what Pets.com did. The rest of Julie's career is pretty impressive - I remember playing with You Don't Know Jack in high school and finding it pretty entertaining. But Pets.com was basically an ill-conceived disaster.

Fuca 18y ago

It is amazing how the crowd thinks in waves good or bad, everybody kills for an ipod, everybody hates or loves the same things, we belive more in general opinion than in our own opinions.

dangoldin 18y ago
True. Maybe it's some survival instinct. When everyone is running from the tiger maybe you should start running too.
azharcs 18y ago
Its called "Wisdom of the Crowds".
- brianr 18y ago
  Going with the flow could hardly be called "wisdom".

ojbyrne 18y ago

Frankly I found the narcissism a little off-putting. Lately It seems to be the main requirement for being a CEO. Among other things: - She couldn't check the spelling of "Visacalc"(sic)? - Titling every second paragraph with "How I moved on" - just asks to have the phrase ", leaving wreckage in my wake" after it. - "feed my soul" - "I rented funny movies" So now you're basically competing with every stay at home mom for work at home plans. - "And I lived in that space for too long" Space? If it was that difficult, couldn't you have learned to talk like a real person, rather than an executive drone. - "I respond to visual goals, so I did a vision board: I took white poster board and I pasted pictures and phrases that represented my goals." - so now you're competing with elementary school students. - "I mean, I wasn’t crying every day nor did I drive to the Golden Gate Bridge and contemplate jumping." - so she actually lives in the Bay Area - which has massive support systems for failed entrepreneurs and giant egos. Boo fucking hoo. Now if she goes on and actually does something great with smartnow.com I'll eat my words. Till then I'll repeat "Boo fucking hoo." And I'll pose a question - when pets.com was crashing down around her ears, how much money did she walk away with? Apparently enough to not work till several years later, for starters.

bprater 18y ago
Having a bad day? There are many lessons to be learned in life. You may not resonate with her but the lessons she has learned are universal.
- nostrademons 18y ago
  I dunno - I also found the article to be really heavy on platitudes and light on real advice. It basically boiled down to one mistake - "I took it personally and started wallowing in self-pity" - and one piece of advice - "Get over it." And ironically, her advice almost makes it seem like she hasn't taken her own advice, because the article is all about her. I was kinda hoping for some mistakes she made running the business and what she's learned from them.
  - pchristensen 18y ago

ars 18y ago

From wikipedia: [after the company shut down], CEO Julie Wainwright received $235,000 in severance on top of a $225,000 "retention payment" while overseeing the closure. At least she felt bad about what happened.

fallentimes 18y ago
There's no way ~$450,000 is worth going through what she did.
- astine 18y ago
  Money can't buy happiness, but it helps. (It certainly gives you the freedom to pursue happiness and do so comfortably.) I suppose that by the time you reach that level of seniority, it ceases being your primary concern, or even a real source of comfort.
  - azharcs 18y ago
    Like Stephen Colbert says - Money can't buy you happiness, but it can buy you stuff which makes you happy. ;)

ltbarcly 18y ago

What qualifies her to be CEO of any company? It's like executives have a career ratchet, they can only go up, and once they are CEO of one company, they sortof just refuse to do anything they are actually qualified for. This woman is an idiot, and running companies into the ground is not a qualification to get another shot at doing it.