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Bob Parsons has an interesting life story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Parsons http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Parsons - Grew up poor, flunked high schoo

by sayemm 12y ago

Bob Parsons has an interesting life story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Parsons http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Parsons - Grew up poor, flunked high school, enlisted in the Marines during the Vietnam War - Graduated from college, self-taught programmer at age 25 - Started Parsons Technology at 34 - Grew it to 1,000 employees and sold it for $64M at 44 - Started GoDaddy at 47 - Exited Godaddy in 2011 for $930M at age 61 (http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/blog/techflash/2014/06/godaddy-files-for-100-million-ipo-bob-parsons.html http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/blog/techflash/2014/06/go...) Great entrepreneurs never develop overnight, this game only gets better with age.

larrys 12y ago
God knows I can't find it now but I remember a story line about Bob betting the ranch and almost running out of money when he started godaddy and using the money from his previous company to fund it. And almost didn't make it (almost like a Fred Smith Fedex type story). Can't find the link right now. Another thing about Parsons (that I remember but can't link to) is that he insisted on building all his systems in house and not licensing technology or software from others which seems to have worked to his advantage.
- gmays 12y ago
  Interesting you mention Fred Smith of Fed Ex. He and Parsons were both Marines, served in Vietnam, started companies, and are now billionaires.
uptown 12y ago
You skipped the chapter where he killed the elephant.
- duaneb 12y ago
  I'm no fan of poachers, but it's pretty irrelevant to his business career. In fact I'd put money down that there's a positive correlation between successful entrepreneurs and psychopaths.
  - ansimionescu 12y ago
    You'll probably have a blast reading this (I know I did): http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-or-the-office-according-to-the-office/ http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-o...
  - uptown 12y ago
    Setting aside the killing of the animal ... his actions directly translated to thousands if not millions of domains moving from GoDaddy to competitors. Seems relevant to his career to me.
- digikata 12y ago
  You mention the elephant, but not the SOPA/PIPA support?
- bhartzer 12y ago
  and I think we skipped the part where GoDaddy is losing $200 million a year.

by sayemm 12y ago

larrys 12y ago

God knows I can't find it now but I remember a story line about Bob betting the ranch and almost running out of money when he started godaddy and using the money from his previous company to fund it. And almost didn't make it (almost like a Fred Smith Fedex type story). Can't find the link right now. Another thing about Parsons (that I remember but can't link to) is that he insisted on building all his systems in house and not licensing technology or software from others which seems to have worked to his advantage.

gmays 12y ago
Interesting you mention Fred Smith of Fed Ex. He and Parsons were both Marines, served in Vietnam, started companies, and are now billionaires.

uptown 12y ago

You skipped the chapter where he killed the elephant.

duaneb 12y ago
I'm no fan of poachers, but it's pretty irrelevant to his business career. In fact I'd put money down that there's a positive correlation between successful entrepreneurs and psychopaths.
- ansimionescu 12y ago
  You'll probably have a blast reading this (I know I did): http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-or-the-office-according-to-the-office/ http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-o...
- uptown 12y ago
  Setting aside the killing of the animal ... his actions directly translated to thousands if not millions of domains moving from GoDaddy to competitors. Seems relevant to his career to me.
digikata 12y ago
You mention the elephant, but not the SOPA/PIPA support?
bhartzer 12y ago
and I think we skipped the part where GoDaddy is losing $200 million a year.