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Executive Interview: Mark Vadon, CEO Blue Nile

Executive Interview: Mark Vadon, CEO Blue Nile. Marty Ritchie Shannon Hughes February 15, 2002. Blue Nile Background. Blue Nile created to offer best-quality diamonds and fine jewelry at reasonable prices Education and easy buying over Internet Bought out small company in SeaTac

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Executive Interview: Mark Vadon, CEO Blue Nile

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  1. Executive Interview: Mark Vadon, CEOBlue Nile Marty Ritchie Shannon Hughes February 15, 2002

  2. Blue Nile Background • Blue Nile created to offer best-quality diamonds and fine jewelry at reasonable prices • Education and easy buying over Internet • Bought out small company in SeaTac • Attracted $57 million in venture capital funding • Peaked at 132 employees in 2000 • Currently 82 employees, $50 million in revenue and profitable last quarter • All work “in-sourced” • Receives positive press as an Internet company doing thing right • Great customer service and quality merchandise

  3. Mark Vadon Biography • Co-founder who leads Blue Nile as CEO • Prior to Blue Nile, Vadon was consultant for Bain & Company, a worldwide strategy consulting firm • Extensive experience in brand marketing, strategic planning, and mergers and acquisitions • Bachelor of arts degree, magna cum laude, in social studies from Harvard and MBA from Stanford • Stumbled upon Internet Diamonds on search for engagement ring. Put together the company as “a deal transaction” then later realized he needed to run company as CEO

  4. Leadership Style • Hires the best people • CEO/COO/CFO trioka • Gives people room to run – asks questions • Lets employees make decisions • Spends 20% of time with employees • Uses mentors/asks for advice • Creates fun place to work • Employee survey cited good people to work with • Communicate the vision in three sound bites • Ties any conversation to those three goals

  5. Leadership Evolution • Gaining confidence in running organization • Understanding every aspect of business makes it easier to trust instincts • Addressing conflict more easily • Going thru layoffs • “Saving the company” • Getting help needed from outside sponsors • Learning the work and time required to establish and manage Board of Directors • How to present and manage information

  6. Leadership Learnings • Hire people you like • Complementary personality and skill set • Committed to “Grow the Business” • Use your resources • Internally - COO/CFO • Externally - Board of Directors • Be willing to change • Major company evolution over three years • Always a sales person: sales critical in the job • Selling to investors, media, employees, vendors

  7. Leadership Challenges • Initially had too much talent in a small company • Hard to keep people from becoming bored • People were stepping on each other’s toes • Managing young, talented workforce in small organization • Major retention concerns • Weathering changing dot-com environment • Balancing company size/scale with profitability and investor market whims

  8. Our Observations • Mark defined leadership as management • Jumped into defining his management team • “I had never managed more than 4-5 people” • Always talked in one of three areas • Customer focus • Cost management and margins • Grow the business • Mark could not separate himself from his job • When asked about him, most of his answers focused on the company • Just realized that “I could do this job for next 20 years”

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