Go Daddy CEO Warren Adelman spoke to the WHIR about preserving the company's culture
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Web host Go Daddy plans to advertise its cloud-based offerings in 2012 with the Pussycat Dolls, and recently rang in the holiday season with a performance by Kid Rock at an “All-American” party attended by 5,000 guests. The company’s offbeat culture is one of its trademarks, but it’s something you might expect to be a casualty of the acquisition that closed last week.
So far, it does not appear that the private equity firms that acquired the majority of Go Daddy intend to tone down its over-the-top marketing campaigns or employee benefits (guests were awarded with cash prizes in increments of $500 and $2500 at the party), but rather embrace it. While most companies prepare for cutbacks in the wake of an acquisition, Go Daddy CEO Warren Adelman says its new partners know the culture has played a significant role in its success.
The culture at Go Daddy is distinctive, and a large part of that personality can be traced back to founder Bob Parsons, a man unapologetic about his love for hunting, the Marines, and Go Daddy girls. Love him or hate him, he has created a brand that has brought web hosting and domain registration to the masses through low prices and flashy ad campaigns. According to recent stats, the company has nearly 10 million customers, manages more than 5.2 million web hosting accounts and more than 51 million domain names.
In an email interview with the WHIR, Adelman says Go Daddy’s culture “boils down” to four key components: “the customer is always number one; we are never satisfied with ourselves; working here means being part of something special; and we value hard work and individual accountability.”
The fact that the acquisition is not a full takeover – since many of Go Daddy’s employees, Parsons and Adelman included, are re-investing into the company – likely will work to preserve the culture.
“Our deal is more of a strategic financial partnership,” Adelman says. He goes on to say that his role will not change all that much aside from his title (prior to the acquisition, he was president and chief operating officer at Go Daddy).
Simon Anderson, CEO at hosting provider DreamHost, says that as long as culture is recognized as valuable, you can avoid the risk of losing it in an acquisition.
“I think there’s always a risk in any major ownership transition for not only the culture but the things that have made a company successful to not be recognized and then not prioritized which results in the company having issues long term, it’s a classic thing that happens in not only our industry, but other industries as well,” Anderson says in a phone interview with the WHIR. Anderson met Adelman while working at Affinity Internet.
“I think the good news is it’s not as if the team is changing significantly, you’ve got Warren Adelman who has been there pretty much since the beginning, who is going to be at the helm, and he understands the culture well,” Anderson says. “Also when you have big private equity firms like Silver Lake, KKR, and Technology Crossover Ventures coming in they’re very smart in that they tend to recognize that they don’t want to disrupt the value.”
Anderson was appointed in July as the first CEO of DreamHost. Four founders grew the company over the past fourteen years and Anderson says it was a big step for them to let someone in from the outside, especially when company culture was such an important aspect of its success. DreamHost is an employee-owned company and covers employees’ medical insurance and travel costs completely, has a matching 401K plan, and provides lunch two days a week, according to Anderson.
“I think that breeds a really strong commitment to the cause and that flows through to the way our people handle our customers and look after our customers and it sort of feeds itself,” Anderson says.
The company also conveys a certain irreverant personality through its blog posts and its email communications with customers.
Go Daddy has more than Pussycat Dolls planned for 2012, including expansions into Asia and increasing its English-speaking support group in Iowa. Adelman says most of the expansion in Asia will be to provide Asian customers with localized customer support.
Over the next few months Adelman says Go Daddy will launch some products and move forward with its cloud server product line as well.
“For Go Daddy, it has always been, and it will continue to be, about helping small businesses grow bigger. There’s nothing we like more than to see our customers succeed with their online presence,” he says.
About Nicole Henderson
Nicole Henderson writes full-time for the Web Host Industry Review where she covers daily news and features online, as well as in print. She has a bachelor of journalism from Ryerson University in Toronto, and has been writing for the WHIR since September 2010. You can find her on Twitter @NicoleHenderson.
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