Different But the Same: Day 3 – IESE Meets The Valley 2013

Today was day 3 of IESE Meets The Valley 2013: Scaling the business. Today, we met with some bigger companies or companies whose business has already taken off. We saw that after the initial stages of a company they can develop in many different ways and become quite different. However we saw that they are also still the same in some ways. Passion, perception and perseverance is something that I keep seeing again and again. Read on to find out about Day 3 of IESE Meets The valley 2013. Want more up-to-date news, quotes and pictures, check our site or Twitter #IESEmtv.

VMware vs. Nexenta

VMware was our first visit of today, this 4Bn Dollar company makes virtualization software. However recently they started developing data storage solution as well. Our last visit today was Nexenta who are also developing a data storage solution. I will not bore you with the technical details but it can be said that their views could not be more apart from each other. Contrasting this difference is a similarity that is striking. They both are convinced that they are doing the right thing and have good arguments why their solutions are what will work in the industry. Both are groups of brilliant guys developing amazing technical solutions. Typical of The Valley, they are all executing without mercy for themselves and moving forward. Nexenta was an especially interesting visit as the founder is an alumnus from IESE.

Eventbrite vs. Automatic

Both of these companies I would consider startups even though they are already going for a few years. Their cultures are perhaps the furthest apart from any 2 startups that you can find. Eventbrite has a great open space with close to 220 people working in the same building. Their employees are actually required to be at the office 9 to 5 every day. Automattic on the contrary, has only +/- 20 of their 150 people working in their (new) office in San Francisco. They want the people to work from home and have completely adapted their way of working to this. So both companies are completely different from each other in terms of culture. But, they are also the same in the fact that they are both very successful. They are also the same in that they both develop following customer demand. And again, they also both have this inherit drive to deliver the best solution and settle for nothing left.

Tesla Motors

One of our visits today was Tesla Motors. They are a car company but not a normal one. Tesla is different from traditional car companies: they do their own point of sales, they develop a lot of their parts in house and of course they are fully electric vs. combustion. However, they are also the same as other car companies. They are absolutely convinced that they have the best car on the road and are passionate about the product they are making

Passion, Perception Perseverance

One thing I keep seeing in all the visits is that companies are very passionate about the problem they are solving. Their perception is that they have the best solution to the problem. Then finally they persevere and keep going. They don’t stop until they are proven wrong or out of business. I have not seen these 3 concepts so strongly present in the places I’ve interacted with: The Netherlands, Paris and Spain. I believe this combination to be a vital ingredient to the success of Silicon Valley. Too bad these are not things that can easily be replicated to other parts of the world where governments are trying to recreate Silicon Valley.

Tomorrow: the final day of IESE Meets The Valley’s official program