Greg Malpass built his company slowly, starting with a staff of just one – himself – before gradually taking on more employees. Today Traction on Demand, which helps companies implement sales and marketing tracking systems, has 150 employees. Traction’s client list has included Salesforce (NYSE:CRM), Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY).
From the start, Malpass followed the principle of paying it forward.
“Do whatever you possibly can do to help people be successful, and it comes back ten-fold,” Malpass said.
For instance, Malpass said, at several points he has taken on projects that have required him or his staff to learn new skills or do something a new way. It would often take a significant investment of time and money to implement the project – but then, after mastering the steep learning curve, he was able to offer the new service to other clients.
“We’ve never failed on a project; we’ve never not met a commitment to a customer,” Malpass said. “It’s cost us, in some cases, hundreds of thousands of dollars, and in the long run those customers have been very successful and they’ve referred us.”
The slow-growth model Malpass followed has allowed him to take those risks, he said. He spent four years running the company solo before he hired his first employee, and he has never taken on an outside investor. That’s given him considerable freedom in building the company.
“We only grew when we could afford to grow,” Malpass said. “I never had to worry, ‘If we don’t charge this customer, we can’t make payroll.’”
Relationship building is another important concept for Malpass, who formerly worked in marketing and sales roles in advertising and software companies.
“In the very early stages of Traction I worked with Borland Software. … Some of the folks I worked with at Borland ended up scattering all over [Silicon] Valley, and before I knew it, within a year and a half of starting Traction, I was able to say my customers were Adobe, Symantec, Microsoft, Ingersoll Rand, PayPal and eBay.”
On staying independent | “For four years I worked away and saved money. I didn’t have a lot of expenses; I just lived in a little condo in Port Moody. It allowed me to put together a fair amount of money for later. The business has always operated with cash. I’ve never been solely financially motivated; I’m much more motivated to solve problems and help people. We’ve never taken on an investor, so there’s no outside influence. Nobody’s saying, ‘Hey, you have a margin to maintain.’”
Has a work or life challenge taught you a key career lesson? Contact Jen St. Denis at [email protected]
