Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff is in the danger zone — at least as he sees it.
In an interview with The Motley Fool, Rascoff said that the most dangerous time to run a tech company is years five to 15, most specifically those companies that have recently completed IPOs. That sounds a lot like where Zillow is, doesn’t it?
“We’re seven or eight years old. This is a dangerous time at a tech company. Years 5 to 15 are where most tech companies lose their way. It’s where the original management team tends to churn out, especially a couple of years post-IPO, and it’s where companies settle into mediocrity and start accepting mediocrity. That can be very cancerous to an organization.”
Now, while it may be a dangerous time, Rascoff is drawing lessons from LinkedIn to try to manage potential turbulence. In the interview, Rascoff said he deeply admires the 10-year-old social networking company, saying they are “firing on all cylinders.”
Zillow isn’t doing too shabby either. The stock is now trading near an all-time high, topping $66 per share. It now has a market value of $2.3 billion.
Full interview and transcript here.