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EBay's History Shaped by AlumsAugust, 2002 THE RISE and enduring success of eBay can be attributed to its founders' idealism about community, technological know-how, blind luck, and business smarts. A large dose of the latter, according to a new book about the Internet's most profitable e-business, came from Stanford Business School alumni. The Perfect Store (Little, Brown and Co., 2002) by former Time reporter Adam Cohen recounts how, in eBay's early days, Jeff Skoll, MBA '95, "was convinced that no matter how well eBay was doing, its success could evaporate at any time." Skoll, the firm's first full-time employee, held this cautious outlook, informed by observations of the too-rich-too-fast mistakes made by fellow GSB alumni with their Internet startups. His conservative approach allowed Skoll to steer the fledgling company through uncharted territory at the dawn of the Internet age. Other Business School alums who played pivotal roles in eBay's success include Steve Westly, MBA '83, and Bob Kagle, MBA '80. Kagle, who is a partner at one of Silicon Valley's leading venture capital firms, gave the nod to the deal that "led to one of the most richly rewarded investments in the history of business," according to Cohen. And Westly's hire, along with associates Tom Adams, MBA '95, and Richard Rock, MBA '96, signaled the company's transition from flaky startup to professionally run business. Though Skoll and founder Pierre Omidyar had relinquished day-to-day operations by the end of 2001, their guiding principles remain as object lessons for the next generation of entrepreneurs: "Spend the money like it's your own" and "The community knows best." |
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