Exponential growth. We sit down with the geek in chief, kathryn mccarthy. Her country is growing by boldly going where no c company has g e before. Welcome. Talk about the genesis of the company. How did it get started . In 1999. Mpany started was our 15th anniversary. It w started by people who had a passion for the internet. It was rare when the internet verse started. They wanted to sell products they loved and share it with others. In the beginning, it clearly was not the size it is today. It was part of a Larger Company that went public in 2000 as part of the. Co the dotcom phase. Now, we are focusing solely on ecommerce. The country has grown to 138 million in revenue last year. Since 2009. Own 180 we now have 148, a Larger Office space than when we started. Its why this location has the ethos of Silicon Valley. But we are abt as far from Silicon Valley as you can get in this country. Why here . At e time of the internet revolution, Many Companies started up. The founders of this company were pt of that whole generation. Most of those companies did not survive, but our company did. Create theto atmosphere within the office of a Startup Company that was innovative and creative. You have an impressive resume at general electric. You were an auditor. You are based in london at one point for the company. Such a tried and true name. Why would you leave a company as large and branded as ge, and take chance on the company . There are a couple of reasons. One, i was really hoping to do is different. More of a start up i could help to build. I thought Ecommerce Technology was really one of the interesting areas to be in for the future. Also, i saw a huge opportunity to be part of something. I also liked the idea of being in a place where you could see the employeealmost every day and be part of the action, instead of being at headquarters. You started as chief Financial Officer and were promoted to ceo. What are some of the skills you need in as ceo to get to learn on the job . I had to learn more about retail. I had been in many businesses in many different industries. I had the opportunity to see different things, but i needed to learn more about retail, and specifically ecommerce, which was changing. Every few months, something new was coming about. That was the biggest thing i needed to do. Started with talent f from previous Ecommerce Companies to help us move forrd. That is a good lesson for anyone in management that does not have a particular skill set, that needs to bring someone in, but especially a company like this, that prides itself on nerdiness. How do you bring in someone who knows what you do, and yet maintain a hierarchy . We kept the creative talent. We knew we had people who had the creative genius. The best people have been here for many years. Time, it was important to b bring in people o had seen companies that were smaller, less than 100 million, and blown them to scale. We brought in somebody from drugstore. Com, people who could take the company to the n next level where we wanted to go. T tory out toys, and you have to look at t the Financial Health of the company. Balance the creative side . I am not the Creative Business at all. It is our employees, people in gegeek labs that bring creativi. I think what i bring is putting some process around that. For example, how do we project mananage to make sure it is s he on time for our customers, for the holidays . To interfere with the creativity, but put some process around it. What are some of the things you miss from a Large Company like ge, and some of the nimbleness you like about being at not such a large, established company . When i first came in, systems, and the ability to have data readily available to immediately tell you how things are going that is something we needed to provide, and d have worked arm. Keepingis the key to this type of employee happy . Someone building g great produc, you want to keep th. Like you notice how the audience how the office is decorated. My dog is here. That is a great perk. Enterprise p the pizza cutter is a brilliant product. It is one of my forite products. What were some of the initial products that caught on, and what are some new ones today . We had tshirts. That really appealed to the crowd, the i. T. Crowd. They said, no, i will not fix your computer. Time, we did more in terms of actual product. We had an electronic guitarr short that was very popular. The pizza cutter. More recently, we have had popular minecraft videogame prodts, susuch as the diamond sword. They have done very well for us over the last few years. Star wars has been big for us. We are very excited ababout the new movies coming next year. We are ramping up our star wars creativity, going forward. Now it is cool to be a geek. Do we credit steve jobs . Do we credit the Big Bang Theory . A combinanations of things. Apple went a long way toward mamaking Technology Part of everything we do. It changed things for everyone. The more mainseam person is willing to wait in line overnight to getet the iphone 6. I t think it changed things. You mentioned several others. Pop culture and things like d. C. Comics and marvel are very, very popular franchises. It came together to make geek more mainstrea coming up, Small Business has more mainstrea coming up, Small Business has a lot after filling out their hogan iquestionaire, aight. Hogan was awarded an a from the nra. But now he refuses to release his responses. The nra opposes comprehensive background checks. They want to weaken marylands gun safety laws. Even support letting suspects on the fbi terror watch list buy guns. On gun safety and terror, thnra is wrong. Hogan gets an a from the nra. On protecting maryland, we just cant trust him. For ourmall business spotlight, what is a at statake, at to watch, and when the midterm elections matter. The manageof Public Policy for nfib, the biggest voi for Small Business in washington, with ove350,000 members nationwide. Kate bonner, tngs for joining us. Ththere is always a t at stake in midterm electionsns. Right now, with the balance of wer hanging in the balalance, what doe nfib consider the Biggest Issue at stake in this race . There are a lot of ises. We are really looking for whver the majority is next year in the u. S. Senate, to really focus on Small Business issues, whether that is tax reform or addressing health cace coststs as they continue under e new law. Nt is not so much you is power, but getting t middle ground together. A true shington diplomat. We know nfib is very aggressive on the half of their agenda. Thing, you led t the fight i the Supreme Court to try to block obamacar if the republilicans win control of the senate, there are questions about whether that will be the opportunity to overturn obamacare. If the republicans win, is that a priority for you . I think they wowould have a majority thais very small. Compromise is going to be necessary. You bring out obamacare, we talk about reform at can happen now. Dayouou are not going to, one, say, it is time for repl. I think we need to be realistic. We need to control health care costs. At the end of the day, we need immediate relief for sml business owners. Access, what products are being sold in each state. It is not so much about the big picture anymore. Whawould d you push, and how would you do it . Would it be piece by piece, or you try to put forwa a bill that could tackle all those issu . What remains to be seen is tuesday, how many seats. You know w whatou are goi to roll out as soon as tuesday happenens. We want to know. Certainly, the house is imrtant also. Whatever happens, has to happen in the other chamber, and has to go to the president for a signature. There is not going to be a vetoproof majority in either house. Is there a compromise we can get past . I think probably, realistilly. What issues do you feel are at stake tuesday . Tax refeform is a big issue. There are plans put out this past year. There can be substantive work done. We really want attention paid to the individu rate, creating some parity for Small Business and big business. It cannot be corporate, dutch corporateonly. It has to be inclusive. Regulations ve exploded under this administration. Of thethe beginning lawmaking process. We cannot wait to the end for comment. We need to do it at the beginning of the process. It has almost become cliche to say people are fed up with washington. What is the outrage level question mark our Small Businesses fed up with the white both, with hundreds, with parties . Wit everybody. A good example is the rhetoric on the campaign trail. Every candidate talks about Small Business, how much they love Small Business. It does not matter what party or what office. Everybybody loves small bubusin. And all business ownerers are the backbone of the economy. They are the job creators. They are not loving washington b back. We have to move from rhrhetoc to actual legislating. We need to put bills in front the president and force him to veto, and send it back tthe house and senate to provide acti. Thanks so much for joining us. P possiblblyat nasa explosion means for business. Big labor. And too close to call. It is time for the undtable. This week, a big blow up for orbital science in virginia. A big win for start ups labor in the district. A big question in ththe maryland governors race. , jillll aitoro and mart the caro di caro. The world saw the blowupup in virginia this week. A company tt built wh was supposed to be a launch headed to the internrnational spacace station. What happened to the orbital Science Mission . We will find out more as the investigation happens. Mentioned a bit of irony not shy about being a little snarky when it comes to mpetitors. But everyone is talking about the rocket engines. They were developed by a russian company. They have been out of production for decades. They were relying on engines made in the 1960s. You brought up elon musk comments, where he said at the time, i am not joking, they are actually ung these, and he could not believe it. He is a smart guy. Go to that decion on the rockets . Rbital has been trying to geget out of using these engines r quite a while. They have been ying to use engines by United Launch Alliance and other competitors. Th have a bit of a monopoly, exclusive agreements. The orbital ceo just said they are in the process of finding a different engine, and they may have found one. It is a matterer of gegetting it into the rotation, and that could take up to two years. That it islem is pretty likely, almt guaranteed, that e launch supposed to have been in april is going to be delayed. How much delay wl determine how much ofof a ship that will take to the bottom line, and what it means for fixing it will determine how they deal with future launches. Seen inmains to be terms of the actual causes. A victory for startups wanting to do business in the district. Sidecar, the programs battling the porful Taxicab Commission in the therict, backing from teamsters big labor lost. What happened . The rightharing platforms the legal limbo isver. The d. C. Council legalized formally these ridesharing t is really a discount taxi, a forprofit enterprise. Some of the big issues are finally resolved. Insurance gaps are taken care of in the legislation the other big issue was willround checks, and uber not hahave to change background check policies. They will continue to use thirdparty screeners. Tre were other things that were proconsumer. Council members pushing the hidden win. Are we seeing a seaea changege in d. C. Gernment, in terms of trying to be more probusiness, writing new rules . Legislation embraces these technological innovators. They call themselves disruptive. And simmers like consumers like ur and lyft. There was a ole exploded becausof the a hole expl oited because of relatively poor service from d. C. Taxicabs. Rememberit is lesshan a year nce ey even had credit card machines. The taxi instry needs to innovate so th can compete. We are all watching tuesdays races. There are some races locally that are starting to get big attentionationwide. A lot of eyes on the maryland governors race. Nobody expecting it t to be as close as it is now. What has been resonang with vors, with the busininess community . Jobs and taxes. S under democratic leadership, maryryland has not fared well in the business community. Anthony brown would beg to differ. There haseen a big play for cyber and forth. They are always going to be compar to virginiaia. Better business friendly climate . Better taxes . Inhe is focusused on bringing more companies and enabling Small Businesses to grow instead of leaving he talked about overhauling Economic Development in a way that provides incentives for companies that come in. That connects to jobs and taxes. He is kikind of really hitting that hard, and it is definitely resonating. To democrats for everyone republican. He is within the margin of error. It is gong to be a fascinating day in maryland. Race being watched nationonwide is in virgini the candidates about this race. Has been an issue, when it is not usual a big priority infomercial res. Orthn virginia is thera bigger issue than transportation . The candidates a quibbling ovover the state transportation ovhaul done by governor mcgaw gaso replace the dax tax anand increase the sales tax to pave roads. Barbara comstock voted against that. She is agast rsing tax revenues foror transportation. Coness, they are gog to have to deal withhedmiral has partition Funding Crisis that comes up every few months. Neither supports raising thanks for joining us. As always, wwant to know w what you thought about the show. Like us on facebook, follow us on twitter, d watch pasas interviews a at wj l. A. Com. Let us know what topicsou want toto see discussed. After filling out their hogan iquestionaire, aight. Hogan was awarded an a from the nra. But now he refuses to release his responses. The nra opposes comprehensive background checks. They want to weaken marylands gun safety laws. Even support letting suspects on the fbi terror watch list buy guns. On gun safety and terror, the nra is wrong. Hogan gets an a from the nra. On protecting maryland, we just cant trust him. Onedad, lets gome shoot some hoops. , i couldnt play with him. I didnt have the energy, i was just so overweight. It just made me feel like i was nothing. And then my sister introduced me to herbalife. I started drinking the protein shakes, she helped me plan out a more balancediet. Ive lost 44 pounds. And now when my son asks me to shoot some hoops, i wear him out find out more at iamherbalife. Com this s week on government tters have twon now we different i. T. Systems. Both of them were built in the 1950s. Use the technology in ways we have not been able to use before because the technology has not been there. The Social Security administration matches mission to big data. A special episode from the executive leadership conference. Government matters starts now. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] thanks for joining us. Government is the engine that runs this city. That is why
vimarsana.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.