In this week's Corner Office column in the New York Times, Adam Bryant interviews AppNexus chief executive Brian O'Kelley. We've talked a lot about AppNexus in class and what a NYC-tech success story it is, so it's interesting to get a glimpse inside the brain of their CEO.
So what does O'Kelley look for when hiring?
"I’m looking for energy. Do I feel fired up having a conversation with you? Do we feel collaborative, so that if I give you 10 ideas, do you understand and give me feedback on three of them, or nine of them?
I’ll also ask people, “Walk me through a very complex problem you’ve solved.” Some people will talk about something strategic. Some people will talk about a people problem. Some people will talk about something completely weird and unrelated.
Then I ask questions about motivation, which I think is the most important in some ways. Why do you come to the office? This is a tough business. We grind it out. There are good days and bad days, so what’s going to make you want to come to work and really drive through things? There’s something about the challenge that has to motivate you."Additionally, O'Kelley discusses how he went from his early experiences as a tech entrepreneur building websites for local businesses in high school to where he is today including how he got fired from the e-commerce company he founded after college because he accepted a deal to sell the company for only $4 million dollars, when other tech companies were being sold in the billions.
Other interesting tidbits to note about AppNexus are the weekly internal "razzle dazzles" they hold where employees come up on stage in a 300-person auditorium and talk about what they've been learning. They also created an email alias called "dumbquestions@" where any employee can email in a question which is sent around company-wide and responded to by senior management.
And just in case you do ever interview with O'Kelley, note that his pet peeve is "status quo thinking."
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