QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS WITH PETE CHRISTOTHOULOU
NAME:
Pete Christothoulou
TITLE:
Chief Operating Officer
HOMETOWN:
Seattle, WA
WHAT DOES YOUR TITLE MEAN TO YOU?
I think about what I do across six variables:
- 1. Company Focus - defining the corporate vision with the leadership team and translating that vision into strategy and tactics to grow the business and accelerate industry marketshare and mindshare.
- 2. Business Execution - removing barriers and creating opportunities to help our people execute; taking on and driving strategic initiatives personally; assisting teams in any capacity.
- 3. Great People - finding people who can make a difference at Marchex and fit our culture and cultivating those relationships; mentoring our existing employees.
- 4. Organizational Clarity - creating organizational and process frameworks that allow our people to efficiently execute the company strategy.
- 5. Culture - building team cohesion and creating a transparent atmosphere with people who are committed to building a great company.
And finally...
6. Domination - what walls do I need to run through to advance the company, because we will not miss our opportunity. Seriously.
WHAT KEEPS YOU UP AT NIGHT?
My five-month-old daughter and our dog who needs to pee every few hours. When I'm up taking the dog out, I do think about our speed - how we can execute faster as a company. Our strategy is right, we have the best people, I just want to go faster.
WHERE DO YOU SEE MARCHEX BEING IN 3 YEARS? HOW ARE YOU GOING TO HELP US GET THERE?
I clearly visualize this:
- Marchex unlocked local commerce through our Call Advertising and Small Business Marketing products (as in we figured out how to transfer billions of dollars from traditional media, such as Newspapers, Yellow Pages, DRTV, Radio into performance-based media)
- We have hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of customers and partners worldwide
- We are known throughout the industry for our product innovation
- We have defensible intellectual property from our development efforts
- We are one of the best places to work as ranked by Fortune magazine
As my buddy, Brent Turner, says... Ain't no flies on that.
WHAT DO YOU DO WITH YOURSELF WHEN YOU'RE NOT WORKING?
Spend time with my amazing wife and two incredible daughters. Use my poker money from beating Tom Leung to buy wine. Think about work.
DESCRIBE YOUR TYPICAL DAY AT MARCHEX
I get up pretty early (5:30am to 6:00am) and start checking email. I'm in the office by 7:30am or so. I average 8 or 9 meetings a day across a wide variety of topics ranging from 1-on-1s and strategy sessions, to Product Reviews, Business Reviews and Partner or Customer meetings. Beyond that, no day is typical for me.
THREE WORDS TO DESCRIBE THE CULTURE AT MARCHEX?
How about five:
- 1. Committed: We are on a mission
- 2. Collaborative: People work together
- 3. Demanding: We expect the best
- 2. Fast: People are not walking around here, I can tell you that
- 3. Fun: So much fun you wouldn't believe it (not kidding)
FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE, WHAT ARE THE OTHER PERKS FOR WORKING AT MARCHEX?
It's a team: There is no finger pointing going on over here.
Fine-tuning: The people here are great at what they do, it will help you raise your game.
Employee Perks: We have a lot of interesting benefits for our people, like our referral program ($1,250 for referring someone to the company we hire, free lunch brought to you for one week, and another $1,250 if they end up being a great) or our vacation / PTO policy, which is up to 17 days for a first year employee and scales pretty aggressively beyond that.
Location: It's pretty tough to beat our office location (we are 3 blocks from anywhere you'd want to go downtown)