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In the current economic climate, many businesses are experiencing setbacks, or even facing existential threats.
With the COVID-19 pandemic only just subsiding – or already gearing up for a second wave – lockdown measures, reduced spending power, travel restrictions, suddenly remote workforces, and a seesawing stock market, the situation looks dire.
In times like these, many are in need of inspiration. Of hearing about people who faced adversity, persisted, and succeeded.
Here are three stories of top tech CEOs, who had to overcome obstacles, handle massive setbacks, and weather crises on their way to success. They offer inspiration, actionable insights, and invaluable advice to anyone currently struggling in their business life.
1 – Tomas Gorny (Nextiva)
Born in Poland, Tomas Gorny moved to the US to chase the American dream when he was barely 17, hardly speaking any English. Five years later, he was a millionaire: A company he had joined while supporting himself with part-time jobs had been bought out.
What may seem like a happy end is where Gorny’s story only truly begins.
To grow his wealth, he started investing in a variety of businesses. Only for the dot-com crash following 9/11, to wipe out his entire fortune. After becoming a millionaire at 22, Gorny was suddenly left with less than $10,000 in the bank. His wife had to start working hourly jobs to support the family.
“Going broke turned out to be the best experience in my life,” Gorny explains. “Failure’s like free tuition. It forced me to discover what I was good at and where I should channel my energy. Most importantly, it helped me establish strong principles in terms of how to do business that I still rely on today.”
Gorny’s main principle is to focus on the customer – on creating the best possible product, with maximum benefits for clients. Rather than worry about selling businesses or going public.
In the end, that focus is what helped Gorny succeed.
Following his near-bankruptcy, he founded a series of successful businesses, including IPOWER, a web hosting company that got acquired for more than $1 billion in 2007, and Nextiva, an award-winning cloud communications company.
2 – Lisa Su (AMD)
Today, Lisa Su heads Advanced Micro Devices, a California-based semiconductor company that develops the high-performance processors powering cloud computing, AI, and gaming.
Thirty years ago, she was a young musician, holding a rejection letter from Julliard conservatory. She had auditioned to become a pianist.
With a music career off the table, Su reoriented her life, and turned to a childhood passion: engineering.
“Like many Asian parents, mine were very focused on education,” Su, who was born in Taiwan and came to the US at age 2, recalls in an interview with the New York Times. “They were very focused on making sure that my brother and I always achieved at a high level.”
And achieve Su did, earning a Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral degree in electrical engineering from MIT.
But Su faced her greatest challenge when she became CEO of AMD in 2014. At the time, the company was failing. Bleeding money, with its stock hitting all-time lows, the company was in dire need of a change of direction.
Six years later, AMD is soaring, its shares up more than 1,300% over the period of Su’s tenure as CEO. In 2019 alone, AMD’s stock grew nearly 150%, and became the best-performing stock in the S&P 500.
In part, Su achieved this by harnessing her own engineering expertise. In 2014, she began laying the visionary groundwork for the technology that now powers cloud computing centers and AI applications.
But she also insists that what helped her achieve the biggest success on her record was her leadership approach:
“Our jobs as leaders are to get 120 percent out of our teams. We’re supposed to make the team better than they thought they could possibly be.”
3 – Chad Mureta (AppEmpire)
The turning point in Chad Mureta’s business life came when he was in hospital, recovering from nearly having his arm amputated, deeply depressed, and over $100k in medical debt.
Today, Mureta heads AppEmpire, a consulting company focussing on online business development and mobile app monetization. He has also successfully launched dozens of start-up apps himself, most prominent among them Fingerprint Security Pro, an App Store bestseller worth more than $700,000.
Background-wise, Mureta is not your typical tech CEO. After earning an MBA, he started a real estate business at the worst possible time – 2006. When the housing market crash hit the next year, Mureta’s business was in jeopardy, and he ended up working 18-hour days to keep things afloat.
Driving home one night, he found himself thinking about the way he was living his life. “I was wondering why I wasn’t happy more consistently,” he recalls. Just then, his car hit a deer, rammed into the median and flipped four times.
It was months later, while recovering from an operation to salvage his crushed arm, that a friend brought him an article about app development.
And Mureta experienced his business eureka moment.
“I’ll never forget that emotion – I can’t describe it in words. It was this transparent moment: here’s your answer, and you’re foolish if you look at anything else,” he recounts in an interview with the BBC.
A loan of $1,800 from his father allowed him to develop his first app. Not having a programming background himself, Mureta relied on the technical expertise of freelancers, while supplying the ideas and business strategy himself.
This delegation setup is still the basis for his success today, Mureta maintains. “I make sure to do only what I am good at – and let others handle the rest.” His company relies on a small full-time staff, and an extensive network of freelancers from various industries.
Final Thoughts
As these three stories show, any crisis can be overcome with the business acumen, perseverance – and a dash of inspiration.
Having strong principles, focusing on the core of the business, and on doing what you yourself are good at can give you an invaluable edge. Assembling a reliable and capable team, and inspiring them to go beyond what they think is possible, is another cornerstone of success.
Lisa Su has a final piece of wisdom to offer: “There’s always more that you can achieve if you just put your mind to it.”
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Photo: Shutterstock