efinancialcareers history, lessons john benson, founder & ceo 27 th may 2010
TRANSCRIPT
eFinancialCareersHistory, Lessons
John Benson, Founder & CEO
27th May 2010
eFinancialCareers – History, Lessons
• The early days• The challenges• It starts to work• International expansion• The eFinancialCareers culture• Why did we succeed?
Empowering financial careers worldwide. eFinancialCareers runs the web’s largest network of sites dedicated to jobs and career development in accounting, banking and the financial markets.
• Publishing websites in 22 markets and 5 languages
• Founded 2000
• Offices in London, New York, Singapore, Sydney
• Revenue Model: Recruitment advertising
Employer branding
Graduate recruitment
Professional education
• Team: 93 (UK: 72. Asia: 10. Australia: 13. U.S. 8)
Jobs and Career News for the Global Financial Community
eFinancialCareers & Financial Media brandsThe eFinancialCareers site network includes some of the world’s leading financial information companies
Diversified Customer Base
The Opportunity
Circulation in Millions
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Newspaper
Internet
Job ads in print set to fall dramatically
US Newspaper Job ad revenue
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
$bn 2000 $bn 2003
Job ads online set to grow dramatically
0%
50%
100%
150%
200%
250%
2002 - 2008
ONLINE
US Job ad revenue growth 2002 - 2008
Source: Forrester Research
2000: Vision
To be the leading brand on the web for career advice and
jobs in the financial services industry
Challenges
• The Internet: The New New thing• Many naysayers• Competitive environment• Client & User education• Dial up connections• Hiring good staff• No roadmap
The New, New Thing & The Naysayers
• It won’t work• I won’t pay for anything on the internet• I don’t have email• You can’t compete with the big, established brands• The Dotcom bubble• How do we do this?
Education
• Ourselves• Our clients• Our ‘readership’
Model T Ford. Launched: 1908
Educate our clients
Educate our clients
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
Henry Ford
By 1918 half of all cars in America were Model Ts
Competitive Environment
• Very complex with multiple competitors
Recruitment agencies become media companies
European Financial Job Sites 2001
• On Vocation (Independent)
• GAAPweb (Independent)
• Just People (Recruitment Agency)
• Double Cuff (Recruitment Agency)
• Fincareer (Independent)
• Gold Jobs (Independent)
• FT CareerPoint (Publisher)
• eFinancialCareers (Publisher)
Monitor competitive position
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
13
/01
/20
03
13
/02
/20
03
13
/03
/20
03
13
/04
/20
03
13
/05
/20
03
13
/06
/20
03
13
/07
/20
03
13
/08
/20
03
13
/09
/20
03
13
/10
/20
03
13
/11
/20
03
13
/12
/20
03
13
/01
/20
04
13
/02
/20
04
13
/03
/20
04
13
/04
/20
04
13
/05
/20
04
eFinancialCareers
FT.com (banking & financial mkts)
Totally Financial
New Industry Maturity Graph
Immature Mature
Many
Few
PA
RT
ICIP
AN
TS
TIME
Stage 1
Sta
ge
2
Stage 3
Stage 4
Stage 5
We are hereWe are here
‘The world is changing very fast.
Big will not beat small anymore.
It will be the fast beating the
slow.’
Rupert Murdoch, CEO News Corporation
It Starts to Work
It Starts to Work
• Key is the right number of job applications from the right people
• Get that right and all else will follow• The product & the user experience all important• Focus on the customer’s needs
New products:
Graduate & MBA Education & Recruitment
Student careers guides in 5 countries & 4 languages
2003– international expansion beginseFinancialCareers Markets
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
0
50,000
100,000
150,000
200,000
250,000
2003 2004 2005
Unique user growth
0
100,000
200,000
300,000
400,000
500,000
600,000
700,000
800,000
2003 2004 2005
667,000
Unique Users per Month (November)
$0
$500,000
$1,000,000
$1,500,000
$2,000,000
$2,500,000
$3,000,000
$3,500,000
$4,000,000
$4,500,000
$5,000,000
Q1'01
Q2'01
Q3'01
Q4'01
Q1'02
Q2'02
Q3'02
Q4'02
Q1'03
Q2'03
Q3'03
Q4'03
Q1'04
Q2'04
Q3'04
Q4'04
Q1'05
Q2'05
Q3'05
Q4'05
Q1'06
USA
EMEAsia
Quarterly Sales 2001 – Q1 2006
eFinancialCareers – Sales Growth (Nov’05 Business Plan)
$0
$5,000,000
$10,000,000
$15,000,000
$20,000,000
$25,000,000
$30,000,000
$35,000,000
2003 2004 2005 2006B 2007P 2008P
Sales - USSales - EMEAsia
Company culture & approach
1. eFinancialCareers is a ‘Change Environment’
‘Nothing sows the roots of failure like success’
Companies get so locked into their ‘successful’ way of doing thingsthat they refuse to reassess their business, see or respond to new ways and innovations.
2. eFinancialCareers is a Team Environment
‘Leave your ego at the door’
3. Evolving team & organisational structures and responsibilities
‘To keep up with our growth, we have reorganised early and often. That keeps people fresh.
Over 7 years we have probably made 10-12 changes to the company’s
structure’
Meg Whitman, CEO,
4. Processes & direction can and will be constantly & safely reassessed
‘It is not the strongest or most intelligent of the species that survive.
It is the ones most adaptable to change’ Charles Darwin Author, ‘The Origin of Species’
2000: eFinancialCareers founded
2003: International expansion starts
2004: Open office in USA
2006: Open office in Asia-Pac Bought by /merged with Dice Holdings
2009: Group Revenues: $109m (eFinancialCareers: 27%)
Why did we succeed?
• Clear vision of what we wanted to do• Great team of people• Prepared to & wanted to learn (try & avoid hubris)• The Internet favours small, innovative, fast moving businesses• Flexibile, agile approach• Focused execution• Courage of our convictions• Tried to keep it simple• Moved early, moved fast (international expansion)• Fortunate in our competitors• Luck
… but it’s not over yet …
Only the Paranoid Survive
Andy Grove, Former CEO, Intel
The World’s Leading Career Sites for the Financial Services Industry