David Gray graduated from Auburn University with a degree in MIS. He worked for Drummond Company as a computer programmer for one year before getting a call from a recruiter in Chicago to come work for Grant Thornton. He did management consulting for them for four years. He married a fellow Auburn graduate and moved to Atlanta, Georgia in 1997 and where he went to work for a Silicon Valley-based start-up.
Despite the fact that the company he was working for was not a dot-com, when the bubble burst in 2001 they were greatly affected and eventually bought by Peoplesoft. When the acquisition occurred, Dave decided to seek a new opportunity. He and his family moved back to Alabama and after a short stint at CTS, he decided he wanted to go into business for himself. He was introduced to Tom Patterson, the founder of DAXKO (DAXKO provides software to YMCAs, JCCs, & Community Centers). After Dave explained his business idea, Tom instead asked him to come run DAXKO. After three months of conversations, he accepted and began on January 1, 2003.
Why did you decide to so heavily niche your product?
“Focus is important. I experienced working at another company that was really good at a specific niche. As we grew, we tried to become too many things to too many people. When I came on board at DAXKO, I started hammering ‘relentless focus, relentless focus’. I said that we were going to be good at one thing or die trying. We interviewed prospects, customers and team members and tried to figure out what made the most sense for us to be.
“I met with Tom and we discussed narrowing our focus. We felt like the YMCA represented a market that was big enough to get the business to the point of profitability and sustained growth. It actually turned out to be a bigger market than we initially thought (when we first went into it). We still have a lot of runway and feel that we can double the size of our business, even if that was the only thing we did. We are looking to expand into other businesses and we really like the potential that they hold.
“Another thing we believe (as a SaaS company) is to focus on what we do well and outsource the rest (things that aren’t our core competencies). We wanted to build innovative software that solves customer needs and provide exceptional service, and let somebody else do the rest. It wasn’t just a focus on our niche and our product, but also a focus of what ‘what do we do internally?’, and whatever wasn’t a core competency, we outsourced. Hosting is probably the biggest example of that.
“We have to catch ourselves now. We get the temptation to do other things. The ability, willingness and discipline to say no to what seems to be big opportunities is important. There are lots of opportunities when you have creative people. How you balance chasing some of those and saying no to others is a difficult challenge.”
I’ve heard a lot of positive things about your company culture. I don’t know anything specifically, but what drives that and how do you lead the way?
“From a high level, we view culture as a competitive advantage. It’s not just the dress-code, the scooters we ride around the office, or our open environment. Of course all those things are part of our culture, but more important is the way in which we do performance planning, pursue team member development and communicate with our people. Also, the fact that we serve nonprofit customers who are doing valuable work in their communities is an important aspect of who we are. The people that are here are pretty humble–there’s not a lot of ego around title or status. All of those things feed the culture and our culture is very, very high on my priority list.
“The CEO really has to define and lead when it comes to deliberately building a culture, or it just won’t happen. Delegating it to somebody else doesn’t have the same effect and it’s not as genuine.”
How is using social media helpful for somebody who has such a niched product?
“Probably the most useful thing is in the recruiting. It goes back to the people. People who are considering working here are really going to dig in deep on that side. It gives you insights that are hard to get through marketing materials or prepared collateral. Plus, it’s next to free, right? It’s a relatively inexpensive way to get out what it’s like to be a customer or a team member.
“We embrace our weirdness. We’re a bit goofy and do weird stuff! We create videos for internal use, but if they’re worthy of being posted, we’ll put them out on YouTube. The reason we do that is because it gives people an easy way to see who we are and show them that we don’t take ourselves too seriously.
“Another avenue is our blog at DAXKONation.com. It really gives our team members a voice. For those that are thought-leaders and want their voice heard, we really embrace giving them that opportunity.”
What are the most influential business book you’ve read? Give me a reading list!
“That’s a tough one! I read a fair amount of books, so there’s a lot to choose from. But here are some I find myself suggesting often:
-Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competitive Irrelevant
-A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future
-Rework
-Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win
-The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
-Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done”
February 2, 2011 at 10:04 pm
If DAXKO ever decides to look at the chambers of commerce market, please use the Homewood Chamber as your beta site.