Latest news with #RichBarton
Geek Wire
14-07-2025
- Business
- Geek Wire
Seattle startup legends Rich Barton, Court Lorenzini on the inspiration behind Zillow and Docusign
GeekWire's startup coverage documents the Pacific Northwest entrepreneurial scene. Sign up for our weekly startup newsletter , and check out the GeekWire funding tracker and venture capital directory . Rich Barton and Court Lorenzini spoke last week at a Founder Nexus event on Microsoft's campus, sharing entrepreneurial lessons with budding Seattle-area startup leaders. It was a homecoming of sorts for Barton, who began his career at Microsoft in 1991 and led a project that eventually spun out as Expedia. Barton said the inspiration for Expedia came from his frustration with Microsoft's internal travel booking agency. 'I knew I could do better if I had access to the system,' he said. He recognized an opportunity to use burgeoning online services to help connect consumers with travel booking information. After spinning out Expedia from Microsoft and taking the company public in 1999, Barton started another company — also born from a personal frustration. 'I was shopping for a home, and there was crap available on the web, in this giant vertical of real estate,' Barton said. Zillow launched in 2004 and became a digital real estate juggernaut, going public in 2011. Lorenzini's startup spark came under different circumstances. He helped launch Docusign in 2003 after acquiring a digital signature patent and brand from the remnants of a failed company. 'We took that idea and ran with it,' Lorenzini said. Barton noted that Lorenzini 'recognized the pearl in the ocean.' Zillow and Docusign are two of Seattle's biggest startup successes, with a current combined market capitalization of more than $40 billion. The conversation revealed different philosophies about early-stage company building, from customer acquisition to revenue models to leadership style. Barton, who also co-founded job review site Glassdoor, built his career on freemium models that accumulate massive consumer audiences before monetizing. 'Once the consumer audience has accumulated, the people in the existing industry who want to sell stuff in the marketplace bang down your door,' he said. 'They may not like you because you're disrupting, but what they do like is the fact that you have lots of customers.' Lorenzini took the opposite approach. 'I was very adamant about never giving anything away for free,' Lorenzini said. 'Consumers in that era — early 2000s — were being trained on freemium, which was really annoying to me, and I still find it incredibly annoying. I don't like that strategy.' Barton quipped: 'It's the only strategy I know, Court.' Lorenzini said Docusign focused entirely on business customers who could pay from day one. 'The only reason it thrived is because we focused on people that could pay us and eventually earned the right to be a consumer brand,' he explained. The veteran founders also discussed early resource allocation, particularly around sales and marketing. Lorenzini advocated for direct sales until achieving product-market fit: 'Until you get strong signal, only then do you start investing in sales, and after you've got sales, go into marketing,' he said. He said companies fail by scaling prematurely: 'Companies die on the hill of overspending: building a sales team and a marketing engine, long before they've actually got true pull.' Barton agreed on avoiding early advertising spend and encouraged building provocative features that generate organic word-of-mouth. 'I always wanted to have a feature that provoked people, such that word of mouth carried naturally, and I didn't have to spend big money on advertising dollars,' he said. 'The most important part of the marketing mix is the product.' On building culture, Lorenzini was 'very intentional' and viewed it as 'a strategic differentiator' that helped with hiring efforts. 'It still helps us attract and retain great talent,' he said. Barton took a more intuitive approach, but he was equally committed to certain principles, particularly after learning from Microsoft's harsh early culture. 'When I spun Expedia out, I deliberately set a culture of mutual respect,' he said, adding: 'The wheel of our business does not turn unless all the spokes in the wheel are evenly distributed and tightened to the same tension.' Lorenzini, who left Docusign in 2008, launched Founder Nexus last year as a community for startup leaders. He's a limited partner in Seattle firms including Graham & Walker, Ascend, and Unlock Venture Partners. Barton returned to Zillow in 2019 as CEO, and left his day-to-day work last year. He remains executive chair and is also a longtime board member at Netflix.
Yahoo
07-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
1 Mid-Cap Stock on Our Buy List and 2 to Avoid
Mid-cap stocks often strike the right balance between having proven business models and market opportunities that can support $100 billion corporations. However, they face intense competition from scaled industry giants and can be disrupted by new innovative players vying for a slice of the pie. Luckily for you, our mission at StockStory is to help you make money and avoid losses by sorting the winners from the losers. That said, here is one mid-cap stock with a long growth runway and two that could be down big. Market Cap: $17.38 billion Founded by Expedia co-founders Lloyd Frink and Rich Barton, Zillow (NASDAQ:ZG) is the leading U.S. online real estate marketplace. Why Do We Pass on ZG? Products and services aren't resonating with the market as its revenue declined by 7.6% annually over the last five years Poor expense management has led to operating margin losses Waning returns on capital from an already weak starting point displays the inefficacy of management's past and current investment decisions Zillow is trading at $69.85 per share, or 37.3x forward P/E. To fully understand why you should be careful with ZG, check out our full research report (it's free). Market Cap: $14.44 billion As a pioneer in 3D mammography technology that has revolutionized breast cancer detection, Hologic (NASDAQ:HOLX) develops and manufactures diagnostic products, medical imaging systems, and surgical devices focused primarily on women's health and wellness. Why Are We Wary of HOLX? Constant currency revenue growth has disappointed over the past two years and shows demand was soft Expenses have increased as a percentage of revenue over the last five years as its adjusted operating margin fell by 23.2 percentage points Shrinking returns on capital suggest that increasing competition is eating into the company's profitability At $65.08 per share, Hologic trades at 14.6x forward P/E. Dive into our free research report to see why there are better opportunities than HOLX. Market Cap: $11.1 billion Founded in 2009 during the aftermath of the financial crisis when many insurers were retreating from riskier markets, Kinsale Capital Group (NYSE:KNSL) is an insurance company that specializes in writing policies for hard-to-place, unusual, or high-risk businesses that standard insurers typically avoid. Why Is KNSL a Good Business? Impressive 28.4% annual net premiums earned growth over the last two years indicates it's winning market share this cycle Incremental sales significantly boosted profitability as its annual earnings per share growth of 37.6% over the last two years outstripped its revenue performance Annual book value per share growth of 38.8% over the last two years was superb and indicates its capital strength increased during this cycle Kinsale Capital Group's stock price of $476.16 implies a valuation ratio of 5.9x forward P/B. Is now a good time to buy? Find out in our full research report, it's free. The market surged in 2024 and reached record highs after Donald Trump's presidential victory in November, but questions about new economic policies are adding much uncertainty for 2025. While the crowd speculates what might happen next, we're homing in on the companies that can succeed regardless of the political or macroeconomic environment. Put yourself in the driver's seat and build a durable portfolio by checking out our Top 6 Stocks for this week. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 183% over the last five years (as of March 31st 2025). Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,545% between March 2020 and March 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-small-cap company Comfort Systems (+782% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today for free. Find your next big winner with StockStory today. Find your next big winner with StockStory today
Geek Wire
07-06-2025
- Business
- Geek Wire
Zillow co-founder Rich Barton on the ‘provocation marketing playbook' that can boost your brand
GeekWire's startup coverage documents the Pacific Northwest entrepreneurial scene. Sign up for our weekly startup newsletter , and check out the GeekWire funding tracker and venture capital directory . Rich Barton. (Zillow Photo) Here's a marketing tip for companies on a tight budget: be provocative. That's the strategy Zillow used in its early days in Seattle, according to Rich Barton, the company's co-founder who joined the Tim Ferriss Show on a recent podcast. Barton previously co-founded Expedia, which spent heavily on marketing to drum up interest in the travel company's brand. But early Zillow investor Bill Gurley challenged the burgeoning Seattle startup to imagine if it didn't have any marketing budget. 'We were like, 'No way, you can't do that,'' Barton recalled. 'But that made us think a lot more creatively about the features that we built, the way we built them, and then the way we PR communicated them.' Zillow recognized that the data it was collecting on housing prices was valuable for newspapers and built a mechanism to 'constantly feed the endless appetite,' Barton noted. That was a big brand builder — with no ad money spent. 'When you have constantly changing data that people are interested in, you can almost think about feeding that data to hungry consumers in a Bloomberg-like way,' he said. The company then launched its now-famous 'Zestimate' home estimate tool in 2006 — which drew more than 1 million visitors within the first three days and crashed the site. 'When you have a really provocative feature that you know people are going to feel emotional about one way or the other and they're going to talk about it, you're on to something,' Barton said. Since then Barton said he has developed a playbook around what he calls 'provocation marketing.' 'I'm a big believer in the product being the most important part of the marketing mix, if that makes sense to you,' Barton said. Barton, who stepped down as Zillow's CEO last year, also pointed to Glassdoor, the review and salary database site he co-founded. 'We knew salaries [were] a little bit taboo for a lot of people — so it was inherently secret and provocative,' he said. Companies can do too much that may offend or turn off consumers — so there's a balance. You don't want to scare people or piss them off. 'If you're building a brand and a service, you want people to be provoked — but feel good, or tickled, or entertained,' Barton said. He added: 'Provocation marketing with a heart, with the end consumer's best interests in mind — that's a winner.' Barton and Ferris covered a number of other topics during their conversation, including the early days at Expedia, advice on hiring and firing, balancing family and professional life, and other leadership tips.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Zillow's (NASDAQ:ZG) Q1: Beats On Revenue But Stock Drops
Online real estate marketplace Zillow (NASDAQ:ZG) reported Q1 CY2025 results topping the market's revenue expectations , with sales up 13% year on year to $598 million. Its GAAP profit of $0.03 per share was significantly above analysts' consensus estimates. Is now the time to buy Zillow? Find out in our full research report. Zillow (ZG) Q1 CY2025 Highlights: Revenue: $598 million vs analyst estimates of $589.9 million (13% year-on-year growth, 1.4% beat) EPS (GAAP): $0.03 vs analyst estimates of -$0.02 (significant beat) Adjusted EBITDA: $153 million vs analyst estimates of $138.5 million (25.6% margin, 10.5% beat) Operating Margin: -1.5%, up from -8.5% in the same quarter last year Free Cash Flow Margin: 11.4%, up from 7.8% in the same quarter last year Market Capitalization: $16.15 billion Company Overview Founded by Expedia co-founders Lloyd Frink and Rich Barton, Zillow (NASDAQ:ZG) is the leading U.S. online real estate marketplace. Sales Growth A company's long-term sales performance is one signal of its overall quality. Any business can put up a good quarter or two, but many enduring ones grow for years. Over the last five years, Zillow's demand was weak and its revenue declined by 7.6% per year. This was below our standards and suggests it's a lower quality business. Zillow Quarterly Revenue We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within consumer discretionary, a stretched historical view may miss a company riding a successful new product or trend. Zillow's annualized revenue growth of 10.4% over the last two years is above its five-year trend, but we were still disappointed by the results. Zillow Year-On-Year Revenue Growth This quarter, Zillow reported year-on-year revenue growth of 13%, and its $598 million of revenue exceeded Wall Street's estimates by 1.4%. Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 14.4% over the next 12 months, an improvement versus the last two years. This projection is above average for the sector and suggests its newer products and services will spur better top-line performance. Here at StockStory, we certainly understand the potential of thematic investing. Diverse winners from Microsoft (MSFT) to Alphabet (GOOG), Coca-Cola (KO) to Monster Beverage (MNST) could all have been identified as promising growth stories with a megatrend driving the growth. So, in that spirit, we've identified a relatively under-the-radar profitable growth stock benefiting from the rise of AI, available to you FREE via this link. Operating Margin Zillow's operating margin has been trending up over the last 12 months, but it still averaged negative 10% over the last two years. This is due to its large expense base and inefficient cost structure.
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Boating season kicks off this weekend, police to increase water patrols
Seattle's Opening Day of Boating Season starts tomorrow! To keep everyone safe, King County Deputy Sgt. Rich Barton tells us they will be patrolling the waterways every day starting Saturday. 'We don't do a lot of citations, but we do a lot of safety inspections,' Barton said. They are warning people to check their boats before heading out. 'Make sure you have proper equipment, people may put things away fire extinguisher life jackets everything safety related people might forget about,' Barton said. This includes the paddleboarders too, they must have a life jacket and a whistle. Crew Coach Rachel Le Mieux tells us she has been on the water her entire and even she knows how important safety precautions are. 'We are very conscious about safety; we won't let our rowers out in the water if air temperature are not conducive to our safety. We have traffic patterns all the boat houses follow traffic patterns,' Le Mieux said. If you do find yourself in an emergency out on the water, you can always call 911. He says as long as you meet the requirements, everyone will have a good time!
