Shellye Archambeau - Unapologetically Ambitious

I first came to know Shellye Archambeau when I hired her to run marketing for my company, Loudcloud. The company was growing much faster than the current team and I could handle; I needed someone with better leadership skills than I had to help build out the organization. Shellye turned out to be just that. During her tenure, she taught me how to make hard decisions and communicate them clearly and unapologetically. In many ways, she was my mentor rather than vice versa.

Eventually, the Loudcloud business didnt work, and Shellye and I parted ways. I remember thinking at the time that wherever she went, they would be quite lucky to have her.

A few months later, Shellye told me that she was considering becoming CEO of a company called Zaplet. This surprised me, because of Zaplets backstory. Led by Silicon Valley superstar Alan Baratz, Zaplet had once been the darling of the technology world. Baratz had raised gigantic amounts of money and garnered glowing press coverage. Everyone expected Zaplet to be the next great technology company. But as so often happens in technology, things did not go as planned. The company rapidly burned through its massive cash hoard and was on the verge of a total wipeout. In order to save itself from bankruptcy, Zaplet laid off huge numbers of employees and battened down the hatches for what looked like would be a long winter followed by a fire sale.

Companies like Zaplet almost never come back, because they become fatally tainted by their meteoric rise and even swifter fall. Every potential employee, customer, and investor would know the company was damaged goods, and it would be nearly impossible for a new CEO to fight through that. I did not want to see Shellye jump into such a polluted swamp.

I said, Shellye, I dont think you should take that job. I could tell from her body language that she heard me but wasnt planning to listen to me.

Her reaction was so sharp I worried she thought I was telling her that she couldnt do it, when I was really trying to say that she shouldnt do it. But as the discussion went on, I realized that Shellye understood the issues and, to a large extent, those issues were the very reason she wanted to be the CEO.

Shellye wasnt optimizing for a personal financial outcome, glory, or a career boost. She was looking for the ultimate test of her leadership skills. She was like a great boxer who wanted to fight the most dangerous opponents to prove she was the best. She was attracted to, rather than repelled by, the insanely high degree of difficulty that Zaplet posed.

Shellye took the job, and Zaplet was as advertised. For every issue that I warned her about, there were another hundred that I did not anticipate. But like Muhammad Ali taking on Joe Frazier and George Foreman, Shellye scratched, clawed, and willed her way to victory. She changed everything about the company: the technology, the business they were in, and most of the employees. She merged it into MetricStream and grew the combined entity into a robust industry leader over fourteen long years.

As I watched her do it, I often wondered where that incredible determination, focus, and will to win came from. Finally, with this book, I have the answer.

Shellyes life story, and the lessons it carries, are powerful examples of focus and ambition that can shape your life for the better. If your goal is just to be famous, maybe this is not the story for you, but if your goal is to be a truly great leader of men and women, you have found your guide.

Ben Horowitz

Co-Founder and General Partner, Andreessen Horowitz

Im in my office at MetricStream Inc., hurriedly clearing a backlog of voice mails, trying to get through them before my first meeting of the day. As usual, theyre all sales pitchescold calls from vendors who dont know who else to approach in the company, so they leave a message for the CEO. Anyone who really needs me calls my cell phone or sends me an email, so Im only half attending, listening to each message just long enough to confirm that its a sales call before I delete it. My gaze wanders out the window of my corner office, to the view of Highway 101 in the distance, all those cars rushing who knows where. Outside my door, I hear people arriving at their desks, settling in for another busy day. What time is it? I wonder, but before I can check the clock, a distinctive voice interrupts my thoughts: Shellye, this is Lowell McAdam, the message says.

Lowell McAdam, I think. Where have I heard that name?

Marc Andreessen suggested I talk to you. Can you give me a call?

Marc Andreessen? Now, that name I know well. Whats this about?