Robert Reffkin - No One Succeeds Alone

Copyright 2021 by Robert Reffkin

All rights reserved

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to or to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 3 Park Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, New York 10016.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Reffkin, Robert, author.

Title: No one succeeds alone : learn everything you can from everyone you can / Robert Reffkin.

Description: Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021. | Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020039129 (print) | LCCN 2020039130 (ebook) | ISBN 9780358454618 (hardback) | ISBN 9780358449812 | ISBN 9780358449881 | ISBN 9780358440017 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH : Reffkin, Robert. | Chief executive officersBiography. | Children of single parentsBiography. | Success in business.

Classification: LCC HC 102.5. R 429 A 3 2021 (print) | LCC HC 102.5. R 429 (ebook) | DDC 650.1dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020039129

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020039130

Cover design by Pete Garceau

Author photograph Jonathan Grassi

v2.0421

For Raia, Ruby, and River

When I first met Robert Reffkin, he was just starting Compass. I had already heard about his spark and passion from others I respected. He had a bold vision for reimagining the real estate industry by creating a technology platform to make the searching and selling experience seamless and intelligent for agents and their clients.

I could relate to that vision and his passion, and felt a kinship with Robert. More than two decades ago, I dreamed of reimagining the software business by making it as easy to purchase and use business applications as it is to buy a book on Amazon. The result was Salesforce, and today the company is the worlds number one customer relationship management platform, with more than $20 billion in annual revenue.

Robert and I have followed a similar path in some ways. We were both entrepreneurs from an early age, earning enough in high school to help us pay for college. We both had mothers in our lives who encouraged us to pursue our passions even when they took surprising turnsmy wanting to visit the UK as a fifteen-year-old to learn about castles for a video game I was building or Roberts needing to stay out past midnight several nights a week for his high school DJ business.

And as they did in my case, not many people understood why Robert would leave his comfortable perch at a well-established company for the high-risk start-up world. But Robert was able to prevail, and this book is a testament to his exceptional ability to transform adversity into energy that has propelled him forward throughout his life and work.

Its clear that Roberts approach to business comes from his unique life story and values. Growing up Black and Jewish in Berkeley, California, he was inspired by his single-parent mother, Ruth. He was able to see every obstacle and setback as an opportunity and a way to hone his particular strengths.

Robert possesses critical traits that every leader aspires to havethe ability to listen, empathize, and learn from others. Robert deeply understands that no one succeeds alone. He has sought out mentors throughout his life, and now, through this book, he can be a mentor to anyone who dreams big. And he is committed not just to doing well but also to doing good in the world through his personal actions and his company.

Whether its his collaborative approach to innovation, his strategy for connecting with mentors, his unwavering focus on customer needs, his way of building a company culture anchored in a sense of belonging, his beginners mind open to endless possibilities, or his boundless optimism and persistence, everyone can learn from the way Robert engages with the world with gratitude, passion, and humanity.

Marc Benioff, Chair and CEO, Salesforce

Heres the most common way of telling my story.

Robert Reffkin was raised by a single mother without much money.

He made more than $100,000 running his first business while still in high school, DJing bar mitzvahs, high school dances, and house parties.

He graduated from Columbia University in two and a half years.

He was the only student from his college class hired at the New York headquarters of the exclusive management consulting firm McKinsey & Company.

He then had a fast-paced career at Lazard, the White House, and Goldman Sachs.

He started a nonprofit at age twenty-nine to help kids who were the first in their families to attend college.

He ran fifty marathonsone in each US stateto raise $1 million for charity.

He founded his own tech start-up, Compass, which is now worth billions of dollars.

Thats the heroic way to tell my story.

But its nowhere near the whole story.

When my mom tucked me into bed at night when I was a child, she didnt tell me to have sweet dreamsshe told me to have big dreams. And I always have. But its not easy to turn big dreams into reality.

In my life, Ive failed much more often than Ive succeeded. The only reason Ive accomplished anything is because I learned early how to bounce back with unrelenting energy and passion, and come up with a new dream every time I stumbled.

No matter how hard I tried to succeed in high school and college, I always ended up with a C average.

I failed to land literally hundreds of different college scholarships that I applied for.

I applied to dozens of jobs as I was graduating from college and was turned down by all of them except one.

I felt like an impostor in every job I had in my twenties, like I was one day away from being firedand in many cases, I wasnt wrong.

I knew nothing about running a nonprofit when I launched New York Needs You, and our first year of trial and error was a lot more error than anything else.

Our first idea for Compass failed to make renting a home more efficient for our customers, so just one year in, we had to pivot and change the entire business model.

Much of the early team lost faith in my leadership because of that pivot, and I was almost forced out of my own company.

At Compass, weve experimented with hundreds of offerings for our customerssoftware, support programs, and marketing. Most didnt work at all.

Its only because Ive kept goingbecause Ive been eager to learn from every challenge and keep trying until we solve each problemthat Im here today. And because, from a very young age, Ive never believed that the answers were inside me. Ive always looked for answers in the work of others trying to do similar things, in the wisdom of my mentors, and in the energy of my collaborators.

Ive learned that opportunity is everywhere around you if youre willing to dream, ask, and listen.

The lessons Ive learned are grounded in the journey Ive taken. So Id like to share some of my storyand some of the lessons people have taught mewith you in the pages that follow.

Before someone at Compass embarks on a project, I ask them, What does success look like? as a way to focus their energy on the results that really matter. So Ill take my own advice and do the same.

Heres what success looks like for this book if all my dreams for itand youcome true.

Something you read in this book will inspire you to dream bigger than you ever have before.

Something in this book will help you realize your full potentialnot just the potential you think you have right now.

Something you read here will motivate you to reach out and help someone else make their dreams come true.