Zillow

Smart, collaborative people committed to a clear and important mission - Director Zillow Employee Review

5.0

Mar 4, 2014

Recommend

CEO approval

Business outlook

Pros

I've been here for over 3 years(maybe a little more, maybe a lot more). I can count on one hand the number of days I've woken up in the morning and not felt like coming into work. A simple gauge and it's a big one for me. It's awesome to work on something as meaningful as empowering people to make better decisions about one of the most significant aspects of their lives. To do this with co-workers as smart, innovative and devoted as you'll find anywhere. To do this with one of the absolute best leadership teams around(just look at their track-records!). To be part of #1 -- the undisputed leader! -- in this space. And the part that excites me most is that even after so many years, even given the dominant leadership position we have, it is absolutely true when Spencer tells us that we've only just begun and that there is much, much more to do. There is so much more we can do for consumers, and so much more we can do for real estate professionals. Really. What more do I need?

Cons

We're growing fast, organically and through acquisitions. There are inherent challenges to this that we're not immune from and as much I trust we'll get through all of it just fine, ultimately, it can make for challenges here and there in the interim: clarity/ambiguity, communication, prioritization, culture, recruiting/talent, employee development, operational vs strategic, etc. Again, the typical challenges for a high-growth company so not necessarily unusual but certainly something that keeps us on our toes and can be distracting at times. Overall, though, I'll take all the goodness that comes from this growth since I trust we'll manage through the Change -- but it's never a given/guarantee and will require diligence, smarts and patience. I'll also echo what others have said here that it sometimes would be nice to slow down a little bit, take a step back and attend to doing some things a little bit better versus rolling out more and more new stuff. It's the classic quality vs quantity/speed/TTM dilemma and I know it's a tough and core strategic challenge to figure out.

Zillow Response

12y

Thank you for the great review and feedback. You are right that we are running so fast here (which is good) that sometimes mistakes can be made, and sometimes we aren't quite as efficient as we could be. I also wonder sometimes whether we could do a better job of slowing down to celebrate our wins. We have so much that is going right at Zillow that we rarely take a moment to appreciate it. We have a bit of a "what have you done for me lately" mentality, which I'm sure wears on people over time. I agree that "culture needs to be nurtured". That's one of my key themes for 2014. We are too big for the culture to just happen naturally now. We need to work at it a bit more. We can do it, but it takes time. It's sort of like a marriage -- in the first few years, everything works great. But as life gets more complicated (children, other commitments), you sometimes need to work at it to make sure you tend to the little things, which all add up.

Smart, collaborative people committed to a clear and important mission - Director Zillow Employee Review

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