The sales team pushes back at Wilkes, arguing that the new products undercut their efforts to sell brokers and lenders on the exchange. "How should we sell both products without cannibalizing the exchange?" asks one of the senior sales managers. "How should we do that?" Wilkes is quick with his rejoinder. "If someone at McDonald's went to Ray Kroc and said, 'I've got a good idea. I think we should sell chicken sandwiches,' do you think he would say, 'Hell no, it would cut into our hamburger business?' Well guess what? It turns out that McDonald's got more customers because they sell both beef and chicken."
A few minutes later, Wilkes signals that the discussion is over. "The investors gave us $18 million, and we have to use it to increase revenue," he says. "You're where the rubber meets the road. Be creative. As long as you come close to dying trying, that's good enough for me."
It's the kind of scene that's being played out at so many surviving Internet companies these days. The romance of the startup life is long gone. What's replacing it is the tough logic of veteran business leaders like Richard Wilkes. "I learned long ago that you should operate, structure, and finance a company as if you could sell it tomorrow," he says. "Call it mercenary, but it's a discipline that forces you to build economic value." In the end, Wilkes has done what turnaround specialists instinctively do: Having stripped away the soft coating around IMX, he has uncovered the hard, shiny seed of an opportunity.
The company's offices in San Ramon are not far from one of Chevron Corp.'s office towers. After the layoffs last summer, Wilkes gathered the remaining employees and gave what he calls his "Chevron speech." He told them that they still had a chance to build a great company, that IMX is stronger for its layoffs, and that if they don't want to stay for the turmoil of a dotcom, then they can always go get a safe job at Chevron. Nearly all of them have stayed.
Paul C. Judge (pjudge@fastcompany.com) is a Fast Company senior editor. Contact Richard Wilkes by email (rwilkes@imx.com).
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