Is PayPal better led by an executive from a company like AmEx or by a startup-style CEO?
Payments
Asked by Question Bot02/Oct/20141 answer
1 Answer
F
Faisal Khan
Answered 02/Oct/2014
At the top, its all about managing people, translating the vision into reality and in many cases, helping define that vision with the senior management.
There are other elements as well, like increasing shareholder value, market share, product innovation, etc. but I am not going to get into that.
A good CEO would know how to drive the very best out of their employees and would be quick to grasp (after taking due feedback) on what is good and not good for the company to pursue.
It is also a lot about understanding the payment's space, regulatory environment, the blurring of lines operating domestically and internationally, the competition from evolving payment systems, etc. The CEO doesn't necessarily have to know how to connect the blue-wire to the red-wire. There are people for that. 100s of them.
He and his team would need to look at market data, feasibility reports, research reports, present numbers, etc. to determine which avenues are best suited for the company to grow and possibly extend its lead.
PayPal does have a rock solid middle and higher management. They have ideas. They have suggestions. They have opinions. They have a good idea about what will work and what will not work. An exemplary CEO would be able to juice out the concentrate and put that work.
PayPal is not a startup. Its a fully matured company, and it can do with a person like Mr. Schulman to run it. The size of the company would make it difficult to behave like a startup. They have products, lots of them. Some are in market, most in drawers or folders within their computers. I am sure they can innovate and fend off the threats from competition.
Because PayPal can also be a hot target for acquisition, the astute CEO would need to have all the feelers on sensitive. Be acutely aware of who might be the right person to talk to. There are so many contenders who could possibly buy PayPal. Amazon (strong contender), AliPay, A Bank like BoA or JPMC, Facebook Messenger, Tencent, Google, Microsoft, Apple (yes! why not them), some private equity/venture group, etc. Anyone could reach out and say, this is the company to buy and grow further.
I think Dan Schulman would do justice to the company, but only time will tell.
There are other elements as well, like increasing shareholder value, market share, product innovation, etc. but I am not going to get into that.
A good CEO would know how to drive the very best out of their employees and would be quick to grasp (after taking due feedback) on what is good and not good for the company to pursue.
It is also a lot about understanding the payment's space, regulatory environment, the blurring of lines operating domestically and internationally, the competition from evolving payment systems, etc. The CEO doesn't necessarily have to know how to connect the blue-wire to the red-wire. There are people for that. 100s of them.
He and his team would need to look at market data, feasibility reports, research reports, present numbers, etc. to determine which avenues are best suited for the company to grow and possibly extend its lead.
PayPal does have a rock solid middle and higher management. They have ideas. They have suggestions. They have opinions. They have a good idea about what will work and what will not work. An exemplary CEO would be able to juice out the concentrate and put that work.
PayPal is not a startup. Its a fully matured company, and it can do with a person like Mr. Schulman to run it. The size of the company would make it difficult to behave like a startup. They have products, lots of them. Some are in market, most in drawers or folders within their computers. I am sure they can innovate and fend off the threats from competition.
Because PayPal can also be a hot target for acquisition, the astute CEO would need to have all the feelers on sensitive. Be acutely aware of who might be the right person to talk to. There are so many contenders who could possibly buy PayPal. Amazon (strong contender), AliPay, A Bank like BoA or JPMC, Facebook Messenger, Tencent, Google, Microsoft, Apple (yes! why not them), some private equity/venture group, etc. Anyone could reach out and say, this is the company to buy and grow further.
I think Dan Schulman would do justice to the company, but only time will tell.