Adam Miller, co-founder and CEO of Cornerstone onDemand

Adam  Miller is the founder & CEO of Cornerstone
OnDemand. He started  Cornerstone in 1999 in his one-bedroom
apartment to help people realize their professional potential.
Under his leadership, Cornerstone has grown to over $500
million in revenue and is one of the largest cloud computing
companies in the world.
Insights and key takeaways from Adam Miller


Perspective is essential with challenging sales cycles
and near-death experiences: “We were very bad at sales
back then. We had lined up this great pipeline of potential
clients in August of 2001, all northeast financial service
firms. While we had very little capital, we had raised no
money, and we really needed these sales to keep the business
operation,” remembered Adam Miller. “Then, September 11th
happened. I was told by the management team, by every advisor,
by every investor, ‘Adam, you have to cut the business. Cut the
staff down to the minimum number of people.’ We had very few
people to begin with. Cutting the staff down would mean we
wouldn’t be able to deliver to a client. So, on September 15th,
2001, we started hiring more people. We ended up closing three
deals. Those accounts ended up being the capital for the
business, and we grew the company from there.”


Culture change is inevitable: “One year we
were going to go from 45 to 51, and then from 51 to 150. So,
we’re going to triple the size of the company. What I’ve
learned over the years is that it’s never about the absolute
number of people. It’s always about the relative number of
people,” said Adam. “Are you adding 10% more people, 50% more
people, 100% more people? The higher the percentage, the more
of an impact that influx is going to have on the culture of the
business. And if you don’t do it by design, you’re going to end
up with a culture you don’t want.”


As the business scales, there are always new skills you
need to welcome: “At Cornerstone onDemand, we try to
do a 50-50 hire from outside and promote from within. It’s
important to advance those who have invested in the company as
well as bring in fresh perspectives at each new stage,” said
Adam.


The stock market demands precision in your business
forecasts and revenue: “If you’re thinking about going
public, every quarter, write on a Post-it what number you think
you’re going to have at the end of the quarter and put it in a
drawer. You should do it, your CFO should do it. After you get
it right three quarters in a row, you’re ready to go public,”
said Adam. “It’s much harder than people think.”


Entrepreneurs need passion, persistence, perseverance,
and persuasion: “I like to say that good entrepreneurs
need to have the three Ps,” said Adam. “They need to have
passion, they need to have persistence, and they need to have
perseverance, and I’ll even throw in a fourth one. They need to
be persuasive because you got to persuade employees, investors,
clients, partners, all the time.”



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