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Moving On, Moving Up?
Former Greenfield Online CEO Nadilo ponders the future of technology - and his career
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Business New Haven
9/4/2001
By: Susan Cornell
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BNH talks with Rudy Nadilo, an Internet pioneer and Greenfield Online's former CEO and chairman. After building the high-profile Wilton-based Internet research company from a startup to a $20 million operation with an international presence, Nadilo unexpectedly announced his resignation on May 1 after a four-year sojourn. The strategic marketer is seeking his next challenge.
What drives you and what type of an executive do you consider yourself?
I'm a strategic marketing CEO, that's my strength. The ability to take a product or service and position it in a meaningful way to the correct market segment is what I do best. As part of this, I put a lot of emphasis on product development, which I believe is the lifeblood of any company. Without a steady stream of new products and enhancements, a company eventually withers away and becomes irrelevant in the marketplace.
What is the ideal opportunity for you?
Within a proven market segment, the ideal opportunity is to utilize technology to make a business more efficient. At my last two companies we did this: Information Resources pioneered using the UPC scanner to track consumer purchasing [in place of manual store audits], and at Greenfield Online, we pioneered using an online community of consumers to conduct marketing research [instead of using the telephone].
Can you grow your next venture as far as you grew Greenfield?
I believe I can grow my next venture significantly bigger than what I accomplished at Greenfield. I am looking at a number of software company opportunities that have significant leverage and ongoing recurring revenue streams that are not as people-dependant as the research business.
What have been your greatest professional accomplishments?
To date, my biggest accomplishment has been Greenfield Online. I joined the company in the fall of 1997 as the eighth employee when there was only $300,000 of revenue on the books. We ended that first year at $1.5 million and more than doubled the business each year for four consecutive years. This is a big accomplishment.
Why was this the right time for you to move on - both personally and for the company?
After four years, it was the right time. My talent is taking an existing product or service and building it up into a mature business. I'm really good at building the infrastructure and developing all the necessary components of the business: product management, marketing, sales, finance. I'm really excited about doing this again with a small company that is poised for growth.
What is the future of the Internet?
I think that real soon we are going to stop thinking about the Internet the way we do today. For example, do you ever stop to think about the electrical grid infrastructure when you plug in an appliance? Of course not; you just use it and take it for granted. It will be the same with the Internet. It has profoundly changed the way we communicate and conduct business and it is here to stay. It is a fundamental tool of business, like the telephone.
How will it change, then?
What we will be seeing is a huge shift to wireless applications, which will dramatically and positively change the way consumers communicate, retrieve information and interact with others. Within the next few years, what we currently call the 'cell phone' will profoundly change. The devices in the near future will allow us to not only communicate but will integrate all of our personal information, our credit card capabilities, banking, e-mail and many other really cool things.
As a strategic marketer, what do you wish you could do better?
I always wished I could play the piano!
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