Company · 1998 — 2016
Rackspace
Twelve people to twelve hundred, and a $4.3 billion exit.
In 1998 three founders — Richard Yoo, Dirk Elmendorf and Pat Condon — had an idea to make complex websites easier to host. Graham Weston provided the seed capital. Six months later he put his real estate business on hold and took the CEO seat.
He held it until 2006. In that stretch Rackspace went from 12 employees to 1,200, and from $1 million to $200 million in annualised revenue, on a service promise the company called Fanatical Support. Lanham Napier, president since 2000, became CEO in 2006; Graham stayed on as Chairman through the 2016 sale to Apollo Global for $4.3 billion.
What survived the company is the sentence he still repeats: what we all want is to be valued members of a winning team on an inspiring mission.
- Role
- Co-founder, CEO 1998–2006, Chairman to 2016
- Growth
- 12 → 1,200 employees
- Exit
- $4.3B to Apollo Global, 2016