The Leadership Letter

Real correspondence from the people running real companies — and what it reveals about leadership.

After You Buy It, Don't Break It

The cost savings will still be there in a year. The momentum won't.

From: David Ebersman, Sent: 4/16/2012

I think we should not waste any time discussing moving them to our infrastructure in 2012. There are only 8 engineers on their team and we do not want to distract them.

---

From: Dan Levy, 4/16/2012

The reason I've heard (which I believe) is: focus on growth not on cost savings (for now). We don't want them to lose momentum. The cost savings will always be there; the momentum is hard to recapture. I saw this firsthand with eBay's acquisition of eachnet in China. Was China's leading site. They spent 9 months 'getting on eBay's platform'. By the time they got back to the customer experience, they had been passed by more nimble startups and never recovered.

---

From: David Ebersman, Sent: 4/12/2012

In terms of connecting with Kevin, please note that the deal has not closed yet and that it is imperative to Mark that the Instagram team remains completely focused on growth and does not feel like joining Facebook adds any complexity or bureaucracy to their work. So we need to be in 'how can we help' mode rather than 'we have ideas for how to make you more efficient' mode.

This edition is for members — but the daily letter is free.

One real corporate email, and the lesson it teaches, in your inbox every weekday morning. Free. Unsubscribe in one click.

Want this edition and the full searchable archive?

Start your free week →What members get →
Court Exhibit
FTC v. Meta Platforms, Inc.
1:20-cv-03590 (DCD), Doc. 379-31, filed 2024-09-20
April 16, 2012
Public domain
View the primary source →