Hari Ravichandran Of Aura: How To Take Your Company From Good To Great
An Interview With Jerome Knyszewski
…And fifth, it’s vital to foster a good company culture. I know I’m repeating myself, but getting culture right is one of the most tricky but most rewarding things in business. You’ve got to create an environment built on respect and trust, inclusivity, integration, and civility. At Aura, for example, we’ve been trying to look beyond hard skills like expertise in computer engineering when hiring people. We pay more attention to interpersonal skills, diversity, working in teams, and matching communication styles.
As part of my series about the “How To Take Your Company From Good To Great”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Hari Ravichandran.
Hari Ravichandran is the founder and CEO of Aura, a digital security company that provides comprehensive consumer-grade protection encompassing technical components like antivirus and VPN as well as identity theft monitoring and insurance. Born in India, he moved to the US in 1990, and studied at Mississippi State University, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and Stanford. In 1997, he founded Endurance International, which became one of the world’s leading web hosting providers, worth more than $3.5 billion. It was Hari’s passion for entrepreneurship that made him go back to his startup roots and found Aura in 2018. Since then, the company’s value has skyrocketed to over $1 billion through funding from General Catalyst, Warburg Pincus, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and other notable investors, giving it unicorn status.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
My upbringing was adventurous and unique. I was born in the South of India and lived there until I was about 14. My parents were both entrepreneurs — they owned a publishing company — and my father was also a professor. He came to the US as a Fulbright scholar in the late 80s. My parents spent two years here and when they came back, they wanted us kids to move there as soon as possible. My father in particular had been struck by all the opportunities and resources that were available in the US to people who worked hard and had the right mindset. They wanted us to have a better start in life, so they sent me to the US as part of a Rotary exchange program.
I’d always been interested in technology — I programmed my first 8085 microprocessor at 13. So that’s the career I decided to pursue. I stuck to my studies and earned a BS in computer engineering from Mississippi State University and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. I also started a graduate program at Stanford. However, I decided to drop out and launch my own business instead. I was in California at the time — in the late 90s — in Silicon Valley, when companies like Yahoo and Hotmail had just been founded at Stanford. I thought — if they can do it, so can I.
That’s why I founded BizLand.com in 1997. It began as a hosting and email marketing start-up. A few years later, it was hit hard by the dotcom crash, and we had to cut back and adapt to make it through. When we survived the crisis, we renamed the company Endurance International Group, to reflect the storm it had weathered. By the time I left the company in 2018, it was worth more than $3.5 billion.
However, I’m an entrepreneur at heart. I liked being the CEO of a billion-dollar company, in the corner office, but it was not what I loved most. So when the chance arose to start it all over, I took it. I launched Aura, a digital security company, back in 2018 and have been putting all the lessons I learned with Endurance to good use.
Can you tell us about the hard times you faced when you first started your journey? Did you ever consider giving up? Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were so hard?
During my early years, the dot-com crash in 2000 was the biggest challenge. Before the crash, my company was doing well. We were employing about 100 people, hosted almost a million websites, and had raised over $20 million in venture capital.
However, our biggest vulnerability was that most of our business was subsidized by advertising. When the crash hit, advertisers pulled back and our revenues plummeted. At the same time, we lost a lot of our funding. When things go bad, the venture guys start running for the hills.
At that point, it was tempting to throw in the towel. A lot of other companies did at the time. However, during my early years in the US, I had learned to rapidly adapt to shifting conditions. I thought that with some radical changes, the company could make it through.
We stripped our staff down to 14 and switched to a subscription- instead of an advertising-based business model. We only converted around 2% of our customers to that model, but it was enough to break even the next year. We’d learned our lesson, though: If you don’t focus on profitability, things can go bad.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that?
I wouldn’t exactly call it a funny mistake, but it was definitely something I did wrong the first time around with Endurance. I failed to make sure that the people working in our company all believe in the journey, line up behind the strategy, and create a good company culture.
One day, we were at an event at Cape Cod with Endurance — our executives, board members, and others. At the time, the company was generating around $750 million in revenues. I looked at the team and said, “We’ve gotten this far. It’s been a great ride, and now we need to figure out how to go from $750 million to $2 billion in revenues.”
Later that night, I was having some drinks with the team, and one of the executives looked at me and said: “You said that you wanted us to go figure out how to get from $750 million to $2 billion. I don’t know if you realize this, but you always just told us what to do. I don’t know how you expect us to go from here to there when we have no training. We’ve never worked together as a team to solve problems on our own.”
I remember thinking, “Oh, gosh. I’ve made a huge mistake here.” Everything I’d done was so top-down. I had never let the team work independently, make mistakes, and learn from them. This time around, that is a central tenet of my leadership philosophy. I am an arbiter of decisions, but I give the team a lot of room to figure things out on their own.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
I think what makes Aura really unique is that it offers an affordable way to comprehensively protect yourself online. For individuals, not big businesses.
In fact, the entire business idea is based on a personal experience I had in 2014. Back then, my identity was stolen — someone filed a bank loan in my name. So I did what most people would do. I went online and tried to figure out how it would affect me and what I could do about it. I wasn’t sure how what was going on would impact my family, my finances, or my credit. It was overwhelming, and it took me a while to sort out.
What I discovered was that no comprehensive solution to the problem of identity theft and digital security existed for private individuals. Most cybersecurity enterprises focused on companies. If you wanted to keep safe as an individual, you needed various technical solutions — from a password manager to a VPN — proper monitoring of your personal data, and insurance. When you add all that up, a family might easily pay over $100 for a particular solution.
That’s the problem that Aura set out to solve. We want to use scaled technology to tackle this fragmentation and make the internet safer for people.
Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?
It’s important to focus on company culture, to delegate, and to take care of yourself. Especially during the pandemic years, you’ve got to remember that being a leader is a marathon, not a sprint. Building a network of people you trust, who thrive in your company in their own right, gives you the space to take a step back and breathe.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
One of the biggest influences in my early life was my father. My parents were entrepreneurs in their own right, always looking for opportunities. And they were willing to do anything to make sure that we kids had opportunities and resources to thrive — even if it meant sending us to the US on our own. I was 14 when my father took me to the airport, and I had never travelled anywhere or been on my own. While saying goodbye, he told me to “figure out a way to never come back”. He wanted me to seize my chance and find a better life for myself. That really stuck with me and was a foundational motivation as I adapted to the American way of life during my teenage years.
Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of this interview. The title of this series is “How to take your company from good to great”. Let’s start with defining our terms. How would you define a “good” company, what does that look like? How would you define a “great” company, what does that look like?
In my opinion, the thing that really sets great companies apart from good ones is culture. It is the foundation of everything businesses need for success. I’m talking about values, standards of interaction with people, codes of conduct, and modes of operations. The absence of bad culture is a minimum requirement for qualifying as a good company. Having a good company culture, though, paves the way for greatness.
Based on your experience and success, what are the five most important things one should know in order to lead a company from Good to Great? Please share a story or an example for each.
First, I think, is working with the right people — try to find people who inspire you. This will also open up new business opportunities. For example, I met Bhavin and Divyank Turakhia back in 2012. They were introduced to me as the founders of Directi, a Mumbai-based web hosting company. I was blown away by their story about how they had started by borrowing money from their parents and built a business in Mumbai, where there’s no structured startup system. At the time, Endurance was looking to expand abroad, and I realized that Bhavin and Divyak had invaluable knowledge around localization. We acquired several parts of Directi and India became the basis of Endurance’s operations in the Asia Pacific region.
Second, it’s crucial to stay flexible. To be ready to rethink your business plan and strategy when times get tough. That’s what helped Endurance survive the dot-com crash. We scaled back and switched to a subscription-based model, focusing on the small number of customers we could convert. It was tough at first, but eventually it laid the foundation for a $3.5 billion dollar business.
Third, you’ve got to adapt your leadership style to changing circumstances. No matter if it’s an expansion of your company, or a shift to remote work during a global pandemic. First and foremost, stay human and lead by example. Personally, I try to be a leader with a positive outlook, but I also open up to my team. For example, during the COVID-19 crisis, I shared how I was coping with my own struggles, which allowed me to connect more deeply with my team.
Fourth, it’s important to keep your perspective and not get swept up by the tide. Instead, taking a step back and examining challenging situations from a more objective viewpoint can help you take your company from good to great. For instance, in 1997, when I was launching my first business, I used my savings as seed money. I had $8,000 and used two thirds of it to put out print advertisements in publications like PC Magazine and Wired. It took two weeks for the first responses to trickle in, and that was absolutely nerve-wrecking. In the years since, I’ve learned to resist the thrill in the urgency of starting something new. Bravery isn’t all about being willing to take risks and go out on a limb. It’s also about showing restraint and patience and taking time to do things more slowly, but do them right from the start.
And fifth, it’s vital to foster a good company culture. I know I’m repeating myself, but getting culture right is one of the most tricky but most rewarding things in business. You’ve got to create an environment built on respect and trust, inclusivity, integration, and civility. At Aura, for example, we’ve been trying to look beyond hard skills like expertise in computer engineering when hiring people. We pay more attention to interpersonal skills, diversity, working in teams, and matching communication styles.
Extensive research suggests that “purpose driven businesses” are more successful in many areas. Can you help articulate for our readers a few reasons why a business should consider becoming a purpose driven business, or consider having a social impact angle?
First and foremost, I think, is that it drives motivation among your team. It makes their work seem worthwhile. For instance, I’m a dad. My three kids are growing up as digital natives. Working at Aura and developing our products makes me feel like I can provide some security to them as they navigate the digital world. In the long term, we aim to help as many people as possible, and make the world a safer place.
From a more utilitarian perspective, this approach also makes it easier to communicate your company’s mission and purpose to the public and potential customers. It also facilitates public partnerships. For example, Aura recently became the official digital security partner of the Minnesota Timberwolves. The team prides itself on being technologically forward-thinking, and was one of the first that provided fans with a completely contactless arena experience. Our mission of ensuring digital security in all aspects of daily life fits right in there.
What advice would you give to a business leader who initially went through years of successive growth, but has now reached a standstill. From your experience, do you have any general advice about how to boost growth and “restart their engines”?
I firmly believe that it’s important to stay open to change. Many people are hung up on the things that helped them achieve success in the first place, and on what they believe they ought to do next. Instead, it’s important to stay flexible and focus on adapting your business to changed circumstances, and on what you really want to do.
Generating new business, increasing your profits, or at least maintaining your financial stability can be challenging during good times, even more so during turbulent times. Can you share some of the strategies you use to keep forging ahead and not lose growth traction in a difficult economy?
One thing that I always try to do is to extend my professional network. I can advise anyone to take as many meetings as they can and to keep in touch with their circle of friends and colleagues. Personally, I like to expand my network by meeting people that have come recommended to me by colleagues and friends I trust.
Another approach I can recommend is to find new ideas and approaches through qualifying your personal experience, and monitoring consumer behavior.
Like I mentioned before, the digital security concept for Aura is based on my personal experience with identity theft. Before diving into a business based on this experience, though, I dug into doing data research to assess the scope of the problem and see to what extent my own experience was universal.
The second avenue is to employ pattern recognition when it comes to the behavior of potential customers. Take changing work patterns as an example. There are migration streams from cities to suburbs, and people are quickly phasing out obsolete ways of working. Companies can find opportunities in that — help people pivot to a new style of working and living.
In your experience, which aspect of running a company tends to be most underestimated? Can you explain or give an example?
Company culture once again — never underestimate its importance. Especially when you’re growing fast, it’s easy to lose track of it. There are countless examples of startups with huge valuations that were brought down by systemic cultural issues. Some leaders actively created climates and rewarded behaviors that proved to be their downfalls. However, it doesn’t even take negative energy to foster a toxic company culture — negligence is enough. Many entrepreneurs treat company culture as an afterthought. But this approach leads to complications in the long run.
As you know, “conversion” means to convert a visit into a sale. In your experience, what are the best strategies a business should use to increase conversion rates?
A principal strategy is to focus on providing the best value to the customer, in the most straightforward way possible. At Aura, our main mission is to make digital security as simple as possible for individual customers, and to bridge the divides between the fragmented cybersecurity offers currently on the market. We know that’s our strong suit, and we highlight it in all of our messaging to increase our conversion rates. It’s an integral part of our brand.
Another strategy, if you’re operating on a larger scale, is to adapt offers to local circumstances. One thing we saw at Endurance was that conversion rates increased once we provided local support, currency conversion, and different regionally preferred methods of payment.
Of course, the main way to increase conversion rates is to create a trusted and beloved brand. Can you share a few ways that a business can earn a reputation as a trusted and beloved brand?
A fundamental aspect of trust is transparency. I believe that in order to win over customers’ trust and establish themselves as a beloved brand, companies need to communicate exactly what they do and how they do it. Customers need to be certain, for example, what you do with their data and that you stick to all the rules and regulations.
In addition, it’s important to focus on your key messaging. Having too many disparate associations with your brand can harm its effectiveness. At Aura, we’re focused on the central tenet of providing comprehensive, simple digital security. That is what we’re best at and what our customers value us for and trust us to do.
Great customer service and great customer experience are essential to build a beloved brand, and essential to success in general. In your experience, what are a few of the most important things a business leader should know in order to create a Wow! Customer Experience?
Anticipate your customers’ needs and questions. The best way to guarantee a fantastic customer experience is to pre-empt friction points and provide in-depth guidance. Be sensitive to early customer feedback and continuously improve your products to smooth over issues that multiple people have faced.
Furthermore, you need to be accessible. Especially when you’re in an industry like digital security where serious emergencies may arise on the customers’ part. That means providing multiple communication channels — from voice and video calls, over direct messaging, to email. It may also mean being available 24/7. We implement these principles in our customer service at Aura, to make sure that if a customer faces a data breach or has urgent questions, we’re there to help them out as soon as possible.
What are the most common mistakes you have seen CEOs & founders make when they start a business? What can be done to avoid those errors?
One thing that I see many people doing and that I also did myself during my early years was to forget humility. It’s easy to feel that your journey as an entrepreneur is a manifestation of your own ego. Instead, it’s important to keep your mind open, to focus on something bigger — you’re building a tangible product that delivers value to your customers and your team. Stay curious and passionate, don’t be driven by the need to achieve and accomplish. Build something sustainable that has a lasting impact.
Thank you for all of that. We are nearly done. You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
Focusing on any one topic is extremely difficult in today’s world, I think. Since finding success as an entrepreneur, I’ve already launched several philanthropic foundations.
There’s the Glowtouch Foundation that I started together with my sister in 2004. It focuses on healthcare, education, and cultural programs, especially in India. We’re financing community centers, orphanages, and now a vaccine program against COVID-19.
Since 2018, there’s also the Ravichandran Foundation, which supports other organizations, like Artists for Peace and Justice, Akshaya Patra in India, and Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy (CURE).
How can our readers further follow you online?
I’m on Twitter as well as LinkedIn. My email is hari@aura.com. Please feel free to drop me a message anytime. I love to engage with people, especially those who are passionate and brimming with ideas. I’d also be happy to answer any questions that other entrepreneurs might have.
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this!
Thanks for having me. It’s been a pleasure to talk to you.
