Chaz Felix: Why he left Bronto, what’s next, and will he work with Joe Colopy again?

Will the Triangle see another roaring success story from Chaz Felix and Joe Colopy again in the future?

The pioneering tag team of Felix and Colopy which built Bronto into an email marketing powerhouse is no more. In an exclusive Q&A, Felix talks about his recent decision to leave Bronto, what may be next for him as an entrepreneur, lessons learned, advice for other entrepreneurs, and whether he will team up with Colopy again in the future.

The two launched Bronto from Colopy’s home in 2002 and established its headquarters in 2004 at the American Tobacco Historic District. By the time they sold the company it employed more than 200 people and had added offices in London, Sydney, New York and Los Angeles.

Just over a year ago, co-founders Colopy (chief executive officer) and Felix (chief operating officer) sold Bronto to NetSuite for some $200 million. Late last week, Colopy said he had “retired” from Bronto along with Colopy. Felix says retirement isn’t for him. (Read Joe’s side of the story in his Q&A linked to this post.)

The Q&A:

Why did you decide to “retire”? Did you not like being the boss any more or was the thrill gone and time to cash out?

I’m not retiring just taking a break.

My wife Kendall and sons Kelley (6) and Cosmo (4) deserve more of my time and attention.

In terms of why leave Bronto now, I feel the business has been fully transitioned to NetSuite and is prepared for the next exciting chapter.

It has been over a year since the acquisition was announced and we are at a point where our leadership team (The “BLT” – Bronto leadership team) runs the day-to-day business and NetSuite’s leadership Zach Nelson, CEO and Andy Lloyd, GM of Commerce set the strategic direction. Joe and I have essentially worked ourselves out of our roles as CEO and COO of Bronto.

Combine that with the fact founders typically leave after an acquisition for good reason. Their company’s identity is tied to their own identities and when an acquisition occurs the identity has to change. That is a difficult, emotional process to go through as a founder.

What are the five most important positive lessons you learned from your Bronto experience?

There are so many lessons learned through my Bronto experience over the past fourteen past years. I am grateful to have experienced every stage of business formation and growth from the launch out of Joe’s house with nothing more than our time and skills to many years later selling a 300 person, global, high growth software company.

Here are a couple core tenants which enabled our growth:

Define your identity – Once we reached a sustainable level, we invested a lot of thought into what Bronto’s purpose, values and mission would be as an organization. These guiding principles never changed and we worked hard to live them every day and drive them deep into the fabric of Bronto. Plans change, not your principles.

Hire great people and invest heavily in the culture – For the first 12-plus years, Joe or I interviewed every candidate before an offer was extended. This major investment in recruiting enabled us to form a talented, cohesive team, which attracted more great candidates. We also decided our culture would be a priority.

Happy Brontos lead to happy customers. A passionate, creative, quirky environment energizes the team and acts as a counter balance to the typical work frustrations.

What are the lessons you learned NOT to repeat in the future?

Entrepreneurship is all about making mistakes and learning [quickly] from these mistakes to continue moving forward. It is less about big lessons learned and more about small ones learned every day.

Here are a couple lessons learned:

In times of crisis, act quickly and communicate openly. We had a few situations where it took too long for us to realize a major issue had surfaced. Identify any crisis quickly and then communicate openly and often with the affected parties (customers, employees, partners, etc…).

Once you know someone on the team is not a fit, let them go. Several times we justified keeping individuals on to bridge us to a point where we could better deal with their situations. Rarely were these good decisions for us or them. Much better to part ways quickly when the relationship isn’t working out.

What are the most important points you can offer other entrepreneurs?

The most important consideration for aspiring entrepreneurs is their level of commitment at the beginning.

A friend of mine shared a piece of advice prior to me joining Joe to launch Bronto. He said, “Chaz, don’t start a business unless you have no other choice.”

I held onto that advice because it speaks to the commitment required to persist through all the challenges along the entrepreneurial path. Starting a business is much easier than responsibly managing and growing one year after year.

Do you plan to become an investor and if so is this a way to give back to the Triangle?

The Triangle is my home and I look forward to getting reacquainted with the local community. The larger Bronto became the more I had to focus internally, especially over the last two years as we navigated the acquisition and integration into NetSuite.

My wife Kendall and I are committed to strengthening the Triangle community so it is a great place for all our families.

Investing could be one contributor to this pursuit.

You and Joe must have had a great relationship. What makes for a great partner – how did you help each other?

Choosing Joe as a business partner was the most important and best decision I made during my tenure at Bronto. You can’t foresee how a partnership will play out, but for us it worked well. We balance each other’s strengths and weaknesses and most importantly make good decisions collectively.

Joe has a unique ability to start and lead amazing software products but more importantly start and lead a world class software organization and culture. I’ve learned a lot from him and also taught him a thing or two.