A Kid Born Behind The Iron Curtain Builds Tools For Capitalists And A $110m Company, Nextiva - washing dishes restaurant jobs

When Thomas Ghoni was a child in Communist Poland, he wanted to move to the United States and realize his dream of capitalism.
At the age of 20, he sold a computer company he started four years ago and bought a ticket to Los Angeles.
There, he traded for equity by odd jobs and free labor at a Web hosting startup.
Eventually, when he was at the first dot-com boom.
But his third adventure was to sell the business. to-
When the tech bubble burst in 2001, commercial Internet advertising collapsed.
He was almost broke and opened a website with his American Express card.
In 2011, it will be sold to the hosting company of private equity buyers for nearly $1 billion.
In 2008, he launched the fifth company Nextiva, a cloud company.
Commercial communications company based in AZ Scottsdale with Internet telephony and customer service
Relationship management software.
Its 150,000 customers include Delta, Yum and Cleveland Cavaliers.
With five offices and 700 employees, the company expects revenue for the fiscal year ending July to exceed $0. 11 billion.
In this interview, Gorny, 41, explained what he had learned from his failure.
Susan Adams: What brought you to the United States?
Thomas Gorney: when I was 7 years old in Communist Poland, I told my parents that I wanted to go to the United States.
They don't know what I'm talking about.
When I was 14 years old, we moved to Germany to take care of my great-grandmother and I always dreamed of America.
I love the California lifestyle in the TV show Beverly Hills 90210 and I love the movie Wall Street and the idea of freedom and capitalism.
Adams: Do you want to be a capitalist like Gordon Gico?
In Germany, I started my business in a few small ways, such as selling protein and health bars at school.
I also work as much as I can, wash dishes in restaurants after school and send newspapers in the morning.
When I was 16 years old, I had saved enough money to start the business of selling computer parts and computers.
Adams: how about that business?
Gorny: my monthly income is $100,000 and my profit is $10,000, but I am anxious to come to the US, so I sold the customer list for $25,000.
But I only got half before I left and I never got the second half.
Adams: How did you get to America? S. ?
I bought a ticket to Los Angeles when I was 20.
I was able to assemble computers and negotiate import deals from Asia and I became a 20% partner for a Web company
Hosting business.
I didn't get paid at first, so I did all sorts of work, from valet parking to dishwashing to carpet cleaning at restaurants and apartment buildings.
I live on $3 a day, but I don't feel bad because I'm where I want to go.
Adams: How did your fate change?
Gorny: in 1998, we sold the computer business for $6 million in cash and $2 million in stock. I made $1.
2 million started, but the acquisition of our company Interliant has been ahead of scheduleIPO.
We got the stock for $6.
67, the company went public at $70 per share and later at $100 per shareplus a share.
Adams: What's it like to have so much money all of a sudden?
I did not attend the party.
I didn't focus on the money.
I want to offer good products and innovations.
But I was only 21 years old. it was the Internet before the bubble burst.
I am stuck in the mentality of having a net worth goal.
Adams: What are you going to do next?
I started iboost in 1999.
A company that sells business --to-
Commercial advertising on the Internet.
We have generated up to $6 million in revenue.
Adams: how much money does business make?
Gordon: we make ends meet, but it's an era when companies are losing millions of dollars and still have huge valuations.
I wanted to go public at the time and build a huge net worth.
Our main investor is Softbank venture capital from Silicon Valley.
This is their glorious day when they invest in eTrade and Yahoo.
They have invested more than $4 million in the industry, but I don't want my share to be diluted, so I am investing with them.
What happened to that company?
The internet crisis began to break out.
In early 2000, our income fell by half in a few months.
The money of our clients is drying up as the economy gets worse.
By September 11, everything we had collapsed.
Overnight, our income fell to $1 million.
We didn't want to go bankrupt, so we ended our business and everyone lost money.
I can't afford a mortgage of $2,500 a month by October 2001.
Do you have any other investments?
I have invested in shopping malls and residential apartments with some very greedy people.
I have invested in a construction project that has never broken ground.
I should do more due diligence.
Instead, I just trust others.
Adams: Did you sell all the shares of Interliant?
The stock rose from $70 a share to $2 a share.
I ended up selling it all for $6,000.
Adams: If you are broke, how did you start another company?
I bought two servers and two computers and then opened a website. Hosting Company
I designed a website to sign up and use my American Express card to acquire clients at less than the price they paid me.
I know I have to pay the bill by the end of the month.
I bought a customer for $40 and the customer will pay me $95 in advance.
Because I'm the one who collects money on ads, I know all the ad networks.
Adams: What is the impact of your previous company failures on the way you run your new business?
After everything crashed, I told myself three things.
I'm not going to chase what I 've lost and I'm not trying to make money back.
I will never pay attention to net assets again.
I will focus on the business and the customer, not the external results. No.
2, I will only work with good people I like and if they have a shared vision I will only let them in to do business.
I must be very sure that they are ethical.
Third, I don't want any venture capital, because my motivation will not be consistent with my investors.
Adams: how about the company?
Gorny: I started IPOWER in October 2001 and by the end of 2006 our revenue grew to $40 million.
The industry is awash with bulky products.
I want it to be easy.
Technical users who build and manage websites.
In 2007, we merged with a company called endurance.
Their income is $20 million, mostly owned by private equity.
Adams: Why did you change the decision not to accept investors?
Gorny: IPOWER is about the same size as GoDaddy until GoDaddy launched a Super Bowl ad in 2003 with Danica Patrick to make them famous.
We have to find another way to grow up, which is how we gain endurance.
In the end, we sold it to Huaping and Goldman Sachs in 2011 for nearly $1 billion.
Adams: How much did you make?
Gorny: Don't worry about money anymore.
Adams: where did you get the idea of the next company?
We have studied business communication including Internet voice protocol and customer relationship management.
Adams: Why do you want to enter an industry dominated by big companies like sales people and Microsoft?
Salesforce has had an amazing success, but its products are very expensive and very bulky.
Sales revenue-
Customer-centriccentric.
I think business communication is in a state of crisis.
Customers want to communicate via phone, email, chat and social media.
Companies like Slack have their own solutions.
But you have to be able to combine all the channels.
Big companies like Amazon, Uber and Netflix have built their own customer solutions.
We live in a convenient economic environment where people expect this experience on Amazon and Netflix.
Adams: is your system working as well as Amazon's?
Gorny: from VoIP to customer service management software to chat software and email, we provide a platform with all communication channels.
Adams: You are all yourself? financed? Gorny: Yes.
Adams: how can Nextiva grow and compete without raising money?
If I want to accelerate growth, I will add my own capital to the industry.
What mistakes have you made?
Because we grow up so fast, sometimes we
Our software development team.
I have great ambitions, but on the other hand, I have to be careful.
Sometimes business grows faster than talent.
Sometimes, we drag people over, which is not good for people or businesses.
Adams: Is it difficult for people to leave you?
Gorny: The problem comes when someone is doing well but not good enough.
70 or 80% is not enough for us, but we don't want to fire that person either.
What are you doing?
Gorny: We're trying to get people to see when they need help and have a senior take over some of their work.
Adams: How often does this work?
Gordon: most of the time.
We are very transparent about this.
This is an ongoing dialogue.
What is your biggest challenge now?
Gorny: find the right balance between bureaucratic companies and entrepreneurs.
I'm worried about missing a chance.
Adams: What is the challenge of rapid growth?
Gorny: growth is my favorite part, but I tend to push people and I put pressure on people.
Have you ever thought about Poland? Gorny: No.
My accent is still a Polish one, but I feel 100% American.
I may wish I had contact with Poland but I did not.
I only speak Polish to my parents and my five children so they can speak to my parents.