The secret to Citrix's success

This is a blog that I'm going to splash out there, and then work on over time.  I love Citrix and want to talk about them as a model for some of our other clients.  And I think I've figured out why they're so successful.

Citrix is run by an entrepreneur, vs a corporate animal.  Mark Templeton is disdainful of the big company corporate culture, way of life, entitlement, ego's, etc.  And this is why he cannot be caught.  They just move faster than the herd because it's in their DNA to concentrate on speed of movement vs sheer size, and they certainly don't waste any time talking about how great they are.  How big a weapon is humility?

Look at the organization and the bio's of the key players.  Do you see a big company in their backgrounds?  Not many, and anyone who does, had it some time ago, vs recently.  Most are people who came from startups, or were home grown.  Mark has an uncanny eye for talent, and he's collected an interesting cast of characters around him, including some "nobodies" who came in through acquisition and are now industry stars, like Mr. Payne.  These people were not usual suspects, not "obvious" choices.  These people, over the last 5 years, were hungrier than the guys at VMWare and the billions of other players like Cisco with whom they compete.  This team just outruns people who are busy pointing to the size of their "P&L" (it's the kiss of death when people start to point to size as a measure of success or relevance).  I talk to guys all the time who are more proud of this stupid, irrelevant subject and the Citrix guys would never think like that.  Their driving thought?  Their standard?  Their goal?

WINNING. LEADING.  PIPELINE.  OF PRODUCTS. AND TALENT.

These guys are tireless, they're hungry.  You can see the fire in their eyes.  But they're level headed and thoughtful at the same time.  And Mark is a horse.  The guy operates with the energy of a 20 year old but the wisdom of statesman.  He is the most underrated CEO I've heard of in years, probably because he operates out of Florida.

More later.  This company continues to amaze me.