Meg Whitman out, Serena Williams in as SurveyMonkey director

I remember using survey monkey back in college and seemed like a decent startup idea. Glad it's blown up over the years. What's a tennis player doing on the board though? Was she an early investor?
 
Yeah.. what does she bring to the table? I don't see how her being "an activist, marketer, brand builder and greatest athlete of our time" should make her a great director?

“As a business professional, I’m constantly asking questions. I want to hear the positive and the negative to figure out where I can improve,”

Hmm... okay, I understand building your own 'brand' on the basis of your athletic capabilities is also a thing... but does being able to above average hit balls over a net give you real business skills?
 
JackRab said:
Yeah.. what does she bring to the table? I don't see how her being "an activist, marketer, brand builder and greatest athlete of our time" should make her a great director?

“As a business professional, I’m constantly asking questions. I want to hear the positive and the negative to figure out where I can improve,”

Hmm... okay, I understand building your own 'brand' on the basis of your athletic capabilities is also a thing... but does being able to above average hit balls over a net give you real business skills?
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Greg Norman with same qualifications almost made it to the board of Heinz, a much larger company and he was nominated by Nelson Peltz. Top pro athletes, especially those who have been around a while know a lot about brand building from their association with athletic wear manufacturers, from being ambassadors for their sport in many off field events and they are like a magnate drawing attention to the brand, so all in all there are a lot of positives for Serena joining the board.
 
dealmaker said:
Greg Norman with same qualifications almost made it to the board of Heinz, a much larger company and he was nominated by Nelson Peltz. Top pro athletes, especially those who have been around a while know a lot about brand building from their association with athletic wear manufacturers, from being ambassadors for their sport in many off field events and they are like a magnate drawing attention to the brand, so all in all there are a lot of positives for Serena joining the board.
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When was that? Because 'the Shark' has made significantly more money from his businesses after he quit pro-golf. He was not merely associated with other clothing companies... but he built his own conglomerate.... clothing, wine, course design... more probably... thereby creating business skills...

What businesses does Williams currently have?
 
JackRab said:
When was that? Because 'the Shark' has made significantly more money from his businesses after he quit pro-golf. He was not merely associated with other clothing companies... but he built his own conglomerate.... clothing, wine, course design... more probably... thereby creating business skills...
More...
He had to... he could never win the Masters. Ahhhhh:p
 
Sorry but Serena Williams has a very weak brand as there are 2 qualifiers for a strong brand -

1) Is it (almost) the only choice. For example, if you want an Apple and the shop has sold out but has a Microsoft PC on offer, would you buy, or not? Apple = very strong brand, MS = weak brand although a very well known one. Is a Serena Williams product the only option to many? Nope.

2) Do you advertise the brand to your friends? Take Apple as another good example. How many Apple products have people who own an Apple product sold to their friends 'check this out, it's great'. How many Microsoft products have Microsoft owners sold to their friends 'hey, check Windows 10 out, you have to get it'. And how many Serena Williams products have owners sold to their friends?

The word 'brand' is such a cliché these days and few understand the concept of what a strong brand really is. They get confused with a well known brand, which anyone with enough money can create, over a strong brand which is a lot harder to create.

These are strong brands -

Head & Shoulders
Red Bull
Ferrari
Mitsubishi Uniball pens
Apple
Tropicana Juice
Kanger electronic cigs
Amazon
Google search engine
Jonny Walker Black
Rolex
In-Out-Burger
That great local coffee/sandwich shop on the corner that only has one branch
I'm sure there are more than a few tool makers that are very strong, not familiar with tool though

These are weak but well known brands

Coke
Pepsi
Most of the big super market chains
GM
Dell
Microsoft
All governments
McDonalds
Starbucks



So never confuse a well known brand with a strong brand.
 
JackRab said:
When was that? Because 'the Shark' has made significantly more money from his businesses after he quit pro-golf. He was not merely associated with other clothing companies... but he built his own conglomerate.... clothing, wine, course design... more probably... thereby creating business skills...

What businesses does Williams currently have?
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That was 2006...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/24/AR2006052402501.html



Serena has her own clothing line.
https://www.entrepreneur.com/slideshow/278415#2
 
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AbbotAle said:
Sorry but Serena Williams has a very weak brand as there are 2 qualifiers for a strong brand -

1) Is it (almost) the only choice. For example, if you want an Apple and the shop has sold out but has a Microsoft PC on offer, would you buy, or not? Apple = very strong brand, MS = weak brand although a very well known one. Is a Serena Williams product the only option to many? Nope.

2) Do you advertise the brand to your friends? Take Apple as another good example. How many Apple products have people who own an Apple product sold to their friends 'check this out, it's great'. How many Microsoft products have Microsoft owners sold to their friends 'hey, check Windows 10 out, you have to get it'. And how many Serena Williams products have owners sold to their friends?

The word 'brand' is such a cliché these days and few understand the concept of what a strong brand really is. They get confused with a well known brand, which anyone with enough money can create, over a strong brand which is a lot harder to create.

These are strong brands -

Head & Shoulders
Red Bull
Ferrari
Mitsubishi Uniball pens
Apple
Tropicana Juice
Kanger electronic cigs
Amazon
Google search engine
Jonny Walker Black
Rolex
In-Out-Burger
That great local coffee/sandwich shop on the corner that only has one branch
I'm sure there are more than a few tool makers that are very strong, not familiar with tool though

These are weak but well known brands

Coke
Pepsi
Most of the big super market chains
GM
Dell
Microsoft
All governments
McDonalds
Starbucks



So never confuse a well known brand with a strong brand.
More...

As per the Apple vs MS example you provided in test #1 you do not have to be the only option and as per test #2 I believe SurveyMonkey will utilize Serena's name recognition.
 
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