Do You Want To Have Dinner With The Guy You Want To Hire? Christos Cotsakos, Founder Of ETrade And CEO Of EndPlay (Part 2)

Sramana: Where does your story go from there? What did you do when you graduated from
Paterson State College?

Christos Cotsakos: I got accepted at UCLA to go for a masters degree. I also got married when I met my wife during summer school there. I was looking for a job and found one at a young startup called Federal Express. I had no idea what they were about. I got to the interview five hours late and my hair was down to my shoulders. I was wearing jeans, whereas everyone in the interview process was wearing jackets and ties. I slipped the concierge five bucks to find out the guy’s room, and I went up there and knocked on his door. He took one look at me and would not open the door. He did his interview with me through the crack in the door. After a short conversation, he asked me to meet him downstairs where we talked. He gave me an application and told me that I was one of the guys he wanted on board. I never heard from him again.

After about two weeks I went down to where there offices were. They had people milling around and a lot of packages around. I decided to just start helping out, and I kept showing up and helping out for a week. They all thought I was working there and when they found out I wasn’t, they gave me a job. I ended up staying there for 18 years and running their international division.

It was the only job that I ever interviewed for and didn’t get. Federal Express gave me my technology chops and got me interested. I learned a lot about applying methodologies to my entrepreneurial ways, much like the military had. It has become the basis for my career.

Sramana: You were at Federal Express for 18 years. What came next?

Christos Cotsakos: I lived in New York for 10 years while I was working for them, and I really got the international bug. I was being recruited by AC Nielsen to be their president of European operations, and I took that job. We redesigned their architecture, reworked their system, and built their back office platform. That was a four-year deal where I ended up becoming the co-CEO, president, and COO. From there I started getting recruited to a lot of jobs, but I wanted to be selective as to whom I wanted to be with.

There was a young company that had been around since 1982 called E*Trade. I got in there very early and became the CEO. I did not do my due diligence as I should and found out that what looked like a golden opportunity actually had a lot of problems. They were in violation in their capital rules for finance, and if we did not raise $10 million in the next 20 days the company was not going to make it. As a result of that scenario, every bank and VC they thought they had willing to support them was no longer willing to do so.

It looked like the wrong move until I met a guy who gave me 10 minutes of time. I told him I needed $10 million in six days. We had a handshake at the end of the meeting and $10 million five days later, no paperwork signed. That teaches you a lot about trust and relationships. That $10 million two years later turned into a $400 million investment based only on a handshake. That was the change that made E*Trade the household brand it became.

This segment is part 2 in the series : Do You Want To Have Dinner With The Guy You Want To Hire? Christos Cotsakos, Founder Of ETrade And CEO Of EndPlay
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