Shutterfly co-founder urges Top 20 Under 40 winners to have a life plan

Dan Baum, co-founder of Shutterfly, an online photo service, wants young professionals to have a life plan.

Baum, who lives in the North County, stressed the importance of setting short, middle and long-range goals while speaking at The Tribune’s 11th annual Top 20 Under 40 awards luncheon Thursday at the Madonna Inn.

“You’ve already contributed greatly to your community and to your organizations. Don’t end your career with, ‘I wish I had done that, but I never got the chance to.’ ”

The award honors the accomplishments of men and women younger than 40 who have demonstrated excellence in their professions and commitment to community service. To be eligible, nominees must have lived and worked in the county year-round.

» Meet this year’s Top 20 Under 40 winners

At the event, Baum offered practical advice to the winners, as well as their families and colleagues, that he had gained from his own life experiences.

He discussed the importance of building effective teams, hiring people who are better than you are and motivating groups by keeping them informed of larger goals — and where they fit in.

Baum talked about his golden rule of scheduling — communicate early on if a task isn’t going to be completed by the due date.

“It’s completely reasonable and understandable that schedules may need to change. ... But you should know reasonably ahead of the date that it’s due, and inform the rest of the team,” he said. “If you come the day it’s due and say ‘I didn’t get it done,’ it breaks down a team.”

Baum also encouraged the young professionals to “be paranoid,” noting that in any competitive market, there’s always someone else who wants your business.

He shared a story from the early days of Shutterfly, when there was another company doing essentially the same thing that began around the same time. He said he camped outside of the competition’s headquarters for a couple of days and literally counted every box that went out.

“I wanted to know, are they doing better than we are? Are they shipping more photographs than we were?” By gaining such knowledge and being vigilant about the business, he said, his firm could react quickly and stay on top.

Baum also stressed the importance of measuring the heartbeat of a business consistently: “You should have a handful of metrics that really indicate the health of your business at any point in time.” Such analytics help you test pricing models, promotional programs and other initiatives — enabling you to view your business objectively so that you’re not “blinded by emotion” and can determine whether it’s successful or not, he said.

Last, Baum advised the professionals to find a mentor. He now finds himself giving the same advice to people he mentors that he used to ignore from his own mentors when he was young. “Open your mind and accept feedback for what it is.”

This story was originally published January 28, 2016 at 5:48 PM with the headline "Shutterfly co-founder urges Top 20 Under 40 winners to have a life plan."