OpenTable's leader Christa Quarles explains how startups can spot and survive their breaking points.
Here’s the scenario: Management starts to lose control over a company’s work. Teams are operating without full context or feedback loops. Product becomes highly reactive. HR’s busy and top performers are looking to jump ship. Those who stay start to complain about the lack of direction. Nearly all technology companies — from small startups to big successes — have experienced at least one of these symptoms.
Take it from OpenTable CEO Christa Quarles. Over her career, she’s become virtually clairvoyant when it comes to identifying when, how and where companies are about to break — and early enough to save the day. Without question, Quarles comes from resilient stock. She grew up with six siblings, her husband’s a former Navy Seal, and four months after joining OpenTable as its CFO, she was named interim CEO and elevated to permanent CEO two months later.
