Elephant Trumpet The Of f icial Elephant Orchestra Newsletter
In this Issue Q1 2011 First View
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Q1 2011 Financial Overiview
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Company Values
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Hola Bucaneeros !
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Poland
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Redmine Is a Killer
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Barcelona 2011
Mafia Boss Elephant Orchestra
by Wei-Hai Chu - CEO
So far 2011 has been off to a slow start. We are lagging in revenue in all units as of February. Clearly this is not good news. There are however quite a few reason to stay optimistic: • We know what the reasons are and can thus address this shortfall • Very clear plans are in place in every unit to make up the revenue in Q2 • The pipeline in every unit is very good • There are quite a few large deals in the mak ing • It is very early in the year Most importantly: I believe in the team we have in place at the moment. We are in the midst of updating our forward strategy and the first indication is that what we have accomplished in the past forms a very solid foundation for our future strategy. I will address this in more detail soon with all of you. So in short: We are off to a slow start but the future is very bright! Issue 7 | March/ April 2011
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New Employees
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Asian Dinner
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Elephant Football
Q1 2011 First View
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7
Fashion Police
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Calendar
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Q1 2011 Financial Overview by Petr Krajíček - CFO
The Q1 of 2011 brought a slight disillusionment after the stunning results of 2010. Unfortunately, we were not able to fully hit the ambitious targets set for Q1. It doesn´t mean that we are not doing well – the company is still growing – but the forecasted numbers were simply higher. Domaining started off the year with a slight downfall in January and February, but March´s performance helped to make up to a large extent for this initial loss – especially couple of great deals. Total Q1 Domaining revenue is thus 400k USD in contrary to forecasted 430k (-7%). Elephant Traffic´s results are showing similar trend – there was a slight decrease in the amount of monetized traffic in January and February, March compensated for this decrease to a certain extent, yet the revenue in Q1 is 1,265mil USD in contrast to forecasted 1,6mil. The new deal with DomainSponsor, which already manifested itself to a smaller degree in March should bring dramatically higher revenue increase in the future than was the loss in Q1. Lead Gen on the other hand hit the target ... Continued on next page 1
Elephant Page Business Puzle Q1 2011 Financial Overview ... Continued
in January but fell behind expectations in February and March – total Q1 revenue is 570k USD in contrary to forecasted 630k (-9%). It should be however noted down that all here stated numbers are only preliminary and thus subject to possible change (but not a dramatic one). Total company revenue reached 2,2 mil USD in Q1, which is loss of about 18% to the original forecast (2,69mil USD). However, it needs to be pointed out that our revenue is now almost twofold in comparison to similar period in 2010(increase 92% in comparison to Q1 in 2010 and 40% increase in comparison to last year´s average quarter revenue). We now need to use all our forces in order to make up for the loss in revenue in the first quarter to hit the 2011 target. It won’t be easy, but definitely achievable.
Company Values by Wei-Hai Chu - CEO
Our 5th and 6th company values are all about execution and teamwork. One of the reasons of our success so far has been our ability to execute quickly and efficiently. Now we have grown so rapidly communication and thus execution has become more difficult at times. This is in spite of the fact that we have more resources.
5. We do not question each other unless face to face
Though this should be common sense this is not always the case in companies. It has been my experience that the larger the company the less this is the case. Research has been done quite a few times on what is crucial to make a project succeed. Among the many factors found was the fact that the less a project was gossiped about in the hallways the greater the chance of success. Most importantly however is the fact that if we challenge each other openly and face to face, we will learn so much more and projects will run so much smoother.
1. We talk with each other openly 5. We always support each other and and honestly. are loyal to each other 2. We never hesitate to push back This is again common sense in my view. What sticks out in this value for me is the level of politics and escalate if necessary. in a company. In the late 1990’s I worked for one of largest internet startups in Europe. The team 3. We always take initiative and the was very young and inexperienced (our company are proactive. reminds me a lot of that time) but very ambitious. One of the manifestations of this ambition 4. We do not question decisions was a high level politicking in the hallways. It sometimes seemed that you could not take a step in the once taken but get on with it. hallways without people asking you to be disloyal one person and switch allegiance to another. 5. We do not questions each other to The result was that we executed everything very poorly and, even worse, we had 6 different Generunless face to face. al Managers in the first year. I often wonder how 6. We always support each other great we could have been if we did execute. and are loyal to each other. 7. To mistake is acceptable, to be inactive is unforgivable.
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Issue 7 | March/ April 2011
Elephant Trumpet Business Page The Of f icial Elephant Orchestra Monthly Newsletter
Hola Bucaneeros ! by Otto Gross
In the age of modern technology three fearless warriors emerged in the dark freezing wasteland of Finland led by "Boromir" (Otto) supported by "Sauron" (WHC) and accompanied by "Arwen" (Petra P.) to fight for the glory of the Czech Lead Gen market. They visited one of the biggest partner in Helsinki, Ferratum. EO and their co-belligerent are operating in 4 countries and battling together against other loan providers and are prepared to seize another markets for the glory of the kingdom of Czech Republic and Finland. The meeting was to maintain our relationship and also establish the strategy for future expansion to other markets. Also we have agreed to cooperate together as partners in product development. The initial step is to align with a colony of Crazy Tomato led by king Arthur (Pavel M.) and his wizard Merlin (Marian N.) as a mobile provider for new products and services.
Issue 7 | March/ April 2011
Apart from the business part of the trip we also went for sight seeing in Helsinki. The first on our journey was a taxi driver who listened to a classical music which was a killer for us, eehhr!! Then we tasted Finish coffee which was actually nice compared to Finish girls. The next on our tour was the statue of Alexander III. who ruled in the cold and freezing darkness in 19th century. Then we moved to a wooden boat where the captain (elder Finish lady non speaking English) offered to taste Koskenkorva and some salmon snacks. In the evening we met our ex-domainer Janne Hainari and he took us for a wild nite ride in Helsinki!!! The last stop I remember was at a night club in the heart of Helsinky where were played 80-90 music šlágrs, Oldies but Goldies!!! Sauron and Arwen ruled the dance floor while Boromir and Janne were observing the potential threat from Finish Bucaneeros. One thing is for certain, Czech and Slovak girls are top class compared to Finish flaffies!!!
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Elephant Puzle Business Page Poland by Jaroslav Šícha
that two czech aliens arrived to Polish conference. There was interesting discussion about comparison between Czech and Polish online market. The next day second part of the conference was held. During the brakes there was a lot of possibility for networking. So we discuss new trends in Poland online marketing, meet new potential clients and found new Polish friends. We met a lot of people, learned new ideas and understanded polish market. Based on our observations, we are able to set up a business plan and sucessfully expand on their market.
On March 3rd and 4th we attended Internet Standard conference at Warsaw, Poland. We arrived on Wednesday in early afternoon, so we had rest of the day to explore the city. Warsaw was unfortunately almost completely destroyed during WWII, so there´s not much left of historical downtown to see. We visited some huge building at Centre square that looks like Empire State building. Although on the outside of this building is a massive bigboard – poster, which totally disrespects historical status and in the evening whole building is lit up, sadly the lights are not white but rather multicoloured, therefore this building looks like rainbow. Otherwise Warsaw is a nice city, with good-looking chicks and pretty tasty beer. On second day we attended conference. It was about polish internet market, new ideas and topics. Many important people delivered their speech, including mr. Kowalczyk - IAB ceo, mr. Sokolowski – online business development director at Internet Standard and mr. Bartkowiak – director of business division at Agora PL. In the evening was official party at popular Redmine Is a Killer club and we met a lot of people there. We drank by Vladimír Sedlák vodka with them and was discussing how come, Redmine is a flexible project management web application. Redmine also offers usable features for improving communication in the company. I just pick up few killer features: •• for developers: connector to CVS, browsing app code, viewing diffs •• for project and product managers: issue tracking, time tracking, watching activities, voting system •• for teams: own wikipages, documents, discussion forums, news Any change can be noticed by email and for Redmine exist a lot of plugins which adding new functionality. Redmine should be used as main platform for making tasks in the company because of register, nothing can be forgotten and everything can be managed and prioritized easily
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Issue 7 | March/ April 2011
Elephant Business Page Puzle
Barcelona 2011 by Yancy Naughton
ry.
Its just another 'Work Hard-Play Hard' sto-
Q4 2010 was a game changer for Elephant Traffic in terms of revenue and performance. Sales topped $1.5 million which produced many positive results including sustainable growth, investors jumping in the frozen Vltava, and the final reward of a team building trip to Barcelona for the entire division. So in the second week of February, a single plane carrying the entire braintrust of ET, including product support, management, sales, marketing and IT took off from Prague. 2 hours later we landed in Barcelona for a two night jaunt featuring temperate climates, surreal architecture, exciting food, nightlife, camaraderie and debauchery. Friday started with a team dinner reservation at a tapas and sangria joint. The large dining room was empty at 8pm, causing us suspicion. But Issue 7 | March/ April 2011
after 3 hours of excellent food, wine and sangria, we exited the now overflowing facility in search of night life. And after a mishmash of random cab rides, misplaced colleagues and aimless wandering, we finally arrived at Club Opium for a night filled with the requisite Wine, Women and Song. Sparing the details, suffice to say that we reunited with the missing, mingled with masses, met the locals and hobnobbed with Arab royalty. Our table was in perfect position to watch the performers, laugh at stage dives and even to observe a pointed moment of Russian revelation for those who were paying attention. So at about 7 am, (too early for Drela) we went back to the hotel for a seminar on karmic business ethics presented by two enlightened Swedish gurus. The rest of the weekend featured sight seeing, team building and more exploration of the seven deadly sins. We returned to Prague late Sunday a little tired, but a bit the wiser, closer heard of Elephants. So, where are we going next quarter, Jeremy? 5
Elephant TPage rumpet Entertainment The Of f icial Elephant Orchestra Monthly Newsletter
Mafia Boss Elephant Orchestra by Lenka Dobrohrušková
During last weeks, many of us had a great chance to see Petr Krajíček as the head of New York mafia in one of Prague small theatres, where the LASO company performed its play called “Broadway”. I can’t bring you the feelings from the play, but I can try to tell you something about great actors and singers who we saw there. Well, there was a man, head of mafia. He was called Don Valenti, but he really looked like Petr Krajicek. But compared to Petr, this man was very angry, little bit cruel and – hi did not hesitate to kill people! This man had a girlfriend – well, let’s say he bought a girlfriend- called Dolly. This silly Dolly (who actually looked like a twin of our clever and nice Vanda ) wanted to became a famous actress. Don Valenti loved this little goose and also had a lot of money, so he promised to pay for a new play written by a young author, and decided that Dolly will act some role in this play. New play and unknown author need a big star. Do you know Jana, that blond woman with small baby who comes to our office from time to time to give some HR advices? Well, she looks absolutely the same as this big star, Helen Sinclair.
New Employees
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Don’t have enough place for all story, just can tell you there was one talented Mafioso who helped the author with the story and one killed Dolly, who was destroying the play by her terrible acting. Nobody is allowed to destroy mofioso’s play. And nobody is allowed to kill the lover of boss, so that’s why talented Mafioso has to die too. In the end there is very successful play at Broadway. And also the end of love because of author’s decision not to continue in writing plays. Helen needs a success and man which brings it to her. One successful play and many sad people around. But not people in auditorium. Some were crying, but with laughter. What we all did find out is, that Petr would be a very handsome and uncompromising gangster and attentive lover (he can get black pearls for you, ladies!), Vanda can pretend to be a very silly girl and can die very effectively (and doesn’t know the black pearls), Jana os very charming, loved by many men and has a GREAT voice. And the last thing – you all should come to see next play. All of us, who were there have to give Petr big clap on the back, because it was big fun, he wrote very good scenario, funny texts and also played his Don Valenti very well. Thanks to all actors for great evening and looking forward to next theatre meeting !
Kristýna Musilová
Raúl Calvo Martín
Denis Havránek
Title HR Assistant Nationality Czech Fact "Every year I organize a competition in orientation running. Join us!"
Title PHP Programmer Nationality Spanish Fact "I´m interested either in computer graphics and 3D sculpting.''
Title HTM coder Nationality Czech Fact Considers number 5 to be his lucky one.
Jan Smrž
Celestýna Chaunová
Darja Suchá
Title PHP programmer Nationality Czech Fact Interested in photography, acoustic guitar and parachute jumping!
Title Receptionist Nationality Czech Fact Enjoys metal music, concerts with friends, tattoos and movie make-up.
Title HTML/CSS coder Nationality Czech Fact Studied half a year in Austria - Graz.
Issue 7 | March/ April 2011
Elephant Puzle Elephants in Action Asian Dinner by Luboš Dvořák
A young thai student dressed in traditional thai costume appeared and showed a little dance performance to the rythms of old-fashioned thai music. As dessert the restaurant offered exotictasted ice-cream, fruit plates and Mekhong whisky for digestive. Although the event ended at 10PM which is quite early for Elephants, the feedbacks were good. Therefore the back office is looking forward to prepare the first real N2N that shall be introducing the cuisine and culture of our colleagues Ivana (representing Slovakia) and Mateusz (representing Poland).
On February 17, 2011 we had the first Nation2Nation party. Since it was only a trial, the event planners chose Asian as the motif even though we do not a native Asian in our crew. Becuase it was a "plus 1" party, we did it outside of our premises and hired a newly opened restaurant Modrý Zub in Prague 1. The waiting staff of the place were very friendly. They kept on re-arranging the tables and chairs till 2AM the night before, so we can sit together at big tables and there is still enough space to move. The interior of Modrý Zub is obviously brand new and red and gold colours dominate in the rooms and together with traditional thai sculptures and pictures create a unique atmosphere. The guest were welcome by a glass of sparkling wine with strawberry and it was the last "usual" F&B served that evening. As soon as most of the invited arrived, waiters started serving thai hot soup Tom Kha Kai with coconut milk in it and spring rolls were offered. Main dishes consisted of Elephant Football 3 different kinds of curry (Kaeng Khai Whan Neua, by Roman Dobiáš Kaeng Phed and Kaeng Kari Kai) with various meat What does the Elephant football team have and sidedishes served as a buffet. After filling their stomach everybody expected a dessert but first a in common with these 2 football champions? You don ´t have to be a football fan to recognize, with surprice arrived. no confusion, that all three of these teams have the most AWESOME PLAYERS, PERFECT STRATEGY, PRECISE TACTICS, FIGHTING SPIRIT, ENDLESS ENTHUSIASM, A SKILLED COACH, A LUXURY BACKGROUND, GENEROUS DONORS, BEAUTIFUL and CHARMING CHEERLEADERS, THE BEST FANS etc.. Watching each of these three teams playing is always an astonishing experience. Some of you may say that there must be a difference after all. Indeed, we can say that there is Thursday one very small, unimportant and inconsiderable difference. For you sticklers - the only difference 14th April, 7pm is that the EO team has lost 21 games out of ....ehm, Big Meeting Room I think.... I can´t remeber now ......how to calculate it exactly ...recalled - out of all 21 games played in the last 2 seasons, I assume. BUT Chelsea lost 17 "Casablanca is the movie games in the last 2 seasons so the difference is reon just about every "top ally not so significant, is it? ten" list in the known galaxy!" Epilogue No, we have neither won nor tied any matchFree Popcorn & Beer! es yet. But we´ll keep fighting, so it´s only a question of time !
Movie Night
Issue 7 | March/ April 2011
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Elephants in Action
Poker Night 21.4 Advanced players, 8pm 19.5 Beginners, 7pm Food & Beverages
April 10 LG_Svět reklamy, Prague
April 11-13 ET_Ad Tech, San Francisco April 20 Interdept. Workshop IT
Good Luck!
FASHION POLICE: Paul "The Sweet" Rocker by Lenka Dobrohrušková
Today we are going to evaluate this young man. You can see there is no way to do anything wrong with his outfit. Pavel just dressed up dark jeans and dark T-shirt with coloured crazy picture. Everything fits very well together., because as other hard rockers do, Pavel choose fitting accessories – lots of food and some kind of very hard liquor. That’s why Pavel Sladký Kosina is that kind of guy you should not introduce to your children. His unrestrained drinking and neverending parties are not a good example for other people at all. Pavel’s dress is little bit boring, but he rescued it by accessories. Fashion police gives him 80%. 8
April 5 Interdept. Workshop Finance
April 13 LG_Marketing Live, Bratislava
Place: Big Meeting Room
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Calendar
April 20 Company Lunch
May 4 Interdept. Workshop ET Sales May 5 N2N Party - Holland
May 9 Shareholders' Meeting
Elephant Trumpet The Of f icial Elephant Orchestra Newsletter © 2011 Elephant Orchestra Editor Celestýna Chaunová Layout & Design Peter Marenčík
Issue 7 | March/ April 2011