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Adam Blitzer (LinkedIn, Twitter) had an $8 domain name when he and his co-founder started their company, Pardot. They were battling against other competitors with hundreds of millions of dollars in VC backing and resources that Adam could only dream of. But instead of seeing a tough fight and throwing in the towel, Adam took lessons he learned on the judo mat and applied them to his business.
“The whole idea of judo, in theory, is designed around the idea of asymmetric forces, so not competing strength against strength but using your strength against your opponent’s weakness. In the startup world, if you try to compete strength for strength against an established player, it’s kind of a fool’s errand. You’re just playing the game that they want you to play.”
In order to succeed, Adam used his opponents’ power against them, played to his company’s strengths, and capitalized in unprecedented fashion. In the end, Pardot became one of the leaders in the field of marketing automation and, even after being acquired twice, still makes an impact in the lives of millions of customers.
