Can you talk about this trip to Taiwan and what you have seen here?
Scott Durchslag: Skype has 370 million users for now, after adding 32 million users in the third quarter. That was a pretty healthy growth rate of 51 percent. And we announced our revenues of US$143 million in the third quarter, which is an increase of about 46 percent. So Skype is growing and has been consistently growing at about 50 percent per quarter.
We see significant opportunities not only to sustain that but to be able to increase it and to be able to do it not just in the markets where Skype has the deepest penetration, but in some of the markets here in Asia where we see a lot more potential.
So the purpose of this trip was to be able to get to understand those [markets] first hand and to talk to potential partners and to think about how to broaden the business beyond just what we do for consumers, into a number of initiatives where we think there is a lot of potential in terms of business users, who are increasingly very cost-sensitive.
Another opportunity we see is in mobile [technology]. We are excited about what to do in mobile. In both PC and mobile, Taiwan plays an important role in the world’s value chain.
Why did you join Skype in July of this year after leaving Motorola about a year ago?
Durchslag: After Motorola, I have to be passionate about the product ... And really it’s a very small set of things in the world that get me incredibly excited and passionate.
I have been a Skype user since 2004 to stay in touch with my family. I always talk to my daughter twice a day.
We have a computer that sits on the breakfast table. I have lunch and she has breakfast and we get to connect and that’s something that has been very important in our family life. And that was my initial love for Skype. That was a big reason I came to Skype.
What is Skype’s mission?
Durchslag: The mission of Skype is to enable the world’s conversations. I think it’s a very noble mission because it connects friends and families in the most meaningful way possible.
What are your goals at Skype?
Durchslag: After I got to Skype, I began to see all the different opportunities to build a great business.
Skype has only scratched the surface in terms of how revenue can be generated as a business. It’s still a very young company. It’s about 550 employees. It’s a mid-size company. The opportunity to have an impact on the [company’s] culture while figuring out how to build a great company are the things I’ve gotten extremely excited about as I’ve gotten into the details.
How have your experiences at Motorola helped you do your job at Skype?
Durchslag: In three ways. Number one, part of what I did at Motorola was the brand strategy, where we took the Motorola brand, which was kind of an older brand [at the time I joined in 2002]. We aimed it at youth and got it to be kind of exciting and cool.
The beauty of Skype is that Skype is already very cool so you don’t have to reposition it. Most of Skype’s growth has been organic and viral. There hasn’t been aggressive marketing to date. So the first thing I want to do is to ramp up the marketing to really communicate even just the existing products we have.
One example is Skype-to-go, which is basically a speed-dial you put on your mobile phone and you’re able to call anywhere in the world on a Skype network.
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