{"id":3244,"date":"2010-09-23T09:25:48","date_gmt":"2010-09-23T16:25:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redfindevelop.wpengine.com\/blog\/?p=3244"},"modified":"2020-10-05T13:12:33","modified_gmt":"2020-10-05T20:12:33","slug":"carmax_founder_austin_ligon_joins_redfin_board_","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.redfin.com\/news\/carmax_founder_austin_ligon_joins_redfin_board_\/","title":{"rendered":"CarMax Founder Austin Ligon Joins Redfin Board"},"content":{"rendered":"

What a coup for Redfin! The founder and former CEO of CarMax, Austin Ligon, joined Redfin’s board of directors this week, and also made a small investment in the company. The note we sent out Monday night\u00a0to everyone here at Redfin captures some of our excitement at Austin’s arrival:
\nThe big news this week is that Austin Ligon, founder and former CEO of CarMax, is joining our board of directors! The board\u2019s role is to ensure the management team makes money for shareholders over the short term and long term. The board meets quarterly to see whether we\u2019re making money, and to go over any big initiatives we have planned.<\/em>
\nA board usually consists of major shareholders and one or two folks known as outsiders, who have extensive operating experience but a very small stake in the company. Until now, the board has consisted of venture capitalists from firms like Madrona, Vulcan, DFJ and Greylock. I\u2019m also on the board.<\/em>
\nAustin is an ideal outside board member. CarMax, which opened its first store this week in 1993, is in many ways the Redfin of used cars, building trust with consumers by being honest and open with information in an industry that people haven\u2019t always trusted. Like Redfin, CarMax is complicated, with huge analytical and online components, and operations spanning many locations.<\/em>
\nAustin helped build CarMax into a company with $7.5 billion in 2006 sales, and retired a few years ago. He\u2019s participating in Tuesday\u2019s all-day board meeting. The board will join the Seattle employees for lunch, so if you have any questions, grab a chair next to Austin and fire away.<\/em>
\nWhat does this mean for Redfin? Well, it\u2019s a big vote of confidence in our business that someone of Austin\u2019s caliber wants to get involved. Beyond that, Austin should help us figure out some tricky issues around managing a field organization, building a consumer brand and scaling a business. And he is a firm advocate of taking a long-term view and building a customer-driven business, both consistent with our values.<\/em>
\nIf you want to read more about Austin\u2019s perspective, <\/em>check out his presentation to Redfin when he visited our Seattle office this summer<\/em><\/a>. We\u2019ll announce the news publicly this week or maybe next!<\/em>
\nThe morning after we sent this note, we had our first board meeting with Austin; his insights were even better than we expected. Over the course of the day, it became clear just how relevant Austin’s experience is to Redfin — it was almost as if he were genetically engineered to be able to help us — and how much inspiration we can take from CarMax’s success. Here are some of the similarities between Redfin and CarMax that \u00a0Redfin’s management team was talking about long after the meeting was over:<\/p>\n