B2P: Why We Named our Profitability Play

In April of 2016, HotelTonight became profitable. It was a hard-won victory, after an intense seven months of focus, grit and the determination to own our destiny.

I’m in awe of the incredible HT team, who pulled together, dug in and worked hard to achieve this significant goal. I recently shared with First Round Review some of the key steps that helped us get in the green, but wanted to elaborate on one specific tactic that was instrumental in driving us all the way there.

We named our profitability play.

B2P (“build to profitability”) became a call to arms around HT HQ. Giving our goal a name made it easy to rally around. We talked about it every week at HT Nation, our all-hands meeting. It became a shorthand for every decision we made. “Will X project help us reach our B2P goal?” If the answer was no, we tabled the idea for a later date (even if it was a great one). We even built a giant h-bed (the HotelTonight logo) that we filled up like a modern school fundraising thermometer, visually demonstrating how close we were to our goal.

Being consistent, repetitive and specific had many advantages – there wasn’t a person at HT who didn’t know the phrase B2P and what it would take to get us there. Obviously, there was a lot more involved in reaching our goal, but I firmly believe giving it a name and a catchy shorthand ensured it was always top of mind when we made key decisions.

I’m very proud of how transparent we were (and are) about our metrics and goals, and we made sure to share encouraging wins and milestones with the whole team throughout the whole B2P process. Everyone could see how their work made an impact, every day, every week, every month. We also announced a periodic “Frugal, Not Cheap” award, celebrating someone who saved the company money in creative, unexpected ways. People from different teams across the company won it, and it was a great way to remind everyone that their work and tenacity really mattered.

The day we hit profitability, we cut that giant h-bed open, passed around the minibar-sized treats housed inside and celebrated into the night. And then we were on to our next goal. And yes, it too has a name.

 (Special thanks to HT investor Rich Barton who mentored me on our profitability play. He’s called similar "Drive to Profitability" plays at Zillow and Expedia. We modified the name for HT to reinforce one of our cultural values of Building.)