David Barrett is not your typical tech CEO, nor does he want to be. As a talented engineer, David has been part of many failed startups. His own company, Expensify, has gained notoriety because of what it doesn’t do – follow the VC handbook. David initially wasn’t trying to build a business. He only wanted to provide a way for people in his Tenderloin (San Francisco) neighborhood with a way to get a good meal. That eventually led to a fictional expense management company (for explaining to bankers) that led to founding Expensify, a platform managing bills, expenses, invoices and other pre-accounting functions, in 2008.

Although David learned valuable lessons at those failed startups, he still had to fight against the trends, the investors and the naysayers who couldn’t comprehend how a platform that was written before there was an iPhone or an app store would ever work. If they understood how it works.

How it works is brilliant – give it to employees for free. Let them fall in love with it and tell others who also will love it. They, in turn, tell their managers about it and those managers buy it. In building something meaningful that provides long-term value through being profitable, David keeps it simple at Expensify. He runs a flat company that empowers each employee to perform at their best through trust, peer evaluation, and collaboration. Having participated in a certain amount of corporate stupidity at other companies, he follows his instincts in what will and won’t work for Expensify. And David doesn’t let the noise of what other companies are doing or what he’s supposed to be doing drown out his belief in his business model or his high-performing team.

You’ll enjoy hearing this honest, authentic CEO relate how much staying true to his vision has made the difference.

Learn more about DAVID BARRETT and EXPENSIFY

You can find more information on all our episodes at Vertical Elevation, and you can find Carol on Twitter @carolbschultz or LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolbschultz/.