I pitched the spin-out of Expedia as an HR experiment to retain talent, as Microsoft was so large that many talented individuals could hide away and not contribute meaningfully.

Expedia started as a venture within Microsoft, and I left the operating system group to pursue it because of my wife's medical residency requirements.

The hardest part of recruiting for Expedia was convincing the spouses of potential hires, as they were often the most skeptical about the risks involved.

I pitched the idea of Expedia as a consumer-focused travel software company, emphasizing that it should prioritize travel over software.

Expedia was profitable and growing rapidly, which made it a successful business even during the dot-com crash, unlike Microsoft, which took years to recover.

I asked for $100 million for a television advertising campaign for Expedia, believing we could build the biggest brand in travel.

When we started adding travel experiences to the app, engagement increased by 70%, indicating that people were eager to learn about and book experiences, even though it was challenging to do so on the app due to a lack of proper booking infrastructure.

On the day of Expedia's IPO, my son was born, and I jokingly promised the team I would name him Expedia if that happened.

When I left the company, we grew from zero revenues to about $150 million in recurring revenue, leading to a sale to Microsoft for around $800 million.