Phil Fernandez and Marketo have a really good thing going on. They’re trying to create a new category — revenue performance management — and throwing everything they can at it. I believe they’ll be successful for one overarching reason: They understand the value of time. Time is in their control. Most everything else isn’t.

BY FC EXPERT BLOGGER KAIHAN KRIPPENDORFF

Perhaps AT&T’s recent announcement that it would buy T-Mobile for $39 billion got you thinking: how much is my business worth and what would it take to double its value this year?

That is the kind of question we have been helping our clients answer for years. And we have found the best way to learn is to ask. When you are learning to cook a new dish, you consult a recipe. When you assemble IKEA furniture, you follow the directions (at least most of us do). So why not also consult someone about how to build huge value in your business?

Over the years, my colleagues and I have interviewed many CEOs and entrepreneurs to understand how they do it. But last week, we think we hit the gold mine.

Phil Fernandez is an entrepreneur who has already taken two companies public. Now he is applying his process again, as the CEO of Marketo–a Revenue Performance Management company, which over just a few years grew to 1,000 customers in 30 countries with a 315% year-over-year revenue growth rate. My colleague Nadia Laurinci and I got a chance to learn first-hand how Phil does it, and you can view my blogcast on building company value here.

Here is Phil’s recipe:

1) Set out to change the world: identify a business opportunity where you can make a dramatic impact. Tesla Motors (the first U.S. automobile company to establish IPO since Ford) is pursuing a grand mission: “to increase the number and variety of electric cars available to mainstream consumers.”

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What exactly is inertia? Simply put inertia is everything that makes up what your organization stands for at the moment you embark on an accelerated path forward. Inertia can include any or all of the following:

• Fear of change
• Fear of the unknown
• Your organization’s culture
• Your organization’s processes
• Prior experience
• Comfort in how things were done before
• Your brand’s reputation in the marketplace
• The perception of the company within the company

I’m sure you’ve experienced what it’s like when a change program suddenly slows or stalls. For many it feels as if something grabs hold of the forward progress and pulls it backward. Some say it’s similar to running headfirst into a strong wind.

Think about it. Inertia is all about how it was. Yet, there you are trying to move away from how it was to how it needs to be. You’re committed to transcend beyond something with a lot of history and mass, and determined to morph it into something that’s relatively unknown. No wonder inertia disrupts forward progress. The laws of nature are fiercely at work.

What to do?

First, never forgot how powerful inertia can be. Recognize upfront that it will rear itself – right out of the gate and whenever cracks appear in your change program due to uncertainty, soft results, or a weak effort.

Second, be prepared. Anticipate the power of inertia by arming your change coalition as forcefully and deeply as possible. Give it the chance to succeed. Let everyone know that resistance will happen so they don’t panic. Evangelize how the future can be better than how it is. Continuously demonstrate how the competitiveness – even the vitality – of the enterprise is at stake. If you do all of this, the natural blocking force of inertia will ease enough to give you the time you need to move forward.