Co-Founder @ Adzuna, COO @ Zoopla, CEO/COO @ Gumtree, Head of Strategy @ eBay, Consultant @ Bain & Co, MBA @ Kellogg, Finance @ Unilever
I've been involved in around 10 successful VC funding rounds in London, as well as angel investing in around another 10.
I have spent the last ten years helping to grow successful online marketplace businesses (and watching others fail), especially in classified ads markets like jobs, real estate and autos.
Doug is the person with the highest intellectual power I have ever met. At the same time he is charismatic and down to earth. That his career would rocket was evident even those early days in Unilever.
Although I did not work directly with Doug, he was assigned as my mentor when I joined eBay. He was always very helpful in our sessions together, listening to my questions and offering great advice in return. All in all a really nice guy!
Doug and I worked together when he was General Manager for Gumtree. He has that great blend of being both highly strategic in outlook and action orientated at the same time. He has a strong eye for detail yet is always able to think of the bigger picture, and is very down to earth in character.
An excellent boss and mentor. Doug has led the Gumtree charge for the last 2 years and has turned the site into a powerhouse in the UK and a truly international brand. A structured, strategic thinker who asks the right questions and knows how to get things done. A pleasure to work with and a great guy to have a couple beers with.
Doug joined the eBay UK business during a time of fast-paced growth, a time that required deep analysis of the current business, its customer and financial structure as well as evaluation of future opportunities and threats. Doug jumped right in and led the entire business through a highly-regarded startegic analysis & planning process. Doug is one of the smartest people I've ever worked with. He is dedicated, energetic, highly analyical, and his talent has no bounds whatsoever. He is also fun to work with and is great dealing with people across the organization.
Doug is great. Super smart as the academics and companies he's worked demonstrate. But Doug's about more than being smart. He has a great ability to simplify complex problems with many variables and come up with simple, elegant, "why didn't I think of that" solutions. Doug's also great at leading teams to get stuff done. I had the pleasure of working with him on eBay UK pricing and on wider strategic projects and they were always well run, unstressed, open to ideas projects that were fun for all involved.
On top of all this, Doug's a very nice guy and an improving football player. I'd work with Doug again in a shot.
Doug Monro was not only a pleasure to work with but was a great asset to eBay in his strategic role. He had the ability to balance 30,000 ft view thinking, with a mix of operational and analytical detail when needed. Most impressively, he helped drive eBay's strategic 3 year plan in the UK even when the business was often focussed on short-term / day-to-day concerns. Doug was a strong communicator and presenter, had excellent analytical skills and was well respected by his colleagues.
Doug is an extremely articulate and thoughtful individual. I was often impressed with his sang froid as he presented hugely important strategic recommendations to the most senior eBay Inc employees (Meg Whitman et al). That takes some serious self confidence (and the ability to think rapidly on one's feet!).
However, Doug is not limited to doing good powerpoint...he has many other great skills and attributes. The best overall example is his excellent (in my opinion) decision to head away from the cosy life of eBay.co.uk into the entrepreneurial cauldron of gumtree - and the fact that he's made such a success of it. Undoubtedly a brave decision, where putting your money where your mouth is would count for a lot more and where there would be nowhere to hide if mistakes were made, it's great to see him achieve success and to make the switch from highly competent strategist to top dog.
Doug is a very thorough professional who has contributed immensely to growing the business. Very focused and determined, results oriented, he is also a great guy!
