Building Ninety: 10 Years Through the Eyes of Our First FTE — feat. Christine Watts
Jun 12, 2026 · 1 hr 3 min · 14 segments
Ninety almost didn't get to build the software that now runs thousands of companies. Mark Abbott marks the company's 10-year anniversary with Christine Watts, Ninety's first full-time employee…
Ninety almost didn't get to build the software that now runs thousands of companies. Mark Abbott marks the company's 10-year anniversary with Christine Watts, Ninety's first full-time employee, tracing the journey from a $500-a-month marketing budget and two college-age engineers to a platform used by roughly 4,000 organizations. They get honest about the years when every feature and every blog post needed EOS Worldwide's approval, the "beautiful mess" of bringing technology into a world that resisted it, and the ultimatum that pushed Ninety to build its own Plan B. Christine explains how customer experience became the company's north star without anyone ever formally deciding it, why COVID turned into the unexpected tipping point behind nearly 200% growth, and what a decade of constant role changes taught her about ambiguity, humility, and herself. **In this episode:** - The early years: product-market fit inside the EOS implementer community with almost no marketing - Building product under EOS Worldwide's approval, and the tension that came with it - COVID 2020 as the tipping point that finally proved the product - Customer experience as a core value no one ever formally decided on - The "Plan B" ultimatum and navigating the license fight without burning bridges - What 10 years and constant role changes taught Christine about leadership and ambiguity **About Christine Watts:** Christine Watts is Ninety's first full-time employee, joining in January 2017. Over nearly a decade she has led marketing, client success, and product, served as chief of staff, and now serves as Ninety's Head of Professional Services. Connect with Christine on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wattschristine/ **Mentioned in this episode:** - "Traction" by Gino Wickman - "The Discipline of Market Leaders" by Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema Try Ninety free: https://www.ninety.io/ Subscribe for more founder-first conversations every other week. → Subscribe to Mark’s Founder’s Framework Newsletter → Subscribe to Ninety’s EOS Newsletter → Try Ninety free for 30 days!
Ninety almost didn't get to build the software that now runs thousands of companies. Mark Abbott marks the company's 10-year anniversary with Christine Watts, Ninety's first full-time employee…
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