Launch Lessons

Today, Sam is talking to Jim Rose, the CEO of CircleCI. Today, we'll be discussing the various pivots Jim had to make as the co-founder of fast-growing businesses, including the time when Facebook turned off his distribution model literally overnight. Jim also shares his lessons on building resilient teams and how he's navigated the market cycle. Jim is a prolific entrepreneur and has founded eight companies over his 20-plus-year career. He's been through many ups and downs in his journey and was kind enough to share his insights with us. If you'd like to get in touch with us, email us at launchlessons@airwallex.com, or contact our host, Sam Kothari, on LinkedIn. For show notes and past guests on Launch Lessons, please visit airwallex.com/launchlessons. Follow Airwallex: Website: airwallex.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/airwallex/ Twitter: twitter.com/airwallex Follow Sam: Twitter: twitter.com/samk92 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kotharisam

Today, Sam is talking to Stuart Lombard, Founder and CEO of ecobee. Today, they'll be discussing the struggles of bringing the first WIFI-connected thermostat to market, both the early hurdles and excitement when Google's nest came to market, and the importance of resisting impulses to maintain focus and discipline. ecobee is the global leader of WIFI connected thermostats that help millions of consumers save money, save energy, and seamlessly bring home automation into their lives If you'd like to get in touch with us, email us at launchlessons@airwallex.com, or contact our host, Sam Kothari, on LinkedIn. For show notes and past guests on Launch Lessons, please visit airwallex.com/launchlessons. Follow Airwallex: Website: airwallex.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/airwallex/ Twitter: twitter.com/airwallex Follow Sam: Twitter: twitter.com/samk92 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kotharisam

Today, Sam will be talking to Shannon Lincoln, Chief Financial Officer at Oyster HR. They discuss how she navigated the challenges of growing the team from 17 to 500 employees in under two years, how they've leaned into asynchronous work practices, and tips on how startups can build a diverse workforce. Shannon and the team at oyster built a unicorn in just over two years, scaling the team and product at a rapid pace. It's not easy to be a Chief Financial Officer in this difficult macroeconomic environment, so Shannon shares some of her tips to navigate startups through this turmoil. If you'd like to get in touch with us, email us at launchlessons@airwallex.com, or contact our host, Sam Kothari, on LinkedIn. For show notes and past guests on Launch Lessons, please visit airwallex.com/launchlessons. Follow Airwallex: Website: airwallex.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/airwallex/ Twitter: twitter.com/airwallex Follow Sam: Twitter: twitter.com/samk92 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kotharisam

Today, Sam is talking to Larry Gadea, CEO and Founder workplace platform used by the likes of Slack, Pinterest, and Airwallex. Today, we'll be discussing Larry's working in Silicon Valley before founding Envoy, how Envoy pivoted and reached unicorn status during the height of the pandemic, and how engineers can learn to become better leaders. Larry was born in communist Romania before fleeing to Germany and then Canada, where he started work as an engineer at Google. He was also an early employee at Twitter working on the distributed backend systems. If you'd like to get in touch with us, email us at launchlessons@airwallex.com, or contact our host, Sam Kothari, on LinkedIn. For show notes and past guests on Launch Lessons, please visit airwallex.com/launchlessons. Follow Airwallex: Website: airwallex.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/airwallex/ Twitter: twitter.com/airwallex Follow Sam: Twitter: twitter.com/samk92 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kotharisam

Today, Sam will be talking to Brett, Chief Product Officer at MX and they discuss the early days of MX, the legacy of their recently passed Co-Founder and CTO Brandon Dewitt, and how he is striving to follow in Brandon's footsteps. Brett Allred is the Chief Product Officer at MX, a fintech company that aims to connect people with their financial data in a way that automates their money experience. Brett started his career as an entrepreneur before joining MX as an early employee. He left MX to lead NUVI, a social media reputation management company, growing it from a small startup to an international market leader. He has since returned to MX in a leadership role. If you'd like to get in touch with us, email us at launchlessons@airwallex.com, or contact our host, Sam Kothari, on LinkedIn. For show notes and past guests on Launch Lessons, please visit airwallex.com/launchlessons. Follow Airwallex: Website: airwallex.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/airwallex/ Twitter: twitter.com/airwallex Follow Sam: Twitter: twitter.com/samk92 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kotharisam

Today, Sam is talking to Kevin Spain, General Partner at Emergence Capital and they talk about Kevin's experiences as a founder and CEO during the .com crash, his time as an investor, healthy mechanisms for dealing with failure, the value of coaches, the launch of Xbox Live, and what venture capital firms look for in startups. All of this and more, on the Launch Lessons podcast. Kevin Spain is the founder of atMadison.com and a General Partner at Emergence Capital, a venture capital firm focused on early-stage enterprise software companies. Kevin was an early investor in some of the biggest tech companies today, including Salesforce, Box, Yammer, and Zoom. He's also spent time as a corporate development executive at Microsoft and EA Games. If you'd like to get in touch with us, email us at launchlessons@airwallex.com, or contact our host, Sam Kothari, on LinkedIn. For show notes and past guests on Launch Lessons, please visit airwallex.com/launchlessons. Follow Airwallex: Website: airwallex.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/airwallex/ Twitter: twitter.com/airwallex Follow Sam: Twitter: twitter.com/samk92 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kotharisam

Today, Sam is talking to Ajeet Singh, Co-founder and Executive Chairman at ThoughtSpot, and they discuss the importance of hiring people that will thrive at your company, what scaling culture looks like, and what it means to have an owner's mindset. Ajeet Singh is the Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of ThoughtSpot, a business intelligence analytics search company that some have dubbed "The Google for Numbers". Ajeet started out his career as a Management Consultant. He's now successfully built two multi-billion companies from the ground up including Nutanix and ThoughtSpot. If you'd like to get in touch with us, email us at launchlessons@airwallex.com, or contact our host, Sam Kothari, on LinkedIn. For show notes and past guests on Launch Lessons, please visit airwallex.com/launchlessons. Follow Airwallex: Website: airwallex.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/airwallex/ Twitter: twitter.com/airwallex Follow Sam: Twitter: twitter.com/samk92 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kotharisam